H Mid-Winter Conference Reports / Page 3 H Golden Age Games Coming / Page 6 H Legislative Watchdog / Page 8 H
Current Funding Insufficient For Military, Veterans’ Needs
Commander: Pass ’07 Spending Bill National Commander Paul Morin has called upon Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to finish the Military Construction and Veterans’ Affairs Appropriation Bill for FY 2007. He urges Democrats and Republicans to resolve their differences and designate their respective the Military Construction and Veterans’ Affairs Appropriation Conference Committee members and to instruct these conferees to provide the critical funds needed by both the military and veterans’ communities. The Commander has also called on The American Legion family to contact lawmakers in the both Houses of
Congress, asking them to support designating the Military Construction and VA Conference Committee to take up the FY 07 Military Construction and Veterans’ Affairs appropriations bill as soon as possible. Morin further asked members to “encourage your family, neighbors and friends who support our nation’s veteran community to contact their Federal lawmakers as well. The men and women of the Armed Forces – past, present and future – deserve the full attention and support of the 110th Congress.” Currently, the funding for these important projects that directly impact the daily lives of both the military and veterans’ communities is provided
in a Continuing Resolution passed by the 109th Congress. The FY 06 level of funding is insufficient to cover the military operations and qualityof-life programs called for in the 2007 appropriations bills that failed to reach the President’s desk. The 109th Congress used the CR to pass on its fiscal obligations to the newly elected 110th Congress. The Continuing Resolution expires in mid-February, well into the second quarter of the 2007 fiscal year. This means VA administrators are forced to play a “guessing game” as to how much money do they have to spend between now and the next appropriations cycle. Ultimately, The American Legion believes this will
result in hard choices between rationing of health care, postponing much needed facility repairs, backlog of equipment purchases or repairs, and maybe even hiring freezes of new or replacement health care professionals. The current appropriations request includes billions of dollars in military operations and quality-of-life projects that are threatened if the current funding level remains until October 2007. The Secretary of the Army, the Honorable Dr. Francis J. Harvey said, “The potential negative effects on operations readiness cannot be overemphasized; the Army’s ability to prosecute the Global War on Terrorism and to prepare for future con-
flicts would be severely hampered.” The remainder of the appropriations bill deals with the veterans’ community – heroes of current and past wars. The direct impact on veterans’ health care is well documented. The VA budget represents the ongoing costs of war. The VA medical care system is recognized in the health care industry as the role model for others in the private and public sectors to emulate. America’s service members, veterans and their families deserve the thanks of a grateful nation, not the budgetary “sleight of hand” or political “check-is-in-the-mail” approaches agreed to by the previous Congress.
DEC Approves HQ Post Plan Districts Will Manage DMS Acquired Members; Benefits Include Increase In Renewals, Fewer Fees The Department Executive Committee, on the recommendation of the Department Commander and the Department Membership Chairman, has approved details of plan fundamentally altering the way the Department manages its Headquarters Post memberships. The action came during the DEC’s regularly scheduled meeting following the MidWinter Conference January 14. The recommendation was brought to the DEC in compliance with Res. No. 06F-14, approved at the DEC’s Fall Conference meeting, in which the commander was authorized and directed to present a plan for re-distributing Headquarters Post members, improving their renewal rate, and avoid-
ing surcharges imposed by the National Organization. In presenting the plan, the Commander emphasized that the only change noticeable to Headquarters Post members would be the Post number. Current 777 members will be assigned to decentralized Headquarters Posts administered by representatives in each District, number sequentially beginning with 701 and ending with 711. Just as Post 777 has no physical location, the 11 District Headquarters Posts will also be “paper posts.” The over-riding advantage of District-level Headquarters Posts, according to Commander Delaney, is to allocate convention delegate generated by Headquarters
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Rendering Honors Members of the Indiana National Guard Honor Guard presented demonstrations and instruction on how Legion Honor Guards can become certified to perform such ceremonies under the auspices of the Department of Defense. More than 100 representatives of Legion posts attended the training, conducted during the 2007 Mid-Winter Conference. Representing the ING Honor Guard were, from the left, Sgt. Jennifer Marks, SSG Chris Purtlebaugh, 1LT Eugene Maharry, and Spec. Snell-Rominger.
Governor Proposes New Benefits
Legislature Mulls Veterans’ Bill By Tom Applegate, Director Indiana Depart of Veterans Affairs
This Is Your Rifle … This is Your Gun Department Commander James Delaney (left) gets a lastminute briefing from Department Adjutant Steve Short on the intricacies of the air rifles used in the Legion’s Junior Shooting Sports Competition. Moments later, the Commander took aim and tore the center ring out of the target some 20 yards distant. The 2006 competition was conducted in November at the Morton Memorial High School at the Indiana Soldiers and Sailors Children’s Home at Knightstown.
The 2007 Legislative session has begun and there’s a specific piece of legislation we should all be interest in - Governor Daniels initiative for Veterans Benefits, which is contained in Senate Bill 480. SB 480 exempts active duty military pay earned by members of the National Guard and Reserves from individual income tax. This is not just the pay earned while they are in a combat zone, but includes pay earned during the entire duration of their active duty orders, to include mobilization and train-up time, as well as the compression time
Editor’s Note: This article is reprinted from “Honoring Hoosier Veterans,” an on-line publication of the Office of the Governor of the State of Indiana, which chronicles the activities and deliberations of a weekly working group of veterans’ advocates and members of the Governor’s staff. A related story is on Page 2.
after they return safely to their families. The bill increase the military pay income tax deduction from $2,000 to $5,000 however, the taxpayer may not claim both the new expoepti0on and the existing deduction for military income Military retires over age 60 may also claim the deduction. The bill specifies that active duty personnel stationed in Indiana (there are many at Fort Benjamin Harrison and at Crane Naval Station, as well
as active duty personnel assigned at the National Guard battalion-level an above) are eligible for resident tuition rates at Indian educational institutions. It expands the high school diploma program previously offered only to World War I and World War II veterans to include Korean War and Vietnam War veterans. It authorizes the advisory board of the Division of Professional Standards of the Department of Education, as
well as the various professional licensing boards, to adopt rules to expedite the licensure of individual whose spouses are stationed on active duty in Indiana. This bill has been endorsed by all the major veterans service organizations, including the Legion, DAV, VFW, and AMVETs, as well as other organizations such as the Purple Heart, MOAA, AFA and others. County service officers should contact their respective legislators and ask that they support this legislation. In addition, during your visits to the various posts in the county, encourage post leaders and members to do the same.