[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 43 (Tuesday, March 29, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E543]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        INTRODUCTION OF H.R. 805

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                            HON. BOB FILNER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 29, 2011

  Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, there are not many of us who have not heard 
of the horrific battleground stories experienced by our young men and 
women who have served in Operation New Dawn and Operation Enduring 
Freedom. These stories reveal a gruesome and difficult war in which 
servicemembers often sustain long lasting emotional and physical 
injuries. Of these injuries, none is more deafening than the 
amputations undergone by servicemembers as a direct result of the 
widespread use of roadside bombs otherwise known as improvised 
explosive devices (IEDs).
  This class of injury, which has spiked significantly since the onset 
of the Operation New Dawn, requires special consideration within the 
Department of Veterans Affairs. After returning home, these individuals 
must embark upon extensive rehabilitation and special treatment to 
receive a shot at living a normal life, and this is why I have 
introduced H.R. 805.
  H.R. 805 instructs the VA to actively inform veterans and educate 
employees at each VA prosthetics and orthotics clinic of the Injured 
and Amputee Veterans' Bill of Rights. In addition, this bill requires 
the VA to monitor and resolve complaints from injured and amputee 
veterans alleging mistreatment.
  I believe that this bill will do much to protect the rights of our 
injured and amputee veterans, as well as bolster the consistency of 
prosthetic and orthotic care throughout the VA health system.
  I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation.

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