Chet Edwards For Congress

The American Legion Vision | May 28, 2008

A Promise Fulfilled

Rep. Chet Edwards is living up to the legacy of the man known in Washington as "Mr. Veteran."

Texas Democrat Chet Edwards may never have served in the U.S. Armed Forces, but his 18 years in Congress have been shaped by those who did.

Until his district map was redrawn in 2003, U.S. Rep. Edwards counted among his constituents the massive Fort Hood Army community and a strong population of military retirees and veterans who make central Texas their home. He no longer has Fort Hood, but he does represent in Congress Commander-in-Chief George W. Bush's hometown of Crawford, and has fought diligently to keep the Waco VA Medical Center from closing.

On the national level, however, is where Edwards has made his biggest impact on the lives of veterans. He received The American Legion's 2008 Distinguished Public Service Award after shepherding the largest one-year funding increase in the history of VA – $11.8 billion – while serving on the powerful House Appropriations Committee. "Chet went above and beyond in keeping us informed and telling the truth," American Legion National Commander Marty Conatser said when presenting the award in early April.

"To be a politician accused of telling the truth – what a special thing," Edwards quipped in response .

The award, he said, "was an honor I will always cherish. I know the real heroes are our nation's veterans. I am simply fighting to provide the funding and services that our veterans have already earned through their service and sacrifice to our country."

'09 budget increases funding for vets

Cleburne Times Review | Jun 10 2008

Edwards: "When it comes to veterans, our nation has a moral obligation to keep its promise to those who kept their promises to serve our nation in uniform. After years of veterans budgets that barely, if at all, kept pace with inflation, leaving America's heroes with inadequate health care and benefits, it is now a new day for our vets."

Final passage of the fiscal year 2009 budget passed the U.S. House Thursday after having passed the U.S. Senate on Wednesday. The budget increases veterans' spending over last year by $4.9 billion.

Ribbon cut on phase II of Hamm Creek

By Matt Smith | Cleburne Times Review | Jun 02 2008

Edwards: "It shows what happens when good people work together in good faith and what a difference that can make for our own people."

Officials and area residents braved Wednesday's mid-day heat to celebrate the completion of another phase of Hamm Creek Park's renovation.

"A lot of people have a lot of memories of this place," County Commissioner R.C. McFall said. "A lot of them I can't talk about right now. But this project was the dream of George Wood. He worked tirelessly on it.

"Every county city council and chamber signed on to support this, and it's the only such project I know of where that ever happened."

Congress Comes Through With New Farm Bill

Hillsboro Reporter | May 29, 2008

Edwards: "This bipartisan Farm Bill makes real reforms that will strengthen American agriculture to meet the 21st-century needs of the United States and provide a safe, low-cost food supply for American families."

A new farm bill that will carry the country through 2012 made it through Congress last week.

The conference report on The Food and Energy Security Act of 2007, commonly called the "Farm Bill," was passed by the House of Representatives and Senate on back-to-back days.

Republican Senators John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison, along with Democratic Congressman Chet Edwards, were among the members of the Texas delegation supporting the bill.

Covered in the bill are programs relating to commodities, sugar, dairy, conservation, exports and trade assistance, food stamps and nutrition, agricultural credit, rural development, rural electrification, agricultural research, forestry, energy, specialty crops and livestock.

The House passed its version of the bill the end of July, and the Senate passed its bill in December.

Since the original legislation expired December 31, Congress was required to pass several extensions before the conference report was released and acted upon.

Edwards said that the bill makes a $289 billion investment in the American food and farm economy.

Plans to Expand Oil Reserve Are Clouded

By Ben Casselman | Wall Street Journal | 27 May 2008

Edwards: "It would defy common sense to try to expand the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve during a time of high energy prices."

The decision in Washington last week to stop filling the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve is calling into question longer-range plans to expand the reserve's capacity -- a potential blow to the impoverished Mississippi town that stands to gain from the expansion.

The U.S. Department of Energy is pressing forward with plans to expand the world's largest stockpile of government-owned emergency crude, to one billion barrels from its current 727 million-barrel capacity. But while Congress approved the expansion in 2005 in an effort to keep up with rising U.S. oil consumption, it has yet to fund the $5 billion project. With oil prices topping $130 per barrel last week, that funding is increasingly in doubt.

"It would defy common sense to try to expand it during a time of high energy prices," says Rep. Chet Edwards, a Texas Democrat who sits on the subcommittee that will review funding for the expansion.