releases: https://www.isakson.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/opinions-and-speeches?ContentRecord_id=fe975a5b-3d6e-413a-9919-3bc1a8f178a0
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
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| https://www.isakson.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/opinions-and-speeches?ContentRecord_id=fe975a5b-3d6e-413a-9919-3bc1a8f178a0 | Honoring Our Veterans by Keeping Our Promises | 2013-11-11 | 2013 | 2013-11 | Republican | House | GA | Johnny Isakson | I000055 | www.isakson.senate.gov | legacy | By Johnny Isakson We owe a great deal to the men and women who served in our armed forces. Our top priority on Veterans Day and every day should be to live up to the promises we have made to our servicemembers who have shown such bravery in the face of tyranny around the world. As a member of the Senate Veteran Affairs Committee, I frequently hear from Georgia veterans and across the country about the many challenges they face—from long waits for a VA disability claims decision to limited access to quality health care to difficulty finding civilian employment. Far too often, our system is failing veterans. When we fail our veterans, we are also failing to honor their service and sacrifice. By far, the most common issue I hear about from veterans is the outrageous wait times that they must endure in order to receive their hard earned benefits. According to its own data, the VA set a goal to complete 1.27 million total claims by June 30 of this year, the end of the third quarter. Unfortunately, the VA fell short and completed only 1.17 million claims. Although the backlog remains unacceptably high, the VA is making progress and has imposed mandatory overtime to devote more hours to reducing the backlog in response to pressure from Congress, veterans organizations, and veterans. I am committed to seeing that veterans don’t have to face these incredibly long wait times to compensate them for their sacrifice, and I am working with other members of Congress to conduct oversight to push the VA to eliminate the backlog. I am also committed to ensuring that the VA has the necessary resources to reach its goal of eliminating the backlog by 2015. A major area that must be improved is access to quality mental health care. According to a recent U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs estimate, 22 veterans commit suicide each day—that’s about 8,000 each year. This extraordinarily alarming figure makes it quite obvious that mental health care must be a part of comprehensive approach to the care of our troops and veterans. While I believe that the VA is committed to addressing this issue, it is critically important that we do better. In August of this year, I chaired a Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee field hearing in Atlanta to examine the April 2013 reports from the Department of Veterans Affairs Inspector General detailing mismanagement of inpatient and contracted outpatient mental health programs at the Atlanta VA Medical Center. As a result of this hearing, I have asked the VA to take the necessary steps to maximize its resources to prevent these kinds of incidents both in Atlanta and throughout the country, and I will continue to work to see this process through. As we have learned through the hearing and through examining this issue more closely, one important part of the solution is community-based partners. I encourage the VA to continue to collaborate with local mental health providers effectively to provide quality mental health care. While the VA must make many improvements to ensure that veterans receive their benefits and are cared for, members of Congress can help provide resources and develop training programs to ensure that our veterans can find work when they return to civilian life. The men and women who have served in uniform bring unique skills and training to the workforce, and our economy would gain from their leadership and work ethic. I’m a member of the Senate Veterans Jobs Caucus, which has launched an “I Hire Veterans” imitative to encourage all businesses to hire veterans, just as I have done in my own office. I have worked together with my colleagues to pass the Post-9/11 G.I. legislation and the VOW to Hire Heroes Act, which aim to help veterans improve their educational and career opportunities for when they leave military service. I am also working to help ease the problems some veterans have in obtaining licenses and credentials to practice certain professions in civilian life. Oftentimes, they must take classes that are redundant of the training they received on active duty. For example, I am pushing for legislation requiring states to recognize military experience as a condition of receiving “Jobs for Veterans” state grants. After more than a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, we expect to see more than 1 million servicemembers transition from active-duty to veteran status in the next few years. We must see to it that the Department of Veterans Affairs lives up to the promises we have made to our servicemembers and veterans. As I spend this Veterans Day celebrating the service given by the men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces, I am dedicated to supporting them once they return home from the battlefield. | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |