A son’s gift
To the editor:
My son Guy knew how much his father loved hummingbirds. My son loved his father. So when his father was buried at Fairmont Cemetery he felt the last thing he could do for his father to honor his life and memory was place a hummingbird feeder on the gravesite so he would always have the companionship of the birds he loved so dearly.
Now the loving gesture has been turned into an ongoing source of pain. Who would have thought that someone wanted a bird feeder enough to take it from a gravesite where it had been lovingly placed? True enough, the feeder was beautiful and it would look nice anywhere it was placed. True enough that the hummingbirds don’t care where it was obtained…and true enough: a son placed that feeder with love in his heart and hopes that it would symbolize his ongoing, never ending love for his father. And he wonders: what does it symbolize to the people who stole it?
In conclusion I just want to say: if you saw the feeder and admired it I would have been glad to tell you where to purchase one of your own. If you couldn’t afford one and felt the only way to have one was to steal it I would have tried to purchase one for you.
Now you have my son’s gift to his father all I can say is: why didn’t you take the pole, too? You wouldn’t have been considered any less tactless, rude, and criminal for the taking of it.
Beverly Terrell
Presque Isle
A bipartisan path forward in Iraq
By U.S. Sen. Susan Collins
(R-Maine)
The war in Iraq is the greatest challenge facing our country. Unfortunately, the political debate in Washington has not been conducive to finding a solution, as political divisions have hardened during the past year.
Vitriolic rhetoric and veto threats do not help us pursue a new direction. I believe the way forward must be a bipartisan approach that puts the interests of our country, and of the brave men and women of our armed forces, ahead of political gain. Our nation needs to forge a new bipartisan strategy that will redefine the mission and set the stage for a significant but responsible withdrawal of our troops over the next year.
Fortunately, we do not have to search far and wide to find this new policy. It is already mapped out for us in the unanimous recommendations of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group. This group was chaired by former Secretary of State James Baker and former Democratic Congressman Lee Hamilton. Its members included distinguished Americans from both parties who worked hard to forge a unanimous, bipartisan consensus on the road ahead in Iraq.
Their recommendations chart the path forward and remain as viable today as when they were first released last December. The Iraq Study Group report lays out three core principles. First, it calls for a fundamental change in the mission of our military forces in Iraq, away from combat operations, and instead limited to training and equipping the Iraqi security forces, conducting counterterrorism operations against al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations, and securing Iraq’s borders.
Shifting the mission of our troops would require the Iraqi military and police to take responsibility for security for their country. This would allow tens of thousands of our troops to start coming home, and would demonstrate that our military commitment to Iraq is neither open-ended nor unconditional.
Second, the report recommends that American support for the Iraqi government should be conditioned on its leaders making progress in meeting specific benchmarks, including the political reforms necessary to quell sectarian violence.
Recently, the President released an assessment report called for in bipartisan legislation that I coauthored with Senators John Warner and Ben Nelson. This report verified that the Iraqis have made very little progress toward the most important political benchmarks, such as adopting the reforms to equitably distribute oil revenues and to more fully integrate the Sunni minority into governmental power structures.
Our troops have paid a heavy price for this lack of progress. In fact, American troops suffered more casualties during the past three months than at any time during this war. Requiring the Iraqis to make real progress on the political reforms is absolutely essential.
Third, the Iraq Study Group urges our government to launch a new diplomatic effort in the region. Both the international community and Iraq’s neighbors are clearly not doing enough to foster its stability, and the United States has placed too much emphasis on military actions at the expense of diplomacy.
Last December, shortly before the Iraq Study Group report was released, I made my third and most recent visit to Iraq. Based on what I saw, I concluded that a new direction in Iraq was needed and that it would be a mistake to send additional troops to Baghdad, to place them in the midst of a sectarian struggle, indeed, a civil war. The solution was political, not military.
I also concluded that we should be moving our troops out of Baghdad and instead concentrating their efforts in Anbar Province, where the violence is not primarily sectarian, and where the local population was starting to support our efforts and joining in the fight against al-Qaeda. Thus, my first-hand experience in Iraq meshes with the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group: our redefined mission must focus on counterterrorism operations, securing Iraq’s borders and training the Iraqi security forces.
