What does a cup of coffee mean? For Vice President Biden and Officer Peter Laboy of the Alexandria Police Department, quite a bit.

After Officer Laboy was injured in the line of duty last year, Vice President Biden visited him in the hospital and brought coffee for his unit. Last week, Officer Laboy returned the favor — bringing the Vice President a cup of coffee here at the White House.

Listen to the latest “Being Biden” and hear the story in the Vice President’s own words.

Announcing the White House Science Fair and Celebrating Girls Excelling in STEM

Next week — on Tuesday, May 27 — the White House is going to be filled with robots, science projects, and more. Students from around the country are headed to the 2014 White House Science Fair hosted by President Obama, and we couldn’t be more excited.

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Making Full Use of America’s Talent

For all of the progress women have made in the 20th century — gaining the right to vote, becoming nearly half of the workforce, and increasing their education — there is still work to be done to remove barriers that limit us from making full use of our nation’s talent in the future.

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In Case You Missed It: The President and Vice President Stop By a Shake Shack

Last Friday, President Obama and Vice President Biden stopped by a local Shake Shack for burgers, and spoke briefly about the need for Congress to pass transportation funding.

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CAP Action War Room

Progressive Policies For Veterans This Memorial Day

Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington, D.C.

CREDIT: Shawn Davis

Memorial Day is a time for relaxation, but also for reflection and remembrance. The day is first and foremost about honoring American servicemembers who are no longer with us. But there are also steps we can take to help improve the lives of the 10 million current vets and the many military families. So before you take off for the long weekend, take a few minutes to read our list of some progressive policies to help veterans:

1. Support Vets Looking For Work. Veterans have suffered from Congressional Republicans’ refusal to extend emergency unemployment benefits. There are roughly 163,000 unemployed post-9/11 vets and more than 600,000 unemployed veterans overall. Those who volunteered to protect our nation oversees but can’t find a job back at home deserve more support from our elected officials.

2. Give 1 Million Veterans A Raise. Of the roughly 10 million veterans in the United States today, one in ten — that’s 1 million vets — would get a boost in wages if we raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10. Almost two-thirds of these veterans are over the age of 40. Nobody should be paid wages so low that working full-time can still leave them in poverty, and that includes many former members of our Armed Forces.

3. Help Keep Veterans Out Of Poverty. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, is a powerful anti-hunger and anti-poverty tool. But it’s been the subject of persistent attacks from some Republicans in Congress, who voted last year to cut $40 billion and push 4 to 6 million people from the program. SNAP has never been more needed for servicemembers: there are 900,000 veterans who rely on the benefits in any given month, and military families’ reliance on the program hit a record high last year.

4. Expand Health Care To Low-Income Residents. There are over a quarter million uninsured veterans in states that are currently refusing to accept federal funding to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. That’s just wrong. (While many people assume that all veterans have health benefits through the Department of Veterans Affairs, as of 2013 only two-thirds were eligible and just one-third were enrolled).

5. Implement The Common Core. The average military family moves to six different states, and each state offers a separate set of academic standards for military children to follow. When relocating to one state, a child may be way ahead of her grade level; in another, she might be far behind. Having a high-quality, unified set of standards like the Common Core State Standards provide will help military families with transitions and ensure our nation’s economy and military remain strong.

6. Expand Background Checks For Gun Buyers. Veterans are some of our nation’s foremost experts on guns, what they can do in the hands of trained, responsible people, and how they can be used in the hands of those who want to do us harm. The massive loopholes in our gun background check system allow criminals, domestic abusers, and other dangerous people to easily access guns. Expanding background checks to all gun sales goes hand in hand with strengthening our second amendment by helping keep guns out of the hands of criminals.

7. Pass The Employment Non-Discrimination Act. There are over one million LGBT veterans and almost 50,000 more currently serving. Since the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, members of the military can serve with honesty and integrity and without the fear of discrimination based on sexual orientation. Unfortunately, the same fair treatment does not exist in the civilian sector. ENDA would go a long way to solve that problem and could also also significantly curtail high rates of veteran unemployment.

