Drill Weekend Talking Points: January 2017
115th Congress
On Tuesday, January 3, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) swore in the 115th Congress. In all, nearly two-thirds of GOP Representatives have not served during a Republican President. Excitement and optimism are running high on Capitol Hill to get to work reforming the Affordable Care Act, improving infrastructure, and hopefully putting an end to defense sequestration. During Speaker Ryan’s introductory remarks, he vowed to consider the views of the Democrat minority. Time will tell if this rhetoric will continue or if business as usual will return to D.C., where the minority has an ability to grind business to a crawl, especially in the U.S. Senate. Vice President Joe Biden also swore in Senators on Tuesday, January 3.
EANGUS Attends House Veterans Affairs Committee Roundtable
Former Chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, Representative Jeff Miller (R-FL) invited leaders of Veteran’s Service Organizations and Members of the House of Representatives to receive a briefing from renowned author and director, Sebastian Junger. During the December briefing, Mr. Junger focused his remarks on his most recent book, Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging. The premise of the book centers around what causes depression and contributes to post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The author argues that in some cases Servicemembers grow attached to a sense of community while deployed abroad and that when returning home, lose the close knit sense of belonging and worth, which can lead to a Veteran feeling the symptoms of PTSD even in cases where that individual never experienced a traumatic experience. Members of Congress in attendance appeared receptive to the arguments and EANGUS will work with Congress as any considerations to study or reform cases of PTSD determinations are considered.