Editorial: Edwards' help still needed at VA
August 21, 2007
Editorial: Edwards' help still needed at VA
Waco Tribune Herald
By Editorial Staff
If anyone deserves a tribute for working to save the Waco Veterans Affairs Medical Center it is U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards.
He will get it Wednesday when the city hosts a reception in his honor.
But it needs to be more than a tribute. It needs to be a pep rally. As much as Edwards and other allies have done to preserve the hospital, much needs to be done to enhance services and utilize an under-used campus.
In June, a similar reception was held to recognize U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison for her decisive efforts in saving the hospital.
In her campaign to save the VA campus, Hutchison made several important visits to Waco, especially when she accompanied both the VA secretaries on tours of the facility.
She also sponsored legislation to designate the hospital a “mental health center of excellence.”
But no one was as diligent about this task as Edwards. His hands-on efforts helped blunt the proposal to move all of Waco’s mental health treatment programs, blind rehabilitation treatment and geriatric care units to the Olin E. Teague Veterans Medical Center in Temple and to farm its services elsewhere around the country.
A Strong National Defense & the War on Terrorism
Supporting a Strong National Defense & the War on Terrorism:
Chet Edwards is a leader in Congress on national defense issues. As co-chairman of the bipartisan House Army Caucus, Chet has been a strong voice for supporting our men and women in uniform and seeing that they have the resources to fight the war on terror and defend our homeland.
- Chet is the Ranking Member of the Military Quality of Life and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee, which oversees $136 billion in annual spending.
- Chet is a strong supporter of the war on terrorism and has worked hard to see that our troops in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere around the globe have the equipment and tools they need to do their jobs.
- Chet led the effort to stop the Department of Defense from cutting two divisions of the Army - some 40,000 active-duty troops - in 2001.
Edwards: Full Utilization Of Fort Hood
July 11, 2005
Edwards Calls For Full Utilization of Fort Hood
KWTX Channel 10
By News Staff
Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, who represented Fort Hood until Congressional Districts were redrawn in 2003, urged Base Realignment and Closure Commission members Monday to “consider the common-sense approach of fully utilizing Ft. Hood,” as a regional hearing on the future of Texas military installations got underway Monday in San Antonio.
“The Department of Defense's BRAC analysis ranked Ft. Hood as having the Army's third highest military value,” Edwards said.
“Given that high rating, I hope this Commission would consider one fundamental question: ‘Wouldn't it make more sense to fully utilize the Army's only two-division installation, Ft. Hood, rather than downsizing it by 7000 soldiers, thus requiring hundreds of millions of dollars to be spent at Ft. Carson to build new facilities already at Ft. Hood?’”
Lawmakers Question Army Post Analysis
May 25, 2005
Lawmakers Question Army Post Analysis
Waco Tribune Herald
From STAFF REPORTS |
U.S. Reps. Chet Edwards and John Carter on Tuesday heaped further doubt on a proposal to move troops from Fort Hood, noting that analysts omitted 37,600 acres of land newly available for training at the massive Army post.
New PTSD To Focus On Waco VA ...
May 14, 2005
New PTSD To Focus On Waco VA, Fort Hood
Waco Tribune Herald
By Dan Genz | Tribune-Herald staff writer
Leaders in the fight to save the Waco Veterans Affairs Hospital celebrated a rare expansion in the hospital's mission Friday morning.
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