<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div align="">The News-Gazette
</div> <div align="">Sunday, November 27, 2011
</div> <div align="">Guest Commentary
</div> <div align=""><br></div> <div align=""><b>Long record of support for advancing
veterans' causes </b></div> <div align=""><b>By U.S. Rep. Timothy Johnson </b></div> <div align=""><br></div> <div align="">A local organization has recently
initiated a politically motivated campaign of disinformation about my
record on veterans' affairs.
</div> <div align=""><br></div> <div align="">At protests outside our offices,
conducted after office hours when no representatives were on hand to
respond, and in recent letters to the editor, my record has been
distorted.
</div> <div align=""><br></div> <div align="">The votes I am condemned for were votes
against unwise war spending bills that unfortunately and
inappropriately, I believe, bundled together spending for veterans'
benefits.
</div> <div align=""><br></div> <div align="">For example, the critics point to my
vote "against GI Bill benefits for children of fallen troops"
(HR 2346). In truth, this bill was in the previous Congress, the
111th Congress, and was the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2009.
It barely passed 226-202. This bill included the "Cash for
Clunkers" provision, an incredibly wasteful program totally
unrelated to veterans.
</div> <div align=""><br></div> <div align="">I have also been taken to task for not
providing "mortgage relief for deployed troops, their families
and gold star mothers," or HR 836. This legislation passed
242-177, with my support, to put an end to the Housing and Urban
Development's disgracefully mismanaged Emergency Mortgage Relief
Program. The bill as passed further directed the HUD Secretary to
examine the impact of this program on veterans, their widows and
families. The criticism is not a misstatement; it is simply false.
</div> <div align=""><br></div> <div align="">Critics also found fault with my
opposition to HR 2647. This was not a vote against mental health
screening for troops returning home as my critics claim. This was the
National Defense Authorization Act for 2010. Mental health screening
was a tiny part of the legislation. I voted against the bill because,
t included non-defense related measures, inflated defense spending,
and an expansion of the definition of hate crimes unrelated to
veterans.
</div> <div align=""><br></div> <div align="">My record of support for veterans is
long and proud and could fill a book. It includes sponsorship and
support for measures improving outreach, pay scales, chiropractic
care, extended health benefits, extended GI benefits even for widows
and family members, employment, housing and even cemetery
maintenance.
</div> <div align=""><br></div> <div align="">For the last several months, I have
been working with the Veterans' Administration toward the
construction of 65 housing units at the Danville VA. These are
intended for senior veterans, disabled veterans and local veterans
who are homeless or transitioning back into the workforce. On Nov.
16, the VA finally announced the launch of a 45-day comment period on
this initiative, after which agreements with developers can go
forward.
</div> <div align=""><br></div> <div align="">Also this month, one of my bills, H.R.
674, passed the House and directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs
to work with the Secretary of Labor to establish a program of
retraining assistance for veterans.
</div> <div align=""><br></div> <div align="">Earlier this year, I supported and
helped pass H.R. 1484, which streamlines veterans' appeals process
for medical claims, and H.R. 802, to recognize businesses that hire
veterans.
</div> <div align=""><br></div> <div align="">My office employs two people who
specialize in assisting active military and veterans with the breadth
of their problems, from simply gaining access to correct treatment at
the VA Illiana Health Care System in Danville, to correcting
disability payments to ascertaining military records. Our office has
assisted hundreds of veterans with problems such as these. We have
supported innovative senior living programs for veterans at the
Danville VA, and the establishment of outpatient clinics for veterans
in Mattoon and elsewhere.
</div> <div align=""><br></div> <div align="">Much of the criticism being
disseminated about my record comes from the Iraq and Afghanistan
Veterans of America. This is a pro-war organization whose board of
directors includes several Wall Street investment bankers and Les
Gelb, the president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Their vested interests obviously run counter to my outspoken
opposition to the war in Afghanistan and to other misdirected, costly
and life-sacrificing incursions in the Middle East.
</div> <div align=""><br></div> <div align="">As the saying goes, opposition to the
war is not opposition to the warrior.
</div> <div align=""><br></div> <div align="">On many of my votes on these issues
over the last decade, I was advised by my former Chief of Staff,
Jerry Clarke, a lieutenant colonel and pilot in the Army Reserves who
has served three tours of duty in Iraq.
</div> <div align=""><br></div> <div align="">My detractors on these issues are
either misinformed or trying to deliberately mislead people for
political gain. I hope this sets the record straight.
</div> <div align=""><br></div> <div align=""><i>[U.S. Rep. Timothy Johnson,
R-Urbana, represents Illinois' 15th Congressional District.]</i></div><div align=""><i><br></i></div> <div align=""><br></div><div><div>On Nov 27, 2011, at 10:25 AM, Carl G. Estabrook wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div>The local Congressional representative, Tim Johnson, has a piece in this morning's News-Gazette in response to an underhanded attack by a pro-war Democratic front group that calls itself "Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America." (The local chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War has been misled into repeating IAVA's attack.)<br><br>Even Johnson's opponents admit that his staff devotes a lot of time to constituent services, and he easily refutes the charge that he has been inattentive to veterans' concerns. The real target of the IAVA group is of course his anti-war voting record.<br><br>I can't find Johnson's piece on the increasingly inadequate News-Gazette website, so I'll try to copy it and post it here later. --CGE<br><br>_______________________________________________<br>Peace-discuss mailing list<br><a href="mailto:Peace-discuss@lists.chambana.net">Peace-discuss@lists.chambana.net</a><br>http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss<br></div></blockquote></div><br></body></html>