2019 Legislative Conference
This year's 2019 Legislative Conference was held in Washington, D.C., March 3-6, 2019.
Since 1949, the VFW's annual Legislative Conference has provided an opportunity for VFW leaders from each state to personally lobby their respective lawmakers and watch as the VFW's current Commander-in-Chief testifies on Capitol Hill before the House and Senate Veterans' Affairs Committees on behalf of veterans.
Guest speakers are invited to address conference delegates, and since 1964 the VFW's Congressional Award has been presented annually to one sitting member of the House or Senate for their significant legislative contributions on behalf of those who have worn the uniform.
This year, Senate VA Committee Chairman Johnny Isakson received the VFW Congressional Award, presented to him for securing the passage of numerous VFW legislative priority goals, to include expediting VA employee accountability, modernizing the VA appeals process, Forever GI Bill passage, improving veterans’ health care through the VA MISSION Act, and expanding caregiver programs to veterans of all eras.
The VFW also presented the 2019 VFW News Media Award to Military Times Deputy Editor Leo Shane, for reporting which helps Congress, the administration, military service members, their families, and all of America to better understand the unique challenges that those involved in our nation’s wars encounter both in uniform and afterwards.
The Voice of Democracy first-place winner Christine Troll, sponsored by VFW Post 554 and its Auxiliary in Somerset, Pa., was presented with the T.C. Selman Memorial Scholarship award in the amount of $30,000. The Patriot's Pen first-place winner Daniel Rodriguez, sponsored by VFW Post 2066 in Nogales, Ariz., received the contest's top $5,000 award.
VFW National Commander B.J. Lawrence delivered testimony focused on the VFW's Priority Goals for 2019 before a special joint hearing of the House and Senate Veterans' Affairs Committees. Focusing on the need for congressional oversight of VA’s implementation of the VA MISSION Act, he also discussed returning earned disability benefits to Blue Water Navy veterans, addressing the legacy appeals backlog and ending veterans suicide.
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