Nevada has one of the fastest growing veterans’ communities in the nation. Today, one in six Nevadans are veterans, and this number will continue to grow in the future. Our soldiers, veterans, and their families deserve nothing but the best from our government, and I have long fought to ensure that veterans receive the retirement and health care benefits that they were promised when they enlisted.

Unfortunately, the President’s budget requests have not kept pace with the demand for veterans’ health care. The President’s proposed Fiscal Year 2008 (FY08) budget once again has forced veterans to pay more out of their own pockets for health care, underestimates the needs of service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, and under-funds key research, training, and management programs necessary to provide efficient and quality service to veterans.

21st Century G.I. Bill: A Victory For Nevada’s Veterans
I take a great deal of pride in standing up for our nation’s veterans, and I have worked tirelessly over the past year to ensure that Congress honors its commitments to our troops. America’s service members have already sacrificed so much in the name of freedom; the least we can do as statesmen is fulfill our pledges to them and their families. That is why I am proud to have been a cosponsor of Senator Jim Webb’s original legislation, the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2007 (S.22), on which the new G.I. Bill is based.

The new G.I. Bill will help our veterans readjust to the civilian life we enjoy because of the sacrifices they make and it will help them afford an education so they will have the tools to succeed when they come home. At a time when two million men and women have fought in Iraq and Afghanistan and when our troops have had to endure multiple deployments, stop-loss policies, and insufficient equipment, giving them the opportunity to fuel our future economy is the least we can do. We can never fully repay our bravest few for their service, but with this G.I. Bill we can fulfill our pledge that our support for the troops not end with their tours of duty.

New Veterans’ Hospital
I am pleased to report that in the 110th Congress, I ensured that the remaining $341 million will be allocated for the new veterans’ hospital as part of the FY08 veterans spending bill. In the last three years, I have secured more than $600 million for the new veterans’ hospital in Nevada. When all phases are complete in 2012, the new VA Southern Nevada Health Care System Medical Center complex will consist of 90 inpatient beds, a 120 bed Nursing Home Care Unit, an Ambulatory Care Center, administrative and support functions, and space for collocated Veterans Benefits Administration offices.

Last year, I also worked to provide $420,000 towards funding a homeless veterans’ shelter and a job training program in Southern Nevada. $250,000 has been allocated through the Veterans Workforce Investment Program to address the employment and training needs of eligible veterans and $170,000 has been allocated through the Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program to reintegrate homeless veterans into the labor force.

Concurrent Receipt
For years, I have been fighting to win fair benefits for disabled veterans. In past Congresses the Senate has passed my legislation to allow concurrent receipt for veterans with at least 50 percent disability rating to become eligible for full concurrent receipt. Most recently, I introduced legislation that will restore equity for disabled retirees that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has rated as unemployable. This is the only group of 100 percent disabled retirees who still suffer the unfair disability offset from their retired pay. My amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill for Fiscal Year 2008, which was signed into law on January 28, 2008, will finally permit this group of veterans to receive both their military retired pay and full disability compensation from the VA. Under current law, the unemployable veterans would not have their offset eliminated until October 2009. To address this problem, my amendment to the new defense bill will accelerate that fix to October 2008 and also restore back retired pay to these veterans—retroactive to January 1, 2005. Considering all of these improvements, some have already called this the greatest victory for concurrent receipt in the last five years.

Combat-Related Special Compensation
I also believe that there is no reason to deny veterans who have served our country honorably, the right to their retirement benefits simply because their service also caused them to become disabled. For me, this is a simple matter of fundamental fairness, and that is why I have kept fighting to expand Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC). Another of my amendments to the recently enacted the Defense Authorization Bill for Fiscal Year 2008 expanded CRSC eligibility to disabled veterans whose combat wounds force them into medical retirement before attaining 20 years of service. The current law requires these wounded veterans to fund their own disability compensation. We have ended that practice by doing the right thing for these American heroes.

Veterans Homes
Due to space inadequacies, the residents of the home are currently eating their meals in eight separate locations. This decentralized distribution of both staff and residents has created a safety concern at meal times. As a result, I have called on the Veterans Administration to ensure that the Boulder City Veterans Home would receive a VA state home construction grant to establish a central dining facility.

In addition, I have been working to provide the federal funding necessary to build a new veterans home in Northern Nevada.

Community-Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOC)
I worked with the CARES commission on veterans health care recognized to provide a CBOC in Fallon and an expansion of services at the Reno VA Medical Center. I am also continuing my efforts to develop a new CBOC in Elko.