WASHINGTON (November 21, 2011) — American Legion National Commander Fang A. Wong says he is “profoundly disappointed” that the bipartisan Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (the so-called “Supercommittee”) failed to reach an agreement to cut $1.2 trillion from the federal budget over the next decade.

“They were given an important job to do, and they failed,” Wong said. “What this means to the future of our military and our veterans remains to be seen, but the challenges have now intensified for those who believe in a strong national defense and want to protect the hard-earned benefits of veterans. We are profoundly disappointed in the work of this committee.”

The failure to reach an agreement triggers $1.2 trillion in budget cuts set to take effect in January 2013.  Among the reductions is an automatic $492 billion in defense spending.

In a letter to the ranking Republican member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, John McCain, R-Ariz., Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said the automatic cuts would roll back ground forces to pre-World War II levels, leave the Navy with a fleet the size of the one in the years before World War I, and reduce the Air Force to its smallest size ever.

“That may be the worst-case scenario, but it could certainly occur unless these automatic cuts are rolled back between now and 2013,” Wong said. “There is still time to avoid Panetta’s nightmare, but we need to use it wisely in pressuring our lawmakers to make sure the Department of Defense has adequate funding to do its vital job.”

The deadlock also triggers another $492 billion in federal cuts starting in 2013 from health, education, drug enforcement, national parks, agriculture programs and social programs.

“Even if VA is OK, that doesn’t mean all veterans’ support programs are necessarily protected, because not all of them are administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs,” American Legion Legislative Division Deputy Director Ian de Planque explained. In recent remarks to the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, de Planque noted the vulnerability of veterans’ jobs and homeless programs within the Departments of Labor and Housing and Urban Development.

“That,” said Tim Tetz, director of the Legion’s Legislative Division, “is another good reason to keep up strong post-supercommittee pressure on Congress. Restricting Labor and Housing and Urban Development efforts on behalf of veterans could really damage VA Secretary (Eric) Shinseki’s efforts to end homelessness among veterans, and even the president’s work to curtail veteran joblessness.”

“Because the supercommittee failed to do its job,” Wong said, “it is critically important for us to do ours as advocates. It is vitally important to the future of our nation that Congress does what it must to protect the safety of our nation and the rights of our veterans.”

Respectfully,

Tim Tetz

Legislative Director

The Coalition to Salute America’s Heroes and The American Legion are giving $120,000 in Thanksgiving checks to 2,000 wounded veterans and servicemembers

30

Chip Warren  at (203) 645-4529 or cwarren@saluteheroes.org

Below is a synopsis of our program and how we can benefit veterans looking for employment opportunities:

Please visit us at www.heroeswithoutlimits.com

Mission Statement

The mission of HEROES WITHOUT LIMITS is to provide United States military veterans and the spouses of the fallen with the opportunity, platform, training, mentorship, and financing to own and operate a franchise business.

Who We Are

HEROES WITHOUT LIMITS answers the call for more employment opportunities for veterans, especially those who are motivated to own and operate a business. As a growing number of veterans return home from service, they face a stark economy with high unemployment rates. The HEROES WITHOUT LIMITS program offers thousands of veterans the potential to build successful businesses and successful lives after their service. Through the HEROES WITHOUT LIMITS program, candidates can take advantage of a fully-integrated program that provides a central location for entrepreneurship information, comprehensive personal assessment, business and franchise acquisition, business financing, personal mentorship, professional coaching, extensive business and technical training, and professional accountability.

What We Do

HEROES WITHOUT LIMITS offers a fully-integrated entrepreneur development program, which includes the following:

- Veteran Candidacy Identification
• We provide both proactive and reactive programs to identify potential entrepreneurs.

- Intake Processing
• We offer an efficient and thorough application process with excellent service and feedback for potential franchisees.

- Individual Personal Assessment
• We conduct a comprehensive, multi-level assessment process to identify the individuals with the highest probability for success as an entrepreneur.

- Business Opportunity
• Statistics show that entrepreneurs have a much higher probability for success using a franchise business model than starting their own business. We assist veterans in becoming franchise business owners and get them started on the path to success.

- Franchise Identification
• No two franchise opportunities are created alike. We use a detailed, 21 step metric-driven process to match franchises with the highest likelihood of success to the individual entrepreneur.

