Mark Warner on Veterans Administration Medical Care Benefits

From U.S. Senator Mark Warner (D-VA):

"

Friends, 

This summer we passed the historic and bipartisan Honoring Our PACT Act. I was proud to support this crucial legislation to ensure that we meet the critical needs of our veteran community here in Virginia, and today I come to you with exciting news! The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has announced the expansion and extension of VA health care eligibility made possible because of the PACT Act.

On Oct. 1, the VA further extended eligibility for VA health care to veterans of the Vietnam War, Gulf Wars, and the post-9/11 era. Beginning on Oct. 1, Gulf War and post-9/11 veterans who did not previously enroll in VA health care have a 1-year window to enroll if they:

• Served on active duty in a theater of combat operations during a period of war after the Persian Gulf War, or
• Served in combat against a hostile force during a period of hostilities after Nov. 11, 1998, and
• Were discharged or released from active service between Sept. 11, 2001, and Oct. 1, 2013. Some additional conditions apply.
   

Oct. 1 also marked the expansion of health care eligibility for veterans of the Vietnam War that served in specific locations and time periods including several surrounding nations and territories in the Pacific.

If you think you might be eligible in one of these categories, I encourage you to apply or find more information here.

This past week, we also broke ground on a new VA facility in Chesapeake that will serve 70% of Hampton Roads veterans, including those newly eligible through these categories. With one of the fastest-growing veteran populations in the nation, it’s critical we have the facilities to meet demand. In addition to expanding eligibility, I’m proud that the PACT Act will also create one additional facility in Virginia to get veterans quality care faster.

I have seen how toxic exposure overseas has impacted veterans in our country and in our community. It is imperative that all generations of veterans can access the health care they have earned through their service. I am proud that Virginia is home to a significant military presence, and I’ll remain a strong advocate for bipartisan solutions to address the health care needs of our veterans.

If you ever want to share your thoughts about an issue that’s important to you you can send me an email any time using the form on my Senate website. You can also follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. I look forward to hearing from you.

" 

Morgan Griffith on Veterans Day

From U.S. Representative Morgan Griffith, R-VA-9, tastefully not mentioning the way many veterans prefer to celebrate this Monday...

"
Friday, November 8, 2019 –                                
November 11: 1919 and 2019
Monday, November 11, 2019, is Veterans Day.
One hundred and one years ago, on November 11, 1918, the guns of World War I fell silent.
One hundred years ago, November 11, 1919, was a day for remembering.
President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation commemorating November 11 as Armistice Day. He wrote: “To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory.”
Across the country, parades and public meetings were convened, and business was suspended for two minutes at 11am, the time the armistice had gone into effect the previous year.
In Richmond, churches held services of thanksgiving in the morning. That afternoon, Corporal Joseph Allen, a Virginia soldier who had earned the Distinguished Service Medal and the French Croix de Guerre, presented a memorial flag to Governor Westmoreland Davis in the hall of the House of Delegates. A representative of the French ambassador also presented his country’s flag to Governor Davis as a symbol of the alliance between our nations. A parade of war workers was postponed, however, due to rain.
In Roanoke, a crowd of 20,000 to 30,000 came out despite the rain to celebrate the armistice, according to the World News. Veterans of the World War marched by, as did representatives of the Red Cross, YMCA, Salvation Army, and Boy Scouts. Automobiles carried veterans of the Civil War.
Following the parade, a program featuring an address by Colonel Robert E. Lee, Jr., a former member of the Virginia House of Delegates and grandson of the Confederate general, songs, flag presentations, and 30 seconds of silence took place.
The World News also reported that the day passed quietly in Bristol, with banks closed all day and other businesses shuttered between 11am and noon. A service was held at the YMCA, and students were dismissed from school after a morning memorial.
Martinsville’s Armistice Day experience was similar, and some people reportedly traveled to Roanoke and Richmond to celebrate the day.
At Big Stone Gap High School, students gathered in the chapel at 11am to commemorate the armistice. The Big Stone Gap Post reported on the service, “The program which the State YMCA issued was carried out very successfully. Rev. C. W. Dean gave a splendid talk.”
The Clinch Valley News noted the occasion, “a day and an event we could not forget if we would, and would not if we could.” It also reported the word out of Pounding Mill: “Today passed by quietly, many praising God for the peace anniversary.”
Although we know November 11 now as Veterans Day, we should approach it in the same spirit as that first Armistice Day 100 years ago – as a day for gratitude to all who served our country in uniform.
The last American veteran of World War I died in 2011, and the ranks of World War II veterans are thinning rapidly. It was my honor to be with some of them this year in Normandy for the 75^th anniversary of D-Day and to pay tribute to them at the site of their great deeds.
But one does not have to go to Europe to honor our veterans, from those remaining who served in World War II to the men and women who fought in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Many communities have their services to mark the day, often gathered around a town’s monument to veterans. I have been able to participate in numerous such tributes throughout the Ninth District during my time in office. Attending one of them is a simple but meaningful way to show our gratitude for those who served.
On that first Armistice Day in 1919, Americans set aside time to honor our country’s warriors, whether enthusiastically taking in a parade as in Roanoke, attending a service as in Bristol, or praising God quietly as in Pounding Mill. On Veterans Day 2019, let us do the same.
If you have questions, concerns, or comments, feel free to contact my office. You can call my Abingdon office at 276-525-1405, my Christiansburg office at 540-381-5671, or my Washington office at 202-225-3861. To reach my office via email, please visit my website at www.morgangriffith.house.gov. Also, on my website is the latest material from my office, including information on votes recently taken on the floor of the House of Representatives.
"

Morgan Griffith on Veterans' Issues in Congress

From U.S. Representative Morgan Griffith (R-VA-9):

