Hi everyone, I’m Steph Kalota and this is Veteran Legislative Voice and episode 1. I started Veteran Legislative Voice three years ago as just a page to help people understand the legislative process so they can help others. This was when everyone felt so helpless in response to the Vanessa Guillen scandal. This opened up the conversation on social media about the systemic mess in the military’s sexual harassment and assault programs while using the hashtag #iamvanessaguillen. Feeling helpless is actually a pretty common feeling within the military. The majority of the military is made up of E-4 ranks and below, who have the least amount of power.
Often they do not have the power of when they work, where they work, and what they do. They also do not even have the power where they are stationed, which has been a big subject of contention when it comes to reproductive health care. But I will discuss that in later episodes. So this is about empowering people to make a difference.
So let’s begin. What can an everyday person do when these kinds of things are happening in the world? What they can do is contact their elected official, depending on the level of the issue. For example, if it was in the military (excluding some aspects of the National Guard ) contacting your U.S. Representative and Senators would be the way to do it. First, google who they are. Then you make a call, and yes it can be as easy as it sounds. The first person you’ll likely reach will likely be an underpaid or unpaid intern so be gentle with those people. They are the gatekeepers and they have more power than they realize. Then ask for whomever is in charge of military or veterans policy issues, or whatever issue you are interested in. Call the DC office for policy issues, and call the office local to you if it’s more of a personal issue. Like if it is a military discharge upgrade. If you aren’t getting anywhere with your immediate elected official, some have been known to turn down assistance with introducing legislation if they aren’t assigned to the committee it needs to be submitted through. So if this happens, you can contact either the chairman or ranking member of the applicable committee. They are willing to assist people outside their district or state to get some legislation passed.
Now that may be easy, or sound like it’s easy. But the hard part is next after the bill is introduced. It must be reviewed and marked up in whatever committee it’s assigned to, then the committee votes it to be reported to whatever chamber. Once it’s reported, it’s ready for the chamber to vote on in the House or the Senate that it started in. After it’s passed, it is sent to the other chamber, and the cycle goes through again. If the 2nd chamber makes any changes to the bill, then it’ll go back to the original chamber to review the edits.
What really helps in this process is having constituents contact their elected officials. While your elected official’s political position may be against what you want passed, it is still important to let them know. The New Yorker shared a story of a certain red-state elected official after gun regulation legislation was moving through Congress after the massacre at Sandy Hook. It’s called “What Calling Congress Achieves” by Kathryn Schulz. I encourage you to go read that. This elected official asked his staff about what’s the feeling going on with the constituents because they have been calling all day ranting and raving over about the legislation going through. The staff told him that everyone but one person wanted him to vote against the gun regulation. But because of that one person, he voted for the gun regulation anyway. For that one.
Now back to our segment of “how a bill becomes a law.” After the bill passes both in chambers in its final state, it’ll go to the president, who may veto it or sign it into law. If a president vetoes a bill, it requires a 2/3rd’s vote in both chambers to override the President’s vetoes.
This doesn’t happen very often, the veto overide passing I mean. This last happened on military and veterans issues under the Trump administration, and it was the National Defense Authorization Act which keeps the government still running and moving by the funding. And in this bill that the president did not like was the stipulation that six military bases, who have been named in the honor of Confederate Generals, be renamed to something else. The drama part of that is that President Trump did not state or tell Congress that he did not like that direct order in the National Defense Authorization Act, otherwise called NDAA. He didn’t say that until after the very last revision and approvals were already completed. So the elected officials, those in charge of Congress, decided to move it to his desk anyways. After he vetoed it, it went back to Congress, and the House and the Senate were able to override his veto. This is pretty difficult especially since both chambers were close to a 49/51 percent split. So having two-thirds of each chamber to approve it was a pretty big deal.
Now back to our segment. In the past decade, only 2 to 3% of all legislation has become law. And I know that is pretty discouraging but I tell you it’s possible especially for military and veterans issues.
Many changes in processing military sexual violence reports have been made in the last few years because of the tireless effort of grassroots advocates all in the name of Vanessa Guillen.
The Brandon Act was passed not long ago because of Petty Officer Third Class Brandon Caserta’s parents. After their only son’s death by suicide because of the toxic work environment that he was in, they fought to pass protections for every service member to receive mental health treatment without any recourse on their career. Teri and Patrick Caserta fought for three years even driving across the country multiple times from their home state of Arizona to DC to fight for this protection so that other military parents will not have to go through the same tragedy that they had to go through.
My last example is the Honoring Our PACT Act, a result of the campaign run by veterans and their families, headed by Burn Pits 360, who were impacted by toxic exposure to burn pits. Because of that, post-9/11 and Gulf War veterans are eligible for one of the most inclusive presumptive condition lists ever in this country’s history. They were also helped by Jon Stewart, who was just fresh off of helping 9/11 responders and their health care support due to their toxic exposures when the Twin Towers fell.
So join me, and we will cover congressional bills and other public policy actions that would impact the military and our country’s veterans. You can find me on Facebook, Instagram, and X under the name Veteran Legislative Voice. You can also find my website vetslegislativevoice.org, or email me at vetslegislativevoice@gmail.com.
I’d love to hear what you have to say, what you want me to talk about, and I can’t wait to start this journey with everyone here. Thank you.