IAVA assessment of the senate

[richlevy]

Can you say 'ChickenHawk'?.

Military Death Gratuity
(109th Congress; Senate vote #92; April 13, 2005)
Senators who voted FOR this motion were voting AGAINST increasing the amount of money a spouse or family member receives when their loved one is killed in Iraq or Afghanistan. IAVA opposed this motion, which would have eliminated the proposed increase.
Prior to this bill, the family of a US troop killed in action would only receive a $12,000 death gratuity from the government. This bill would increase that amount to $100,000.
The motion was defeated, and the plan was adopted and enacted into law.



Funding for TBI Research
(109th Congress; Senate vote #222; August 2, 2006) Senators who voted FOR this motion were voting AGAINST increasing funding for Traumatic Brain Injury research by $2 million. IAVA opposed this motion.
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) has become the signature wound of the Iraq war. In a spending bill appropriating more than $400 billion, in a war that has cost hundreds of billions of dollars and counting, it is unconscionable that Congress can't find an extra $2 million to treat an injury affecting more than 100,000 American Troops.
Despite a clear need for greater funding for TBI research, this motion passed.