Advocacy

The VFW is one of the most respected voices in Washington, D.C., and within local governments across America. We advocate for justice for our nation's veterans, service members and military families on an array of issues and continue to be the voice for veterans everywhere. We regularly testify before Congress, meet with elected officials and rally our national network of VFW members and patriotic supporters to ensure our lawmakers put veterans first. When those who've served their country and those that support them stand together, we can not be ignored. We are the voice that represents veterans everywhere and defends their rights and benefits. Our representatives stand for veterans every time.

Legislative Priorities

The location of our Washington, D.C., office allows us to monitor all legislation affecting veterans, alert VFW membership to key legislation under consideration and to actively lobby Congress and the administration on veterans' issues. National Legislative Service establishes the VFW's legislative priorities and advocates on veterans' behalf. By testifying at congressional committee hearings and interacting with congressional members, the VFW has played an instrumental role in nearly every piece of veterans' legislation passed since the beginning of the 20th century. Everything we do on Capitol Hill is with the VFW’s Priority Goals and veterans' well-being in mind. With the strength of the more than 1.5 million members of the VFW and its Auxiliary, our voice on Capitol Hill cannot be ignored!

Among the VFW's most recent and important legislative victories was expanding college education benefits for military service members with the signing of the Forever GI Bill, and ensuring America's service members and veterans receive the care they deserve - whenever and wherever they need it - by passing the VA MISSION Act.

Grassroots Efforts

The VFW Action Corps is our national grassroots advocacy network comprised of more than 300,000 VFW members and patriotic supporters of veterans. This group stays up-to-date on the issues facing our veterans, our military and their families, standing ready to email, write, call and visit our nation’s lawmakers to make their voices heard. The VFW Action Corps is free and open to all patriotic Americans who care about the military and veterans’ communities.

Join the VFW Action Corps today and add your voice to the thousands of veterans’ advocates making a difference every day, and if you’re already a member of the VFW Action Corps, encourage your friends and neighbors to join the effort!

Participants receive:

The VFW Action Corps Weekly, an easy-to-read electronic newsletter that highlights the VFW’s advocacy efforts on Capitol Hill.
Immediate access to a nationwide database of contact information for all elected officials, a congressional directory.
Regular VFW “Action Alerts” on how to get involved when our nation’s veterans, service members and their families need their voices heard on Capitol Hill.

The VFW Action Corps is what gives the VFW its strength in advocating for our nation’s heroes. Working hand-in-hand with the VFW’s National Legislative Service -- whose office is in eye-shot of the Capitol dome in Washington -- members of the VFW Action Corps are armed with all of the tools and information they need to help the VFW in its mission to support our nation’s veterans.

Our Recent Legislative Victories Include:

Implementation of VA’s maternity care coordination program to equip community care providers with training and support for the unique pregnancy and postpartum needs of women veterans.
Passage of the PAWS for Veterans Therapy Act which will establish a pilot program on dog training therapy for veterans diagnosed with PTSD and require VA to provide service dogs for those veterans, including veterinary insurance.
Inclusion of bladder cancer, hypothyroidism, and parkinsonism to the list of Department of Veterans Affairs presumptive conditions for herbicide exposure.
Passage of the Deborah Sampson Act, which will remove the barriers to health care impacting women veterans.
Elimination of the 12-year limit on using Veteran Readiness and Employment (VR&E) benefits.

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Women Veterans

Ensuring women veterans receive veterans’ benefits and services that honor their brave military service is one of the VFW’s top priorities. Currently, women comprise 15 percent of the active-duty military and 18 percent of the Guard and Reserve. With the steady increase of women wearing our nation’s uniform and their increased role in military operations, it has never been more important that we ensure women veterans have a VA that is ready and able to care for them when they transition back to civilian life.

Background

To gauge how well VA is serving women veterans and to identify areas where it needs to improve, the VFW’s women veterans’ advisory team commissioned a survey of women veterans to collect direct feedback from women veterans around the country. After analyzing survey responses and direct feedback from nearly 2,000 women veterans, the VFW has identified multiple recommendations to improve VA health care, outreach, training and homeless programs.

Read the VFW Survey of Women Veterans Summary of Findings here.

Health Care

The overwhelming majority of women veterans want VA to expand access to women-specific health care, which includes hiring more VA health care professionals who are able to identify and treat their unique health care needs. More specifically, women veterans want the opportunity to receive their health care from women health care providers. The VFW has urged Congress and VA to expand its Designated Women’s Health Primary Care Provider model to mental health clinics and other health care specialties. This would ensure all women veterans have access to health care professionals with specialized women’s health care training. The VFW has also urged VA to allow all women veterans to choose the gender of their health care provider.

Women veterans who use VA health care for family planning services are also concerned that VA requires co-payments for preventative prescription drugs, such as contraceptives. This is counter to industry standards for private health insurance plans, which do not require out-of-pocket costs for preventative care prescriptions. The VFW has urged Congress to align VA's cost share requirements with industry standards.

Identity & Outreach

The VFW was disturbed to hear from survey respondents that VA employees continue to confuse them for spouses and caregivers or challenge their veteran status. This is unacceptable and the VFW has urged VA to properly train its workforce to treat women veterans with the respect and dignity they have earned.

The VFW also found that older women veterans were less likely to use their earned benefits and services compared to their younger counterparts, despite being equally as likely to be eligible or need such benefits and services. No veteran should be left to wonder what, if any, benefits she is eligible to receive. The VFW has urged VA to conduct targeted outreach to older women veterans who may not be aware of the veterans’ benefits and services VA provides.

Homelessness

Women veterans with children who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless face much different barriers than homeless veterans without children. In fact, homeless and at risk veterans with children report the lack of childcare services impact their ability to receive the VA health care and job training services they need. The VFW has urged Congress and VA to ensure homeless veterans have access to childcare when receiving health care and job training services.
Homeless veterans were also concerned with the lack of access to job training programs and counselors who understand the challenges of being homeless. The VFW has urged Congress and VA to expand successful employment and peer-support programs to all homeless veterans to ensure they are able to obtain meaningful employment and stay off the streets. The VFW wants to hear from you. If you would like to share your experience with VA health care or benefits, email the VFW or call 1.800.VFW.1899 (1.800.839.1899).