"
Monday, August 6, 2018 –
Help for Veterans
Although the Veterans Administration was formally organized during the Herbert Hoover presidency, benefits for veterans can trace their roots to near the nation’s birth. Veterans deserve the thanks and support of all Americans for the sacrifices they made on our behalf. Thus, veterans are promised benefits in recognition of their service.
For too many veterans, these promises were hollow. Scandals involving unacceptable wait times for medical appointments revealed in recent years at the Department of Veterans Affairs shocked the country.
Correcting these problems and improving veterans’ care is a priority of the House, and we have made progress. Important reforms to enhance the quality and availability of care have been signed into law.
Earlier this year, I wrote about House passage of the VA Maintaining Internal Systems and Strengthening Integrated Outside Networks (MISSION) Act, a major step forward. It consolidates several VA programs into a community care program while continuing the VA Choice Program until the consolidation is complete. The Choice Program is a great concept, but the execution has proved difficult in some instances. Medical providers participating in the program have informed me that they face trouble getting payment. In some cases, this may be resistance from parts of the VA, so they opt out altogether. Hopefully, when consolidated, these problems will lessen.
The VA Mission Act also establishes a review process to modernize and realign the VA’s medical infrastructure and improves the VA’s ability to recruit and retain health care professionals.
Since I wrote about it, the Senate passed the VA MISSION Act and President Trump signed it.
The VA MISSION Act is a notable reform, but others have been approved by the House as well. In June, we passed a bill extending benefits to sailors and airmen who served during the Vietnam War era and were exposed to Agent Orange; current law only provides these benefits to those who served on land. I am a cosponsor of this bill, as well as a similar one ensuring benefits for veterans who served at military bases in Thailand during the same period.
During the last week of July, the House passed nine veterans bills. They included reforms to make sure that the VA is hiring highly-qualified personnel, smooth the transition for veterans headed back into civilian life, and assist with education.
A bill that advanced through the Energy and Commerce Committee to improve the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline also included a provision to study its effectiveness for veterans. I cosponsored this legislation and am glad that the House passed it in July, too.
All told, the House has passed over 80 veterans bills during this Congress, and President Trump has signed more than two dozen into law.
We owe our veterans a tremendous debt for their sacrifices. Looking after their well-being, whether helping care for the wounded or promoting education and job opportunities for those returning to civilian life, is the best way to express our gratitude.

If you are a veteran in the Ninth District in need of assistance with the VA, I encourage you to contact my office online at morgangriffith.house.gov, by calling my Abingdon office at 276-525-1405, or by calling my Christiansburg office at 540-381-5671.
"

Mark Warner on Disabled Veterans' Benefits: Third E-Mail Lucky

In the e-mail below U.S. Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) says that he e-mailed all his constituents who use the Internet about this issue last winter. Apparently two separate e-mails triggered the automatic Spam Filter last winter, but this version made it through. Links to send him fanmail should work if you're in Virginia, may be programmed not to work elsewhere.

"
Dear Friend,

I emailed you earlier this year regarding a problem I've been working to solve for wounded warriors in Virginia and around the country. Today I'd like to give you an update on our progress.

As you might remember, due to a Pentagon computer system glitch, over 133,000 combat-wounded veterans had their disability severance pay improperly taxed. Those veterans will soon get a refund, thanks to legislation I co-authored with Senator John Boozman, a conservative Republican from Arkansas. So today I'm writing to let you know the Pentagon and the IRS have officially sent out instructions for veterans to apply for those refunds.

Those instructions are available here. If you are a veteran and think you may have had your severance pay improperly taxed, I encourage you to read the instructions, and if you need help, to contact my Roanoke Office: (540) 857-2676
As always, if there’s an issue that’s important to you or a question you’d like to ask, I invite you to send me an email and follow my work in the Senate on Facebook and Twitter. I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,

Sign up for Sen.Warner's newsletter& teletownhalls

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From:"Sen. Mark Warner"
Date: Mon, Feb 12, 2018
Subject: Good News for Wounded Warriors
Dear Friend,
I’m writing with some good news for wounded warriors in Virginia and around the country. The Department of Defense recently announced that up to 133,000 veterans who were wounded in the line of duty may qualify for a federal tax refund, thanks to legislation we passed back in 2016.

For years, many wounded combat veterans had their disability severance pay improperly taxed because of a technical glitch in the Pentagon computer system.

When I found out about this, I teamed up with my friend Senator John Boozman, a conservative Republican from Arkansas, and we worked together to pass the Combat-Injured Veterans Tax Fairness Act, which President Obama signed into law. Of all people, these veterans deserved to be treated better by their government, and I am glad that they will finally have the opportunity to claim money that is theirs.

For more information on the bill, check out theDaily Pressarticle below. If you’re a veteran whose severance pay was taxed after you were wounded in action, I encourage you to file for a refund. If you need assistance on this or any other issue with a federal agency, please call my office at 757-441-3079. We’ll do everything we can to help.
If there’s an issue that’s important to you or a question you’d like to ask, I invite you to send me an email and follow my work in the Senate on Facebook and Twitter. I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,

Sign up for Sen.Warner's newsletter& teletownhalls

The Defense Department this month will begin notifying more than 133,000 combat-injured veterans who may qualify for a federal tax refund based on their disability severance pay, Sen. Mark R. Warner said Tuesday.

That’s because the federal government improperly withheld taxes on these payments for years, said Warner, who co-sponsored legislation to address the problem.

11,000 disabled student veterans left without rent, expense money due to computer glitch
Veterans separated from the military after a combat-related injury should not be taxed on the one-time lump sum disability severance payment they receive from the Defense Department, according to federal law.

“However, for years, DOD improperly withheld taxes on these payments from thousands of qualifying veterans, who were typically unaware that their benefits were being improperly reduced,”according to a news release from Warner’s office.

He blamed it on a technical glitch in the Pentagon’s computer system

The payments at issue go back to January 1991, Warner said.

Warner teamed with Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., on legislation requiring the department to identify these veterans, determine how much they are owed and notify them. Eligible veterans will have one year after receiving notice from the Defense Department to file a claim for the refund.

Mike Boehme, Virginia commander for the Veterans of Foreign Wars, urged veterans who receive the notification letter to follow the instructions and file an amended tax return to receive the refund.

Warner invited veterans who need assistance or have questions to call his office at 757-441-3079.

"

The Hospital as War Zone

Elizabeth Barrette is unfolding a new work of fiction about a science-fictional hospital. We discussed it this morning here:

https://ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com/4764345.html?view=18497465#t18497465

As a tribute to EB's fiction-in-free-verse form, here's a bit of very slightly fictionalized memoir in free-verse form, sharing the memory EB's phrase triggered...

