Obama to address veterans issues at American Legion Convention
President Barack Obama will be in Minnesota tomorrow for the second time this month. He'll be addressing the American Legion national convention in Minneapolis, just over two weeks after he started a multi-state bus tour in Cannon Falls.
White House Director of Veterans and Wounded Warrior Policy Matt Flavin told MPR News that the president will use his speech to address problems facing veterans and to outline steps his administration has already taken to help veterans.
"You'll hear him talk about the historic accomplishments of the administration in terms of veterans' policy: the largest percentage increase in the VA budget in 30 years, help for caregivers of severely wounded veterans, taking homeless veterans off the streets in the tens of thousands to date," Flavin said. "So there's a lot of good stuff to talk about, but at the same time, I think you'll hear form him that it's still not enough and we still have along way to go."
The main theme of this year's American Legion convention is veterans' unemployment. Flavin said finding jobs is certainly one of the biggest struggles veterans now face. But Flavin also said addressing mental illness must remain at the forefront of efforts to help veterans.
"We've seen spikes in the suicide rate that are very troubling and unacceptable and we have to do more there as well," he said. "There's obviously an issue with stigma and we've done a lot of good work on that, but it's not enough. As a symbol against the stigma, we reversed a long standing policy at the White House of not sending condolence letters to service members' families who committee suicide while deployed."
Two years ago at the American Legion's national convention, Obama's Secretary of Veteran's Affairs Eric Shinseki laid out a goal of ending homelessness among veterans in five years. American Legion spokesman Craig Roberts applauded the Obama administration for its attention to the problem of homeless veterans and for its efforts to clear the backlog of requests for veterans' benefits.
Create a More Connected Minnesota
MPR News is your trusted resource for the news you need. With your support, MPR News brings accessible, courageous journalism and authentic conversation to everyone - free of paywalls and barriers. Your gift makes a difference.