{"id":22908,"date":"2024-04-29T12:09:25","date_gmt":"2024-04-29T16:09:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/?post_type=press-releases&p=22908"},"modified":"2024-04-29T14:42:18","modified_gmt":"2024-04-29T18:42:18","slug":"sen-ossoff-continuing-push-to-protect-georgia-veterans-from-fraud","status":"publish","type":"press-releases","link":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/press-releases\/sen-ossoff-continuing-push-to-protect-georgia-veterans-from-fraud\/","title":{"rendered":"Sen. Ossoff Continuing Push to Protect Georgia Veterans from Fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"

Washington, D.C. <\/strong>\u2014 U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is continuing his work to protect Georgia veterans from fraud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Sen. Ossoff launched a push to pass the bipartisan GUARD VA Benefits Act of 2023<\/em>, legislation he co-sponsored to protect Georgia veterans from predatory claim sharks seeking to take advantage of veterans applying for benefits they\u2019ve earned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bipartisan bill would impose criminal penalties on unaccredited organizations or individuals who charge veterans seeking to file claims with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Only claim agents accredited by the VA<\/a> can file claims on behalf of veterans, and it must be done free of charge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last month, Sen. Ossoff urged<\/a> the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate claim sharks seeking to take advantage of veterans applying for their earned benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are seeing an alarming increase in reports of predatory practices targeting veterans by claim sharks, who are charging exorbitant fees to assist veterans filing their claims with the VA,\u201d Sen. Ossoff said.<\/strong> \u201cMy office and I will not tolerate the targeting and exploitation of veterans in Georgia.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Ossoff continues working to improve Georgia veterans\u2019 access to their benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In February, Sens. Ossoff, Susan Collins (R-ME), and John Thune (R-SD) introduced<\/a> the Rural Veterans Transportation to Care Act <\/em>to help more veterans in rural areas get transportation to VA health facilities and access the health care benefits they\u2019ve earned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In January, thanks to Sen Ossoff\u2019s bipartisan Access for Veterans to Records Act<\/em><\/a> becoming law, the National Archives cleared a backlog<\/a> of more than 400,000 records requests, enabling Georgia veterans to more quickly access their records and claim their benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Ossoff also launched a push<\/a> to pass the bipartisan TAP Promotion Act, <\/em>legislation he co-sponsored to help servicemembers more easily access VA benefits as they transition to civilian life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click aqu\u00ed<\/a> to read the GUARD VA Benefits Act of 2023.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

# # #<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington, D.C. \u2014 U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is continuing his work to protect Georgia veterans from fraud. Today, Sen. Ossoff launched a push to pass the bipartisan GUARD VA Benefits Act of 2023, legislation he co-sponsored to protect Georgia veterans from predatory claim sharks seeking to take advantage of veterans applying for benefits they\u2019ve earned. The bipartisan bill […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22908","press-releases","type-press-releases","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/22908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press-releases"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/70"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/22908\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22910,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/22908\/revisions\/22910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}