Blog post

Support for Veterans and Military Families in the 2009 Stimulus Proposal
Posted by Michelle McCarthy on February 2 2009

The economic stimulus package, or “The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009,” currently includes a number of provisions that will help our nation’s veterans weather the economic storm. For a full summary of how veterans fare in the new Stimulus Proposal, download "Support for Veterans and Military Families in the 2009 Stimulus Proposal". In addition to supporting the Senate version of the Stimulus Proposal, IAVA recommends new measures that will support America's veterans and will stimulate the economy, including:

• Retroactive payments to help cover the student loans of veterans serving after September 11th who attended college under the previous ineffective GI Bill.
• New funding to triple the number of OEF/OIF outreach coordinators employed at VA facilities.
• Increased grant funding to hire more state and county service officers who help veterans file their disability claims.  This will shorten claim approval wait times and support disabled veterans.
• Funding for programs that provide job training for homeless women veterans and homeless veterans with children. This recommendation was initially proposed by Representative Buyer (R-IN), but it was not included in the House version of the stimulus package.

  Click here to read the press release issued by IAVA recommending critical additions to the Stimulus Bill. To find out how you can help send veterans to meet with national lawmakers next week on Capitol Hill as part of IAVA’s fourth annual Storm the Hill campaign, click here.