WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) introduced the National Commander of the American Legion, James "Bill" Oxford, a North Carolina native, during a joint Senate and House Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearing.
Watch the introduction HERE.
During the hearing, Senator Tillis advocated for veteran’s health, including prevention of veteran suicide, improving women’s health, and preventing future toxic exposure.
Tillis supports the American Legion
“We went through the list of priorities with the North Carolina delegation yesterday. We met in my office before the hearing and I agree with, and want to help, all the legislative priorities that the American Legion has put forth. I think we’ve got to make progress on women’s health, we’ve got to make progress on preventing suicide, and that progress is absolutely rooted in reaching out to veterans who are not connected to the VA…I went to meet with the League of Municipalities and the Association of County Commissions in North Carolina and I said create a place in North Carolina where veterans can convene so that we can find these other men and women who need service and we will save lives.
Tillis pushes Congress to help clear casework
“The other thing I would really like to encourage all the members of the American Legion is to make sure that you expect every member of Congress to help you clear casework. Instead of doing what you all do, you are stubborn. You see a task and you want to complete it, but recognize that many of us got elected so we can help veterans. If we’re helping them, you’re able to free your resources up to find the next ones. So count me in, and I think every member of Congress, who want to have their staff down in the states and here in Washington helping clear casework.”
Tillis Addresses toxic exposure
“Now, I want to talk about toxic exposures. I chair the Personnel Subcommittee on Senate Armed Services and I’ve been a member of the Veterans Committee since I’ve been here and I will continue to be as long as I am in service. I think one of the things we need to do is get ahead of the next agent orange. We still need to do right by those who were exposed to agent orange, but I think there is a whole area of information that we didn’t capture when men and women were serving and we’ve got to go back and figure out how to capture it in the VA, which will provide a better case and I think a faster track to presumption. It’s that age old problem that we have when we’re trying to get care to the veterans that deserve it, so we’re working in my capacity on the Personnel Subcommittee. We will have a hearing on what more information we can capture in the underlining health record… make sure that gets transferred to the new health record so we can even potentially predict a problem before the veteran does. We don’t want to stop until we are at that level, where we are calling them up and saying, ‘you need care’, and based on the data, we may be aware of a problem we can get ahead of. That’s the best standard of care that we should work towards, and I’ll continue to work towards this as long as I am in the Senate.”
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