During the Senate’s recent debate on the Defense Authorization bill, I joined a bipartisan group of 14 Senators in calling for the adoption of the Iraq Study Group’s informed and unanimous recommendations as our new strategy in Iraq. It is a strategy that lays the groundwork for responsible, realistic redeployment of American combat troops and emphasizes the need for more diplomacy. It charts a new course that allows us to move past partisan politics. As Iraq Study Group co-Chairman Lee Hamilton said about our amendment, “It provides a bipartisan way forward on a problem that cannot be solved unless we come together to address this singular national challenge.”
It is a course we must take without delay. That is why I also have offered an amendment with Senator Nelson that would require the President to immediately transition to this new strategy. Not in 120 days, not next year, not after September, but immediately. There are so many people in Congress and throughout the country who see the need for a new strategy in Iraq, and that new strategy is at hand.
Our troops have performed magnificently; their courage, commitment, and sacrifice make us all proud. But, despite their heroic efforts, the war in Iraq has been one lost opportunity after another by the President, the Congress, and the Iraqi government. The immediate implementation of the strategy developed by the Iraq Study Group is our opportunity to change direction in a responsible, bipartisan way, and it is one we must not lose.
More help for our veterans
By U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud
(D-Maine)
As the Chairman of the Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Health, I have the responsibility of overseeing the VA health care system – the nation’s largest health care provider. My colleagues and I on the committee are constantly examining VA’s practices and looking for ways to deliver better health care for our nation’s veterans.
I am pleased to report that the full veterans committee has unanimously passed a bill that I have been working on for some time now. The Veterans’ Health Care Improvement Act of 2007 (H.R. 2874) would improve VA’s capacity in several areas, including mental health, access for rural veterans and addressing homelessness among veterans. Passing this bill through our committee means that it will be ready to pass the full House of Representatives this month.
H.R. 2874 expands readjustment and mental health services for Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans. Expanding access to these programs for veterans is important because an increasing number of recent veterans are suffering from traumatic brain injury (TBI) and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In fact, according to the Government Accountability Office, an estimated one-third of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are facing mental health challenges, and up to 300,000 troops are expected to return from Iraq suffering from TBI.
This bill also authorizes the Secretary of the VA to make grants to support therapeutic readjustment programs for veterans. These programs have helped our veterans deal with a number of health related issues, including PTSD. This bill will allow the VA to make grants to conduct workshop programs that have been shown to assist in therapeutic readjustment and rehabilitation.
H.R. 2874 also contains improvements to health care and assistance for homeless veterans. Each night, as many as 200,000 veterans are homeless. Many more veterans are at high risk of homelessness because of poverty, dismal living conditions, and lack of support. This is an outrageous situation, and my subcommittee will be doing even more in this area in the coming months.
For many Maine veterans, the distance that they must drive to obtain VA health care and specialized services is great. This puts an unneeded financial stress on a veteran who may be already suffering from a health issue. H.R. 2874 would create a new program to support innovative transportation initiatives for rural veterans.
In fact, we also passed a second bill that would make several vital improvements for Maine’s veterans, especially in regard to travel. Most importantly, it boosts the mileage reimbursement rate for veterans who have to drive long distances for health care. Under the bill, the reimbursement rate (currently $0.11 per mile) will be increased and linked to the reimbursement rate for federal employees. This is something that I have spent years working on and something that I hear from Mainers about every day. I pleased that my colleagues recognize the hardship these long distances place of rural veterans and are joining me in increasing the mileage reimbursement rate.
Another part of this bill was a section that I authored that would expand educational assistance under the Montgomery GI Bill (MGIB) and allow accelerated payments of educational assistance to an eligible veteran enrolled in an approved program of education or training that leads to employment as an operator of a commercial motor vehicle. When our military personnel come home, I believe it is critical that we provide them with every opportunity to live the American dream that they have risked so much to protect.