Jack, veteran of the color war,
remembers the hospital as neutral territory
from 1969, when the neighborhood around it burned.
He senses that he's dying of cancer
but does not yet know for sure,
so his two wives, his friends, his doctor
urge him to keep up the labor of living.
"Drink water, drink water," they plead.
Not "Would you like," but "Can you eat another orange?"
"Everything tastes of hospital here," he says.
"Your minerals are still unbalanced," they tell him,
"it's as sweet and juicy as any orange north of Florida."
"I have to go, I have to go," he says
ten or twenty times a day, each time he wakes up.
"Untie me now before I wet the bed."
"That's the catheter. Let go--wide open--if you can;
it helps a little. No worries, man!
A clean sheet's right there, if you soil the bed."

Joe, veteran of Vietnam,
remembers the dying men begging for water
from 1969, when others died from loss of blood.
Nobody imagines that what he has is cancer
but what could cause a massive bleeding ulcer
in the worst possible place, they're trying to find out,
so his doctor ordered no food, minimal water,
and tied him to the bed next to Jack's bed.
(His doctor was born in 1976.)
"Water, water," he yells
five or ten times a day, each time he wakes up
from dreams of blood-soaked shrapnel on the ground.
"You don't get water," students yell around the door.
"I've not eaten in five days," he yells as the lunch trays pass.
"You're not meant to," the kid pushing the cart sasses.
"Change the bedpan! Clean the wound! Oh gawd, it hurts!"
"Only an R.N. or M.D. can clean that wound!
Don't touch him, lady! We could all get sued!"
(Jack's wife had started to offer Joe a pan of water,
watching Jack's vital signs spike when Joe screams.)

Only a curtain separates their beds,
about six feet apart, and when the students
are led in to observe the marrow test procedure
the curtain's rolled back; they perch on Joe's bed, too.

Both men wake up from nightmares lost, confused;
are tied so IV drips stay in their arms,
untied, once wide awake, to watch television
and wash themselves one-handed if they can.

"Let me go home to die in peace," Jack says
softly, while Joe is watching sports on TV.
"I liked lying on my own bathroom floor."
"But what if they can cure you?" says his wife.
"Well...I suppose I'd rather live...if they're sure I will.
Don't leave me alone for a single minute.
I saw those kids pawing through the closet
before they saw that you were there, and asked
if I still wanted clothes to go home in,
and I believe my roommate's killed a man--"
"In Vietnam, he meant. He had a nightmare."
"Don't leave me alone with him, in any case."
"I wrote your son: he can have all the money
if he comes back in time to make peace with you."

"I enlisted for the job, not for any of you
but you young whelps are worse than the Viet Cong!"
Joe yells, tied face down over a pan of filth.
"At least y'might help with the odor in here!
Don't youall smell it? What is wrong with you?
Is this America? I'm a combat veteran!
I've been a cop on the city's meanest streets!
I might have saved some of your worthless lives
for all you know! What happened to Black solidarity?
That foreigner over there gets food and water,
two gorgeous nurses fight to clean his back side,
and his doctor's come to see him three times today.
I was here sixty hours before I saw my doctor
if that kid is a doctor, which I doubt,
and all he says is 'No food, no getting up
while we run a few more tests.'"
"That wound of yours needs special treatment,"
the R.N. says when she comes in at last.
"Ouch! And when they send a nurse, a little girl!"

On the sixth day Joe's family come in.
"Tape the Super Bowl for me, will you?" he asks his son.
"We'll watch it together on your VCR
when I go home. They say I can go on Sunday."

What man won't watch the Super Bowl
when it comes on? Jack waits, drugged but not that dopey,
on Sunday afternoon, while Joe cranks up
the sound on a boring documentary
("For 'football widows' to manipulate their husbands?")
about life in an "exclusive" neighborhood
in a city a thousand miles away.
"No use watching anything else over that noise.
Anyway he's sure to watch the Super Bowl"....
Joe leaves at seven. The Super Bowl is over.
The team Jack wanted to cheer for has lost it.

"Not such a bad fellow," Jack and his wife
and doctor all agree. "That was smart revenge
instead of the violent kind, and who could blame him?"
"That for your juicy orange!" his mother-in-law says.
Jack even laughs, himself.

"If I'm dying of some obscure disease,"
Jack says, "will someone please tell Joe that."
None of his friends or relatives ever learn
Joe's real name, or his address.

All these years later...Joe, I hope you know
Jack died of cancer early that July.
I hope your family are all together
and all at peace.
I hope the bleeding man they left for dead
has told you, in a dream, that he forgives you.
I hope you'll do as much for me
another twenty years from now.

Whether in this world or in a better one
I'm absolutely certain you know, now,
that every person on the urology wing
would have done more for you, sooner, had they dared.

But must hospitals be so money-grubbing
they cram two patients into every room
and never think how that can feel, to patients?

------------------------------------------------------------
(end of "poem")

Gentle Readers, if this post struck a chord, it's probably because you know a disabled veteran. Please go and do something nice for that person now.

Morgan Griffith on the VA MISSION Bill

Without comment, since this web site has not read the bill, from U.S. Representative Morgan Griffith (R-VA-9):

"
Monday, May 21, 2018 –
Improving Care for Veterans
One of our highest obligations as a nation is “to care for him who shall have borne the battle,” as Abraham Lincoln eloquently stated in his Second Inaugural Address. The men and women who wear the uniform of the United States military put their lives on the line for our freedoms, and many come home with wounds both seen and unseen.
Over the past few years, too many stories have emerged of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) failing the brave people it is meant to serve. Reforming the VA became an urgent priority.
Under the leadership of Chairman Phil Roe, who represents our neighbors in Tennessee’s First District, the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs has been hard at work crafting legislation to improve care for veterans. They have been moving to the House floor bills that bring to the VA better care, more options, and greater accountability.
Many of these bills garner wide support from both parties as well as veterans’ groups. Take a recent major bill that passed the House by a vote of 347-70, the VA Maintaining Internal Systems and Strengthening Integrated Outside Networks (MISSION) Act.
This legislation consolidates several VA programs into one community care program and continues the VA Choice Program until the consolidation is complete. It also establishes a review process to modernize and realign the VA’s medical infrastructure, and it improves the VA’s ability to recruit and retain health care professionals.
I supported the VA MISSION Act and look forward to the Senate sending it to President Trump, who has said he will sign it.

