Legion centennial coin update

By James Oxford, Legislative Commission chairman

The American Legion is still gathering support and co-sponsors for The American Legion Centennial Coin Act.

The bills, introduced in both the House (H.R. 2519) and Senate (S. 1182), would require the U.S. Mint to produce a centennial coin in celebration of The American Legion turning 100. Efforts on adding more co-sponsors will begin once the House is back in session on Sept. 5. 

Since members of Congress are on recess and in their respective states, American Legion members are encouraged to contact them to support this important legislation. Take action now at http://capwiz.com/legion/dbq/officials/.

House approves expansion of Post-9/11 GI Bill

On July 24, the House passed H.R. 3218, the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Education Assistance Act of 2017, by a 405-0 vote, which would make significant changes to the Post-9/11 GI Bill. These changes include:

  • Elimination of a requirement that veterans use their benefits within 15 years of leaving active-duty service;
  • Expansion of benefits for reservists, Purple Heart recipients and surviving dependents;
  • Retroactively restore benefits to veterans affected by recent school closures, and;
  • Additional funds to GI Bill users pursuing degrees in science, technology, engineering and math.

This measure now goes to the Senate for action. A companion bill, S. 1598, was approved by the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee on July 26.

House acts on veterans legislation

On July 24, several pieces of legislation related to veterans passed on the House floor. These include:

H.R. 1058, the VA Provider Equity Act, addresses the pay rates and career movement of podiatrists.

H.R. 1690, the Department of Veterans Affairs Bonus Transparency Act, requires reporting of all bonuses paid to VA executives.

H.R. 1848, the Veterans Affairs Medical Scribe Pilot Act of 2017, implements a pilot project to use scribes to assist physicians in a few VA medical centers.

H.R. 2006, the VA Procurement Efficiency and Transparency Act, improves the procurement practices of VA.

H.R. 2749, the Protecting Business Opportunities for Veterans Act of 2017, improves the oversight of contracts awarded by the VA secretary to small business concerns owned and controlled by veterans.

H.R. 2781, the Ensuring Veteran Enterprise Participation in Strategic Sourcing Act, directs the VA secretary to certify the sufficient participation of small business concerns owned and controlled by veterans and small business concerns owned by veterans with service-connected disabilities in contracts under the Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative.

These measures now go to the Senate for further action.

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