100 Days Challenge
Dear Everyone,
Today, all eyes are focused on our nation’s capitol, and IAVA is there to witness history.
After the parties, parades and balls end this evening, the real work begins, as President Obama prepares to tackle the considerable challenges facing our nation. While times are tough for the country as a whole, the economic crisis is hitting our newest generation of heroes especially hard. Please take a minute to help us ensure that Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are at the top of President Obama’s list of priorities.
Click here to sign an open letter, asking President Obama to ensure veterans are a top priority.
We’re calling on the Obama administration to take bold action on the following four items within his first 100 days in office:
- Ensure that veterans don’t have to fight for funding for hospitals and clinics. Because of delays and backlogs in Congress, the VA budget is often passed late, forcing facilities to ration care. We must advance-fund the VA budget to match the Independent Budget recommendations made by leading Veterans Service Organizations, including IAVA.
- Prioritize veterans in the economic stimulus package. Caring for our veterans isn’t just the right thing to do- it is a sound economic investment. IAVA calls for tax credits for patriotic employers that hire new veterans and reservists, support for veterans struggling with student loans, and investment in shovel-ready projects like repairing veterans’ hospitals and cemeteries.
- Implement GI Bill transferability. The historic post-9/11 GI Bill, passed last year, included a provision to allow servicemembers to transfer their GI Bill education funding to a spouse or dependent. But the military has been dragging its feet on getting the regulations in place, so servicemembers are still waiting for that benefit. The Obama Administration can and must get the bureaucracy moving and make this benefit a reality.
- Aggressively address troops’ mental health injuries. Today, the military has a dangerous shortage of mental health professionals. The Obama Administration should act immediately to implement new recruitment and retention incentives to encourage psychiatrists and psychologists to join and stay in the military.
Show your support and sign the open letter by clicking here.
We look forward to serving as a resource to the new administration, but we’ll be watching to ensure that they uphold the responsibility they have to those who have served our country. IAVA will continue to hold Washington, DC accountable so the brave men and women returning from Iraq and Afghanistan receive the support they deserve.
Thank you for making your voice heard.
Sincerely,
Paul Rieckhoff
Iraq Veteran
Executive Director & Founder
Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA)
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