The debt we owe to veterans is incalculable. It is our duty to provide for their care as best we can. Chairman Roe and the Veterans’ Affairs committee are advancing legislation to do just that, and I am happy to support their efforts.
"

Tim Kaine Documents Meeting Mark Warner and Two Young Veterans

From U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA):

"

Dear Friend,

Senator Mark Warner and I welcomed Virginia’s veterans to Washington, D.C. last week for coffee, donuts, and a conversation about the issues that matter most to them. We promised to continue our work in the Senate to increase job opportunities for veterans, expand access to health care, and improve the VA.

It was great to see so many of our brave heroes and I look forward to continuing these discussions with them as I travel throughout Virginia.

Sincerely,

" [nice signature graphic]

Tonteria Toxica (Reply to Angel J. Colon)

(Status update: I earned $24.75 last week, $5 so far this week. There'd be more of the posts you readers apparently find more interesting, on this web site, if you'd done your bit:

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=4923804 )

Change.org is discriminating against the version of Google Chrome I'm using, so the comment below failed to show on this petition:

https://www.change.org/p/department-of-veteran-affairs-expand-comprehensive-caregiver-benefits-to-severely-disabled-veterans-of-all-generations

"
To Angel J. Colon:

Se dice que tantos veteranos jovenes necesitan ayuda con problemas mentales que no se puede soportar los mas viejos tambien. Tonteria. Es lo que Glenn Beck ha llamado un "Gambito del Washington Monument"--cuando los burocratas no reciben todo que desean, intentan destruir cualquier programa que la gente creen mas indispensable.

(We're told that so many young veterans need help with mental problems that (the V.A.) can't support both (them, and the older veterans with physical injuries, as discussed in the petition). Bosh. This is what Glenn Beck has called a "Washington Monument Ploy"--when bureaucrats don't get what they want, they propose to destroy whichever program the people think is most indispensable.)
"

Budget cuts need to be made...and contractual obligations to guarantee the most appropriate, efficient, and cheap way to provide for older veterans' retirement, which were a major reason why young men volunteered to fight in the twentieth century wars, are so not one of the things that need to be cut. Better the federal government should start by cutting out any federal department created after 1976, on the grounds that the states managed certain things adequately for two hundred years and can resume doing so.

The contents of Beck's book Broke are no longer Breaking News, but they've been fact-checked and found accurate...and the explanation of the Washington Monument Ploy is timeless. The Ploy probably worked before George Washington was born.



There's no Spanish edition of Broke but there's a Kindle edition; I suspect Bing or Google will translate it about as well as either translates Change.org petitions. (Some people gripe about those who comment on an English-language page in Spanish. I'm more likely to reply in Spanish-as-a-Second-Language...but seriously, Gentle Readers, these days a lot of Google-hosted sites, apparently including this one, open in whichever of several languages a reader's browser is set to use. People who type Spanish comments into English forums may be reading the forums in Spanish.)

Morgan Griffith on Veterans' Medical Care

From U.S. Representative Morgan Griffith, R-VA-9:

"
June 5, 2017–
Veteran Care
We honor those who have served our country on Veterans Day, but year round we should appropriately honor the veterans who are deserving our respect and gratitude. As a part of that respect, they deserve the quality health care from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) they were promised. These men and women put their life on the line for us. They deserve a VA health care system that is dependable, efficient, and top of the line.
President Trump picked Secretary David Shulkin to lead the VA and improve veteran care. Secretary Shulkin has made it clear that he is not satisfied with the status quo.
He is a doctor. Before serving the VA, he held chief executive positions at various health care centers. Highly regarded in the private sector, he earned a reputation for driving down costs and focusing on patient centered care. He left his highly-compensated, private sector job to serve those who served our country. As he has done throughout his career, he continues to see patients so he doesn’t lose focus of the priority of improving care. Now he does this at the VA hospitals.*
Secretary Shulkin recently met with a group of us in Congress and explained he wants veterans to have options. He is not interested in privatizing the VA, because he believes the VA can provide care for the unique mental and physical issues that veterans encounter, in a way that can’t be found in the private sector. He wants veterans to choose the VA because of its quality.
He envisions an improved Choice program. In a recent C-SPAN interview he said, “We need to make sure the Choice program not only continues, but it works better for veterans. And we know it hasn’t worked the way we wanted it to work. It’s too complex, it’s too hard to use.”*
With this improved competition from the Choice program, Secretary Shulkin believes that the VA will necessarily have to increase its customer service and competitiveness compared to outside programs. And he fervently believes the VA can do this. He wants veterans to choose to go to the VA, instead of having no option but the VA.
Secretary Shulkin told us he believes certain aspects of care might be able to be outsourced to the private sector. For example, providing veterans with eye glasses.
He discussed with us a situation that he has been made aware of, where in some situations, to get a simple pair of eye glasses, veterans are required to make up to three visits, wait three weeks, and then be issued a standard black pair of glasses.
It’s hard to believe this is the type of service we provide to our courageous service men and women. And instead of having every aspect of veterans’ care done at the VA, like eyeglasses, we should have our VA hospitals focused on dealing with traumatic brain injury, PTSD, and state of the art artificial limbs.
As a sign of positive change coming to the VA, in April, Secretary Shulkin launched a new website called Access to Care. (www.accesstocare.va.gov) This is a public posting of wait times and other data for every VA facility in the country. The website allows patients to compare facilities, with features such as ‘How Quickly Can My VA Facility See Me?’ or ‘How Does Care in My VA Facility Compare to Other Hospitals in the Area?’
This is a significant effort to increase transparency and hold the facilities that are not meeting expectations responsible.
Congressman Phil Roe, who represents East Tennessee, is Chairman of the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. Phil is working hard to get legislation passed to improve the VA. This year, we have passed a number of bills relating to VA reforms, in May alone we passed seven of these bills. The legislation expands access to care, provides better service, and demands more accountability. We have sent them to the Senate for the Senate’s approval.
I will continue supporting Chairman Roe and Secretary Shulkin in their mission to improve the VA. We owe this to our veterans.

