On Monday, he told local media he fully intends to go ahead with his good idea for getting money into the hands of disabled veterans faster. We've been on board since he proposed the notion last summer that those disabled in the line of duty -- in this war and others -- should be treated in much the same way the Internal Revenue Service handles taxpayers due refunds.

Similar to the way the IRS treats the average American's tax return, the Veterans Administration would presume that the disabled vet making a claim is innocent until proven guillty. The VA would trust those vets to tell the truth, process a claim immediately, and then wait for the paperwork to clear. Those who were motivated by greed, not need could still be found out through VA "audits" and forced to pay back false claims. Meanwhile, disabled veterans and families who desperately need benefits soldiers earned in defense of their country would quickly get the money they deserve, something that's not happening now.

How bad is it? Those making claims now wait an average of 177 days before they get benefits. Claims that are denied and appealed can take as long as 12 years, Rep. Hare says. His plan also could aid 23,000 veterans injured in Afghanistan and Iraq the agency is denying benefits to for what they call pre-existing conditions. "From my perspective, that's about as mean a thing as you could do," Rep. Hare said. "We have 600,000 backed-up claims. We're going to have more people coming back from this war; a lot more with post-traumatic stress."

We share his outrage over cases like the Chillicothe soldier who Rep. Hare said is seeking to keep his re-enlistment bonus. The soldier, whose job it was to clean up the boy parts left after bombings, had been discharged because of the stress. Then there is the Marine who lost his hearing when a mortar shell went off. He tried seven times to get his disability. The VA denied benefits, Rep. Hare said, because of an alleged pre-existing personality disorder.

"VA should stand for veteran's assistance, not veteran’s adversary," the congressman said Monday. To fix what's broken, Rep. Hare is crafting a bill that Congress can accept. One compromise colleagues suggest to make the bill more palatable is to provide a portion of the benefits immediately -- say 60 percent -- until the paperwork is fully vetted by the system. We continue to maintain that those wounded in action deserve the full 100 percent to which they are entitled immediately. If, however, a 60-40 split is the only way to move this good idea forward, we support it.

Cheers to Congressman Hare for pushing ahead with this plan. We urge others in Congress to sign on as soon as a bill is introduced. Too many of our wounded have waited too long for Uncle Sam to do right by them. End their way, now!

When nobody answers phone

Also Monday, Rep. Hare shared the Quad-Cities frustration over Illinois' failure to approve a statewide construction bill. More than $1 billion in federal dollars waits in Washington for the state match needed for their release. Meanwhile, talks will soon begin on the next transportation bill and Rep. Hare worries that it will be hard to sell additional dollars for Illinois when the ones already approved have yet to be allocated. Other critical projects like Western Illinois University Quad-Cities campus also languish in the bill. The trouble is, no one is willing to show leadership on the issue; not the legislature and not Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Mr. Hare said he's called and left messages for the governor, who is also a former member of Illinois congressional delegation 18 times. "He's never returned a call," the congressman said. Why are we not surprised?