PatrickMcHenry

Veterans Affairs

A Veterans Administration (VA) clinic was first proposed in 1992 to improve the quality of health care for veterans of the Tenth District.  Upon arriving in Congress in 2005, Patrick McHenry built bipartisan support to cut the bureaucratic red tape that had stalled the project for years.   The Congressman brought the Secretary of Veterans Affairs into his office to make the case for expediting a VA clinic in Hickory, NC.

With relentless pressure and persuasion, the clinic was finally approved and opened its doors on June 4, 2008.  In its first phase, the VA clinic is serving 5,500 local veterans and is staffed by 39 full-time health care personnel and 5 primary care physicians.  The second phase is planned for 2010 and will serve as many as 11,000 local veterans with primary care, mental health services and eye care.  A second VA clinic is now scheduled to open in Rutherford County.

Congressman McHenry was recognized by the North Carolina Chapters of the American Legion and Marine Corps League for his work in getting the VA clinic opened.

Patrick McHenry helped pass the modernized and more generous GI Bill.  The new GI Bill provides qualified veterans with the equivalent of four years of college education at a state university.  Congressman McHenry supported a provision in the bill that allows benefits to be transferable to spouses and children.

Congressman McHenry voted for the Job Creation for Entrepreneurship Act of 2009, directing the Small Business Administration to establish Veteran Business Centers that will provide veterans' entrepreneurial development, counseling of veteran-owned small businesses, and government procurement assistance to veterans.