Franken's 1st bill: Service dogs for vets
Brand new Sen. Al Franken's very first bill? It would create a program to give service dogs to all injured veterans.
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports that Luis Carlos Montalvan, a disabled Iraq war veteran, suggested the idea to Franken months earlier at the presidential inaugural ball in Washington.
"It was really like a dream come true," Montalvan, a journalism student in New York City, told the paper.
According to the paper, Montalvan told Franken that his service dog named Tuesday helps him deal with life after suffering fractured vertebrae and a head injury in an attack near the Iraq-Syrian border in 2007.
"There is going to be a clear return on investment here," Franken told the paper. "My hope is that at the end of this they'll go, 'A ha! These dogs pay for themselves or more than pay for themselves, we have fewer suicides, fewer incidents of hospitalization, less costs in prescription drugs and more productivity.' "
Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., listens to testimony by Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor on July 16. AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite.
Comments
Way to go, Senator Al! You were worth the wait! Helps vets, helps dogs and a total winner of a bill all around!
Posted by: Joy Ward | July 25, 2009 1:45 PM
And hopefully shelter dogs will be considered in the program adding yet another win to the column.
Posted by: beni | July 25, 2009 5:19 PM
Thank you, for reporting this, and thank Senator Franken for this enlightened legislation.
take care, Senator, you are a man among men!
Posted by: Kathy Podgers | July 25, 2009 10:04 PM
What a wonderful start!
Rock on Senator Franken. Pawfun salutes you.
Posted by: B.L. Ochman | July 25, 2009 10:27 PM
I second Beni's idea.
Posted by: Lesley | July 25, 2009 11:41 PM
I love the idea of using shelter dogs as well!
Posted by: Margie | July 26, 2009 3:42 PM
Franken to me is an idiot, elected only on the coat tail of Obama, he's no more worthy of his position than Obama, but having said that, this bill does show some measure of something from this thing.
Posted by: Bill In Dallas | July 27, 2009 9:49 PM