- Franchise Acquisition
• HEROES WITHOUT LIMITS helps military veteran and spouses of the fallen to obtain a franchise in a way that requires no capital investment on the part of the veteran or spouse of the fallen. Subsequently, the veteran can completely own and operate the business through an earn-out process.

- Training
• We offer a unique and top-notch training. Click here to read more about the training program.

- Resources and Tools
• The hallmark of successful entrepreneurs is continued personal and professional development. HEROES WITHOUT LIMITS gives program participants the tools necessary for greater potential to achieve long-term success.

- Networks
• The support of fellow like-minded individuals offers veterans greater potential to build a thriving business. We offer program participants access to a digital network of other successful participants and professionals in the business community.

Why We Do It

While times are tough for American people, times are even worse for returning veterans. Veterans enduring a recession with a tough economic outlook are more likely to become unemployed than non-veterans. Few government programs exist to help veterans with unemployment and even fewer exist to help veterans become entrepreneurs. Those that do exist fail to look at the entire process of business ownership and integrate every single step to drastically increase the probability for success. HEROES WITHOUT LIMITS offers a solution to helping military veteran entrepreneurs become business owners with greater probability for achieving success.

Thank you in advance for your time and support!

Yours, sincerely & respectfully,

Tony Cuchiara

Vice President

Heroes Without Limits

Ph: 602.695.4150

Fax: 602.680.4995

Email: Tony@heroeswithoutlimits.org

“SERVICE IS OUR PASSION”

• Tax credit of up to $5,600 for hiring veterans who have been looking for a job for more than six months, as well as a $2,400 credit for veterans who are unemployed for more than 4 weeks, but less than 6 months.
• Tax credit of up to $9,600 for hiring veterans with service-connected disabilities who have been looking for a job for more than six months.
• Makes the Transition Assistance Program (TAP) – an inter-agency workshop coordinated by the departments of Defense, Labor and Veterans Affairs – mandatory for service members moving on to civilian life to help them secure meaningful jobs through resume-writing workshops and career counseling.
• Expands education and training opportunities for older veterans by providing 100,000 unemployed veterans of past eras and wars with up to one year of additional Montgomery GI Bill benefits for education or training programs at community colleges and technical schools.
• Provides disabled veterans up to one year of additional vocational rehabilitation and employment benefits.
• Allows servicemembers to start looking for federal jobs before separating from active duty, in order to facilitate a truly seamless transition from the military to jobs at federal agencies.

-30-

Contact:  Marty Callaghan, mcallaghan@legion.org or 202-263-5758/202-215-8644.

Nothing could be more serious or vital to the future security of the United States of America, its citizens and our military service members and their families than National Commander Wong’s memorandum of November 8, 2011. 

Commander Wong is calling on all of us to step up in an important and historically critical moment in time.  Those of us in the public relations arena need to pick up this thread and give it the widest distribution to our mailing lists and fellow Legion Family members.  This is THE big scoop to “word-smith” and rush out to the media and our Members of Congress – they’ll be home in the Districts and States for Veterans Day.  If they hear from us, Congressional Representatives will bring the word back to the “Supercommittee” about what their constituents are telling them, but only if we act and only if we public relations types can get the message out.  

And, make no mistake; we must act for the sake of our service men and women, our veterans, their families and our blessed country.  Not taking action is not an option – we’re The American Legion and that’s why we’re here at this most crucial time in our nation’s history.

Our job is all about the one page Resolution #1, National Defense Funding, that calls for a cessation of all efforts to further reduce the defense budget, and the Drop Sheet, calling on the “supercommittee” to avoid a deadlock.  Both documents are attached to Commander Wong’s memorandum.  All the other attachments are important supporting documentation to the Resolution and Drop Sheet.

Once again, we are being called on to use all the abilities and intellect in our power to make our case to our Members of Congress so they can reinforce our stance to the Joint Special Committee on Deficit Reduction (Supercommittee).  We need to encourage our members and our communities to get involved immediately to keep our country safe.

The lack of comprehension on the part of those who would recklessly decimate an already deteriorating national security base is astonishing. We have to continue to address American Legion positions on military pay, health and pension benefits.  We have to continue to emphasize that the primary function of government is to ensure the security of our nation and that further cuts to the defense budget jeopardizes our ability to accomplish that most basic mission.

