Vets first priority for Franken

Photo: Andy Birkey/MnIndy

Sen. Al Franken says his first bill in the Senate will be one to provide service dogs to veterans. A longtime USO entertainer for troops stationed in Afghanistan and Iraq, Franken said training service dogs to work with physically and emotionally wounded veterans is a cost-saving measure.

“Frankly, I believe it is enough simply to improve the lives of those of whom we asked so much,” he wrote in an op-ed in the Star Tribune on Saturday. “But this program isn’t just the right thing to do. It’s the smart thing to do. This is win, win, win, win.”

He continued, “Service dogs raise their masters’ sense of well-being. There is evidence to suggest that increasing their numbers would reduce the alarming suicide rate among veterans, decrease the number of hospitalizations, and lower the cost of medications and human care.”