Last week we learned that in May 2005, the American Legion lobbying was successful to remove Veterans Administration funding legislation administration-proposed increases in VA Prescription co-payments and institution of user fee for Priority Group 8 veterans using VA health facilities.
In October 2007, the Legion adopted the American Legion Riders as a national program for The American Legion. The first Legion Riders chapter was established by the American Legion Post 396 in Garden City, Michigan, in 1993. Today there are more than 110,000 riders from over 2,000 posts nationwide and in three foreign countries. Some of their duties are to participate in local charity events, help in raising money for VA hospital facilities through various special rides, riding to honor fallen military men and women and to protect the sanctity of their funerals, and escorting military units to departure airfields for combat tours overseas and welcoming them home upon their return.
In June 2008, President George W. Bush signed into law the Post-9/11 Veteran Educational Assistance Act, a next-generation GI Bill strongly supported by the American Legion. The bill renewed the federal government’s commitment to veterans by providing them with substantially better education benefits. The Post-9/11 GI Bill took effect August 1, 2009, and sent an unprecedented number of veterans to college.
On October 22, 2009, President Obama signed the Veterans Health Care Budget Reform Act of 2009, guaranteeing “advance funding” for VA appropriations, a formula that the Legion has strongly supported for many years. The new law sets funding for the VA one year in advance. In February 2010, the entire Legion family banded together and won $250,000 for Operation Comfort Warriors (OCW) in PepsiCo’s Refresh Everything Project, submitting the most votes in an online contest and beating out hundreds of other groups and charities to take first place in the contest’s first month. This is an early example of the still growing power of online and social media to augment everything the Legion does.
Next week we will learn about the Legion’s beginning relationship with the United Services Automobile Association (USAA) and the establishment of The American Legion Amateur Radio Club.