History has taught us a tough lesson.  Our freedom has never been free. It was won and held at a terrible cost.  Our freedom and security was earned with the blood of our grandfathers, fathers, brothers, sons, and, more frequently, mothers, sisters and daughters.

We must keep that uppermost in our minds in our approach to Congress and in our media outreach.  We must implant that concept in the minds of those who would jeopardize our precious freedom and security by stripping away the resources and support for our country to maintain our importance and prominence in the world.  A lack of confidence by world nations in the strength of America’s economic and military power would invite catastrophe in the form of challenges to our resolve and the faith and trust in our economic viability.

This is an extremely important, historical and grave moment in time and in the annuals of The American Legion and our nation.  Those Legionnaires who urgently engage in this mission will be making history in what we accomplish with Congress and the media in advocating for a strong national defense.  Our actions are of crucial importance to our great organization and for the ultimate security and welfare of the United States of America and its citizens.  Our country needs us now just as much as it needed us when we served during war.  This is our country, our military, our sons and daughters.  They need us now.

Our country depends on American Legion leadership throughout the land and its strong voice for our service men and women, our veterans and their families.  The Legislators expect to hear from us; they want to hear from us; will we disappoint them?  Together, in communities throughout our great nation, it’s up to Legionnaires like us to make the difference. There’s no other alternative.  These are our soldiers, sailors, marines, air and coast guardsmen.  This is our military; its members are our country’s sons and daughters, our sons and daughters, our children and our grand children.  We have an obligation to protect them and keep them safe. We are The American Legion and if we don’t speak for them, who will?  Will you?  Will you speak for them?

Ken Governor

Chairman, National Legislative Commission The American Legion

The Hiring Heroes Act (S. 951) introduced by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and the Veterans Opportunity to Work Act (H.R. 2433)  introduced by Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., both have American Legion support. Both provide enhanced training opportunities, transition assistance and better transferability of military experience into licensing and credentialing credits. House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Miller’s bill passed the full House on Oct. 12, and Murray’s bill easily passed in the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, which she chairs, last July.

“As Veterans Day approaches,  there is no better time to close the deal and turn these two good bills into one that really makes a difference for those who have serve our nation,” Wong said. “I continue to applaud the efforts of Chairman Murray and Chairman Miller in pursuing their veteran jobs legislation.  I urge them to work together and close the deal next week as a way to say thank you to our nation’s veterans during the week dedicated to their sacrifices.”

During testimony before a joint session of the House and Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committees in September, Wong applauded incentives to stimulate veteran hiring offered in both bills.  In the testimony and follow-up meetings with members of Congress, he urged compromise and timely action from both houses.

The Hiring Heroes Act would add two years to the Wounded Warrior Act for severely disabled veterans, make the Transition Assistance Program (TAP) mandatory for all separating service members, and expand training and compensation for employers who hire severely disabled veterans.

The  Veterans Opportunity to Work (VOW) Act improves and mandates the TAP program, expands training for approximately 600,000 veterans between the ages of 35 and 60, and works to improve transferability of military experience into credits for civilian credentialing and licensing.

“We agreed with the initiatives proposed in both and encouraged passage so a compromise bill could be worked out,” Wong said. “During my testimony, both Chairman Murray and Chairman Miller pledged to me they’d work together to meet that goal.”  Both measures have strong bipartisan support. The VOW Act passed the House by a vote of 418-6.

“Unfortunately, we’re hearing an amended bill addressing veteran joblessness might be acted upon in the Senate with provisions beyond the scope of these original bills,” American Legion Legislative Director Tim Tetz said.  “We’re concerned that those changes might endanger the bipartisan support and momentum currently benefitting the VOW Act and Hiring Heroes Act. Yet we remain cautiously optimistic Congress will deliver a jobs bill next week.”

“Our nation’s veterans, especially the over 1 million jobless veterans, deserve a jobs program that addresses their needs,” Wong said. “America’s heroes should receive the bipartisan support they deserve, above the fray of partisan politics. I look forward to Congress living up to their vow of caring for America’s veterans by passing a non-partisan jobs measure.”

-30-

Contact: Marty Callaghan, mcallaghan@legion.org or 202-263-5758/202-215-8644.

