April 23, 2021 By Jon King / jking@whmi.com
Livingston County voice in Congress has co-sponsored a bipartisan bill that seeks to help military members adjust back into civilian life.
On Thursday, 8th District Democrat Elissa Slotkin, along with Ohio Republican Congressman David Joyce, introduced the bipartisan Solid Start Act, a bill to ensure that the Department of Veterans Affairs proactively reaches out to service members in their first year transitioning back to civilian life to connect them with critical benefits and services they have earned.
According to a press release, the bill would make permanent a pilot program at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), in which the VA contacts veterans multiple times by phone in the first year after they leave service to check-in and help connect them to programs and benefits. Slotkin, who also spearheaded the bill in a previous congressional session, says the Solid Start program âcontinues to b
April 10, 2021 By Jon King / jking@whmi.com
8th District Democrat Elissa Slotkin has joined with a Republican member of Michiganâs Congressional delegation to introduce a bill that would assist veterans exposed to open-air toxic burn pits while serving in the Armed Forces.
Slotkin, a member of the House Veteransâ Affairs Committee, and Grand Rapids Republican Peter Meijer, introduced the Veterans Burn Pits Exposure Recognition Act on Thursday. The bill seeks to eliminate what they called âthe unreasonable burdenâ placed on veterans to prove they were exposed to burn pits, which are areas near military installations in which waste materials are openly burned. They have become a common sight at U.S. military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan.
January 18, 2021 By Jon King / jking@whmi.com
As the nation celebrates Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, an annual event in Lansing will feature Dr. Kingâs youngest daughter.
Dr. Bernice King will headline the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commission of Mid-Michiganâs 2021 MLK Day of Celebration, which will be televised for the first time in its 36-year history. The program will air on WILX TV 10 tonight from 7-8pm. King is a global peace activist who was only five years old when her father was assassinated. A conversation between Bernice King and Elaine Hardy, commission chair, will be featured in the one-hour TV program, which will also feature comments from 8th District Democrat Elissa Slotkin and other elected officials.
January 12, 2021 By Jon King / jking@whmi.com
Citing President Trumpâs incitement of last weekâs attack on the U.S. Capitol, 8th District Democrat Elissa Slotkin says she will support the article of impeachment against him.
The House sped ahead Monday with plans to oust Trump from office, warning he is a threat to democracy and pushing the vice president and Cabinet to act even more quickly in an extraordinary effort to remove Trump in the final days of his presidency. Trump faces a single charge âincitement of insurrectionâ â after the deadly Capitol riot in an impeachment resolution that the House will begin debating Wednesday.
January 6, 2021 By Jessica Mathews & Jon King / news@whmi.com
Angry Trump supporters stormed the nationâs Capitol Wednesday in a chaotic protest aimed at thwarting the peaceful transfer of power.
President-elect Joe Biden is calling for the restoration of âjust simple decencyâ after a mob incited by his predecessor stormed the U.S. Capitol and delayed Congress from certifying the results of Novemberâs election in which Biden won the White House. Biden had planned to deliver a speech focused on how to revive an economy reeling from the coronavirus pandemic from his native Delaware this afternoon. But shortly before he was to begin speaking, demonstrators broke into the Capitol, reaching as far as the House floor.