Keeping our promises to veterans

 The recent anniversary of the GI Bill reminds us of our commitment to veterans and the need to make good on these commitments.
All of our veterans from the Army to the Maine National Guard make sacrifices to protect the basics rights of Mainers, and in return we need to ensure they get the benefits and respect they deserve.
By allowing veterans the opportunity to purchase homes through low-cost loans, start businesses, attend college, and receive government hiring preferences, the 1944 GI Bill demonstrated our immense gratitude towards our troops. The GI Bill honored the commitment of veterans to our country by investing in their future.
In this legislative session, we honored this tradition of investing in our veterans by sponsoring bills geared towards veterans’ employment opportunities and health.
Many of these newly enacted policies will aid the 150,000 veterans living in Maine. However, some of our other efforts went no further than Governor LePage’s veto pen.
Although the government has long adopted veterans’ preference hiring practices, a new resolution now legally allows private companies to do the same. One of the first steps in assisting our veterans in their transition back to civilian life is by creating job opportunity. This bill gets veterans back into the workforce.
This session, lawmakers also worked to protect veterans from potential health problems by acknowledging the serious harm that has come to Maine’s National Guard veterans from exposure to Agent Orange and other harmful chemicals at the Canadian Forces Base in Gagetown, New Brunswick.
This measure asks the federal government to recognize the potential health risks and disabilities associated with such exposure so that our veterans can finally receive the care and benefits they deserve. If our veterans are exposed to harmful chemicals in the line of duty, they deserve to have access to adequate care to treat the negative effects.
Unfortunately, not all of our efforts to continue this tradition of investing in our veterans were successful. Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle, came together to pass my bill, which would have expanded access to the MaineCare program and would have allowed 3,000 uninsured veterans access to healthcare. Once again, Governor LePage vetoed this crucial bill, leaving these veterans without healthcare coverage. These veterans fought to protect our rights and we have a responsibility to protect theirs.
As a lawmaker who has government-sponsored healthcare, I don’t understand how Governor LePage can turn around and deny that right to healthcare to the very people who elected him; the very people of whom he is the Commander-in-Chief.
As Americans and Mainers, we owe so much to our veterans. In the wake of the anniversary of the GI Bill, we need to keep investing in our veterans and honoring our commitments. As lawmakers, we need to keep creating policies that aid our veterans in their transition home and defend their benefits and access to care.
Maine is proud to be the home of a higher percentage of veterans than any other state. These servicemen and women defend and protect American values both at home and abroad. Let the 70th anniversary of the GI Bill remind us to keep working to get our veterans the benefits and care they deserve.
  Sen. Troy Jackson (D-Allagash is majority leader of the Maine Senate. He can be reached at either 398-4081 (home) or 436-0763 (cell), or via email at SenTroy.Jackson@legislature.maine.gov.