{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://walden.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/case-you-missed-it-walden-meets-local-veterans-continues-work-ensure", "In Case You Missed It: Walden meets with local veterans, continues work to ensure they get the benefits and care theyve earned", "2016-10-25", "2016", "2016-10", "Republican", "House", "OR", "Greg Walden", "W000791", "walden.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "In Case You Missed It: Walden meets with local veterans, continues work to ensure they get the benefits and care they\u2019ve earned \nU.S. Rep. Greg Walden (R-Hood River) has worked hard to make sure Oregon veterans get the care and benefits they\u2019ve earned through years of service. He\u2019s worked on legislation that improves healthcare options and resources for veterans, boosts flexibility, and brings transparency and accountability to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in Washington, D.C.\u00a0 and across the country at\u00a0 clinics and hospitals.\u00a0 He\u2019s also assisted over 5,000 veterans and their families with issues involving their benefits and care at the VA.\nIn recent days, Walden has met with veterans in Medford, Klamath Falls, La Pine, Madras, Hermiston, Enterprise, Milton-Freewater, and La Grande to learn more about what\u2019s working at the VA and what more needs to be done. Read on for excerpts from local news coverage of these meetings.\nAnd today Walden penned a special newsletter message to constituents on the recent meetings and the stories he heard from Oregon veterans.\u00a0Click here to read Walden\u2019s newsletter.\n\u201cWe owe those who wear, and have worn, our nation\u2019s uniform so much of what we cherish in this country, including our freedoms and our way of life. But, too often, they aren\u2019t getting what they\u2019ve been promised by the federal government. A glaring example of this is in California, where thousands of soldiers are being told they have to repay bonuses offered to them for their service in the National Guard. If the Department of Defense made a mistake in awarding the bonuses in the first place, the burden of the mistake shouldn\u2019t fall on the soldier. It\u2019s disgraceful. That\u2019s why the House Majority Leader announced yesterday that the House will fully investigate these reports to ensure these soldiers get what they were promised,\u201d\u00a0Walden wrote.\u00a0\u00a0\n\u201cSeveral years ago, I helped resolve a similar issue facing members of the Oregon National Guard. It began when Chelsea Wells, a Guard soldier from Milton-Freewater, was told by the National Guard Bureau that she would not receive her enlistment bonus due to a paperwork glitch on their part. She contacted me, and I told the Guard that that they had to make things right, not only for PFC Wells but also for the 75 service members in Oregon and 5,449 nationwide who had their bonuses improperly denied due to that issue. We got results.\n\u201cOver the past week, I\u2019ve had the honor of meeting with a wide range of veterans -- and the people who advocate on their behalf--from White City and Klamath Falls, to La Pine and Madras, to Hermiston and Enterprise.\u00a0 Much of what I heard echoed the same theme: our veterans deserve much better than they are getting from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in Washington, D.C. Addressing this problem is job number one for me.\u201d\n Walden listens to veteran concerns during Hermiston VFW stop \nWalden shared with veterans in attendance the work that Congress has done to promote their welfare, including the recent passage of an appropriations bill that allocated additional funding for veteran health care and housing in rural areas.\n\u201cAdditional help is on the way for that,\u201d he said.\nAfter the 2014 controversy caused by revelations that the Department of Veterans Affairs had been covering up the extent of its claims backlog while veterans died waiting for care, Walden said Congress has worked to hold the VA more accountable.\nThey have begun requiring quarterly reports on the backlog and have improved whistle blower protections for VA employees who come forward about unethical practices. They also banned the practice of giving administrators bonuses despite failing to meet their performance standards, and expanded the Secretary of Veterans Affairs\u2019 power to hire and fire VA employees who are performing poorly.\nAfter veterans in attendance complained that all of that has not seemed to fix the backlog of claims and appeals at the VA, Walden agreed with them that Department of Veterans Affairs administrators should be doing more to fix the VA\u2019s ongoing problems on their own instead of waiting for mandates from Congress.