{"id":111331,"date":"2020-02-28T11:21:23","date_gmt":"2020-02-28T16:21:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=111331"},"modified":"2020-02-28T11:21:23","modified_gmt":"2020-02-28T16:21:23","slug":"brindisi-our-veterans-fought-for-our-country-they-should-not-have-to-fight-for-the-benefits-they-earned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=111331","title":{"rendered":"Brindisi: Our veterans fought for our country, they should not have to fight for the benefits they earned"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Rep. Anthony Brindisi<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Following push for Agent Orange benefits and state veterans\ncemetery, Brindisi takes concerns of local veterans directly to VA\nSecretary <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Congressman Anthony Brindisi, a member of the House\nVeterans\u2019 Affairs Committee, pressed Veterans Administration Secretary Robert\nWilkie, Dr. Richard Stone of the Veterans Health Administration and other top\nVA officials about their work to address the priorities of Upstate veterans.\nBrindisi questioned witnesses about the lack of health benefits for veterans\naffected by Agent Orange exposure, the creation of a state veterans cemetery in\nNew York and the need for better access to VA services for rural veterans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have more than 50,000 Veterans in our area who deserve to receive all of the benefits they earned by serving our country,\u201d\u00a0said Brindisi.\u00a0\u201cWe had a positive discussion with Secretary Wilkie and Dr. Stone about the concerns of Upstate veterans. We\u2019ll keep pushing for a budget that supports our plans for a state veterans cemetery in Oneida County, increases funding for state veteran homes and allows veterans in small towns to receive services at locations like the Bainbridge VA clinic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Continuing his fight to locate New York\u2019s first state veterans\ncemetery in Oneida County, Brindisi questioned Wilkie about the VA\u2019s ability to\nsupport New York\u2019s plan to establish the cemetery. Earlier in February, VA\nUndersecretary for Memorial Affairs Randy Reeves visited New York\u2019s 22nd District\nat Brindisi\u2019s invitation for a summit<\/a> to discuss the cemetery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New York is one of only a few states that does not have a\nstate veterans cemetery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Brindisi pointed out the extent to which Upstate veterans\nwere underserved, Wilkie agreed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019re right that many veterans experience a gaping hole in\nservice,\u201d said Wilkie.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brindisi also asked the witnesses about addressing the\nbacklog of grant requests for state veteran homes and expanding access to VA\nhealth services in rural areas. Last year, Brindisi secured key language<\/a> in a government funding bill to protect\nthe Bainbridge VA clinic from closure. Brindisi, a champion for rural veterans,\ninserted a provision requiring the VA to conduct a market area assessment\nbefore taking action on Bainbridge. Brindisi hosted Dr. Stone at the Bainbridge\nclinic in November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, President Donald J. Trump signed two Brindisi\nbills supporting veterans: Brindisi\u2019s Department of Veterans Affairs Expiring Authorities Act of\n2019<\/a><\/em> and his Support for Suicide Prevention Coordinators Act<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Following push for Agent Orange benefits and state veterans cemetery, Brindisi takes concerns of local veterans directly to VA Secretary  Congressman Anthony Brindisi, a member of the House Veterans\u2019 Affairs Committee, pressed Veterans Administration Secretary Robert Wilkie, Dr. Richard Stone of the Veterans Health Administration and other top VA officials about their work to address […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":102245,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,21571],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-111331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-story","category-veterans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=111331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/102245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=111331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=111331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=111331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}