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MEDIA RELEASE Updates from Rep. Tulsi Gabbard during the month of February: Gabbard Calls to Resolve Kona International Airport Customs Issue, Air Travel Fee Increases In a hearing of the House Homeland Security Committee, Gabbard asked Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson to work with local and state officials in Hawaii to resolve Customs and Border […]

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Treska finds lump on spine; VA not offering clinical trial to retired Iraq veteran

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MEDIA RELEASE U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii) and 17 other Senators wrote to Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki and Director of the Office of Management and Budget Jack Lew to urge the Administration to carry out the law and begin providing supportive services to caregivers of wounded veterans. The Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus […]

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MEDIA RELEASE Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii) is urging widows and widowers of deceased veterans to check to be sure that they received VA compensation for the month of their spouse’s death. According to new figures from the Department of Veterans Affairs, approximately 196,030 widows and widowers have received a total of […]

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MEDIA RELEASE Following oversight requests from Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii), the Department of Veterans Affairs has agreed to review the cases of nearly 17,000 “Brown Water” and other Vietnam Era veterans who claimed disabilities related to Agent Orange. VA had previously denied a number of claims without properly determining whether […]

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MEDIA RELEASE U.S. Sens. Daniel K. Akaka, Chairman of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, and Daniel K. Inouye, Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, have announced Mental Health America of Hawaii will receive a $300,000 federal grant to help homeless women veterans and homeless veterans with families in Hawaii. “This funding for homeless veterans in Hawaii will […]

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MEDIA RELEASE Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii) has introduced legislation to make much-needed improvements to VA’s disability claims processing. VA provides disability compensation to approximately 3.1 million veterans across the nation. “VA’s system to provide veterans with disability compensation is well intended, but it is broken. This bill will move the […]

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MEDIA RELEASE Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii) joined President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, Dr. Jill Biden, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki, and others at the White House for the signing of S. 1963, the Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act. This landmark bill authored by Akaka will […]

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MEDIA RELEASE Following an audit released this week by the VA Inspector General finding multiple shortcomings on VA’s part to provide timely exams for potentially service-connected disabled veterans, U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI), Chairman of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, issued the following statement: “I am disappointed that VA has not committed sufficient resources and […]

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MEDIA RELEASE Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI) was joined by a majority of Committee members in recommending a $380 million increase in discretionary funding above the President’s VA budget proposal. This recommendation came in the Committee’s views and estimates letter on the Fiscal Year 2011 budget for veterans’ programs, submitted Friday, […]

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MEDIA RELEASE U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii), chairman of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, held an oversight hearing Thursday, March 4 on veteran suicide and mental health issues. Akaka, who has championed a number of veterans’ mental health and suicide-prevention bills which are now law, sought to hear from veterans and VA leadership on the […]

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MEDIA RELEASE Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii) applauded the veterans provisions included in the Consolidated Appropriations Act which was passed by the Senate on Sunday and sent to the President’s desk. Akaka noted the bill includes a multi-billion-dollar increase in the annual budget of the Department of Veterans Affairs and, for […]

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