Lawmakers seek to ensure gay troops have VA benefits (WashingtonBlade)
A Wisconsin lawmaker and other U.S. House members are calling on Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki to ensure troops discharged under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” are eligible for veterans benefits.
In letters to the Pentagon and to the Department of Veterans Affairs – both dated Feb. 3 – Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) and other lawmakers urge administration officials to devise a way to ensure that separated troops can receive veterans benefits — if their discharge was characterized as something other than “honorable.”
Besides Moore, other signers include the four openly gay members of Congress — Reps. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Jared Polis (D-Colo.) and David Cicilline (D-R.I.) — as well as 28 additional House members.
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Complete article at Washington Blade : http://bit.ly/dQCWL6
