Veterans

The Second Congressional District is home to more than 75,000 veterans including many veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. One of my most important responsibilities as a member of Congress is to ensure that the men and women who served our country get the resources they need and deserve. I strongly support programs that help veterans transition back into civilian life through education, job training, and expanded hiring of veterans.

Veterans in Northwest Washington are entitled to high quality healthcare close to home. I worked with the Department of Veterans Affairs, Senator Patty Murray and local veterans to open the Northwest Washington Community Based Outpatient Clinic in July of 2009. This veterans’ clinic provides primary care, mental health, pharmacy, eye, ear, x-ray and dental care. I also supported and Congress passed a law that improves mental health services, and provides support for veterans’ caregivers, and women veterans.

Accomplishments

• Championed veterans interests by opposing an increase to TRICARE fees, and supporting cost-of-living increase for veterans benefits

• Worked with Senator Patty Murray, the VA, and local veterans to establish a Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC) in Mount Vernon, which now provides routine vision, and audiology medical care and counseling to veterans in Skagit County

• Secured a federal rule to ensure that critical access hospitals, including Whidbey General Hospital, will receive increased TRICARE payments, ensuring that service members, military families and retirees continue to have access to needed medical care

• Supported legislation for veterans’ caregiver assistance, specialized health care for women veterans, and increased mental health care for veterans

• Strongly support efforts to strengthen the GI Bill, including cosponsoring the Post 9/11 GI Bill Payment Restoration Act, which would make it easier for veterans to accommodate going to back to school by allowing them to take reasonable breaks between terms

• Requested full funding for the Housing and Urban Development-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing program to prevent homelessness among veterans and assist veterans struggling with homelessness

• Fought hard to lower the unemployment rate among veterans by co-sponsoring by the Veteran Employment Transition Act  to provide business owners a tax credit for hiring recent veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and disabled veterans receiving supplemental nutrition assistance program benefits and the Hiring Heroes Act, which provides all veterans and departing servicemembers with job-skills training, including job search, resume-writing and interview tips

• Co-sponsored the Retired Pay Restoration Act, which would allow disabled veterans to immediately get the full benefits they have earned

• Co-sponsored the Retired Pay Restoration Act to would allow disabled veterans to immediately get concurrent receipt of retirement benefits and disability pay so retirees can get the full benefits they have earned

• Strongly support fair compensation for military surviving spouses so  surviving spouses can receive  the full amount of survival assistance they are entitled to