BOTTOM LINE: As a nation, we should pride ourselves on doing everything we can to make sure that citizens who sacrifice to protect our security and freedom are able to live healthy and secure lives back home. These are just a few of the many steps that we should take to get to that point for veterans, and create a more prosperous country for everyone.

PS: The allegations of long wait times and secret waiting lists at the Phoenix VA hospital is a serious concern and must be addressed immediately. But we must also not lose sight of the VA system’s successes, as well as its steady improvement in recent years. Here are key facts to know.

What happened at the Phoenix VA is a tragedy, it deserves an investigation, and an appropriate response.

Unfortunately, it has become a political football, with the loudest voices often the same people who voted against better funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs just three short months ago.

This is grave situation that requires an investigation, and action … not a partisan witch-hunt.

In the days and weeks ahead, the Department and Congress will look into what happened in Phoenix and VA facilities around the country. Both have a role to play, but for the sake of our veterans at home, and those who will soon return, the goal should be to determine what happened, who is responsible, and how to fix it – not the easiest way to score political points in an election year.

Sign our petition calling on Congress to conduct an investigation – not a witch-hunt – into what’s happening in VA facilities across the country and we’ll share your signature with leaders in each chamber.

Earlier this week, VoteVets polled our veterans and military family members about the issue.

Out of over 3,000 responses, 83% said Secretary Shinseki should not resign before an investigation determines how these mistakes happened and who is to blame — it was an even higher percentage for our members who receive VA care.

The President said directly that anyone found who manipulated or falsified records will be held accountable, and that any additional misconduct will be punished.

Tell Congress a real investigation – not a witch-hunt – is the only way to make those determinations and improve care for future veterans.

http://action.votevets.org/va-investigation

Many Republicans have yet to forgive General Shinseki for speaking up about the force size needed to secure the kind of victory in Iraq neoconservatives were saying would be easy in 2003.

But it’s time for them to put that aside and focus on getting the answers our veterans — many of whom are seeking care after returning from Iraq — have earned and deserve.

Thanks for signing,

Jon Soltz
Iraq War Veteran and Chairman
VoteVets.org

Some other things I’ve read this week: Ta-Nehisi Coates on reparations, Amanda Marcotte on conservatives and rape, Anna Holmes on her new job, Tim Wu on net neutrality, and Jared Bernstein on income inequality.

John Whitehouse
Twitter: @existentialfish

Benghazi And Trust

Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) was an American hero before ever entering politics. She was one of the first women to fly combat missions in Iraq, where she lost her legs and partial use of her right arm when her helicopter was hit by an RPG. But now that she is serving on the House Benghazi committee, Fox’s Allen West doesn’t know if Duckworth can be trusted: http://mm4a.org/1jxJKB9
Related: Fox News shamelessly misled about what Nancy Pelosi said about the House Benghazi committee: http://mm4a.org/1kq6Oli

James O’Keefe Latest Lies

James O’Keefe uses tricks and deceptive editing to create fake stories for right-wing media. The latest example involves fracking, and O’Keefe again used deceptive editing to make his point. But this time, another filmmaker secretly recorded O’Keefe’s operation – and caught him in a lie. http://mm4a.org/SlekDH
Related: Check out Green The Press, the new tumblr from our climate and science team: http://greenthepress.tumblr.com/

School Lunches For “Urban” Children

House Republicans are looking to cut school lunch programs — specifically for low-income kids in urban areas. This comes after years of conservative media, led by Fox News and Rush Limbaugh, pushing Republicans to cut the programs: http://mm4a.org/1i4KysQ
Related: Fox’s newest host routinely attacks the poor – and he’s also been fined by the SEC and paid to push now worthless stocks: http://mm4a.org/1j61RJI

FEATURED VIDEO

The Roberts Court is poised to dismantle a key tool used to fight against gender and racial discrimination. We spoke to expert Paul Bland about that and consumer rights: http://mm4a.org/1hVhcx9

CONSERVATIVES ATTACK AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES

It’s not just one attack on Tammy Duckworth. Conservatives simply do not understand disability in America. We created two charts to correct them – including our longest chart ever. http://mm4a.org/1k5sNi0

IMAGE OF THE WEEK

Former CNN Science Reporter And Neil deGrasse Tyson Call Out Media Enablers Of Climate Denial