The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Local News

July 7, 2011

Rockefeller votes for veterans benefits bills

From Staff Reports

Half a dozen measures, all intended to improve benefits for veterans, are headed to the Senate floor for a showdown with a strong push by the co-sponsor of three of them, Sen. Jay Rockefeller.

Bills that exited the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee would improve health care, employment, education, compensation and rehabilitation for veterans.

“Our country’s support for service men and women is one of our most sacred commitments,” Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said Wednesday.

“The physical and emotional struggles that many of our veterans endure, even once they return home, are challenging. Their transition is not an easy one. Returning veterans deserve targeted help to join the civilian job markets and veterans on fixed incomes need to get the cost-of-living adjustment that they deserve to keep pace with inflation.”

One measure he co-sponsored is the Hiring Heroes Act meant to improve the provision of federal transition, rehabilitation, vocational and unemployment benefits to veterans.

Another is a cost-of-living adjustment for veterans linked to the Social Security COLA.

A third bill Rockefeller co-sponsored repeals the ban on collective bargaining in regard to compensation of Veterans Administration employees, including nurses.

Other bills would provide hospital care, medical services and nursing home care to veterans who were stationed at Camp Lejeune, N.C., when water was contaminated; safeguard the GI bill for veterans enrolled in certain education programs; and provide a comprehensive package of improvements such as health care, housing, and homeless programs.

“Veterans have put their lives at risk to protect each of us, putting their country above everything else,” Rockefeller said.

“By ensuring they have our support while they are in active duty and after they return home, we are showing our commitment to them.”

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