Dear John,

As we celebrate Memorial Day, I'm thinking of all of Northeastern Pennsylvania’s servicemembers: those who laid down their lives in service to our nation, those who returned safely to their families but have since passed on, the veterans still with us and those on active duty.

This weekend, it will be my solemn honor to celebrate the Memorial Day tradition with some of our local veterans’ organizations and express my gratitude for their service to our country. I believe the best way to thank them is by taking real action to support them – especially after a difficult year.

I was proud to help pass the American Rescue Plan, which ensures veterans are taken care of as they recover from this pandemic.

Here are a few ways the American Rescue Plan is helping veterans:

• Additional resources for the Veterans Health Administration to respond to more expensive care needs that may have emerged for veterans during the pandemic
• Allows the VA to waive copays that would otherwise be charged to veterans during COVID-19 to ensure no one feels the need to put off essential care any longer
• 12 months of rapid retraining assistance to help the thousands of veterans who lost jobs because of the pandemic get back to work
• Over $250 million for VA benefits to reduce the backlog of claims that grew by more than two-and-a-half times since the onset of COVID-19. These additional resources will help get payments out to our deserving veterans on time again.

This pandemic year has been a trying time for all of us, but especially for our veteran community, which has so many unique needs. This Memorial Day, I’m proud not only to thank them for their service to our nation, but also to tell them that help is here.

On Monday, I had the privilege to bring small businesses from our area together with the NASA Administrator and senior NASA officials. We had a great discussion about the role local entrepreneurs can play in advancing our world-leading space exploration program while creating local jobs and growing their companies.

There are already a number of small businesses in Northeastern PA working with NASA suppliers. We want to expand this work and open new opportunities for our businesses while bringing jobs to our region.

Watch part of our Northeastern Pennsylvania NASA Small Business Industry Day event:

Many small businesses in our area are working hard to overcome the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Small Business Administration (SBA) has launched a new program that directly targets the smallest businesses in our nation, especially those that have been historically underserved or left behind.

This is a big reason I passed the American Rescue Plan: so our businesses get connected with the help they need. This $100 million Community Navigator Pilot grant program will provide counseling, networking and the assistance needed during this time of economic recovery.

The application is now open! Competitive grant awards will range from $1 million to $5 million for a two-year performance period. Applicants have until July 12, 2021, to submit their applications at grants.gov.

Learn more here.

Be safe and well,