Franken’s First Bill

Martine Kaplan — July 22, 2009 – 11:50 am | Congress | Democrats | Military Comments (0) Add a comment

Last weekend, Senator Al Franken (D-MN) wrote an op-ed in the Minneapolis Star Tribune about the new senator’s plan for his first piece of legislation: to create a program to provide veterans with service dogs. Franken writes that meeting an Iraq veteran reliant on his service dog inspired him to write the bill.

After I met Luis, I did some research. Service dogs like Tuesday can be of immense benefit to vets suffering from physical and emotional wounds. Yes, they provide companionship. But they can also detect changes in a person’s breathing, perspiration or scent to anticipate and ward off an impending panic attack with some well-timed nuzzling. They are trained to let their masters know when it’s time to take their medication and to wake them from terrifying nightmares.

Service dogs raise their masters’ sense of well-being. There is evidence to suggest that increasing their numbers would reduce the alarming suicide rate among veterans, decrease the number of hospitalizations, and lower the cost of medications and human care.

Click here for more details about the bill.

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