Why former Congressman Roe was so passionate about veteran legislation
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) — Most people know Phil Roe as the Congressman who served Northeast Tennessee for six terms.
During his time in Washington, D.C., he passed several bills to benefit veterans and servicemembers. He even chaired the House Committee on Veterans Affairs.
'I was one of the last people drafted in the army. I drafted in 1971,' he said.
Roe was in Memphis for medical school when his first orders for Da Nang, Vietnam, were deferred for a year because so many doctors had been drafted from the area, leaving insufficient personnel to run the hospitals.
He ended up going to Korea and was stationed 11 miles south of the demilitarized zone (DMZ).
'When you're in an infantry division like I was, you're divided into battalions. You have infantry battalions, aviation armor,' he said. 'I was in a medical battalion, and my medical battalion was right next to the armored battalion.'
Roe was in the Second Infantry Division and the captain of the medical battalion.
'There were three of us young doctors that were in charge of taking the health care of an infantry division with 10,000 men in it,' said Roe.
When he got out of the army, the $300 a month he received from the GI Bill helped support his young and growing career, as well as his family.
'I was having to work extra shifts in the [Emergency Room] to just pay the bills. I mean the rent was almost as much as my check was for a month, and I had a family to feed,' he said. 'To this very day, that made an impression on me.'
Roe went on to become one of the most well-known OBGYNs in Johnson City, where he later served as the mayor before heading to Congress.
'I never thought I would ever do what I ended up doing,' he said. 'I never dreamed that, but I thought if I can ever do anything, I'm going to. And so I did.'
SEE MORE: Fmr Congressman Roe discusses passage of Blue Water Navy Act for Agent Orange effects
When chairing the House Veterans Affairs Committee, he visited VAs across the nation. He spearheaded bills aimed at helping his fellow veterans, including making the GI Bill a lifetime benefit and securing care for Blue Water Navy Veterans.
'They also have committed that service. And that's why I said, you know, I'm going to take care of them now,' he said.
Roe says the Army set him up for success in many ways, but there is one thing that has stuck with him every day.
'I get up every day if I'm going somewhere, I polish and shine my shoes,' he said. 'You had to have shiny shoes in the military. If you'll notice, my shoes are polished.
He hasn't slowed down since leaving Congress five years ago. He continues to volunteer with several local and national boards and occasionally participates in speaking engagements. However, he now has more time to play his guitar and pick his banjo.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
NY's Mannion, Lawler trade barbs in heated House spat. What was said?
Two New York members of Congress had a heated spat on the House floor that began when Democratic Rep. John Mannion angrily confronted Republican Rep. Mike Lawler. The clash took place at a supercharged moment on Thursday, June 12, after Democratic U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-California, was forcibly removed from a press conference and handcuffed by federal agents, stoking Democrats' fury. According to an Axios account, Lawler was talking with a colleague on the Democrats' side of the room when Mannion shouted at him to "do something" and "grow a pair of balls." He laced that message with expletives, according to what was picked up in a C-Span broadcast and quoted by 'F---ing get over there and get some f---ing balls.' Mannion, a freshman representing the Syracuse area, later gave Axios a more sanitized description, saying "I asked him to compel his colleagues to save the country and stop what the people of this country do not want ... the defiance of law." One reporter who witnessed the dustup posted on X: "Wow. Massive shouting fight on the floor. A house democrat is screaming at Mike lawler to get Off the democratic side of the floor." Lawler soon posted in response: "John Mannion was entirely unhinged and unprofessional. That was a shameful display that exposed his complete lack of temperament." Lawler, a second-term member from Rockland County, didn't detail what the two said to one another, but closed with some profane advice: "He should go seek help for anger management — and f--k off." In an interview on Friday, Lawler told the USA Today Network the run-in came out of the blue as House members were casting votes and he was chatting with Rep. Jimmy Pannetta, a California Democrat and fellow member of the Problem Solvers Caucus. All of sudden, he said, Mannion began screaming at him from about four rows away. "It was one of the most bizarre things I have ever seen happen on the House floor," he said. Lawler said he was so surprised he asked if Mannion was talking to him. He was. They exchanged profanities. What Mannion was demanding of him was unclear when the encounter ended, Lawler said. "It was unhinged, it was certainly unprofessional," Lawler said of Mannion's outburst. Mannion said in a statement that he's fighting for his hometown and country to "stop the rise of authoritarian government and the destruction of American democracy." "If making some noise on the house floor and calling out Trump enablers draws attention to what's happening to our country right before our eyes — good," he said. "Today it's roughing up and handcuffing a United States Senator and a politicized military patrolling the streets of American cities. It's the willing abandonment of the rule of law and a gross fealty to a want-to-be dictator who is tearing the country apart. None of this is normal or okay." The backdrop was a political storm over President Donald Trump sending National Guard troops and Marines into Los Angeles to quell protests over his mass-deportation push. Democrats have condemned Trump's orders as inflammatory and authoritarian. Padilla, the senator from California, planned to question Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem at a press conference on Thursday when he was pushed from the room and handcuffed on the ground by federal agents. Partisan tensions were also evident Thursday at a day-long House hearing at which Republicans berated Gov. Kathy Hochul and two other Democratic governors for "sanctuary" policies toward undocumented immigrants. As Democrats were ripping the Trump administration for rounding up law-abiding parents and children, Republicans were deploring what they see as overly lax policies. Chris McKenna covers government and politics for The Journal News and USA Today Network. Reach him at cmckenna@ This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Immigration debate: NY's Mannion confronts Lawler on House floor
