Veterans Affairs

Last week, the Blue Dog Coalition released A Strong Rural America, an agenda that outlines the path to prosperity and restoring the American Dream in rural communities across the country. The agenda is intended to provide a roadmap for Congress to take a commonsense, bipartisan approach to revitalizing rural communities and addressing the level of inequality between rural and urban America. The effort was led by Rep.

Today, the Blue Dog Coalition released A Strong Rural America, an agenda that outlines the path to prosperity and restoring the American Dream in rural communities across the country.

The Democratic Blue Dog Coalition has endorsed H.R. 6165, the Combating Opioid Misuse Before Addiction for our Troops (COMBAT) Act. This bipartisan bill prevents the overprescription of opioids to active duty servicemembers, their families, and retirees who use TRICARE by requiring the Department of Defense to implement a seven day first-fill limit for opioid prescriptions.

The Democratic Blue Dog Coalition has endorsed H.R. 4362, Fairness for Rural Veterans Act, a bill that makes it easier for rural communities to compete for federal funding to build new state veterans nursing homes. The bill was introduced by Rep. Tom O'Halleran (D-AZ), chairman of the Blue Dog Special Task Force on Rural America.

This week, the Blue Dog Coalition's Special Task Force on Rural America held its first panel discussion on rural issues. The Task Force met with representatives of the American Legion, Disabled American Veterans (DAV), Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), and the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) to discuss ways we can better support our nation's rural veterans.

The Blue Dog Coalition has launched a Special Task Force on Rural America, which will produce commonsense solutions for the rural communities across the country that were left behind after the Great Recession.

COALITION NEWS: