GALESBURG - Rep. Phil Hare, D-Rock Island, may introduce legislation to give disabled veterans a portion of their claim as soon as they file for it.

Currently, a veteran may wait at least six months to receive the benefit he or she has earned.

"That's a long time to go without money if you're disabled," Hare said Thursday afternoon in a telephone interview with The Register-Mail.

Hare is developing a reputation as a hearty advocate for veterans in his first term representing the 17th District, following in the footsteps of his predecessor and former boss, Lane Evans.

Last month, Hare called for the resignation of Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson after learning $4 million in bonuses had been given to senior VA personnel while a backlog of 600,000 disabled veterans awaited claims. This followed two breaches of security at the VA when information was taken home in laptops, staff shortages and a $1 billion shortfall in the department.

"I said, that's enough," Hare recalled. "I think it sends a terrible message to veterans."

Nicholson did not heed Hare's call and even talked to the congressman after appearing before the House Veterans Affairs Committee on which Hare serves. It was at that meeting that Hare first suggested paying perhaps 50 percent of a disabled vet's claim when the application is made.

"We had a cordial conversation," Hare said. "He thought it was a good idea."

Hare discounts fears that some veterans would file illegitimate claims to get the upfront payment.

"They're not going to be making up that they lost a limb or have a brain injury," he said.

In nearly all cases, the money will reach the veteran eventually. This plan would simply give them an initial payment to help while they wait, he said.

"I think I'm going to drop legislation very soon," Hare said.

Veteran issues are Hare's passion. He talks quickly and knowledgeably about them, apologizing for "filibustering" his listener before mentioning that 5,000 veterans committed suicide last year.

A suicide hotline has been approved, but it will not be working for several months.

"I said, this should have been up and running a long time ago," he said.

An issue Hare he feels strongly about is the promise made after World War II to give benefits to Fillipino veterans who helped American troops battle the Japanese. Only 22,000 survive from an original number of 250,000. Hare has proposed paying them $500 a month as an acknowledgement of their valuable help.

"This is a 61-year promise," he said. "They're not getting a penny."

It is the same, he said, with World War II veterans of the Merchant Marines, who were considered contractors and, therefore, not eligible for benefits.

"They're getting nothing," Hare said.

Making matters worse for the current situation, he said, are the many veterans who will return as a group from Iraq, many suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome, when a troop reduction begins in earnest.

"This is going to put a huge strain on the VA," he said. "We better be ready for it."

Hare also wants veterans coming back from Iraq to be monitored for five years, instead of the current limit of 18 months.

"If you've got post-traumatic stress syndrome, that may not manifest itself for a couple years," he said.

Hare said all of these things are simply the right thing to do. But he noted, too, a practical reason to take care of veterans. Their children may one day consider enlisting in the military.

If their father or mother was not taken care of following their service, he said, the child may have second thoughts.

"They'll say, 'Wait a minute,'" Hare said.