The Legion’s System Worth Saving Task Force is conducting a veterans town hall meeting tonight at 6:30 p.m. at the Charles C. Anderson Post 148, 705 E. Lewis St. Veterans who receive health care at the Fort Wayne VA Medical Center are encouraged to attend.
An Economic Division staffer is meeting with Michael Dakduk, executive director of Student Veterans of America, and Ryan Gallucci, deputy director of Veterans of Foreign Wars, to discuss in-state tuition legislation, as well as other higher education policy and legislation affecting America’s servicemembers, veterans and their families.
The American Legion will submit testimony to the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Health regarding various pieces of veterans legislation. The Legion also will attend the House Appropriations Committee hearing on the markup of fiscal 2014 MilCon/VA appropriations.
Zack Hearn, national appeals representative team leader for the Legion, is visiting the Department of Louisiana in New Orleans to train service officers on benefit claims appeals, the Fully Developed Claim program and VA Form 21-22 (which authorizes power of attorney).
Americanism/Children & Youth Staff are representing the Legion at the national meetings of the Boy Scouts of America in Grapevine, Texas. The American Legion will be represented at the Community Relations Task Force and All Markets Symposium, where both sessions will address ways that organizations such as The American Legion can grow and improve sponsorship of Scout units.
Verna Jones, director of the Legion’s Veterans Affairs & Rehabilitation Division, is participating in a Washington conference call with VA officials and external media to discuss VA’s Fully Developed Claims initiative.
A member of the Legion’s Economic Division staff is meeting with Krystal Brumfield, legal counsel to Sen. Mary Landrieu, to discuss military credentialing and higher education legislation.
Staff from the Legion’s Economic Division are meeting with the office of Sen. Bernie Sanders today to discuss the HAVEN Act. If enacted, the HAVEN Act would establish a pilot program to authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to make grants to nonprofit organizations to rehabilitate and modify homes for disabled and low-income veterans.
Economic Division staff is participating as a working group member at the Department of Energy (DoE) with representatives from National Institute of Building Sciences, U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), Federal Energy Management Program, the Energy Efficiency Hub in Philadelphia and some veterans credentialing experts to understand all the moving pieces of the DoE, GSA and military veteran workforce credentialing efforts and how those pieces fit together, and identify where the remaining challenges are and what the solutions are to those challenges.
Legislative Division staff are attending a hearing by the House Small Business Subcommittee on Agriculture, Energy and Trade, “Keystone XL Pipeline and Small Business Jobs.”
