Legislation Improving Wounded Warrior Benefit Picks Up Support

[allan]

fwd

NEWS FROM THE RANKING MEMBER OF THE U.S. SENATE COMMITTEE ON VETERANS'

AFFAIRS

CRAIG'S LEGISLATION IMPROVING WOUNDED WARRIOR BENEFIT PICKS UP SUPPORT

AT HEARING

<http://veterans.senate.gov/ranking_member_news.cfm?FuseAction=Home.Home

&month=5&year=2007&release_id=1017>

May 9, 2007

Media contact: Jeff Schrade (202) 224-9093

(Washington, DC) During a lengthy Senate hearing

<http://veterans.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Hearings.CurrentHearing

s&rID=1014> Wednesday regarding 26 bills affecting benefits for

veterans, U.S. Senator Larry Craig received positive reactions to six

bills he is sponsoring, including one (S. 225 <http://www.thomas.gov> )

that would amend the Wounded Warrior legislation he sponsored and

Congress passed in 2005.

Craig noted that Toshiro Carrington, a Navy Seal, (pictured with Sen.

Craig below) is one of those who would benefit from a change the Idaho

Republican is proposing. Carrington lost his left hand and the top of

his right thumb during a training accident at Camp Pendleton in

California on December 15, 2004, when an explosive charge was

accidentally detonated by another sailor.

"When we passed the original Wounded Warrior benefit, we provided

payments to those servicemembers seriously injured and wounded in

Afghanistan and Iraq from September 2001 onward. And from December 2005,

we covered all U.S. servicemembers seriously injured anywhere in the

world. My new legislation this year would extend coverage to all

servicemembers, no matter where they were, from the start of the war on

terror. Toshiro Carrington is with us today and is one of those who

would benefit from the change I am speaking about," said Craig, the

ranking member of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

Craig's original Wounded Warrior bill has since provided nearly $200

million to over 3,000 veterans seriously wounded and injured since the

war on terror began in 2001. The payments range from $25,000 to

$100,000, depending on the severity of the injury. The average payout is

approximately $64,000. Coverage includes injuries such as the loss of

limbs, hearing and sight

<http://www.insurance.va.gov/sgliSite/TSGLI/TSGLI.htm> . Payments are

generally made within eight weeks after the servicemember is hurt.

But as the Idaho Republican talked about changes that are needed to

improve the lives of veterans, he cautioned that if Congress passed all

26 bills now before the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, the total

would come to nearly $100 billion dollars.

"I am not pointing fingers. I have six bills among the twenty-six we are

reviewing today. Our heart tells us to do everything we can for every

person who ever wore a uniform, but our pocketbooks tell us we need to

prioritize," said Craig.

Spending on VA programs has grown from $48 billion in 2001 to over $80

billion this year.

####

* See this release online at:

http://veterans.senate.gov/ranking_member_...=Home.Home&

month=5&year=2007&release_id=1017