The U.S. Senate recently passed Sens. Norm Coleman and Mark Dayton’s amendment to modify the Department of Defense’s current policy of only paying to fly troops stationed in Iraq home for temporary leave to a designated location in Europe or the U.S. The current policy does not include additional expenses incurred for troops to continue on to their home, thus requiring members of the military to purchase a plane ticket beyond the military’s designated location. Dayton and Coleman’s legislation corrects this act by requiring the government to purchase a round-trip ticket from the military’s designated location to the service member’s final destination, if necessary. “I commend my colleagues for supporting the Coleman-Dayton amendment, which will keep our troops from having to fund their own trip home to visit their families,” Dayton said. “In a time when our troops are living in extremely difficult conditions and serving much longer terms of service than originally thought, the least we can do is pay for their ticket home to see their loved ones.” Wounded and sick no longer pay for meals Dayton announced Oct. 3 that the practice of charging our wounded and sick soldiers for their meals while they are recovering in hospitals will stop. The change in law, which Dayton fought for, will be included in the Iraq supplemental spending bill which is currently being debated by Congress. Under current law, troops in combat who are hospitalized after being wounded or becoming ill are charged for their meals. The amendment puts a stop to such policies. “Many Americans don’t realize this insulting practice has been in place since the early 1980s,” said Dayton. “Congress handed the military over $400 billion last year. I don’t think it is too much to ask that they pay to feed wounded troops who are in the hospital.” Dayton wants to expand investing in renewable energy Dayton urged the Senate leadership to support power producers who focus on renewable energy sources by extending eligibility of a beneficial tax credit to not-for-profit utilities. The proposed Energy Bill provides tax credits to traditional utility companies that produce electricity through clean and renewable generation, and this legislation would extend such incentives to public power systems, rural electric cooperatives and other not-for-profit utilities. Maximum participation in renewable energy generation by public power systems and rural electric cooperatives will help the nation achieve the goal of producing abundant, less costly, renewable, alternative energy. Great Lakes don’t get fair share of Post Security Grants Dayton joined with other Senators from the Great Lakes Region in urging Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta to increase federal funding to protect the region’s ports and waterfront. To date, the Great Lakes Region has received just over 1 percent ($2,850,000) in 2002 and 2003 federal grants to protect the area’s regional ports out of a total of over $260 million distributed across the country. “I am very concerned about the extremely small amount of maritime security grant money our region has been awarded since Sept. 11th,” said Dayton. “It is increasingly important, but costly, to implement the Coast Guard’s new maritime security precautions. Without federal funding it is nearly impossible for us to do so effectively.” Dayton calls proposed trade policy un-American Last Friday, Senator Dayton marched with hundreds of Iron Range workers during the Rally on the Range in Eveleth, Minn., to protest the proposed expansion of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) agreement currently under negotiation would expand NAFTA to every country in Central America, South America, and the Caribbean, except Cuba. Next month, representatives from more than 30 countries will discuss the FTAA agreement in Miami, Fla. Dayton and others insist that these agreements are costing thousands of American jobs, which would be lost to other parts of the world. For more information on any of these issues, contact me at (888) 224-9043.