\nClick here to read more\n Walden: Navigating VA bureaucracy is a big problem \n  \n\tU.S. Rep. Greg Walden (R-Hood River) says as he travels through his district and listens to calls for help to his office from his constituents, the number-one cry for help comes from veterans trying to get benefits from the Veterans Administration, which he calls a massive bureaucracy.\n\u201cWe come in to try and help navigate through the process,\u201d he said. \u201cI do hear that, for the most part, if veterans can get through the process they\u2019re pleased with the quality of the health care they get, especially at Walla Walla.\u201d\nWalden said the request for help from veterans to his office are enough work to keep two full-time employees busy. He said 50 percent of all their calls for help come from veterans.\nClick here to read more\n Rep. Walden meets with veterans in Enterprise \nWalden also described the accountability measures added to recent bills the House passed before adjourning for the elections.\n\u201cIt astounds me that it takes two years for an appeal to a veteran claim to be processed,\u201d said Walden. \u201cThe VA funding bill we passed calls for VA employees to report their daily work, same as my sales representatives did when I owned a radio business.\u201d\nWalden also discussed veterans\u2019 mental health care, especially in regards to the suicide rate.\n\u201cThe Vietnam veterans, in coming out of Vietnam, were told to get over it and go home. That was wrong. We learned we want to provide better mental health care services to veterans, especially in regard to (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder).\n\u201cBut I\u2019m not here to talk, I\u2019m here to listen.\u201d\nClick here to read more\n Walden visits student veterans \n Frustrations center around resources and medical care \nRep. Greg Walden held a casual get-together with veterans-turned-students at Eastern Oregon University on Friday afternoon.\n[\u2026]\nThis was one stop of many for Walden recently. He said he\u2019s been meeting with veterans to see what\u2019s been working in the system and what hasn\u2019t.\n\u201cIt\u2019s pretty much the same frustrations,\u201d he said of the common complaints. \u201cGetting access to health care in a timely manner. Getting the care they need.\u201d\nThe issue of medical care was brought up at EOU on Friday. The student vets said it is difficult to get the\u00a0  \n\tmedical care they need here in La Grande.\nWalden said that\u2019s not a unique issue.\n\u201cOutside of Medford at their VA clinic, two-thirds of the physician positions are vacant,\u201d Walden said. \u201cWherever you are, there are going to be issues. There\u2019s delay of care.\u201d\nWalden cited computer problems as the main culprit.\n\u201cWe\u2019re not building rockets,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to push the VA to update their software to commercial software instead of using their own. That\u2019s what we\u2019re working on. My job is to cut through the red tape. Working with vets is half the case work that comes through my office.\u201d\nClick here to read more\n Walden gets an earful from student veterans \nSome 15 armed services veterans met with Congressman Greg Walden on the Oregon Institute of Technology campus Tuesday and nearly every one of them had a frustrating story to tell when it comes to working with the Veterans Association and health care.\nWalden, R-Ore., is touring his district collecting stories in hopes of improving the VA. Of some of the issues he\u2019s heard, he remarked, \u201cYou can\u2019t make this stuff up.\u201d\n\u201cI struggle with the fact that I can order my hotel rooms over the next few days online or get a rental car,\u201d Walden noted, \u201cbut you can\u2019t set a medical appointment with the VA online at all. There\u2019s got to be a better way to do this.\u201d\nClick here to read more.\u00a0\n Walden meets with local Band of Brothers \nThere are more than 300,000 veterans in Oregon and a state survey shows that only 3 out of 10 access all of the benefits available to them. That\u2019s one of the reasons why U.S. Representative Greg Walden paid a visit to the La Pine Band of Brothers today, to hear their stories, and tell them help is on the way.\nClick here to watch coverage from KOHD Central Oregon Daily\n Rep. Greg Walden Meets With Southern Oregon Veterans \nRep. Greg Walden was in Medford today to meet with veterans, veterans' advocates and the local chamber.\nHe stopped by NewsWatch 12 to talk about the upcoming general election, 21st Century Cures Act and legislation that benefits veterans.\nClick here to watch coverage from KDRV Newswatch 12", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://walden.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/case-you-missed-it-walden-meets-local-veterans-continues-work-ensure"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.573151908814907, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}