If you have questions, concerns, or comments, feel free to contact my office. You can call my Abingdon office at 276-525-1405 or my Christiansburg office at 540-381-5671. To reach my office via email, please visit my website at www.morgangriffith.house.gov. Also on my website is the latest material from my office, including information on votes recently taken on the floor of the House of Representatives.
"

Morgan Griffith on Memorial Day

From U.S. Representative Morgan Griffith (R-VA-9):

"
Remembering Fallen Heroes
On the last Monday in May, our nation honors Memorial Day. We use this day to remember the brave men and women who gave their lives in defense of the Republic.
What we know as Memorial Day began in the years immediately following the War Between the States. Citizens in both the North and the South would decorate the graves of the war’s dead with flowers in springtime. Towns across the country claim to be the birthplace of this practice, perhaps an illustration of the widespread human desire to honor those who sacrificed everything for others.
In 1868, General John Logan, the commander of the Union veterans association Grand Army of the Republic, designated May 30 as Decoration Day. The whole country gradually adopted this day to remember all the war’s dead, although Congress moved it to the last Monday of May in 1971. After World War I, Memorial Day observances began to include the fallen from all of America’s wars.*
The veterans of the War Between the States and World War I are all gone now, but we still have with us veterans of World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq. They served along with those fallen heroes whom we honor on Memorial Day, and they still feel those losses deeply.
On this day, I remember from my years practicing law a particular client who had served in Vietnam. One day as I headed to court in Montgomery County, I called him using my old “brick” cell phone. As fate would have it, I lost the call. I called him back but he didn’t answer.
Later in the day, when I was back in the office, I was at last able to contact him on my desk phone. He told me that when the phone disconnected, it made the same noise as the radio he used in Vietnam made when a unit went dead.
Because of the assignment he had in Vietnam, he was often in communication with people on helicopters transporting troops. Usually, the helicopters were getting soldiers out of harm’s way. When his radio went dead, it usually meant a helicopter with his comrades in arms had gone down. When I lost the call, it reminded him of lost friends.
Needless to say, I never called him using a cell phone again because it gave him flashbacks and memories of the friends he had lost in Vietnam. He was so dedicated to these fellow soldiers that he would later go back to Vietnam with the permission of that country’s government to search for some of those friends he had lost whose remains had not been recovered.
The lesson I learned is to try not to be judgmental and to recognize that many have a story in their lives we cannot fully appreciate.
You just never know how someone was affected by their service or how who they lost or what they saw during combat affected them. Some are lucky enough not to carry these hidden scars. Others are not so lucky. You just never know who might be carrying with them what was in the War Between the States called soldier’s heart, in the era of the World Wars shell shock, and in our era, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). So on this Memorial Day let’s honor those who died, and let’s honor those who may have lost a little piece of their well-being, whether it’s visible or not.
In General Logan’s order to proclaim Decoration Day, he noted that you could find the graves of the war’s fallen soldiers “in almost every city, village, and hamlet churchyard in the land.”^† Aside from graves, there are also memorials across the country and throughout the Ninth Congressional District, whether statues in town squares or plaques with names in auditoriums.
It is worth taking time to visit one of these sites or to attend a ceremony marking this day. In Washington, I attended a brief ceremony in Statuary Hall of the Capitol with other Members of Congress. A prayer was offered, wreaths laid, and Taps played.
Even if you are not able to visit a memorial or attend a ceremony, reflect on the sacrifices made by some for our liberty, not only by men and women willing to give their lives, but by the families and friends who see them go off to war and never return.
If you have questions, concerns, or comments, feel free to contact my office. You can call my Abingdon office at 276-525-1405 or my Christiansburg office at 540-381-5671. To reach my office via email, please visit my website at www.morgangriffith.house.gov. Also on my website is the latest material from my office, including information on votes recently taken on the floor of the House of Representatives.
*U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, https://www.va.gov/opa/speceven/memday/history.asp
^†U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, https://www.cem.va.gov/history/memdayorder.asp
"

Petition I Want to Redirect

The problem with this petition, that I can see, is that it's addressed to the outbound President. It's a request for yet another of those "executive orders" that dodge around constitutional law...and that can be cancelled by the new President in January. I see no reason to waste President Obama's time with this kind of thing.

I do agree with the petition itself. Where there are children, there should be cats, dogs, and chickens. Children do not actually learn "nurturing skills" from plastic toys. They learn from things that are warm, soft, wiggly, and able to interact and teach children what does and does not nurture them. Some children might prefer to practice "nurturing" a younger child, if one is within reach, but an animal is better qualified to teach a four-year-old about boundaries than a one-year-old is. And breed bans...are by nature discriminatory and unjust, and also, when they interfere with the people who've worked with a service animal being able to care for the animal as it retires, cruel to humans and animals alike.

I'm not sure whether the petition should be sent to the Pentagon, to Congress, or both. Maybe both. So I'll print it here and encourage readers to circulate it liberally.

"
Please end breed discrimination in our military housing.

I am deeply upset that our armed forces continue to discriminate against certain pet dog breeds, mutts and their responsible owners, ignoring the advice of the Department of Defense's own veterinarians. It's past time to end breed discrimination in our military housing.

Across the armed services, a variety of  breeds of dogs are prohibited from living in military housing, which is entirely arbitrary and fails to promote safety in any way. Not only that, but these policies affect mixed breed dogs as well, which is even worse because it's nearly impossible to identify a dog's heritage without genetic testing.

There are countless responsible dog owners who are prevented from living with their loving family pet because of these arbitrary and discriminatory policies. These heroes are oftentimes forced to choose between surrendering their pets to the local animal shelter and serving their country.

What's more, dogs of all shapes, sizes and breeds serve in our armed forces as military working dogs (MWDs), because in this respect the military understands that all dogs are individuals. Shockingly, the outdated policies prohibit these same MWDs from living in military housing once they retire and come back home. 

Across the country, breed-discriminatory policies like these are being rejected and phased out of existence. In fact, 20 states now prohibit breed-discriminatory laws and more are soon to follow. Indeed your White House even came out against breed discrimination on the We The People website.


