Harper Angel supports bill to create Kentucky Women Veterans Program

February 23, 2005, FRANKFORT -- Senator Denise Harper Angel, D-Jefferson, today supported a bill creating the Kentucky Women Veterans Program to ensure that the state's women veterans have access to appropriate federal and state veterans' services and benefits.

"I have two nieces in the military and they have shared with me the challenges our women veterans face," said Harper Angel, a member of the Senate Committee on Veterans, Military Affairs and Public Protection. "House Bill 62 creates an office that would be responsive to the needs of women veterans. I think it's really important."

Harper Angel said women veterans have special needs that often are neglected. "Even though women are the fastest growing population within the Veterans Administration health care system they continue to be underrepresented in the agency's healthcare and benefits programs," Harper Angel said. "The services the VA offers must be responsive to the needs of women."

Duties of the new program, as set out in the bill, include outreach to ensure women veterans are aware of their eligibility for services and benefits; assessment of the needs of women veteran's; honoring and recognizing the accomplishments of military women; providing educational opportunities; reviewing current programs; involvement in strategic planning; and making recommendations for improvements to better serve women. The bill also establishes a women veterans coordinating committee to support the work of the office.

"Women veterans put their lives on the line for us, as do their male colleagues," Harper Angel said. "It's always important to support all of our veterans, but never is it more important than when we're at war."

The bill is now awaiting action on the Senate floor. "I urge my colleagues in the Senate to make House Bill 62 a priority," Harper Angel said.