Washington, D.C. - Congressman Dave Loebsack recently met with leaders of the Veterans Administration (VA) and told them the concerns he heard firsthand from Iowa's Veterans, military family members, and Veterans service providers.  Last week, Loebsack hosted a series of Veterans Forums across Iowa in order to give Veterans an opportunity to speak with the Congressman and seek assistance from his office.  In a meeting with Ms. Joan Mooney, Assistant Secretary for Congressional and Legislative Affairs and Mr. Danny Pummill, Executive Director, Compensation & Pension Service, Veterans Benefits Administration, Loebsack presented them with a letter to VA Secretary Eric Shinseki of the top concerns he heard from Iowa Veterans, including disability claims, VA health care and job training.  A copy of the letter can be found here.

"Last week, I met with Iowa Veterans, military family members, and Veterans service providers across eastern and southeastern Iowa," Loebsack wrote. "I strongly urge you to take my constituents' concerns into account as you work to improve VA services.  I look forward to continuing to work with you to ensure that every person who has served our nation in uniform receives the care, benefits, and respect they deserve."

This week, two pieces of legislation, which directly impact Veterans and their families, passed the House of Representatives with unanimous bipartisan support.  Loebsack was a strong supporter of both the Veterans COLA and Veterans Skills to Jobs Acts.  The Veterans COLA Act increases the amounts paid for veteran's disability compensation and to their survivors for dependency and indemnity compensation by the same amount as the Social Security cost of living adjustment.  The Veterans Skills to Jobs Act requires federal departments to help Veterans transition to the civilian workforce by taking the skills and experience they acquired through their military service into account when determining what training and certification requirements they must meet for federal licenses.

CAMP RIPLEY, MINN. (07/11/2012)(readMedia)-- Soldiers from Company A, 1st Battalion, 178th Infantry Regiment in Bartonville participated in squad live-fire exercises at the Infantry Platoon Battle Course as part of the eXportable Combat Training Capability (XCTC) program July 9 at Camp Ripley, Minn.

"This training is the culmination of what we have been doing over the last year," said 1st Lt. Chris K. Rodgers of Macomb, battalion liaison officer of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 178th Infantry Regiment. "This is a validation lane for what we are going to be doing July 12. There the companies will run through platoon-size, live-fire exercises."

As with much Army-based training, a crawl, walk, run approach was used. Soldiers were briefed they were in a reconnaissance patrol, came upon enemy contact and had to destroy the enemy with their weapons, clearing the way for future movement.

"It's a real slow pace right now as we're learning," said Spc. Waylon S. Holland of Columbia, Mo., with Company A. "We spent a lot of time with rehearsals trying to better fit each other. I think this will be foundational and a crucial part to our XCTC experience."

During the rehearsals each squad moved tactically until engaged by pop-up targets and then responded with blank-round ammunition. Soon after, the squads repeated the movement with live rounds.

"This training is simulating (received) contact on a dismounted patrol," said Pfc. Collin A. Watts of Plainfield, with Company A. "We're practicing bounding techniques, which are basic movement techniques within a squad."

Although the movements are basic infantry tactics, the importance of knowing and employing them are vital to mission success and Soldier safety.

"Every infantryman will know this ... this is as basic as it gets," said Cpl. Paul A. Minder of Roanoke, team leader with Company A. "This is something they have to practice; they have to know."

The acknowledgement of risk and the seriousness of the exercise was expressed by others as well.

"It comes down to knowing who's on your right and left, knowing how to communicate and knowing how to give and follow orders," said Capt. Nick P. Camardo of Rockford, Company A commander. "It's essential they know how to take the proper steps and keep the weapon pointed down range and at the enemy. It's important for them to continue to train like this and I'm confident they will be good to go by the end of the day."

Company A made safety a priority and took the necessary precautions to ensure the Soldiers stayed safe throughout the exercise.

"There will be one range personnel, one medic, and two internal company safeties who will walk with every squad," said Rodgers.

After Camardo validates squads, the battalion commander will validate the platoons and then Company A can be validated and complete a large portion of their pre-mobilization tasks.

New Law Ends General Assembly Tuition Waiver Program Plagued by Abuse

CHICAGO - July 11, 2012. Governor Pat Quinn today signed a new law abolishing the century-old political scholarship program in Illinois, one of his ethics reform goals since taking office. The Governor proposed to abolish this troubled program in 2009, 2010 and in 2011, and worked with the General Assembly to get it done this spring. Governor Quinn is committed to increasing college scholarships to students with merit who are in true financial need as well as restoring integrity to state government.

"There is no place for political scholarships in Illinois," Governor Quinn said. "I believe in the power of education, the importance of ethics and integrity, and the idea that you can get ahead in life with a little hard work. That's why today I enact this long-overdue reform and redouble our efforts to increase scholarships for deserving college students."

House Bill 3810, sponsored by Representative Fred Crespo (D-Hoffman Estates) and Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago), provides that members of the General Assembly may no longer award higher education scholarships after September 1, 2012. Recipients nominated for the 2012-2013 school year will still be awarded their scholarship. The legislation was passed following numerous news reports documenting abuse of scholarships and advocacy from the Governor, Lt. Governor and good government groups.

The General Assembly Scholarship program allowed legislators to annually award eligible persons from their district with scholarships waiving tuition fees at state universities. Legislators were found to have awarded scholarships to relatives, political insiders and to people living outside their district. During the 2010-2011 school year, the program cost 11 of 12 public state universities an aggregated $13.4 million in waived tuition fees.

"While legislative scholarships help a small number of students, the program's abuse comes at an incredibly high cost in terms of trust in government and absorbed tuition at colleges and universities," Lt. Governor Sheila Simon said. "By eliminating the legislative scholarship program, Illinois can take a meaningful step toward improving our ethical standards, while focusing our efforts on making college more affordable for all students."

"Abolishing the political scholarship program ends a needless waste of taxpayer dollars and helps to alleviate state universities from an unfair financial burden," said Rep. Crespo. "Signing this legislation into law stops these abuses in the General Assembly and restores faith in our government."

HB 3810 also creates a task force to review all tuition and fee waivers offered by state universities, ensuring that taxpayer dollars funding these public institutions are being spent appropriately and helping those of merit in financial need. The task force must report its findings on or before April 15, 2013.

"It is unfortunate that the legislative scholarship program was misused by legislators, taking away what for some students was their only way of attending college," said President Cullerton. "This new law will allow us to take a comprehensive look at all tuition waivers and how we can make higher education more accessible for those who need the most help."

The new law is supported by the Better Government Association and numerous reform advocates. The law is effective immediately.