Letter from Shelley
Friends and Colleagues,
This has been an exciting week for me as I saw a Martinsburg veteran recognized as one of the nation’s top service-disabled veteran small business owners, participated in a White House ceremony to honor a West Virginia artist and continued work on legislation to support long-term care for our seniors and help address our nation’s mortgage crisis.
Martinsburg Veteran Recognized
Harry Siegel is a service-disabled veteran small business owner from the Martinsburg area who was honored at a Pentagon awards ceremony earlier this week. Harry’s firm received recognition from Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England and was named one of the nation’s top veteran-owned small businesses.
I was honored to be invited to the ceremony and congratulate Harry on his success. It’s always wonderful to see West Virginians recognized as leaders in their field.
White House Ceremony Honors West Virginia Artist
Another West Virginian received recognition this week as renowned artist William Wolk presented his portrait of the President to the Commander-In-Chief himself. His painting portrayed President Bush in the aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attacks.
After studying in Italy, William came to West Virginia in 1984. He is currently the artist in residence at The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs. I’m pleased to see he’s receiving the recognition that he deserves.
Capito Introduces Legislation to Support Senior Care
With the support of my colleagues on the House Long-Term Care Caucus, I introduced bipartisan legislation this week that would modernize Medicare and support long-term care for West Virginia seniors.
With millions of baby-boomers set to retire over the next twenty years, it’s important that we prepare for what will be a dramatic increase in the need for long-term care.
Work Continues to Address Mortgage Issues
The House this week also continued its work on important legislation to address the mortgage crisis and curb the problem of predatory lending. A broad bipartisan group of lawmakers on the Financial Services Committee approved legislation that will likely come up for a vote before the full House sometime next week.
Working with my Democratic and Republican colleagues, we’ve made great progress and expect to see needed reform finally pass out of the House. It’s important that we have a transparent process for borrowers, and establish protections for victims of predatory lending.
Sincerely,
Member of Congress
|
Capito Helps Recognize West Virginia Veteran
ARLINGTON, VA, November 5, 2007 – Rep. Capito with Harry Siegel and Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England at a Pentagon ceremony to recognize service-disabled veteran small business owners. Siegel's firm received the honor of being one of the nation's top service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses.
___________________________________________
WASHINGTON, November 5, 2007 – Rep. Capito with William Wolk - the artist in residence at The Greenbrier. Wolk was honored at the White House for his painting portraying President Bush in the aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attacks.
___________________________________________
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT...
Long-Term Solutions
MetroNews
November 6, 2007
West Virginia's Second District Congresswoman says now is the time to address the needs of nursing homes in this state and across the country.
Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito says that's why she is backing the Long-Term Care Quality and Modernization Act, which she helped unveil on Capitol Hill on Tuesday afternoon.
"We have an aging population. We need to make sure that the staff is trained. We need to make sure that the medicine is delivered in the highest quality, and we need to make sure that the facilities are modernized for what I think is going to be the big challenge of our aging population," she said in an interview with MetroNews.
The proposed legislation, which has bipartisan support, calls for the creation of a Long-Term Care Quality Advisory Commission that would come up with a national plan for insuring quality service at nursing homes.
The proposal would modernize billing rules to insure they're reflecting changes in technology, ensure access to proper diabetes management in nursing homes and offer incentives to nurses who work in those long-term care homes.
"It is tough work in a nursing home," said Congresswoman Capito, which is why she says it's important to invest now in changes to update the infrastructure for those sites. "Seventy million baby boomers are going to be retiring over the next 20 years. We're going to have a lot of people that are going to be looking for long-term care solutions, and, I think, now is the time for us to really lay the groundwork."
Capito said the legislation has support. "We've brought it up from year to year, but this year, I think, because it so bipartisan and so many people are interested in it, I think we're going to have some better luck with it," she said.
To read the full text of this story, click here.
|
