Franken's Dogs-For-Veterans Bill Passes Senate

[babylonsister]

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/frankens-dogs-for-veterans-bill-passes-senate.php?ref=fpc

Franken's Dogs-For-Veterans Bill Passes Senate
By Eric Kleefeld - July 24, 2009, 11:03AM


He's only been in office for two and a half weeks, but Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) has already passed legislation in the chamber, his office announced -- his pilot program to fund service dogs for disabled veterans, which was incorporated by unanimous consent into the Defense Authorization bill that passed last night.

Franken introduced the measure along with Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA), and had additional cosponsors from both sides of the aisle: Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Mark Begich (D-AK), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), and John Ensign (R-NV).

This is not the final piece of legislation, as the Defense Authorization will still have to go through the conference committee process. That said, the chances are probably very good that the Franken-Isakson Service Dogs for Veterans Act will be in the bill that gets signed by President Obama.

[damntexdem]

1. Do you think Norm Coleman could get training for this?

Of course, it could be that no veteran would want him. ;-)

[felinetta]

5. Sen Franken already making a difference for the good ,for vets. So

I guess, when putrid Repubs kept screaming that Democrats were
not patriotic, they were full of crap and certainly Franken
has proved them wrong in less than a month.  Again, I ask,
where is the humanity?  Well,I can see it in Franken.  What a
wonderful bill.  I hope after this bill passes, at some point
someone will do a story on how both the vets and dogs' lives
were made better.  By the way, could you ever imagine this
kind of action being thought of by Cheney, Bush, Rumsfeld
etc.?

[proud patriot]

2. good for him

I saw a wonderful segment on a service dog helping a soldier
with PTSD .. the dog could sense when anxiety would build in the
man and would lay on him and get the man's attention on the dog
by licking his face .

It was very cool

[WillieW]

3. Good for him. Dog is man's best friend after all.

[Bumblebee]

4. And Ensign is hoping that signing on to a dog bill will get him

out of a doghouse?!!

[TexasObserver]

6. Recommend

[Wilms]

7. Brilliant!

[johnaries]

8. Yay for Franken! Excellent idea and excellent bill. K&R

[ControlledDemolition]

9. This suggests that Al likes animals. I therefore like Al even more than before. n/t