Legislation Assemblymen Vince Mazzeo, Sgt. Bob Andrzejczak, Raj Mukherji, Paul Moriarty, Daniel Benson, Joseph Danielsen and Eric Houghtaling sponsored to boost assistance for "wounded warriors" and their caregivers, an ever-growing demographic that faces unique challenges in the post-9/11 era, advanced by the full Assembly on Monday, 78-0.
The lawmakers were inspired by a recent RAND Corporation study that included a number of unsettling statistics regarding the care of wounded veterans in the post-9/11 era, most notably that an estimated 1.1 million civilians are providing volunteer care-giving services to wounded veterans. Meanwhile, the study found that 53 percent of post-9/11 voluntary caregivers have no support network.
"This is the right thing do for those who have sacrificed so much," said Houghtaling (D-Monmouth). "We need to do everything we can do to ensure proper care for armed service members with physical disabilities. We owe them."