Monday, July 27, 2009
(photo: Freedom Service Dogs)
While spending months fighting post-election legal battles to claim his U.S. Senate seat, Al Franken had plenty of time to work on his legislative agenda. So once Franken was cleared to become the junior senator from Minnesota, he wasted little time in getting his first bill passed.
Teaming up with Republican Johnny Isakson from Georgia, Franken introduced the Franken-Isakson Service Dogs for Veterans Act, a pilot program to provide specially trained canines to disabled war veterans. Franken got the idea after meeting Luis Carlos Montalvan, an Army intelligence officer who was seriously wounded in Iraq and today struggles to walk and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. Montalvan is aided, though, by his service dog Tuesday, a golden retriever who not only provides companionship but can help ward off panic attacks and remind his master to take his medication.
Franken’s first legislation had no trouble clearing the Senate 87-7, after he got it rolled into a larger Defense Department authorization bill. Assuming the plan makes it through a conference committee with the House, the pilot program will likely be approved by President Barack Obama.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Franken’s First Bill Passes as Part of Defense Bill (by Chris Steller, The Minnesota Independent)
Meeting with Vet, Service Dog Inspired Franken's Bill (by Eric Roper, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune)
Al Franken: A Wounded Veteran's Best Friend (by Al Franken, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune)
Comments