Tag Archives: news for veterans

Possible student loan debt relief for disabled veterans


More than 33,000 disabled veterans with unpaid federal student loans could possibly be granted debt relief under the new Federally Requiring Earned Education-Debt Discharges for Veterans Act (FREED Vets Act) proposed last week. According to an article published by Military Times, “The proposal follows moves by the Departments of Education and Veterans Affairs last year to alert more…

Big increase for VA budget


Lawmakers have approved a nearly $400 billion spending bill that includes a large increase in Veterans Affairs spending for 2020 and also restricts the President’s ability to move military construction budget allocations into southern border wall construction. According to an article published by Military Times, “The passage — by a 227-194 party line vote — was the second major…

Immigration Fails to Give Veterans Special Consideration


A report released last week showed that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) does not take a person’s military service into consideration before deporting them. In addition to this, ICE does not track how many veterans are deported but does require that their agents look at employment history, health, community service, deployments to war zones, military decorations,…

Veterans owed refunds for incorrect fees


This week, a report was released by the Department of Veterans Affairs that states that disabled veterans have mistakenly been charged fees when taking out home loans. Now, the federal government owes millions of dollars in refunds to those veterans. According to an article published by abc News, “The Department of Veterans Affairs issued more than $280…

Officials drop appeal awarding benefits to ‘blue water’ Navy veterans


In a filing with the Supreme Court Tuesday, the Department of Justice dropped its appeal of a federal court decision awarding disability benefits to tens of thousands of veterans who claim their illnesses are related to the exposure of toxic chemicals while serving. According to an article published by MilitaryTimes.com, the “Congressional Budget Office officials had estimated that…

‘Blue Water’ veteran benefits one of 18 bills approved


Lats week, a Congressional committee approved a variety of legislation for veterans that included bills to extend benefits to “Blue Water” Navy veterans and create a fourth administration within the Department of Veteran Affairs. According to an article published by ConnectingVetsRadio.com, the committee Chairman Mark Takano “launched the meeting by highlighting the first bill on…

Two new bills introduced to support veterans exposed to burn pits


Lawmakers and advocates have urged new action to support those exposed to toxic burn pits that are assumed to be the cause of a long list of chronic illnesses. Today, more than 173,000 servicemembers who spent time in Iraq have signed their names onto a national government registry that tracks exposure to burn pits, oil well fires,…

Burn Pit Exposure Continues to Affect Veterans and Their Families


Open-air burn pits the U.S. military uses to eliminate waste in Iraq is said to be the cause of thousands of troops’ presumed illnesses. According to an article published by Stars and Stripes, unexploded ordnance, metal cans, plastics, Styrofoam, rubber, paint, lubricants, even body parts and animal carcasses are added to pits and ignited with…

New ruling promises fix for ‘Blue Water’ Veterans


Last week, Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Steve Daines, R-Mont., announced plans to back a ruling that promises a permanent fix for ‘Blue Water’ Vietnam veterans who claim that their rare illnesses are caused by exposure to chemical defoliants while in service. According to an article published by MilitaryTimes.com “[The] “blue water” veterans problem centers on…

New policy proposal on social media monitoring accelerates controversial issue


A new policy proposal is calling for the monitoring of disabled people’s social media profiles to determine the validity and necessity of their disability benefits. According to an article published by Forbes, “the proposal, which reportedly aims to cut down on the number of fraudulent disability claims would monitor the profiles of disabled people and…