A Letter from Bob Graham on Veterans and Tim Mahoney

Friday, May 4, 2007 

Dear Congresswoman Thurman,

I am writing in regards to my friend Congressman Tim Mahoney's hard work fighting for the veterans of Florida's 16th District.

Since he was sworn in to represent Florida's 16th district, Tim has fought to ensure that our nation lives up to the promises we made to the brave men and women who served our nation.

President Bush failed our troops, our veterans, and our nation by not providing for the troops injured in war and chronically under-funding the Veterans Administration and the military healthcare system. In order to solve the problems created by the lack of funding, Congressman Mahoney fought to fully fund the VA, providing an additional $5.3 billion this year. This, the largest funding increase for veterans in history, will help ease backlogs on processing cases, address maintenance delays at VA facilities, and will allow the VA to generally provide better services to all of those who have honorably served our country.

Because the disturbing conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center's Building 18 raised broader questions about this Administration's support of our troops wounded on the frontlines, I was proud to see Tim Mahoney's leadership in increasing funding and oversight for all Department of Defense healthcare facilities. This year, the Congress has increased the military health budget by more than $4 billion, including additional money for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder treatment and funding for Traumatic Brain Injury care and research.

In order to open a direct line of communication between the Congressman and the veterans he represents, Tim established a Veterans Advisory Council. At his first meeting with the Council in Port Charlotte, Tim listened to the concerns of the veterans in attendance and discussed how he can work to improve veterans' services.  After meeting with the Veterans' Council, Congressman Mahoney reached out to Secretary of Veterans' Affairs Jim Nicholson, seeking to work together to find solutions to the problems the veterans shared and to ensure that veterans' issues remain a priority.

This weekend, while others will be playing partisan politics, I know that my friend Tim Mahoney will continue doing the people's work and standing up for Veterans.

Sincerely,

Bob Graham