As the 117^th Congress (2021-2022) draws to a close, it is a good time to update Idahoans on some of the legislative and policy changes we made progress on over the past two years. The following are some highlights:

Supported Idaho Veterans

I have long worked to ensure federal policies respect veterans’ service and I led or joined many efforts in support of Idaho veterans, including:

• Reintroduction of the Bring Our Heroes Home Act, co-sponsorship of the reintroduced Helping Unleash Benefits and Services (HUBS) for Veterans Act and the reintroduction of the Major Richard Star Act, which would ensure medically retired and combat-injured veterans receive both military retired pay and disability compensation earned through their service to our country.

• Legislation to improve identification and treatment of illnesses related to veterans’ exposure to toxic substances while on their tours of duty passed the Senate.

Backed Idaho Communities

• A three-year reauthorization of the Secure Rural Schools (SRS) was signed into law, and we enacted legislation I authored to preserve rural counties’ SRS payment allocations.

• As work continues to expand Radiation Exposure Compensation Act Amendments (RECA) eligibility to those in Idaho and other states who have suffered from cancers related to fallout from nuclear weapons testing during the Cold War period of the 1950s and 1960s, we successfully ushered into law a 2-year extension of the RECA program.

• We also enacted legislation to...

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