Call to action produces more than 44,000 messages to Washington.
The American Legion’s Grassroots Action Center lit up after then-National Commander Daniel Seehafer called on members to urge passage of legislation to cover a nearly $3 billion budget shortfall in the final month of the fiscal year. By the time Congress passed the emergency spending bill, 44,586 messages had been sent calling for action to prevent delays in VA disability checks. More than 7 million veterans would have been affected.
As Legionnaires attending the national convention in New Orleans were lining up to express their concern over the shortfall, accredited American Legion service officers were eclipsing $19 billion in benefits secured for disabled veterans so far in 2024. That amount, a record, was achieved with one month of service yet to be documented in the fiscal year.
The Legion was also busy issuing National Emergency Fund relief in a stormy, often devastating September, and American Legion national leaders honored the organization’s founding generation at the first illumination ceremony Sept. 13, essentially completing the National World War I Memorial in Washington, D.C.
