Rep. Greg Pence, R-Indiana, has formed a veterans advisory board to discuss and promote policies and potential federal legislation to help veterans.
The board, called the Sixth District Veterans Advisory Board, met with Pence for the first time last week and discussed what the first-term congressman characterized as a “lack of information” in some counties in his congressional district on benefits for veterans and their families, including mental and physical health, access to health care to the Veterans Affairs hospital and other issues.
The board includes 11 volunteers, including state Rep. Randy Fry, R-Greensburg, and Bartholomew Superior Court 1 Judge James Worton, who operates a veteran’s recovery court. Pence said he expects to meet with the advisory board again by the end of March.
“We all agreed that we need to somehow address getting better information out to veterans and their families in the Sixth District,” Pence said.
Pence, who served in U.S. Marine Corp. from 1979 to 1984, said some of the issues the board would likely discuss include homelessness among veterans, substance abuse, as well as what he said is a “disparity” in county efforts to reach out to veterans due to differences in resources, funding and personnel.
“I really want to look into why that is and what we can do to help,” Pence said. “…My plan to champion some ways to help these veterans.”
Pence recently sponsored the Our Obligation to Recognize American Heroes, or OORAH Act, which would allow the families of the 241 U.S. service personnel who died in a 1983 terrorist attack on a Marine barracks in Lebanon to receive compensatory damages from a portion of $1.68 billion in frozen Iranian assets overseas, according to Pence’s office.
In 2003, a federal judge ruled that the terrorist group Hezbollah carried out the attack with “funding, weapons and training provided by senior Iranian officials,” according to wire reports.
It is unclear how many families of veterans in Indiana would be helped by the measure.
“We’re trying to repatriate Iranian funds,” Pence said. “It’s not gong to happen overnight. Hopefully, we’ll get those funds back so the Gold Star have access to it.”
The OORAH Act was offered as one of 30 amendments to H.R. 3494 and passed the House by voice vote on July 16, said Milly Lothian, Pence’s press secretary.
A similar bill was introduced in the Senate and was included in the proposed National Defense Authorization Act, which has passed the Senate and House.
Currently, the House and Senate conference committees have yet to reach an agreement on the final language of the National Defense Authorization Act, but “we’re confident that this provision will remain in the final version,” Lothian said.
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”Contact Rep. Greg Pence” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Call 812-799-5230 or visit pence.house.gov to contact Rep. Greg Pence’s office.
[sc:pullout-text-end]