        On Oct. 18, a letter to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (the “supercommittee”) signed by the chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate panels was released that has disturbed leaders of the nation’s largest veterans service organization. While the letter opens with the statement, “Never before in times of fiscal crisis have we balanced the budget on the backs of America’s veterans, and we should not do so now,” attachments to the letter propose a number of budget cuts directed at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), some of which, according the Legion, contradict that statement. 

        The cuts proposed in the joint letter include elimination or reduction to a number of benefits, including pension, disability compensation and education payments.  Under pressure from The American Legion and other veterans’ advocates, many of the measures have been defeated in the past. Others, says the Legion, fail to generate enough savings to be worthwhile.

        “Everyone appreciates the financial difficulties our nation is enduring and the hard economic choices our lawmakers must make,” American Legion National Commander Fang A. Wong said. “However, as I said in congressional testimony on September 21st Congress must also realize that veterans and military benefits must  not be the first stop in the search for budget cuts. Surely our nation’s defenders deserve a more vigorous defense of the benefits they have earned through their hard service and sacrifice. “Frankly, I am shocked by the apparent ease with which our veterans’ advocates have compromised on the promises they made to me personally during our recent talks,” Wong added, referencing recent private meetings he had with House Veterans’ Affairs Committee chairman Jeff Miller and Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee chairman Patty Murray, both signatories to the letter in question.

        “Admittedly, a few of the waste-eliminating proposals make sense, but from our point of view, hard budget cuts or reductions in or eliminations of current benefits do not,” Wong said.

“The tepid statement that ‘we should not balance the budget on the backs of veterans’ simply does not square with some of the harsh, cost-cutting measures the House and Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee leaders suggest.”

        Legion leaders say they plan to draft a strong and detailed response to the proposals submitted to the “supercommittee.” Recently, The American Legion’s board of directors warned that proposed fiscal cuts to the Department of Defense and VA would not only hurt the economy, but would also do “irreversible and irreparable harm to the military capability of the U.S. to defend the nation…”

        On Oct. 12, The American Legion’s National Executive Committee unanimously passed an official statement that the Legion “encourages Congress and the administration to cease all efforts to reduce the defense budget from its current level.”

        At the time, Legion officials indicated that they were extremely concerned about the work of the congressional “supercommitee,” which is charged with identifying  $1.2 trillion to $1.5 trillion in overall federal deficit reductions over 10 years. If the bi-partisan group does not agree to a plan by Nov. 23, automatic spending cuts are triggered, including $1 trillion in defense spending.

-30-

Contact:  Craig Roberts: 202-263-2982, 202-406-0887 cell

“It is unconscionable to consider cuts to defense while we are engaged in three wars,” National Commander Fang Wong said. “Throughout our nation’s history, every time we cut defense we paid for it with American blood.”

Wong warned that proposed cuts to the military’s retirement pension and health care systems will also hurt America’s ability to retain the forces that it needs.

“Comparing military retirement benefits with what is available in the private sector isn’t comparing apples to oranges. It’s comparing apples to peanuts, which are what our troops are paid,” Wong said. “If our leaders in Washington are intent on making military life like the private sector, then that’s the path our young people will choose – the private sector! ‘Grandfathering’ benefits for today’s military, while cutting benefits for tomorrow’s, guarantees that America will be less prepared to fight the next war.

“We all understand that America has an enormous national debt,” Wong added. “Yet, we have no debt larger than what is owed to our veterans and those still serving in uniform. They have already paid their share.  Cut the budget elsewhere.”

-30-

Contact:  John Raughter, jraughter@legion.org, 317-630-1350 / 317-441-8847; Marty Callaghan, mcallaghan@legion.org or 202-263-5758/202-215-8644.

WASHINGTON (Sept. 21, 2011) — The American Legion sternly opposes plans to increase out-of-pocket health-care costs for military retirees, American Legion National Commander Fang A. Wong said after learning that the White House recommends increasing TRICARE premiums and charging new annual fees to help reduce the federal deficit.

“President Obama told more than 10,000 Legionnaires at our national convention less than a month ago that the budget would not be balanced on the backs of veterans,” Wong said. “Military retirees are veterans. And their benefits, including TRICARE medical insurance, cannot be milked to make ends meet. Make no mistake about it. This is an attempt to balance the budget on the backs of veterans. Military retirees are a small target in the middle of a big problem. They should not be asked to forfeit any of their health-care benefits to solve it. ”

The Washington Post reported this week that the administration’s deficit-reduction plan would raise TRICARE co-payments for pharmaceuticals to put them more in line with coverage provided to other federal employees and begin charging a first-ever $200 annual enrollment fees for TRICARE For Life, a Medicare supplement, beginning in 2013.