In addition to the Department of Defense's own Veterinary Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Veterinary Medical Association, the National Animal Care and Control Association, and many others have rejected breed discrimination. It's time for our military to follow suit.
"

Robert Hurt's Veterans Day Message

From U.S. Representative Robert Hurt (R-VA-5):

"
As we commemorate Veterans Day this Friday, we remember with gratitude all those brave service members who, throughout American history, have courageously fought to preserve our freedoms. We gather as a nation to honor and pay tribute to those who have selflessly served, and I hope you will join me in thanking all of our veterans – as well as our troops both at home and abroad – who have given so much to defend this great nation. I look forward to attending Veterans Day programs in the Fifth District as I have each and every year that offer an opportunity to show our respect and commitment to veterans from our local communities, and I encourage you to seek out such events in your area.
Over the past year, we have partnered with local veterans groups across the Fifth District to offer recognition to a group of veterans that has not always received the recognition they deserve – those who served in Vietnam. That conflict commenced 50 years ago, and while it was marked by controversy and tension at the time, that does not diminish in any way the great sacrifices that this generation of veterans made. They were no less brave or committed to our country, and they are no less deserving of our respect and recognition than any other serviceman that has ever put on the uniform to defend and protect the United States of America. It has been my honor to recognize Vietnam veterans as part of this 50th anniversary commemoration and use this occasion to reflect on the history of that time period.
Veterans Day also serves as a reminder that we owe all of our heroes a level of care and service worthy of their sacrifice, and while we have made progress in restoring our ability to fulfill that promise, the Department of Veterans Affairs continues to be plagued by mismanagement that is negatively impacting our veterans. Ultimately, it is the President who bears the responsibility of changing the course of this agency as our Commander-in-Chief, and he has not done enough to remedy these urgent issues. This incoming administration must wholeheartedly dedicate themselves to right the wrongs of this administration’s VA and show our veterans the compassion and dedication they so deserve.
Given the heavy price all our soldiers paid, it is clear that we must renew our commitment to care for those who have served and pledge to maintain that commitment to those who will answer the call to serve in the future. We must be diligent in our effort to change the culture of the VA so it can return to fulfilling its critically important mission – our veterans deserve nothing less. I am humbled by the opportunity to serve Virginia’s Fifth District veterans, and I hope that you will join with me this Veterans Day in thanking all of those who have and continue to serve this great nation.
If you need any additional information or if we may be of assistance to you, please visit my website at hurt.house.gov or call my Washington office: (202) 225-4711, Charlottesville office: (434) 973-9631, Danville office: (434) 791-2596, or Farmville office: (434) 395-0120.
Sincerely,
" [nice signature graphic: Robert Hurt]

E-Friends for Heather? (Cat Photo Post)

Once again I didn't take any Tortie Tuesday pictures, but Mudpie's Human really outdid herself with these two posts.

http://www.mochasmysteriesmeows.com/2016/09/saving-raggedy-ann-part-1-rescue.html

http://www.mochasmysteriesmeows.com/2016/09/saving-raggedy-ann-part-2-recovery.html

The position of this web site is that the A.S.P.C.A. writers who described animal hoarders were confusing symptoms of (1) animal hoarding, (2) poverty, and (3) general incompetence. These are three distinct things. This web site does not encourage anyone to fuss about hippie types who "appear to be in neglect" or poor (or anti-yuppie) people whose homes may have "deteriorated." That is their business. Unless you know someone well enough to know whether their unmown lawn indicates that they have a broken hip, that their yardman has a broken hip, that they've let the yardman go because they can't afford to pay him, that they're losing memory and/or consciousness of external reality, or that they're making an anti-yuppie statement, your default assumption should be that it's an anti-yuppie statement. If their problem has anything to do with money, your focus should be on paying them for something they make, do, or sell, rather than bothering your head about their personal choices. And if you personally don't clean with ammonia and might not recognize the odor, the fastest way to become familiar with it is to visit a Humane Society shelter or, if lucky enough not to live near one, a nursing home.

Compare a HSUS shelter with this list! Hmm...what about "Animals succumb to contagious disease before your horrified eyes"? "Dead animal lying in cage; volunteer tries to rush past while babbling about the cat the shelter most wants to get rid of"? "Animals obviously doped out of their minds"? I've seen those things, too.

 They have numerous animals and may not know the total number of animals in their care.
· Their home is deteriorated (i.e., dirty windows, broken furniture, holes in wall and floor, extreme clutter).
· There is a strong smell of ammonia, and floors may be covered with [body secretions].
· Animals are emaciated, lethargic and not well socialized.
· Fleas and vermin are present.
· Individual is isolated from community and appears to be in neglect himself.
· Individual insists all animals are happy and healthy—even when there are clear signs of distress and illness.

Here's one way HSUS' cat genocide policy has made things worse for many well-meaning but increasingly incompetent animal lovers and their friends: outdoor cats do not look like Raggedy Ann. It’s good for everyone to make arrangements for the care of their pets in case "anything happens"—“anything” here meaning not only the owner’s death, but also the owner’s disability or prolonged illness. It’s easier to read an article with animal images as gruesome as some of these if you can say truthfully, “If anything happens to me, and my cats don’t wait to be rescued by the friend who promised to rescue them (or if something has happened to that friend first), my cats won’t end up looking like that.” If unable to feed a cat, nobody should hesitate to ask for help, but it’s better to turn the cat loose than to leave it in a cage.

Here are two ways we can help known or suspected animal hoarders:

1. Legally protect cats' right to roam outdoors and stay at the top of the local food chain. This benefits humans because, if cats are not at the top of the food chain, rats will be. It benefits cats because the hoarders can trust neighbors not to harm the cats, who may be all they have in the way of friends.

2. If you know someone who might be a cat hoarder, offer to help clean litter boxes. (Except for medical reasons, no cat should have to spend enough time in a cage that the cage needs special cleaning--routine dusting should suffice.) If the person says things like "Poor dear Fluffy and Snuggles have to be in cages because they fight constantly," you can reasonably say, without being a busybody, "Wouldn't they be happier in separate homes? I could take Snuggles home with me and you could visit him/her at my house." If the individual is less than optimally competent in some ways, such as memory or mobility, but is not a true animal hoarder, s/he will be delighted by any help offered to resolve the problems of practical pet care--as distinct, of course, from busybodies barging in to put all the animals in a shelter!

