Weekly Message: Congressional Mailbag

Statement

Each month I receive thousands of e-mails, phone calls, letters, tweets, and Facebook messages on a variety of topics. I wanted to share a few questions that I've recently received.

What's Congress doing to improve our veterans' health care?

Ensuring our veterans have access to quality care is not an issue I take lightly. I, like all Americans, was appalled when stories began surfacing about veterans dying from treatable illnesses while still waiting for care from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and an internal audit confirmed there were widespread problems throughout the VA system.

I'm pleased that with my support, the House and Senate passed bipartisan legislation that President Obama recently signed into law ensuring that VA employees are held accountable for their actions, and addressing long wait times for veterans. Specifically, the law gives veterans who live more than 40 miles from a VA medical facility or who have been subject to lengthy wait times access to local non-VA medical facilities. By partnering with existing hospitals in rural communities, we can help make it possible for veterans to find the care they need when they need it.

What can be done to improve the Child Tax Credit?

It is no secret that the cost of living, including gas, food and costs associated with raising children continues to rise. According to the Department of Agriculture, the cost of raising a child has increased by 4.4 percent each year since 1960. The Child Tax Credit helps ease some of this burden by providing a $1,000 tax credit for each child in a family, but since its creation in the 1990's, it has not kept pace with inflation.

Last month, I supported the "Child Tax Improvement Act" to provide much needed relief to millions of American families. Not only does this bill adjust the current formula to account for the rising costs of raising a child, but it also eliminates the marriage penalty within the Child Tax Credit and contains strong anti-fraud provisions to ensure the Child Tax Credit goes to families who need it. I will continue working to help families in Central Washington keep more of their hard earned money and encourage the Senate to act quickly on this pro-family, bipartisan bill.

What can be done to preserve Social Security and Medicare?

America's health and retirement programs make up more than half of the federal budget and continue to grow each year. Congress must enact real reforms to ensure these programs will be there for generations to come. Improving these programs must be guided by a few basic principles: First, I will never support proposals that reduce benefits for those in or near retirement. America must honor its commitment to those who have worked a lifetime and earned the right to a secure retirement. Second, these programs must be made permanently sound. Finally, we must strengthen these programs by taking the federal government out of the picture and empowering citizens with control over their own care and retirement investments.

If you have contacted my office recently, I thank you for taking the time to share your views with me. You can also follow me on Facebook and Twitter for additional updates.

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