Hartford Courant Editorial : The Extra Mile For Veterans

January 25, 2008- For three decades, the federal rate for reimbursing disabled veterans traveling to Veterans Administration hospitals for medical treatments was stuck at 11 cents per mile. That was shamefully tight-fisted.

Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan and their families have endured prolonged tours of duty and significant hardships — physical, emotional and economic. Yet in many cases, the benefits they and veterans of other conflicts receive on their return home have been worse than inadequate. In some cases, they've been downright insulting.

The mileage rate was one example. Veterans disabled in the course of service to their country deserve gratitude for their sacrifice. Yet 11 cents a mile was hardly an expression of thanks; it barely rated as a mumble.

Connecticut's U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney has been a particularly strong advocate for increasing benefits on behalf of veterans. On Dec. 21, he wrote a letter to President Bush urging the release of $3.7 billion in emergency funds requested by Congress to boost benefits.

Last week, President Bush released those funds.

Among other things, the money will raise the mileage reimbursement rate for disabled veterans to 28.5 cents per mile. It also provides for the hiring of 1,800 employees to process veterans' claims, eventually reducing the logjam of 400,000 veterans who have been awaiting benefits. The funding will also go toward expanded mental-health care and improved treatment for traumatic brain injuries.

This funding is obviously critical to veterans who need care. But it also sends an important message to all veterans that their sacrifices are acknowledged and honored. For these men and women, even something as straightforward as a 17.5-cent boost in the mileage rate is no small change.

Hartford Courant: Courtney Goes Back To School

By STEPHANIE SUMMERS, January 11, 2008

Having visited two dozen school districts in his congressional district, U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney still had something to learn Wednesday from fourth-graders in Willington.

Superintendent of Schools Dave Harding wanted Courtney to see Hall Memorial School's pervasive use of an interactive online technology called Smart Board.

"I was absolutely floored at how well it does work," Courtney, D-2nd District, said later Wednesday.

The fourth-graders were learning to tell time, with almost full accuracy, he said.

"Watching them go up to the Smart Board, they were a lot more fearless than I would have been," Courtney said.

In his freshman term, Courtney has been assigned to the House Education and Labor Committee and the Higher Education Subcommittee. Courtney is the first 2nd District congressman to serve on the committee since World War II, his office staff said, at a time of great change in educational policy and spiraling college costs.

He is visiting as many of the 64 school districts in his eastern Connecticut district as he can during his first term. He has made stops at Rockville, Tolland and Vernon high schools and the three vocational technical schools, including Grasso Tech in Groton, on Tuesday.

He called an English as a second language class in a Norwich grade school an "eye-opener," as the teacher worked with Chinese, Laotian and Haitian students, who Courtney said were struggling with social fluency, let alone the English fluency required for state testing.

His House committee is deep into work on reauthorizing the No Child Left Behind program and is introducing positive changes in the latest 1,500-page draft, including more technology in the schools, he said.

"Going to the Willington school and seeing it in action is impressive, and it's really valuable to me in terms of what the committee is working on," he said.

Besides Grasso Tech, Courtney visited Mystic Middle School on Tuesday. Today, he plans to visit New London High School.