Grassroots Efforts

- 8/15/2024

Grassroots Efforts

The VFW Action Corps is our national grassroots advocacy network comprised of more than 300,000 VFW members and patriotic supporters of veterans. This group stays up-to-date on the issues facing our veterans, our military, and their families, standing ready to email, write, call, and visit our nation’s lawmakers to make their voices heard. The VFW Action Corps is free and open to all patriotic Americans who care about the military and veterans’ communities.

Join the VFW Action Corps today and add your voice to the thousands of veterans’ advocates making a difference daily. If you’re already a member of the VFW Action Corps, encourage your friends and neighbors to join the effort!

Participants receive:

  • The VFW Action Corps Weekly is an easy-to-read electronic newsletter highlighting the VFW’s advocacy efforts on Capitol Hill.
  • Immediate access to a nationwide database of contact information for all elected officials and a congressional directory.
  • Regular VFW "Action Alerts” on how to get involved when our nation’s veterans, service members, and their families need their voices heard on Capitol Hill.

The VFW Action Corps strengthens the VFW in advocating for our nation’s heroes. Working hand-in-hand with the VFW’s National Legislative Service -- whose office is in eye-shot of the Capitol dome in Washington -- members of the VFW Action Corps are armed with all of the tools and information they need to help the VFW in its mission to support our nation’s veterans. 

Our Recent Legislative Victories Include:

  • Passage of the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2022, known as the PACT Act.  This historic, comprehensive legislation expands health care for generations of veterans who previously had to prove their conditions or illnesses were the result of service-connected exposure to toxic substances or environments. It includes VA provisions for 23 presumptive conditions for rare respiratory diseases and cancers and creates a framework for establishing future presumptions of service connection related to toxic exposure.
  • Passage of the Dr. Kate Hendricks Thomas SERVICE Act expands eligibility for VA mammography screenings to veterans who served in certain areas during specific periods, and the Making Advances in Mammography and Medical Options (MAMMO) for Veterans Act addresses provisions of mammograms and breast cancer treatment within VA.
  • Global War on Terrorism Memorial Location Act and Uniform Code of Military Justice reform on sexual assault and harassment are included in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022.
  • Implementing VA’s maternity care coordination program to equip community care providers with training and support for women veterans' unique pregnancy and postpartum needs.
  • Passage of the PAWS for Veterans Therapy Act which will establish a pilot program on dog training therapy for veterans diagnosed with PTSD and require VA to provide service dogs for those veterans, including veterinary insurance.
  • Inclusion of bladder cancer, hypothyroidism, and parkinsonism to the list of Department of Veterans Affairs presumptive conditions for herbicide exposure.
  • Passage of the Deborah Sampson Act will remove the barriers to health care impacting women veterans.
  • The 12-year limit on using Veteran Readiness and Employment (VR&E) benefits is eliminated.