House approves bills on veterans’ services
Posted on Wednesday, May 21, 2008
WASHINGTON — The House passed a package of five bills designed to improve services for veterans in a series of voice votes Tuesday.
Two of the bills were authored by Rep. John Boozman, an Arkansas Republican and a member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee.
One of Boozman’s bills would authorize the U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs to air television and radio spots to advertise benefits available to veterans.
Boozman said many veterans are unaware of these benefits because of poor public relations. The department, he said, relies on pamphlets, one-on-one talks with veterans and public-service announcements aired on television.
“Public-service announcements are most often broadcast at times when few people are watching,” Boozman said on the House floor.
The bill would authorize the agency to start a national ad campaign but does not specify how much to spend on it.
Boozman’s other bill would direct the agency to conduct a 20-year study on the vocational rehabilitation and education programs it administers. Boozman said there is “little data” on these programs.
Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel urged members of the U. S. House Judiciary Committee to reauthorize the Edward Bryne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant program, which funds state and local law-enforcement training, victims’ assistance programs and crime-prevention efforts.
McDaniel, speaking on behalf of the National Association of Attorneys General at a House Judiciary subcommittee meeting, said that the reduction in funding for the program has contributed to a 35 percent decline in drug task force cases and a 41 percent decline in arrests in Arkansas between 2004 and 2007.
In 2005, funding for the program was authorized at just over $ 1 billion. That has dropped to $ 170 million in the current fiscal year.
McDaniel called it a “national imperative” to restore funds to the program, which he said was responsible for the seizure of 54, 000 weapons and 5. 5 million grams of methamphetamine each year.
Slow down. Fill your tires. These are two of the hints that the Alliance to Save Energy say can reduce the cost of filling up at the pump.
On Tuesday, Arkansas’ Sen. Mark Pryor, who sits on the group’s board of directors, held a news conference to demonstrate the group’s new Web site, www. drivesmarterchallenge. org. Visitors to the site can enter information about their car to see how much money a year they can save by following the tips.
Pryor, who drives a 2003 Ford Taurus, took the test and said he could save $ 477 a year if he followed the group’s suggestions. Pryor praised last week’s enactment of a law that would halt deposits of oil to the nation’s strategic reserve. He is not in favor of a tax holiday at the pump, an idea suggested by presidential candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton and John McCain.
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