House Bill to Cut Veterans Benefits and Privatize VA Services Loses Support and Is Pulled Moments Before Floor Vote -- Read Union Letter to House Lawmakers Opposing Bill

This week, the ill-named "Taking Care of America's Veterans Act," H.R. 9237, was stopped from passing in the House of Representatives after a "motion to recommit" showed that enough Republicans would join with Democrats to oppose and defeat the bill on the House floor. The AFL-CIO letter, signed by IFPTE, opposed the bill because it "cynically packages long-sought, well-deserved new benefits for disabled veterans with benefit cuts to other veterans and a slew of provisions designed to further privatize the VA healthcare system."

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Rep. Goldman, Sen. Schumer, Sen. Gillibrand, Other Lawmakers Request Investigation of Army Corps Office Relocations That Harms IFPTE Local 98 Members' Work, Result in Workforce Attrition

Late last week, Congressman Dan Goldman, Senator Chuck Schumer, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and several other lawmakers in the New York delegation requested the Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigate whether the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' (USACE) decision to relocate the agency’s offices out of New York City complies with legal and regulatory obligations and authorities. Read the press release from Rep. Goldman's office here.

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IFPTE Letter Supporting House WRDA Bill Cites Favorable Provisions on Boundary Realignment and Cites Concerns about Wasteful Army Corps Office Relocations and Lack of Transparency

This week, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee (T&I) and the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee both passed their respective Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) bills with unanimous bipartisan support. 

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NAIJ/IFPTE Judicial Council 2 President Shares Union's Perspective On Mass Firings, "Whipsaw by Politics," and Structural Issues of Immigration Court

Speaking in her capacity as President of the National Association of Immigration Judges (NAIJ), IFPTE Judicial Council 2, Judge Holly D’Andrea talked to The New York Times’ The Daily podcast to discuss the political, structural, and resource pressures that the immigration judges and the the immigration court faces.

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