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John's Record

Fighting For Veterans
Congressman Hall was one of three freshmen selected to be a Chairman of a Subcommittee for the 110th Congress. From his position as Chairman of the Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs, Congressman Hall has been a strong advocate for our nation’s veterans.
 

• On July 30, 2008, Hall's Disability Claims Modernization Act (H.R. 5892) passed the House unanimously. If passed by the Senate and signed into law, it will be the most comprehensive overhaul of the VA Disability Claims system in a generation. Hall drafted this groundbreaking bill after a year of public hearings in Washington, DC and the Hudson Valley on the problem of the claims backlog. More that 800,000 claims were backlogged in 2007, causing economic hardships for many veterans and their families.
   
• Hall’s first piece of legislation to be signed into law was the Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act ( H.R.1284). The law provides $590 Million in benefit payments to 3,220,031 veterans with service-connected disabilities in fiscal year 2008.
   
• Hall fought for and helped pass the largest veterans’ funding increase in the 77-year history of the VA, a $6.6 billion increase in the FY 2008 budget —$3.7 billion over the President’s proposal.
   
• Hall fought to add $5.2 billion to the original budget to pay for the immediate health care needs of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.