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The Congressional Connector
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Veterans Struggle to Obtain Benefits
On July 3, Rep. Levin facilitated a roundtable discussion at the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Bruce Post in Saint Clair Shores, Michigan. Veterans and their families, as well as veterans service representatives, gathered to discuss the problems that many veterans experience accessing the benefits that are available to them. The Veterans Administration (VA) currently has a backlog of 400,000 cases pending for disability determination, which take an average of 177 days to process.
Part of the problem has been a lack of adequate resources to serve the increasing number of veterans in the United States. The new Congress recently adopted a budget that includes a $6.6 billion increase in the VA budget to help address the situation.
For more information, click here.
Lawmakers Call on White House to Close Guantanamo Bay
On June 29, more than 140 members of the House of Representatives, including Rep. Levin, signed a letter to President Bush urging him to close the detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay.
The letter, which was circulated by Rep. Moran of Virginia, stated that “Guantanamo Bay has become a liability in the broader war on terror, as allegations of torture, the indefinite detention of innocent men, and international objections to the treatment of enemy combatants has hurt our credibility as the beacon for freedom and justice.”
For more information, click here.
Bill Introduced to Overhaul Mining Law
Legislation was recently introduced in the House to reform a 135-year-old mining law that has cost taxpayers billions of dollars. Under the 1872 Mining Law, mining companies can extract gold, silver, platinum and other valuable “hardrock” minerals from publicly-owned lands without paying royalties to the American people. This arrangement stands in stark contrast to other mining industries that pay royalties to extract oil, coal, and natural gas from public lands. In addition, there are now more than 500,000 abandoned hardrock mines in the U.S. that will cost billions of dollars to clean up.
Rep. Rahall of West Virginia has introduced the Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act [H.R. 2262] to end these abusive mining practices. Rep. Levin has cosponsored this legislation.
For additional information, click here.
The Week Ahead
This week, the House of Representatives will consider H.R. 2956, the “Responsible Redeployment from Iraq Act.” This legislation would require the Secretary of Defense to begin the safe and orderly redeployment of troops from Iraq within 120 days and to complete the reduction and transition to a limited presence by April 1, 2008.
The House will also consider legislation [H.R. 2669, the “College Cost Reduction Act of 2007" ] to make college more affordable and provide the single largest investment in higher education since the GI bill. The House is also expected to debate a bill [H.R. 1851] to reform the federal rental housing voucher program.
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