Caring for our Veterans

Veterans’ issues were one of the prevailing themes at the Montana Capitol today.

This morning, House Democratic Leader Rep. Jon Sesso’s bill that would authorize construction of the Southwest Montana Veterans’ Home in Butte was heard in the Senate Finance & Claims committee. Currently, the state has two veterans’ homes, one in Glendive and one in Columbia Falls (more on this one later). The state also has 108,000 veterans within its borders, 1/3 of which are in southwestern Montana.

With only the two existing veterans’ homes, veterans from Butte that go to live in one of these homes will be more than 200 miles from their family if they go to Columbia Falls and more than 400 miles from their family if they go to Glendive. These huge distances put barriers between our veterans and their families that continue to reside in their hometown. This can lead to isolation of our veterans.

If this home is constructed in Butte, veterans will have the opportunity to stay closer to their families. This will greatly improve their quality of life.

The committee overwhelmingly passed the measure. It now goes to the full Senate for debate.

Also today, the House State Administration Committee heard a resolution that would study the possibility of privatizing the Columbia Falls Veterans’ Home.

Earlier in this session, Republicans pushed a measure that would privatize the home and reduce the quality of care for veterans there. After public outcry and protests from Democrats, Republicans were forced to reinstate funding for the facility.

Opponents of the measure contend that this study is an attempt to open the door to covertly privatizing the home. They suggested that rather than privatizing and reducing the quality of care provided, the legislature should pursue other measures to ensure the home is running efficiently.