Monday, May 12, 2014
#Veterans Appeal Process | Shaheen pushes for Speedier Claims
NASHUA, N.H. (AP) — U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen wants to speed up the appeals process for veterans with
Shaheen, D-New Hampshire, introduced legislation Wednesday requiring at least three staffers to review appeals at each of 56 regional Veterans Affairs offices. The regional offices in New Hampshire and Vermont each have only one.
Shaheen said the change would reduce a backlog of appeals that grew 76 percent from 2009 to 2012. Her bill also would require the VA to report to Congress on the feasibility of increasing capacity at other levels of the appeals process.
"I've heard time and again from New Hampshire veterans that have spent years waiting on their appeals and this is entirely unacceptable," she said. "The VA must do better; I've spoken with Secretary (Eric) Shinseki directly on this issue several times and yet we still haven't seen the results we were promised."
Shaheen also is co-sponsoring a bill with Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins that would make all disabled veterans eligible for free, lifetime passes to national parks. The bill would amend a 2004 law that gives such passes only to veterans who are classified as having a 100 percent disability .
The bills come as several Senate Republicans, as well as Republican Senate hopeful Scott Brown, are calling on Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki to resign over allegations of corruption and avoidable deaths at a Phoenix veterans' hospital. Brown, who is seeking the GOP nomination in hopes of challenging Shaheen in November, said while he respects Shinseki's service to the country, the VA must be held accountable.More...
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
State House Live: N.H. House upholds ban of alcohol ads on billboards | Hurting State Sales
11:49 a.m.: New Hampshire billboards won’t be advertising alcohol anytime soon, as the House voted 193-164 to uphold a longtime state law banning it.
A bill passed by the Senate would’ve overturned a state law that bans alcohol companies from advertising on billboards. Substance abuse advocacy groups and beer distributors opposed this bill. Local breweries or wineries can still advertise their businesses on billboards as long as the billboards don’t depict alcohol.
Opponents of the ban said it restricts speech and pointed out that alcohol ads are allowed on television, on the radio and in print.
More From Concord Monitor
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
Monday, May 5, 2014
Sunday, May 4, 2014
White House Correspondents' Dinner | Obama's lines
1. “These days, House Republicans are actually giving John Boehner a harder time than they’re giving me, which means orange really is the new black.”
2. On 2016: “Let’s face it, Fox…it’ll be harder to convince the American people that Hillary was born in Kenya.”
3. On his last year: “At one point, things got so bad, the 47 percent called Mitt Romney to apologize.”
(Also on POLITICO: Joel McHale's top lines)
4. “I did notice, [daughter] Sasha needed a speaker at Career Day. She invited Bill Clinton. I was a little hurt by that.”
5. “I haven’t seen somebody pull a 180 that fast [as an Olympic snowboarder] since Rand Paul dis-invited that Nevada rancher [Cliven Bundy] from this dinner.”
6. “Gridlock [in D.C.] has gotten so bad, you’ve got to wonder, what did we do to piss off [Gov.] Chris Christie so bad?”
(Also on POLITICO: Obama: 'My stellar 2013')
7. On his recent trip to Malaysia: “The lengths we have to go to get CNN coverage these days [because of the network’s heavy coverage of missing flight MH370]. I think they’re still searching for their table.”
8. “If you want to get paid while not working you should have to run for Congress just like everyone else.”
9. “MSNBC’s here, they’re a little overwhelmed. They’ve never seen an audience this big before.”
10. On Healthcare.gov: “In 2008, my slogan was ‘Yes, we can.’ In 2013 my slogan was ‘control-alt-delete.’”
Obama’s top 10 2014 White House Correspondents' Dinner lines
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