Feb 27, 2015
WASHINGTON — More than 500 members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. are arriving in the Nation’s Capital this weekend to urge their members of Congress to end sequestration, which is set to restart Oct. 1.
“America is still a nation at war, and the looming restart of mandatory sequestration will have a devastating impact on the ability of our military to respond when and where necessary, on homeland security, and on military quality-of-life and veterans’ programs everywhere,” said VFW National Commander John W. Stroud. “Our members— all voting constituents—will use this face-to-face opportunity to demand that their Congress put an end to the sequester, to defeat continued attempts to force veterans, service members and their families to shoulder an unfair share of the nation’s debt, to approve advance appropriations for all VA accounts, and to fight to preserve the safety and security of the United States and the continued viability of the All-Volunteer Military.”
Stroud is scheduled to present the VFW’s legislative positions at 10 a.m., Wednesday, in testimony before a joint hearing of the Senate and House Veterans Affairs Committees in the Dirksen Senate Office Building. That evening he will also present Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) with the VFW’s 2015 Congressional Award, which since 1964 has been presented annually to one sitting member of the House or Senate for significant legislative contributions on behalf of those who have worn the uniform.
“With eight years on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee — two of them as chairman — it is no understatement to say that Senator Sanders has taken care of wounded, ill and injured veterans and their surviving family members,” said Stroud. “He has been a commanding voice against changing the COLA calculations for disabled veterans, for the proper care and treatment of women veterans, homeless veterans, for better employment opportunities and improved access to mental health programs, as well as increased congressional oversight of the VA claims processing transformation,” he said.
“And when the VA imploded last year, he was the lead negotiator for the Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act, which the president signed into law last summer,” said the VFW national commander. “The VA still has an uphill climb to fix what’s broken, to hold employees appropriately accountable, and to restore the faith of veterans in their VA, but veterans everywhere should be proud and comforted to know that this United States senator has their back in Congress.”
Other legislative conference highlights include:
The VFW will stream live video of the 2015 Voice of Democracy Parade of Winners beginning at 6 p.m. (EST), Monday, and video of the VFW national commander’s congressional testimony will begin streaming Wednesday at 2 p.m. (EST). Visit http://www.vfw.org/legislativeconference/ to access the stream directly or use the “on-demand” feature to watch at any time. Veterans and supporters can also follow the VFW on the web at www.vfw.org, as well as on social media. Look for #VFWHill2015 on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.