Al Franken Passes Dogs-for-Vets Bill

Al Franken, newly sworn in to the Senate last month after getting elected in November, has already successfully passed his first piece of legislation, apparently wishing to make up for lost time. The Democrat's bill introduces a pilot program to help provide dogs to vets.

No, not that kind of vet.

The bill, called the Franken-Isakson Service Dogs for Veterans Act, will help provide service animals to wounded US war veterans. The program seeks to accomplish a number of goals, such as pairing at least 200 service dogs with wounded vets, half of which will be soldiers who suffer from mental-health disabilities, not just physical disabilities. It also will be part of a scientific study to further discover the therapeutic benefits of these service animals.

Franken penned an op-ed in the StarTribune describing the inspiration behind his bill. In January, at President Obama's inauguration, Franken met Capt. Luis Montalvan, a veteran who had been an intelligence officer in Iraq. Capt. Montalvan had survived an attempt on his life, but was suffering from severe post-traumatic stress disorder. "Luis explained that he couldn't have made it to the inauguration if it weren't for his dog," Franken wrote.


The encounter led Franken to research the ways in which service animals are trained to assist vets with both their physical needs -- like reminding when to take medication -- and emotional needs, like recognizing and providing a calming presence in the face of a panic attack. Claims Franken, "There is evidence to suggest that increasing [service dog] numbers would reduce the alarming suicide rate among veterans, decrease the number of hospitalizations, and lower the cost of medications and human care."

The bill received wide bipartisan support and was co-authored with Georgia's Republican Senator Johnny Isakson, who had a personal interest in the program. Isakson's mother had found a great deal of comfort in the presence of a service dog before succumbing to Alzheimer's Disease in 1998. "It was really something, watching how the animal and my mom responded to each other," Isakson told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The Senate agreed unanimously to attach Franken and Isakson's bill to the Defense Authorization, which itself was passed with a 87-7 vote. "Up here, the name of the game is to make a difference in the lives of people. I make my judgments based on that, not on politics," Isakson said of the bill's bipartisan authorship and support.

According to Franken, it costs approximately $25,000 to pair a trained service dog with a war veteran. The new bill will help make obtaining service dogs much more affordable for injured vets. Said Franken, "This program isn't just the right thing to do. It's the smart thing to do. This is win, win, win, win."

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