The committee also passed H.R. 2623, a bill that will help ensure that every veteran’s preference for end-of-life care is provided in an equitable and compassionate manner. The bill will prohibit the collection of co-payments for all hospice care furnished by the VA. Under current law, a veteran receiving hospice care in a nursing home is exempt from any applicable co-payments. However, if the hospice care is provided in any another setting, such as in an acute-care hospital or at home, the veteran may be subject to an inpatient or outpatient primary care co-payment. This bill ensures that VA’s policy doesn’t penalize a veteran who chooses to remain at home for his or her hospice care.
These are all important steps forward. Every step we can take to continue to improve the lives of our nation’s veterans is a step in the right direction.
Kindness overshadowed by vandalism
To the editor:
A couple of veterans line the Main Street in Mars Hill with American flags, on several days. This looks very nice.
Saturn, the most impressive model of the Solar Display, is located in Westfield. When this site was dedicated, several people attended, including Senator Collins, and an astronaut from Houston. This spring a neighborhood lady put a guest registry book with a plastic cover on this site. In a few weeks people from 40 states and four foreign countries, including Russia, Italy, and Slovakia, had signed this book. Unfortunately, someone stole this book!
Bob Tweedie
Westfield
A bipartisan approach to covering our uninsured
By U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe
(R-Maine)
As a member of the Senate Finance Committee, I was pleased to join my colleagues last week in supporting legislation that would reauthorize the State Children’s Health Insurance Program for an additional five years and invest $35 billion to cover 3.3 million children currently not covered by the program. As a staunch supporter of SCHIP since its inception, I have worked diligently to ensure that America’s children get the coverage they need to stay healthy and happy.
The bill marked out of committee marks significant progress toward investing in the health of America’s children and ensures that our country will move forward in its promise to cover nine million children who remain uninsured today. This legislation will reward states that demonstrate progress in covering more children instead of maintaining the status quo, which is imperative to providing reassurance to those families who struggle to afford health insurance. The storied success of this program in my home state of Maine alone proves its essential worth and I am so pleased that we were able to reach a bipartisan consensus on how to move forward in covering more children in the future.
The bill, which passed the Finance Committee by a vote of 17 to 4, contains a number of priorities included in S.1224, the “Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act,” legislation Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.V.) and I introduced in April. These provisions include increasing income eligibility to families at 300 percent of poverty. This represents the right policy because it creates a broader safety-net that offers assistance to a greater number of families. According to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, fewer than half (47 percent) of parents in families earning less than $40,000 a year are offered health insurance through their employer—a 9 percent drop since 1997.
The bill will also allow states the option to cover pregnant women. While states can currently pursue a state plan amendment to offer pre-natal, labor, and delivery services, postpartum care is not reimbursable. Studies show that women who do not receive postpartum care are at a greater risk for a variety of health complications that make it difficult for a mother to properly care for her infant. In June, I joined Senator Lincoln, Senator Lugar and Senator Bingaman and 15 additional Senators sent a letter to Chairman Baucus and Ranking Member Grassley asking for inclusion of this policy.
Another provision is the ability to expand health quality reporting. The bill contains a new quality initiative within the Department of Health and Human Services charged with developing and implementing quality measures and improving state reporting of quality data. In addition, the bill includes the Lincoln/Snowe amendment on quality reporting on reducing the number of children born pre-maturely.
And to my great satisfaction, the SCHIP reauthorization bill also includes tools to combat childhood obesity. The bill includes an amendment I supported that authorizes amendment authorizing a $25 million demonstration project and instituting measures to fight childhood obesity. Over 15 percent of children in our country are obese. This has dire consequences for their long-term health and will put a strain on health care resources in the future.
Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) and I sought to improve the quality of dental care through the provision of an assured dental benefit for all SCHIP-covered children. Although the bill also includes a $200 million grant program for dental grants, we plan to introduce an amendment on the floor mandating coverage of dental benefits, as well as allowing states to provide a supplemental, wrap-around benefit for children who have medical insurance, but lack dental insurance. For every child who lacks health insurance, 2.6 children lack dental insurance.
The SCHIP program will expire on September 30th. CBO predicts that nearly one million S-CHIP-covered children will become uninsured over the next five years without additional funds above baseline. While this bill is not perfect, it illustrates bipartisan compromise and shows a marked progress toward covering those children who need our help. I will work with members on both sides of the aisle to ensure we get this critical legislation successfully signed into law.
