|
House Candidate: Veterans Deserve Peace Of Mind
by Phyllis Busansky
Congressional Candidate for District 9
If there is one aspect of life that we must guarantee for all of our veterans, upon their return from service, it must be peace of mind. Peace of mind in the form of benefits that are easily obtained by the veteran and quickly disbursed by the Veterans Administration. The soul of our nation belongs to our veterans, and we must provide them sufficient relief.
Several months ago General Claudia Kennedy came to the Tampa Bay area to help me with my campaign for Congress. She now spends her time traveling the country to help candidates like myself understand the issues most pressing to our veterans. We held a roundtable discussion at the Veterans Museum near Brandon with a group of our former service men and women.
The roundtable highlighted a variety of problems including inadequate overall funding for the Veterans Administration, and the unfairness of a policy known as concurrent receipt. Concurrent receipt requires that an overwhelming majority of retiree’s military-retired pay be reduced by the amount of any VA disability that is received.
All agreed that this policy should be changed and is patently unfair. Veterans also raised the issue of more funding for the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital to provide both parking and more resources to the extremely busy facility. (The current situation requires veterans in Hillsborough County to be bussed over to the hospital from a mall parking lot.) The discussion was as disheartening as it was informative. We ask our military to protect our country, our families, and our way of life. The least we can do is protect their retirement!
During my years of public service, I have gained national recognition as a leader who has fought for affordable health care. My dedication to such causes will not stop when working on veterans issues. In the midst of our current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, we must show our returning soldiers that their service has not been carried out in vain.
“The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, is directly proportional to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated,” said George Washington.
In the face of declining military enrollment, we cannot hope to attract our young people to the truly honorable task of the soldier if we continue not to provide our veterans, in clear and concise ways, access to benefits. Continuing to bog down the system with unnecessary paper pushing and an unchecked, time-wasting bureaucracy constitutes a national tragedy. Beyond our yellow ribbons, our flag-flying, and our prayers, we must steadfastly commit ourselves to providing for our national heroes upon their return.
Phyllis Busansky is the Democratic candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives for District 9, which spans portions of Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties, including Safety Harbor, Oldsmar, Westchase, East Lake and Tarpon Springs.
|
Front Page 
Op-Ed 
