Federal Daily - July 8, 2009

VA Spending Boost Proposed In Appropriations Bill; Lawmaker Applauds Hike

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., this week applauded proposed increases in funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in the $109 billion FY 2010 VA appropriations bill that she helped shepherd through the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee. The bill “contains billions of dollars for medical care, women veterans, homeless veterans,” the senator’s office said in a statement. The proposed increases in the bill amount to $150 million above the White House’s original request for FY 2010. Most of the added funds, according to Sen. Murray, would go directly toward improved health care services for vets, and should help to cut patient wait times while widening access to those services. The bill also contains $48 billion in advance appropriations which would lead to more stable, uninterrupted funding for veterans’ programs, a goal of veterans’ organizations in the coming years. “We have an obligation to the men and women who have sacrificed so much to serve our country and who now deserve nothing less than our complete support,” Sen. Murray said. “This bill provides the VA with the resources they need to increase access, decrease wait times and hire and train the quality professionals who treat the unique wounds of war.” Sen. Murray also praised significant increases the bill proposes for funding to help women and homeless veterans, and in support of VA health facilities in her home state of Washington. For more, go to: http://murray.senate.gov/news.cfm?id=315355

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Letter Carriers’ Union: New President Takes Helm

The National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) announced this week the swearing in of new National President Fredric V. Rolando. Rolando has taken the helm of the union upon the retirement of former union president, William H. Young. Rolando, a member of Sarasota, Florida Branch 2148, started his letter carrying career in South Miami, Florida in 1978 where he became a member of Branch 1071. “I got active in the union because of the antagonistic way management treated letter carriers,” Rolando said. After holding numerous state-level union positions in Florida, the new union president was elected to National Director of City Delivery at the 2002 NALC convention. Since 2006, Rolando has served as executive vice president of the union, throughout that time remaining focused on getting the Postal Service “to restructure delivery routes of mail carriers in a manner that protected their contractual rights as employees,” according to the NALC Web site. The union represents over 300,000 active and retired postal employees. For more, go to www.nalc.org.

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NFFE: Funeral and Memorial Services For President Brown July 7 / 8

Funeral and memorial services for Richard N. Brown, president of the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE), AFL-CIO, are being held this week, July 7th and 8th, in upstate New York, in the town of Colonie and at the state capital, Albany. Brown, a resident of Arlington, Va., had grown up in Schenectady, N.Y. He had been president of the Washington D.C.-based NFFE since 1998. Brown had worked in the construction field, and later became a machinist and union man before rising to the NFFE presidency. “Rick was a great friend.” Randy Irwin, NFFE spokesman said in a statement issued soon after Brown died at his home on June 30. “He was fiercely loyal and supportive to those around him. He was also tremendously fun to be around, always ready with a joke or an amusing story. In his passing, we have lost a strong voice and champion for working men and women. We will mourn his loss greatly.” Funeral arrangements and related information can be found at www.nffe.org.

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