Kerry Amendments on DOD Legislation support Veterans and Reservists

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http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,190659.shtml

You can also Digg it here:
http://digg.com/politics/Kerry_Amendments_on_DOD_Legislation_support_Veterans_and_Reservists


This is a press release that I also received in email, so I am posting in its entirety:

Kerry DOD Legislation Funds Care for Blinded Veterans, Expands Veteran and Reservist Business Assistance


WASHINGTON, Oct. 2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Sen. John Kerry secured several victories for veterans, reservists and small businesses with the passage of the Department of Defense (DOD) Authorization bill last night.

The DOD bill included a Kerry amendment to increase funding for veterans who have been blinded or suffer from eye injuries from their time in the war zone. Eye injuries are one of the most frequent injuries of this war, and 30% of soldiers with traumatic brain injury come home with low vision or blindness. The Kerry legislation is endorsed by the Blinded Veterans of America, the Military Order of the Purple Heart, Military Officers Association of America, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Brain Injury Association of America, The Wounded Warrior Project, and The Schepens Eye Institute at Harvard.

"Our soldiers are injured by Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) every day, and they deserve medical facilities at home that are equipped with tools designed to heal the grisly trademark injuries of this war." said Kerry. "The injuries sustained by IED's often lead to Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), and a common result of this kind if trauma is vision loss and possible blindness, or Post Traumatic Vision Syndrome. If these eye injuries are not treated in a timely manner, they can lead to serious complications, including irreversible vision loss. After all they have done for us, we must ensure that our innovations to heal our veterans outpace those of the insurgents trying to hurt them."

Eye injuries are becoming more and more common in Iraq. Data compiled between March 2003 and April 2005 found that 16 percent of all causalities evacuated from Iraq had direct eye injuries. Walter Reed Army Medical Center has surgically treated approximately 700 soldiers with either blindness or moderate-to-severe significant visual injuries.

Kerry also worked with Senator Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) to include language that will expand business opportunities for veterans and help reservists keep their businesses afloat during and after deployment.

"America's veterans and reservists sacrifice for their country -- they shouldn't have to sacrifice their jobs and their livelihoods when they come home," said Kerry. "This bipartisan amendment will provide critical resources to business development programs for our veterans and reservists and hold federal agencies accountable. We owe our troops more than a simple thank you. The least we can do is provide the resources they need to keep their businesses afloat while they are deployed and to start a business when they return."

The amendment is based on legislation Kerry and Snowe introduced earlier this year, the Military Reservist and Veteran Small Business Reauthorization and Opportunity Act (S. 1784). Specifically, the amendment increases counseling and business assistance resources, creates an interagency task force on veteran small business issues, establishes National Reservist Enterprise Transition Teams, allows larger loans to veterans without collateral, extends the deadline and increases the loan size for Military Reservist Economic Injury Disaster Loans -- a program Kerry created in 1999. It also requires reports on the needs of service-disabled veterans and how to improve relationships between employers and their reservist employees.

In addition to the measures included to help veterans and reservists, Kerry also secured provisions to extend the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program through 2010 and to increase the transition and commercialization of products developed by small firms. This critical extension will ensure that the thousands of firms that participate in the program each year, including many in Massachusetts, will not face the same delays and shut-downs of eight years ago when the program was not renewed in a timely way. Massachusetts ranks second in the nation in SBIR awards, with small firms receiving more than $240 million in contracts in 2005. Over the life of the program, more than 10,200 Massachusetts small firms have received nearly $3 billion.

Kerry will be working on legislation to reauthorize the SBIR program next year, but this temporary extension will provide time lawmakers need to develop bipartisan legislation that will be signed into law.

The Senate also passed an amendment to build upon a pilot program that Senators Kerry and Snowe created in 2005 to help firms transition their projects into commercialized products.

A Summary of the Kerry Amendments

Vision. The aim of this measure is to close the gap between traditional optometric practices within the DOD and the VA and the influx of unique visual injuries stemming from roadside bombs. The clinical research component of this amendment will enable the DOD and the VA to properly document findings, analyze data, and publish findings for improved identification of visual abnormalities in the TBI population. The establishment of this center will also further enhance description, diagnosis, and treatment of vision related problems that may occur amongst TBI patients in the military and in the civilian sector.

Veterans Entrepreneurship. This Kerry-Snowe amendment provides increased counseling and resources for veterans and reservists. Specifically, it reauthorizes the Small Business Administration's Office of Veteran Business Development, creates an interagency taskforce on veteran small business issues, makes permanent the Advisory Committee on Veterans Business Affairs, allows the SBA Administrator to offer loans up to $50,000 without requiring collateral from a loan applicant, creates National Reservist Enterprise Transition Teams through grants to Small Business Development Centers and other non-profits, improves the Military Reservist Economic Injury Disaster Loan program by extending application deadlines and increasing loan size, and requires a Government Accountability Office report on the needs of service-disabled veterans and how to improve relations between employers and reservist employees.

SBIR Commercialization Pilot Program. This Kerry-Snowe amendment builds on the pilot program enacted in 2005 to help SBIR firms transition their projects into products and technologies being built and used by DOD. The amendment extends the pilot through 2012 to continue the momentum, and creates other incentives for contracting officers and prime contractors to use SBIR technologies.

SBIR Two-Year Reauthorization. This Kerry amendment reauthorizes the SBIR program to 2010. Currently set to expire in September 2008, this temporary reauthorization will prevent contract delays and program shut-downs while comprehensive SBIR reauthorization legislation is passed.

Small Business Contracts. This Snowe-Kerry amendment would require DOD to take into account small business concerns when considering what actions to take against a contractor or subcontractor who faced a disadvantage in carrying out the contract due to the loss of employees called to active duty.

U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship

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1. Here are the amendment numbers

* Vision - S.AMDT.2969 (Sponsored by John Kerry)
* Veterans Entrepreneurship - S.AMDT.3024 (Sponsored by John Kerry)
* SBIR Commercialization Pilot Program - S.AMDT.3023 (Sponsored by John Kerry)
* SBIR Two-Year Reauthorization - S.AMDT.3041 (Sponsored by John Kerry)
* Small Business Contracts - S.AMDT.2299 (Sponsored by Olympia Snowe, co-sponsored by John Kerry)

For those who like to look stuff up. Or, in case you want to keep them handy for schooling freepers on who really supports the troops.

John Kerry is Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship, Olympia Snowe is Ranking Member. They have worked together on a lot of good stuff for small biz, even when the roles were reversed - but with the Republicans in charge, 95% of it went nowhere. Now there is a shot at getting some things passed, like these 5 amendments. It isn't as sexy as single payer universal health care, but it does help real people with real problems.

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2. Kick for the evening crowd.

Guess I should have posted this in the Veterans group.

[_dynamicdems]

3. K&R! n/t