BARACK OBAMA SUPPORTS AMERICA'S VETERANS
“Honoring these ideals must mean honoring the men and women who defend them in the uniform of the United States....It requires giving them the care and benefits they have earned. And it requires standing shoulder to shoulder with our veterans and their families after the guns fall silent and the cameras are turned off.”
—Barack Obama, Fargo, N.D., 7/3/08
Obama: Allow Excluded Vets Back into VA.
Obama, a member of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, says one of his first acts as president would be reversing the 2003 ban on enrolling modest-income
veterans for VA care. The ban, he says, has denied care to a million veterans. (Obama website, accessed 6/25/08)
Obama Supports 21st Century GI Bill. Obama voted for the 21st Century G.I. Bill to “provide every returning veteran with a real chance to afford a college education” without harming retention. (Barack Obama speech in West Virginia, 5/12/08)
Obama Co-Sponsored Bill to Help Veterans Register to Vote. Many veterans living at VA facilities, especially those with disabilities, are unable to get to voter registration sites. Obama is among the co-sponsors of a bill requiring the VA to provide voter registration services to vets in its care. (Press release, 7/22/08)
Obama Sponsored Dignity for Wounded Warriors Act to Improve the Quality of Care
at Military Hospitals. Obama, who sponsored legislation improving the care of veterans at military hospitals, said, “Caring for our returning heroes is one of the things we can still get right about this war, and that’s why the deterioration of the conditions at Walter Reed is both appalling and unacceptable.” (Reuters, 2/20/07; The Hill, 2/21/07; S. 713, 2/28/07)
Obama Introduced the Veterans Homelessness Prevention Act. Obama introduced the Veterans Homelessness Prevention Act, “which would launch an innovative pilot program to pair housing for at-risk veterans and veteran families with supportive services in an effort to prevent veterans from falling into homelessness.” (Obama Senate Press Release, 11/9/07)
Obama Co-Sponsored Bill Providing Additional $1.5 Billion for Veterans’ Care. Obama co-sponsored a bill that led to a $1.5 billion increase in veterans’ medical care. (Time, 2/20/06)
Obama Wants to Improve Mental Health Care for Vets. Obama says he would recruit more mental health professionals, improve screening, make PTSD benefits fairer and establish standards of care for traumatic brain injury. (Obama website, accessed 6/25/08)
