Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., has introduced the Dignity for Wounded Warriors Act. The bill, S. 713, would establish the following requirements for care of wounded veterans:
Minimum living standards for patient housing equivalent to those required for active-duty troops, along with regular inspections and 24-hour-a-day attendance of a crisis counselor and an emergency medical technician;
Streamlining the physical disability and evaluation system;
Assignment of at least one case worker and one noncommissioned officer supervisor per 20 patients;
Federal job protections to spouses and parents who leave their employment to help their service member recover;
A bilingual hotline for crisis counseling and a second one for family assistance; and
A congressionally appointed board to oversee implementation of the act.
