On Aug. 23, 2023, Cong. Delia Ramirez Held a Veteran Round Table at the VFW Hall, 6940 W. Diversey Ave., Chicago. Because the 3rd Congressional District is so large, she will hold another one in the western suburbs. She not only had her entire Chicago staff, who handle constituent services, present, but also present was her DC staff, that handle legislative issues. She is on the Veterans Affairs Committee and stated that she wants to hear from veterans what they want and the problems they face. 

She told us all about H. R. 1767, a bill she introduced to protect vets who enroll in courses, where the institution goes out of business. Under this bill if a school goes out of business, they must reimburse the VA what had been given to them, so that the vet can use this money for courses with another institution. We learned that it had moved out of the Veterans Affairs Cmte.

When asked about legislation we want, I spoke on H. R. 2413, the bill that would require the VA to treat dental care like the other medical specialties. Marina Sangit, the Legislative Asst. who handles veteran issues, already knew all about the bill. I offered her hard copies of the dental information and statistics that I had previously emailed her, but she already had everything. When later asked about things that veterans need, Lisa Mendez, Communications Specialist Outreach Coordinator for the Hines VAMC, again brought up the need for dental care, saying that veterans are always complaining about the lack of care.

I also brought up the problem of copays. We already earned our benefits and should not have to pay for our care. I went into several details that are not well known. I will provide them with a point paper on these details.

I tried to recruit some vets for CVO. We will see if any of them join.

Larry E. Nazimek
CVO Chair