I wish that more elected members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives worked as hard as Sen. Al Franken does in recognizing and supporting our military and veterans. Before he was elected, Al Franken visited our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan several times to meet, greet, and entertain our troops. He has continued to work to help our active military and vets in many ways.
WebWire:
Under a new bill proposed by Senator Al Franken (D-Minn), some veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (known as PTSD) will get service dogs as part of a pilot program run by the government.
Post-traumatic stress disorder is a psychological disorder affecting individuals after exposure to profoundly traumatic events. Nearly a third of the soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan report symptoms of severe PTSD, according to a new study by the Rand Corp.....
"Service or therapy dogs are specially trained animals who can ease PTSD symptoms by providing psychological support and comfort" says Joe Dwyer, dog trainer, motivational speaker and author of the new book "Shelby’s Grace" "These dogs help suffering veterans leave the war behind and come back to real life."
Thank you, Sen. Franken, for continuing to help our troops and veterans!
Unfortunately, Rep. Michele Bachmann, doesn't feel the same way. Bachmann has proposed drastic cuts to veterans benefits, especially veterans health care. You really have to wonder if Bachmann knows that we are involved in two wars, with a massive amount of returning veterans suffering with war wounds and PTSD. Just when they need the services of the Veterans Administration the most, Bachmann wants to pull the rug out from under them.
NewYorkTimes:
For years, federal spending on the military and veterans affairs seemed nearly as sacrosanct as Social Security. But with some House Republicans now talking about cutting the Pentagon budget, veterans groups have grown nervous that the Department of Veterans Affairs will be next. And so today, a number of groups took preemptive action, vigorously blasting a proposal for V.A. budget cuts that came from a Tea Party leader, Representative Michele Bachmann, Republican of Minnesota.
The veterans groups were responding to a plan recently posted on Representative Bachmann’s congressional Web site to cut federal spending by $400 billion. The plan calls for deep cuts to just about every federal agency, and veterans affairs is not spared: She proposed lopping $4.5 billion from its annual $125 billion budget, including by capping increases to health care spending for veterans and reducing some disability compensation.
The first group to respond was Veterans for Common Sense. In a message to its membership this week, the group called the proposal “outrageous” because 10,000 new veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are flowing into the veterans health system each month....
I still do not understand how Bachmann was re-elected. This latest proposal by Bachmann is morally wrong and heartless.
