Opposition Mounts to Bill That Betrays Military Veterans and Their Caregivers – AFGE

Opposition Mounts to Bill That Betrays Military Veterans and Their Caregivers  AFGE

Opposition is mounting in response to proposed legislation that would strip veterans of their earned benefits. Opposition is mounting in response to proposed legislation that would strip veterans of their earned benefits, accelerate the privatization of veterans’ health care, and reduce workplace rights and protections for thousands of veteran caregivers in the civil service. AFGE joined a coalition of 22 labor unions representing hundreds of thousands of Department of Veterans Affairs employees and millions of veterans who receive their health care and benefits from the VA in sending a letter to lawmakers last week outlining our strong opposition to the legislative package. “This legislation cynically packages long-sought, well-deserved new benefits for disabled veterans with benefit cuts to other veterans and a slew of provisions designed to further privatize the VA healthcare system,” the unions wrote.

The Take Care of America’s Veterans Act (H.R. 9237, S. 4744) is a massive, 554-page legislative package that consolidates more than 60 separate bills. While the bill package proposes to improve veterans’ health care and benefits – notably by including the text of the Major Richard Star Act, which would rightfully allow combat veterans to receive both retirement and disability benefits – it also contains harmful offsets and other provisions that would undermine veterans’ care. AFGE National President Everett Kelley joined representatives from Veterans Service