A CALL TO ACTION

by Keith A. Robinson, Department Commander

With the change in leadership in Congress, we, as disabled veterans and our families may have a historic opportunity to correct decades of neglect of veteran healthcare funding. For years, we have walked the halls of the Senate and House office buildings in Washington, DC attempting to garner support for legislation affecting the healthcare of disabled veterans. We have met with some success on many other issues and you all are to be commended for your participation and support. However, this year, with the change in leadership in the House and Senate, large stumbling blocks to the issue of Mandatory (Assured) Funding of VA Healthcare may have been removed.

You should have all received your copy of our DAV National Magazine for January/February 2007 by now. In this current issue, there are several articles about legislative issues. In addition, our National Commander, Brad Barton highlighted the DAV National Mid-Winter Conference in Washington, DC. I am suggesting that all Chapters & members please consider attending or sending a representative to Washington, DC, if possible. It is important that we show support for our DAV national legislative agenda and for our National Commander as he makes your presentation of the agenda before the Joint Session of the US Senate & House of Representatives Committees on Veterans' Affairs. I do realize that for many reasons, this may not be practical for every one of you, so here is how you can help.

As we all know, elected officials respond to and are influenced by the number of communications they receive on any particular issue. To keep it simple, the focus issue is MANDATORY (ASSURED) FUNDING of VA HEALTHCARE. Therefore, I am proposing that every member, family member, friend and whomever else you can convince, contact their own US Senator and House of Representative member at their local area constituent office. The reason for having a local area contact is that it is just plain easier. You can call and discuss the issues with the staff member designated to handle veteran issues, but remember, phone calls are only worth the paper they are printed on. Phone calls are counted as survey responses. Better yet, you can schedule a meeting with that staff member or even with the Senator/House Member themselves (each Chapter should also consider have such a meeting). You can write a short letter, fax a note or send an email. Remember to include your name, address and phone number in the written communication. Please be specific to the MANDATORY (ASSURED) FUNDING of VA HEALTHCARE. If you have a personal instance of any problems you may have encountered with the VA Healthcare system due to lack of funding, budget cuts or inadequate resources due to Congressional tardiness, please only use this personal experience as an example of the need for having the VA Healthcare adequately funded. Do not use your example as a means to complain about your own VA heath care.

All means to communicate your support of the DAV national legislative agenda to your own elected Members of Congress are worthwhile. If you choose to send a copy of your request for support to the various Washington offices, always remember that posted letters take a longer time to reach the congressional offices due to the elaborate security screening in place in Washington, DC. It is better to send letters to the local office with perhaps a copy to the main office in Washington, DC. Better yet, fax the copy to the Washington, DC office instead. It will be received immediately.

I would like to have all our Members of Congress, both Senate and House of Representatives inundated with your requests for sponsorship, support and passage of the MANDATORY (ASSURED) FUNDING of VA HEALTHCARE. You can all prepare the way for us when our DAV Department of New York Department Delegation meets with our key Members of Congress during the DAV National Mid-winter Conference the last week in February. Remember, we in New York State have powerful allies in Congress, but they all need to hear from you. Each individual Member of Congress, and their staff, will pay more attention to us because they have received a message from a constituent. A message from YOU.

Thank you all in advance for your participation in this vital effort for us all to obtain Mandatory (Assured) Funding for VA Healthcare.

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