Chet Edwards For Congress

Waco Tribune-Herald: Proposed expansion of GI Bill inspired by Waco-area soldier killed in Iraq

Waco Tribune-Herald | Friday, June 12, 2009
By Regina Dennis Staff Writer

A new provision to expand GI Bill education benefits for the children of fallen service members will be named in honor of a Lorena man who was killed while on duty in Iraq.

The Marine Gunnery Sgt. John David Fry Scholarship would cover the full cost of a college education for all children of military members serving after Sept. 11, 2001, who are killed in combat or active duty.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram: VA raising maximum income for nondisabled veterans' benefits

Saturday, Jun 13, 2009
By CHRIS VAUGHN

For the first time in more than six years, a crack has opened in the VA that will allow more middle-income veterans with no disabilities access to primary doctors, hospitals and pharmacies.

Houston Chronicle Texas on the Potomac: Area lawmakers praise Chet Edwards on hurricane relief

Houston Chronicle
June 12, 2009

Texas Democratic lawmakers are crediting Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, a member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, for helping to seal a deal to provide 100 percent federal reimbursement for Texas' communities' continued debris removal following Hurricane Ike.

Cities like Galveston are going to regain the 100 percent coverage that they lost on April 26 -- a setback that had forced hard-pressed Gulf Coast communities to come up with a 25 percent local share of the costs.

Chet Edwards: Enforcing fairness for credit card companies

Waco Tribune-Herald | Sunday, June 07, 2009
By CHET EDWARDS Guest Column

Credit card debt in the United States is a record $1 trillion. Almost half of American families currently carry a credit card balance that is, on average, $7,300.

One out of every five people carrying credit card debt pays an interest rate above 20 percent.

Last year credit-card companies imposed $19 billion in penalty fees — a figure that accounted for nearly half of their $40.7 billion profits.

These often hidden fees have risen by more than 50 percent since 2003, employing practices the Federal Reserve has called “unfair, deceptive, and anti-competitive.”

The good news is that, after years of being blocked by special interests and Wall Street banks, a new law will put an end to practices that have unfairly gouged individuals and families.

B-CS Eagle: Remember our veterans this week

By U.S. Rep. CHET EDWARDS

Bryan-College Station Eagle
Sunday, May 24, 2009

For 141 years, Americans have paused on the last Monday of May to remember and honor those brave Americans who have made the ultimate sacrifice in service to country.

This tradition began on May 5, 1868, when the Grand Army of the Republic established Memorial Day as the national day to decorate the graves of the Civil War soldiers with flowers. Gen. and Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant presided over the first observance of Memorial Day at Arlington National Cemetery, where more than 20,000 Union dead and several hundred Confederate dead had been laid to rest.