MARTIN COUNTY – The Take Care of America’s Veterans Act, a collection of around 60 bills related to veterans funding at the federal level, was pulled from being voted on Friday by the U.S. House of Representatives due to pushback from veterans, including local voices.

Disabled American Veterans Minnesota Legislative Director Trent Dilks, who served in Iraq with the Fairmont Unit and graduated from Truman High School, said the major issue is cutting compensation for veterans with tinnitus and making significant reductions in helping those with sleep apnea.

“It’s saying that for current veterans, ‘It is a disability, you’ve earned compensation for it, it’s an earned benefit,'” he said. “‘Everybody who’s [coming] in now or in the future, we’re going to pull up the ladder; this is not something that you’re going to be covered.’ It creates this kind of rob Peter to pay Paul, I got mine, forget who comes after me kind of thing, which is not something that we want to look at as we look to take care of our veterans.”

Even though those who are currently covered would remain covered, Dilks said there are potential loopholes in the act for them as well.

“You can be reevaluated for a whole host of reasons, and there’s no guarantee that they wouldn’t then put you under the new reduced scale,” he said.

It’s not just caring for tinnitus or sleep apnea either. Dilks said these changes would trickle down for those who get support because of their tinnitus or sleep apnea diagnosis.

“A lot of veterans, the doors to the VA hospitals are opened because of tinnitus,” he said. “The way the VA does math, it can be the difference between a veteran getting travel pay to go to their appointment [or not]. They get reimbursed for the gas because in Fairmont, you’re going to Sioux Falls for the nearest hospital or up to the cities if you need a specialist. A lot of things depend on your service-connected level, and while we’re talking about what seems like a small thing, the collateral damage of removing that is significant.”

Dilks said the cuts come as part of the federal PAYGO and CUTGO rules regarding federal funding, which seek to ensure that new mandatory spending doesn’t increase the federal deficit, and that any increase in direct spending must be offset by an equal or greater cut elsewhere. Overall, it is projected these cuts would remove $57 billion from American veterans’ benefits over the next 10 years.

With this information, word was then sent out to the local DAV chapters, including chapter 32 in Fairmont. Like any issues regarding veterans, Dilks said information was sent out on how to contact representatives and voice concerns. The response from Martin County was felt immediately.

“They had sent several hundred emails to the representative in southern Minnesota,” he said. “Anytime, whether it’s a state or federal issue, it’s always one of the top performers as far as taking action for veterans.”

As someone from the area, Dilks said it means a lot to see the outpouring of support and general action by Martin County veterans and citizens on behalf of veterans.

“Especially in Minnesota, where there’s not a large military base,” he said. “We’re a lot of National Guard and reservists. It’s easy for people to come home, put that away and try to move on with their lives. It really shows that decades after service, they continue to care about the people they serve. It lines up perfectly with everything I know about growing up in southern Minnesota and the people around me.”

Because of this outpouring of concern from veterans groups, individual veterans and concerned citizens, the act was removed from a vote Friday to be worked on further. Dilks said this shows people’s voices really do matter when decisions are made on a federal level.

“I’ve worked in legislation for over a decade,” he said. “It shows the voice of the people that these politicians are representing does matter. Things are not set in stone, and they’re going to do whatever they want. If we create enough noise, if we come together with a unified message, this crosses aisles.”

As this situation progresses, Dilks has a clear view of what he wants to see moving forward.

“If they don’t waive PAYGO, CUTGO, they have to find a responsible way to pay for this,” he said. “The way things go on other issues, it’s the right thing to do. It’s fulfilling the promise to service members. They should do that first and foremost, but if they can’t, they should look at a way that doesn’t take earned benefits out of the pockets of disabled veterans.”

For those looking to have their voice heard on this, Dilks said they can contact Representative Brad Finstad at 202-225-2472 or at finstad.house.gov/contact/email-me/.