Klobuchar’s staff will hold discussions alongside representatives from the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs, County Veterans Service Officers and Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development to highlight earned benefits available to veterans and offer assistance on benefit applications

Members of the public, particularly veterans and those caring for veterans, are invited to join these discussions

On Tuesday and Wednesday, representatives from U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar’s office will host a series of discussions alongside the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs, County Veterans Service Officers and Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development in Southern Minnesota to highlight the earned benefits available to veterans and to offer assistance on benefit applications.

These events are free and members of the public, particularly veterans and those caring for veterans, are encouraged to attend.

Roundtable discussion  times and places are as follows:

 

Tuesday

10 to 11 a.m. at County Government Center cafeteria in Jackson

1 to 2 p.m. at Martin County Library in Fairmont

4 to 5 p.m. at American Legion Post 56 in Albert Lea

 

Wednesday

9 to 10 a.m. at American Legion Post 92 in Rochester

12 to 1 p.m. at American Legion Post 9 in Winona

This month, Klobuchar led a letter to the United States Department of the Air Force and the Air Force Reserve Personnel Command expressing concern regarding delays in determining veterans’ military pensions and asking for immediate action to ensure that our retired service members receive the benefits they have earned.

According to a press release, Klobuchar has worked across the aisle to modernize G.I. Bill benefits for troops, strengthen funding for veterans’ health care and improve mental health care for the country’s soldiers throughout her time in the Senate. She has also authored bipartisan bills on behalf of the nation’s veterans and their families to expand job training and employment opportunities, cut red tape and wait times for veterans scheduling appointments at VA Medical facilities and reduce veterans’ homelessness.

In January, Klobuchar and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, introduced the bipartisan Veterans Access to Care Act, which would help improve veterans’ medical care by allowing facilities with a need for additional health care professionals to apply to be designated as a Health Professional Shortage Area. Once designated, these facilities would have access to the National Health Service Corps, which provides service-obligated scholarships and loan forgiveness to health professional students who pledge to practice in a Health Professional Shortage Area for at least two years.

In September 2018, the Energy and Water, Legislative Branch and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act was signed into law and included Klobuchar and Senator Thom Tillis,’ R – North Carolina, legislation to help service members who have been affected by harmful burn pits. The Helping Veterans Exposed to Burn Pits Act created a center of excellence within the Department of Veterans Affairs to better understand the health effects associated with burn pits and treat veterans who become sick after exposure.

And last year, Klobuchar and Senator Todd Young, R-Indiana introduced the Department of Veterans Affairs Oversight Enhancement Act of 2018, bipartisan legislation to increase Congressional oversight of the Department of Veterans Affairs in collaboration with the U.S. Government Accountability Office. Klobuchar and Young also led a bipartisan letter urging the VA to give prompt consideration to the recommendations for improving veterans’ access to mental health services as noted in the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, which highlighted the substantial unmet need for mental health services for veterans who served in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.