Search
Constituent Services
E-News Signup 2
For Kids Only 2
 |
Veteran's
Rep. McCarthy is sincerely grateful to the brave men and women currently serving overseas, as well as those men and women who have served in the past. She is passionately dedicated to helping ensure all veterans receive the services, benefits, and assistance they’ve rightfully earned. As such, she is advancing a legislative agenda that addresses the concerns of our nation’s veterans. As a Member of the 110th Congress, Rep. McCarthy is fighting to provide real support for our troops and veterans, including a New GI education bill, the largest veterans’ funding increase in history, critical reforms to our military health system, and a pay raise for our troops that exceeds the President’s request.
GI Bill for education benefits:
Since World War II, the United States government has been offering educational assistance to returning veterans. In the 1940s, the first G.I. Bill helped transform notions of equality in American society. The Post-World War II G.I. Bill paid for veterans’ tuition, books, fees, a monthly stipend, and other training costs. Approximately 7.8 million veterans, out of a wartime veteran population of about 15 million veterans, used the benefits given under the original G.I. Bill in some form.
Over the last several decades, Congress passed a number of other G.I. Bills that also provided educational assistance to our veterans. However, benefit awards under the subsequent G.I. Bills have not been as expansive as our nation’s original Post-War II G.I. Bill. Currently, veterans’ educational benefits are administered under the Montgomery G.I. Bill. This program, however, was designed for peacetime, not wartime, service and does not adequately provide the educational assistance our brave troops deserve.
Rep. McCarthy is an original co-sponsor of H.R. 2642, the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act, which was introduced in the House on April 9, 2008, passed in the House on June 19, 2008, as part Supplemental Appropriations bill, and became PL-110-252 on June 30, 2008, when it was signed by President Bush. In short, this law:
- Increases educational benefits available to all members of the military who have served on active duty since September 11, 2001, including activated reservists and National Guard. To qualify, veterans must have served at least three to thirty-six months of qualified active duty, beginning on or after September 11, 2001.
- Provides for educational benefits to be paid in amounts linked to the amount of active duty served in the military after 9/11. Generally, veterans would receive some amount of assistance proportional to their service for 36 months, which equals four academic years. Veterans would still be eligible to receive any incentive-based supplemental educational assistance from their military branch for which they qualify.
- Allows veterans pursuing an approved program of education to receive payments covering the established charges of their program, up to the cost of the most expensive in-state public school, plus a monthly stipend equivalent to housing costs in their area. The bill would allow additional payments for tutorial assistance, as well as licensure and certification tests.
- Creates a new program in which the government will agree to match, dollar for dollar, any voluntary additional contributions to veterans from institutions whose tuition is more expensive than the maximum educational assistance provided under the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill.
Funding for the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (VA):
Ensuring that the VA is able to provide quality care and services to America’s veterans is one of Rep. McCarthy’s top priorities. Rep. McCarthy is proud to be part of the 110th Congress, which appropriated an extra $6.7 billion over the previous year, for the largest single funding increase in the 77-year history of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Some of this funding has gone towards:
- Strengthening the quality of health care for 5.8 million patients, including about 263,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, in the 5th year of the war in Iraq
- Investing in much-needed maintenance for VA health care facilities and treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injury for returning veterans;
- Reducing the backlog of veterans (400,000 claims) waiting for their earned benefits by adding 1,800 claims processors.
Additionally, Rep. McCarthyis an original co-sponsor of H.R. 2514, the Assured Funding for Veterans Health Care Act, which guarantees funding for the VA on a specific formula, rather than subject to annual appropriations. The bill iscurrently being reviewed in the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, Subcommittee on Health.
Veterans’ Health Care:
Rep. McCarthy is deeply committed to improving health care for the brave men and women who have given their all to keeping our country safe and secure. They deserve the best possible treatment, and, as such, she is a co-sponsor of the following veterans’ health care bills:
H.R. 3819, Veterans Emergency Care Reimbursement: Requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to reimburse veterans receiving emergency treatment in non-Department of Veterans Affairs facilities.
H.R. 1222, the Keep Our Promise to America's Military Retirees Act: Provides Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) coverage to the following eligible beneficiaries:
- Members or former members of the Armed Forces entitled to military retired or retainer pay
- Non-remarried former spouses who were married to a member for at least 20 years, during which such member performed at least 20 years of retirement-creditable military service
- Dependents of deceased qualifying members or former members
- Dependents of living members or former members
H.R. 579, Military Retirees Health Care Protection Act: Blocks increases to TRICARE military health insurance premiums, co-payments for pharmaceuticals, deductibles for inpatient care, and premiums for those in the Reserves and Guard who are enrolled in TRICARE
H.R. 1354, the Lane Evans Veterans Health and Benefits Improvement Act of 2007: Makes a veteran who served on active duty during a period of war eligible for a mental health evaluation and hospital care, medical services, nursing home care, and family and marital counseling for any identified mental health condition, notwithstanding insufficient medical evidence to conclude that the condition is attributable to such service
Walter Reed
Walter Reed is the first stop for many of our brave men and women returning from Iraq. These soldiers risked their lives defending this great Nation and they expect no reward in return for their bravery. They have lost friends in combat, and they have seen countless comrades lose limbs and suffer horrible wounds. Rep. McCarthy believes Walter Reed is one of the best hospitals in the Nation. Unfortunately, as discovered by the Washington Post in February 2007, the treatment many of our troops received at Walter Reed’s outpatient care center was substandard and negligent. Conditions at Walter Reed’s Building 18 in particular, even though they are being improved today, should have never gotten to that condition. It is unacceptable, and Rep. McCarthy believes Members of Congress have a responsibility to make sure it doesn't happen again.
Rep. McCarthy voted in favor of H.R. 4986, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008. This bill, which was signed into law by President Bush on January 28, 2008, becoming PL 110-181, takes the first steps to address the problems brought to light at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
· Improves outpatient medical care for wounded service members at military health care facilities;
- Begins restoring integrity and efficiency to disability evaluations and cutting bureaucratic red-tape; and
- Improves the transition of wounded service members from the Armed Forces to the VA system.
Supporting our Troops, Veterans & Their Families
Our brave men and women in uniform are putting their lives on the line every day in service to our country, and thousands of patriotic Americans on Long Island have proudly served their country’s call to service in past times of need. With soldiers leaving for and returning from Iraq and Afghanistan daily, Rep. McCarthy believes it is imperative to give them the hero’s treatment they’ve earned and deserve. Accordingly, she is a co-sponsor of the following legislation:
H.R. 303, the Retired Pay Restoration Act: Expresses the sense of Congress that military retired pay should not be reduced because a military retiree is also eligible for veterans' disability compensation awarded for a service-connected
H.R. 2943, the Benefit Rating Acceleration for Veteran Entitlements (BRAVE) Act of 2007: Requires that if a veteran receives a determination from the VA of total disability they can also receive Social Security benefits without having to go through a separate evaluation
H.R. 3298, the 21st Century Service members Protection Act: Allows individuals called to military service to terminate or suspend a service contract after the date of entry into service or the date of the military orders