Each year, many veterans may end up seeking new ID cards but find that it is a difficult and slow process to complete. Now, though, a federal lawmaker from the state of Florida is pushing to speed up the process of issuing ID cards to veterans, following a law that was passed several months ago.
On July 20, President Barack Obama signed the Veterans Identification Card Act – which passed both houses of Congress with unanimous support – into law, according to a report from the Miami Herald. But now, U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, a Republican representing Florida who sponsored the bill in the first place, says the federal government isn't doing enough to make sure that the strictures of the law are being followed.
Currently, military veterans are often required to show their DD-214 forms, but this law is supposed to just create a universal veterans ID card to replace it, the report said. However, now the VA seems to be preparing to only issue these cards starting in 2017, and Buchanan is not happy with that news. Data suggests that DD-214 forms put veterans at greater risk of identity theft, and that these documents are stolen twice as often as normal ID.
"I could fly to Mars and back quicker than it takes them to publish these cards," Buchanan told the newspaper. "I kind of expected between six and 10 months, and now they're telling me it's another year. It's just not right."
The more federal lawmakers can do to reduce the risks and increase the convenience veterans feel in their everyday lives, the better off those former servicemembers are likely to be going forward. Fortunately, it seems that this kind of help is becoming more of a priority for many legislators these days.