“We fully understand the federal deficit crisis, but when you start stripping benefits for military retirees, you affect more than the budget – you affect national security,” Wong said. “Not only is such a reduction a breach of contract with our current military retirees, it is a disincentive for anyone willing to make a career of military service. Those who serve our nation in uniform, and swear with their lives to protect our freedoms, are not the same as ordinary government employees.”

Wong added that the same argument applies to plans for a new commission to examine ways to change the current military retirement system and bring it more in line with other federal careers.

“These are not ordinary government jobs,” said Wong, a retired U.S. Army chief warrant officer. “The sacrifices of those who make careers in the Armed Forces include life-threatening combat, long deployments separated from family, multiple transitions from duty station to duty station, and anything else the nation asks. America has the world’s strongest military because good men and women have made commitments to careers in the military knowing they will be rewarded with a decent retirement in the end.

“Any commission examining this issue in order to reduce the cost of military retirement will inherently search for ways to reduce the value of the benefit,” Wong added. “That’s not good for military retirees. Moreover, it’s not good for America’s national security.”

-30-

Contact:  Marty Callaghan, mcallaghan@legion.org or 202-263-5758/202-215-8644.

WASHINGTON (Aug. 19, 2011) — The American Legion adamantly opposes amnesty for illegal immigrants, and National Commander Jimmie L. Foster is deeply concerned about reports suggesting the Department of Homeland Security is considering a leniency policy that would forgive foreign law-breakers on a “case-by-case basis.”

        “Not only does this constitute an amnesty not authorized by the U.S. Congress, but it represents a horrible misuse of government assets,” Foster said. “Reports suggest ‘prosecutorial discretion’ for certain violators, meaning the law won’t be applied evenly, if at all. That does neither the illegal immigrant nor our nation any good.”

        The American Legion has repeatedly spoken out against any amnesties for illegal aliens. Across the country, dozens of American Legion posts conduct citizenship and naturalization programs for legal immigrants. But for those who enter the nation illegally, tap into public services funded by U.S. taxpayers and provide under-the-table labor, the Legion opposes amnesty, no matter what it is called. “Legalization, regularization, guest-worker program, earned-status adjustment – these are all just euphemisms for amnesty,” Foster said.

        A recent New York Times article stated that “Cecilia Muñoz, a White House official who helped develop the new policy, said officials would suspend deportation proceedings in low-priority cases that, for example, involve ‘military veterans and the spouses of active-duty military personnel.’”  

        Anyone who joins the U.S. Armed Forces must already be in the United States legally. Section 328 of the Immigration and Naturalization Act specifically allows for naturalization of all foreign-born active-duty personnel, and those who are honorably discharged after service of at least one year.

        Ceremonies are often conducted to recognize military service as a route to legal U.S. citizenship. One such naturalization ceremony took place last Presidents Day in Baghdad when 53 foreign-born soldiers became U.S. citizens.

        Foster questioned the fiscal thinking of case-by-case handling of illegal immigration claims. “Where are we getting the resources for all this protection of illegal immigrants?” he asked. “If there is sufficient government funding currently allocated for a case-by-case analysis of those here illegally, it stands to reason some of those funds could be shifted to address the backlog of veterans claims which has been called a top priority of the past two administrations.

        “At a time when there are 842,687 claims pending before VA, 502,599 of which have been pending over four months, why would we dedicate federal resources to analyze the claims of people who are here illegally? Shouldn’t our men and women who risked their lives in defense of this country have priority over those who openly flouted our immigration laws?

“Any such amnesty policy would send a clear message that the interests of law-breakers take precedent over those of our servicemembers,” said Foster. “Like many Americans, our veterans need jobs, health care, and other benefits they earned and deserve by serving our nation in uniform, often during times of war.

        “I am astonished,” Foster said, “that the individual interests of illegal immigrants would ever move ahead of veterans, military personnel and their families when it comes to case-by-case analysis.”

-30-

Contact: Mark Seavey, 202-368-9155 or Marty Callaghan, 202-215-8644.