As a friend you can make sure the animals get adequate food and exercise, without the built-in hazards of empowering a Nanny-State-like organization to meddle in anybody's domestic arrangements. We should never imagine that any agency, whether it's a government or an alleged nonprofit organization, can substitute for any individual, personal act of charity such as protecting animals from being unknowingly harmed by animal hoarders. Authorizing strangers to oversee any aspect of anyone's home life, no matter how much harm it might prevent in one case, ensures that more harm will be done in many other cases. 

While reading the two Mudpie posts last night (I took them home to read after going offline) I was also thinking about Mimm, another calico cat in Vermont discussed at the Mudpie blog last week. Because Mimm has a "personal ad" page up on Petfinder, I'd e-mailed her foster humans to ask whether they'd ever received a legitimate reply from Petfinder--I used it once and got only spam and scam replies. They have not given up hope. Mimm is still up for adoption. She's ten years old and described by those who know and love her as what I'd summarize as a Cranky Yankee Cat, but doesn't she have a winning face? Wouldn't somebody out there want to live with a cat as cute as this?

https://www.petfinder.com/adoption-inquiry/35258314

"Heather," I said to the Queen of the Cat Sanctuary, whose coat shows distinct "calico" patches of orange, black, and cream below and is "heathered" or "tortoiseshell" above. "Would you want a cat who is twice your age to move in with us?"

"Is there any more chicken?" Heather nonverbally replied.

"What do you think of this picture?" I said.

"Nobody I know," Heather said. 

"That's a living cat who's the same age as your great-grandmother, if your great-grandmother is still alive," I said, having lost touch with Polly over the years.

"I never knew her, either," Heather said. "You know I'm starting to acquire a taste for sunflower seeds."

"You look as if you could use some pumpkin seeds," I said.

"Yes, I could! Have you got any?" Heather is not one of those cats who really like squashes. (I used to live with a cat who was so keen on squashes that she even ate cucumbers and cantaloupe.) She is, however, familiar with pumpkin seeds, which Grandma Bonnie Peters used to use in Veggie Burgers. After GBP closed her Test Kitchen and stopped manufacturing the burgers, she had a lot of raw pumpkin seeds left. For years she sent packets of ground pumpkinseed meal to all the pet owners she knew. Pumpkin seeds freeze so well that even a year ago the last few batches of thawed-out seeds tasted about as good as the slow-moving snack-packs of pumpkin seeds I used to buy in the city. They're nutritious (for cats, dogs, or humans) and also a painless natural treatment for intestinal worms.

"I wish I had."

"You shouldn't lead people on that way," Heather said with a withering look.

"Some cats," I said, "not only don't get pumpkin seeds on demand, or even regular kibble on demand, but are kept in cages so they can't even catch a cricket."

"Some cats should make better use of their teeth and claws." Heather flexed the six claws on her left fore paw.

"Some cats have lost their claws...and even their teeth, like poor Raggedy Ann." 

"Oh well, she can't have long to live anyway, can she?" Heather began cleaning traces of chicken broth off her fur. 

"Would you want to be e-friends with other calico cats, Heather?"

"You and I are friends." Heather plopped onto my lap and licked my finger. "Now you rub behind my ear, and I lick your finger, and so on, until all the chicken broth is gone. That's what friends are for. They share food, and then they help each other wash the last traces of food off. What are e-friends for?"

"Sometimes e-friends buy things for each other. Sometimes we help each other find the things we want, and the things our cat friends want."

"What's this Mimm going to help us find?"

"Who knows? Maybe we're going to help her find a home of her own."

"Fine with me," Heather purred. "Is it a good long way from here?"

"Well, Mimm is in Vermont. There are thousands, maybe millions, of places that might be good for her, between Vermont and here."

"Excellent. Now rub behind the other ear."

"Or someone might want to rescue this extraordinary-looking calico cat in Atlanta."

https://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/36305228

"A little lower down," Heather directed.

"There are people who might want to find out whether another cat could be as polychromatic and as polydactylous as you are, and, if so, whether that cat could be as delightful to know as you are."

"Do you think that's possible?"

"Probably not for me, because I know you. For other humans who don't know you, who knows?" I had to wait until I was online again today to find this polydactyl languishing in a shelter in North Carolina.

https://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/35345782

Will that "Tickles" cat understand words, adopt kittens, rear kittens communally with another cat, hunt as a team with other cats, or help some human figure out some quirk in the human's computer? Is she a peacemaker, something North Carolina obviously needs now? Is her personality permanently damaged by her regrettable shelter experience? There's only one way to find out, Gentle Readers. 

This polydactyl "tortie" is absolutely not up for adoption.

Heather as a year-old kitten

"Why are you so interested in all those other animals that don't even live near us?" Heather asked, loosening a flake of chicken from her white bib.

"Well, recently I e-met a nice dog whose human wanted to do something nice for you cats. Can't say for sure yet, but I think Barkley's human may have done something nice for all of you. If Barnie isn't very ill, there might be enough money for her medicine, for worm treatments all round, and maybe even enough to make sure poor little Inky won't have a lot of sickly Manx kittens next spring, as well! Barkley's human wants to be an e-friend to animals that don't even live near her."

"Sounds like the nice kind of human...like Adayahi?"

"Well...if torties, calicos, and polydactyls are considered special breeds or types of cats, then veterans, like Adayahi and +LB Johnson , are a special breed or type of human. The rest of us thank them just for being veterans."

"I thank Adayahi for bringing in cat food, but...oh well, whatever," Heather purred. "I think I'll go and wash young Violet's face now. That's what friends are for."

Irene's one surviving kitten, now about twice this size, is not up for adoption either...but I saw a similarly cute face on Petfinder! Check it out!

