Ukrainian American Veterans continue to seek federal charter (08/15/04)

UKRAINIAN AMERICAN VETERANS: Active in our communities

Ukrainian American Veterans continue to seek federal charter

by Mathew Koziak
UAV National Commander

One of the important projects that the Ukrainian American Veterans have undertaken has been the campaign to obtain a federal charter. This objective of the UAV to get equal status with other veterans service organizations has had some success, but it has not yet reached its ultimate goal.

Letter-writing campaigns and other attempts to contact staff and elected representatives in the House has not always been met with responsive replies. Although the UAV realizes that Congress has many important points of business currently being conducted, we nonetheless cannot understand why the charter bill continues to languish in the Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims which is under the Judiciary Committee.

The whole experience has been a real eye opener into the legislative process, as well as into the range of responsiveness from our legislators. It would appear that some legislators do not value the votes of the Ukrainian American community or have an interest in supporting veterans' issues.

There has been a wide range of responses to our attempts to make contact with local congressmen, from those receiving no response altogether to those producing very positive responses. The best of these has resulted in representatives signing on as co-sponsors of our bill. The worst has been total silence, without so much as a confirmation of having received any information from our organization or membership. Some representatives have personally met with our membership, have been very hospitable and have listened to our request. These are some of the best examples of our elected representatives acting upon their promise to be responsive to their constituents. These responses/non-responses are important to remember during election time.

It must be underscored that the UAV is not asking for anything more than other veterans organizations currently enjoy in having been granted a Federal Charter. Ukrainian Americans have never faltered or hesitated in responding to this country's need to fight for its freedoms and support its constitution and democratic way of life. Why can they not be included in the community of recognized veterans' service organizations? Is it a matter of cost effectiveness? It cannot possibly be that as there are no costs associated with this bill. Is it a matter of not granting any more federal charters? That cannot be as there definitely have been new charters granted in the past few years. Is it a matter of bias? One can only hope that this is not the case.

Our bill, H.R. 1615, to grant the Ukrainian Americans Veterans a federal charter (title: "To amend title 36, United States Code, to Grant a Federal charter to the Ukrainian American Veterans Inc.") was introduced on April 3, 2003, by Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.). It was referred to the House Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims.

The bill currently has 20 co-sponsors: Reps. Corrine Brown (D-Fla.), Michael E. Capuano (D-Mass.), Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.), William D. Delahunt (D-Mass.), John D. Dingell (DMich.), Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.), Phil English (R-Pa.), Bob Filner (D-Calif.), Barney Frank (D-Mass.), Martin Frost (D-Texas), James C. Greenwood (R-Pa.), Maurice D. Hinchey (D-N.Y.), Joseph M. Hoeffel (D-Pa.), Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), Dale E. Kildee (D-Mich.), Joe Knollenberg (R-Mich.), James P. McGovern (D-Mass.), Michael R. McNulty (D-N.Y.), Juanity Millender-McDonald (D-Calif.), Richard E. Neal (D-Mass.), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D.C.), Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.), Donald M. Payne (D-N.J.), Todd Russell Platts (R-Pa.), Rob Simmons (R-Conn.), Louise McIntosh Slaughter (D-N.Y.), Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.), Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) and Robert Wexler (D-Fla.)

We would like to thank each of these representatives for his/her interest and support.

Recently, members of our organization had an opportunity to participate in a special program organized by Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) for Central Jersey veterans. The program focused on issues important to veterans and was very helpful in providing updated information. During this forum we also had an opportunity to meet Rep. Lane Evans (D-Ill.). Both congressmen expressed their support for our efforts.

In the near future we will be tracking congressional support for our bill on our website (www.uavets.org). We urge our community to pay attention to this information. We also urge our posts and all community members to continue their campaigns to contact their representatives and seek their support in co-sponsoring and moving H.R. 1615.

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