Morgan Griffith on Veterans' Issues

From U.S. Representative Morgan Griffith (R-VA-9):

"
Improving Veterans’ Care and the Benefits Process
Veterans served our country, giving of themselves, to protect our freedoms and way of life. Now they deserve the highest quality of care and benefits they are due. Recently, the House, with my support, passed the VA Accountability First and Appeals Modernization Act. If passed by the Senate and signed by the President, this legislation will improve accountability at the Department of Veterans Affairs by giving the Secretary of Veterans Affairs the flexibility to remove VA employees for not doing their jobs properly and overhaul the current archaic appeals process for VA disability benefits.
Numerous incidents have surfaced of botched care and unacceptable scheduling practices that resulted in some veterans waiting all day for their appointments, finding care elsewhere, or dying before being treated. Other veterans have had to wait years to get approved for their disability benefits. This most recent House legislation makes meaningful changes to the VA system to ensure more timely answers and better care.
It also streamlines the disability appeals process, while protecting veterans’ due process rights. It does so by allowing veterans to keep the original effective date of their claims throughout the appeals process and rendering faster decisions to veterans.
Importantly, it makes it easier to fire or demote employees for outright misconduct or consistent poor performance who are failing our veterans, provides protections for whistleblowers who report complaints, eliminates bonuses for Senior Executive Service (SES) employees for the next five years, and increases performance and accountability measures for SES employees.
My hope is that the Senate quickly passes this legislation and gets it to the President. Accountability needs to be restored in the VA system and this legislation is one step.
Helping our Veterans Secure Medals
As your Representative, I have the privilege of assisting veterans. Not only do my team and I help veterans with matters involving their benefits or health care, we can also assist with securing their medals earned while serving our country, whether new or replacements.
My district team has worked with numerous veterans and their families to locate the documentation needed to acquire medals awarded but never received or medals never awarded but due. Sometimes my staff is able to make a few calls and track down the information with ease. Other times, they have to work with several agencies and departments and piece together a complicated paper trail.
One medal my team tracked down the paperwork on was particularly memorable. It was awarded to Corporal James C. Rasnake of Abingdon.
On September 15, 1950, in Korea, his platoon came under enemy fire. Sergeant Dale Larsen was seriously wounded. While Sergeant Larsen lay on the ground, an enemy soldier a few feet away took aim at Larsen’s head. Instinctively, Corporal Rasnake shot and killed the attacker. Corporal Rasnake told the immobile Sergeant Larsen to put his arms around his neck and then crawled under heavy machine gun fire, with Sergeant Larsen on his back, to a safer location. He then crafted a stretcher using two rifles to carry Sergeant Larsen approximately one mile to receive aid. Without these quick actions, Sergeant Larsen would not have survived the attack.
I was offered the honor of presenting Corporal Rasnake with a Bronze Star Medal with “V” Device. Instead, I handed it to Sergeant Larsen to give to Corporal Rasnake, who then with tears in his eyes, presented it to the man who saved his life.
This ceremony in D.C. would never have taken place if it had not been for decades of instance by Sergeant Larsen and the work of Ambler Dumler in my office, who through tenacity found long missing paperwork necessary for the medal to be issued.
Ongoing Research in the Ninth
Recently in D.C., I met with the Executive Director of the Salem Research Institute (SRI). You probably have not heard of SRI, but it is a research and development program housed within the Salem VA Medical Center that conducts clinical research funded by pharmaceutical companies, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and/or private donations.
Most of SRI’s research projects center around Phase III and Phase IV clinical trials and finding alternative uses for drugs already approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The Institute hopes to expand its mental health research, given that the Salem VA Medical Center is regarded as a major psychiatric facility in our region.
I am hopeful for SRI’s growth so that we can have better outcomes, new treatments, and cures starting with our veterans but also for all Americans.
If you have questions, concerns, or comments, feel free to contact my office. You can call my Abingdon office at 276-525-1405 or my Christiansburg office at 540-381-5671. To reach my office via email, please visit my website at www.morgangriffith.house.gov.
"

Robert Hurt on Veterans Administration Reforms

From U.S. Representative Robert Hurt (R-VA-5):

"
It has been more than two years since then Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki resigned amidst the height of the agency’s scandal in which veterans could not access the care they needed in a timely manner and suffered from gross misconduct by VA employees. Congress demanded accountability and action, and we thought that the change in leadership and policy at the agency would generate the changes our veterans deserve. While there have been some improvements, the culture at the VA has yet to change, as its leadership remains hesitant to discipline those whose actions are so detrimental to our heroes.
To address the issue, this past week, the House passed the VA Accountability First and Appeals Modernization Act of 2016 by a vote of 310-116. I commend Rep. Jeff Miller (R-FL) for this much-needed bill, which includes a number of provisions including additional authority to the Secretary of the VA to reprimand employees for performance or misconduct, including greater ability to dismiss failing employees. Additionally, it would reform the VA claims appeal process to ensure veterans who file challenges to benefit claim decisions no longer have to wait years to receive their final determinations. This measure provides a simple and effective means to change the culture at the VA – and is imperative to providing our veterans the treatment that they deserve.
We must continue to work to serve our veterans more efficiently, and it is our responsibility to make sure they receive the highest level of care. That is why I, along with Representative Tim Walz (D-Minnesota, introduced the Veterans Administration Legislative and Objective Review (VALOR) Act in July of last year. If adopted, this legislation would require that the VA undergo a biannual, independent audit by a non-governmental entity. VALOR would provide an outside perspective in identifying the problems at the VA and would offer solutions to solve these problems on an ongoing basis. The insincerity and lack of professionalism throughout the VA is unconscionable. The list of transgressions, improper conduct, and lack of accountability goes on and on. We must ensure the VA is doing its job, which is why I supported Rep. Miller’s common-sense measure. There is much that still needs to be done, which is why I will continue to work across the aisle with my colleagues to effectuate change within the VA.
It is high time we hold the VA accountable for their mistreatment of the brave men and women who sacrificed so much to protect us. These heroes deserve to receive the care we have promised and the VA must be inspected from the inside out in order to make sure they are living up to this promise. As we continue to work to implement effective long-term solutions, I encourage our veterans and our active-duty members of the armed services to contact our office if we may ever be of assistance in dealing with the VA or any other federal agency. I am humbled by the opportunity to serve Virginia’s Fifth District, and I remain fully committed to ensuring that our veterans who have given the most receive the benefits they have earned and deserve.
If you need any additional information or if we may be of assistance to you, please visit my website at hurt.house.gov or call my Washington office: (202) 225-4711, Charlottesville office: (434) 973-9631, Danville office: (434) 791-2596, or Farmville office: (434) 395-0120.

I met with Brookneal native Conner Francis and Dr. Jim Pontuso at Hampden-Sydney College.

I visited with Doc Crouch of Virginia's Veterans of Foreign Wars during his time in Washington.

I had the opportunity to speak at Hampden-Sydney College about the Constitution and the rich history of the 5th District.

Sincerely,"
[signature graphic: Robert Hurt]