Associated Press
5 hours ago
- Associated Press
Medicaid enrollees fear losing health coverage if Congress enacts work requirements
It took Crystal Strickland years to qualify for Medicaid, which she needs for a heart condition. Strickland, who's unable to work due to her condition, chafed when she learned that the U.S. House has passed a bill that would impose a work requirement for many able-bodied people to get health insurance coverage through the low-cost, government-run plan for lower-income people. 'What sense does that make?' she asked. 'What about the people who can't work but can't afford a doctor?' The measure is part of the version of President Donald Trump's 'Big Beautiful' bill that cleared the House last month and is now up for consideration in the Senate. Trump is seeking to have it passed by July 4. The bill as it stands would cut taxes and government spending — and also upend portions of the nation's social safety net. For proponents, the ideas behind the work requirement are simple: Crack down on fraud and stand on the principle that taxpayer-provided health coverage isn't for those who can work but aren't. The measure includes exceptions for those who are under 19 or over 64, those with disabilities, pregnant women, main caregivers for young children, people recently released from prisons or jails — or during certain emergencies. It would apply only to adults who receive Medicaid through expansions that 40 states chose to undertake as part of the 2010 health insurance overhaul. Many details of how the changes would work would be developed later, leaving several unknowns and causing anxiety among recipients who worry that their illnesses might not be enough to exempt them. Advocates and sick and disabled enrollees worry — based largely on their past experience — that even those who might be exempted from work requirements under the law could still lose benefits because of increased or hard-to-meet paperwork mandates. Benefits can be difficult to navigate even without a work requirement Strickland, a 44-year-old former server, cook and construction worker who lives in Fairmont, North Carolina, said she could not afford to go to a doctor for years because she wasn't able to work. She finally received a letter this month saying she would receive Medicaid coverage, she said. 'It's already kind of tough to get on Medicaid,' said Strickland, who has lived in a tent and times and subsisted on nonperishable food thrown out by stores. 'If they make it harder to get on, they're not going to be helping.' Steve Furman is concerned that his 43-year-old son, who has autism, could lose coverage. The bill the House adopted would require Medicaid enrollees to show that they work, volunteer or go to school at least 80 hours a month to continue to qualify. A disability exception would likely apply to Furman's son, who previously worked in an eyeglasses plant in Illinois for 15 years despite behavioral issues that may have gotten him fired elsewhere. Furman said government bureaucracies are already impossible for his son to navigate, even with help. It took him a year to help get his son onto Arizona's Medicaid system when they moved to Scottsdale in 2022, and it took time to set up food benefits. But he and his wife, who are retired, say they don't have the means to support his son fully. 'Should I expect the government to take care of him?' he asked. 'I don't know, but I do expect them to have humanity.' There's broad reliance on Medicaid for health coverage About 71 million adults are enrolled in Medicaid now. And most of them — around 92% — are working, caregiving, attending school or disabled. Earlier estimates of the budget bill from the Congressional Budget Office found that about 5 million people stand to lose coverage. A KFF tracking poll conducted in May found that the enrollees come from across the political spectrum. About one-fourth are Republicans; roughly one-third are Democrats. The poll found that about 7 in 10 adults are worried that federal spending reductions on Medicaid will lead to more uninsured people and would strain health care providers in their area. About half said they were worried reductions would hurt the ability of them or their family to get and pay for health care. Amaya Diana, an analyst at KFF, points to work requirements launched in Arkansas and Georgia as keeping people off Medicaid without increasing employment. Amber Bellazaire, a policy analyst at the Michigan League for Public Policy, said the process to verify that Medicaid enrollees meet the work requirements could be a key reason people would be denied or lose eligibility. 'Massive coverage losses just due to an administrative burden rather than ineligibility is a significant concern,' she said. One KFF poll respondent, Virginia Bell, a retiree in Starkville, Mississippi, said she's seen sick family members struggle to get onto Medicaid, including one who died recently without coverage. She said she doesn't mind a work requirement for those who are able — but worries about how that would be sorted out. 'It's kind of hard to determine who needs it and who doesn't need it,' she said. Some people don't if they might lose coverage with a work requirement Lexy Mealing, 54 of Westbury, New York, who was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2021 and underwent a double mastectomy and reconstruction surgeries, said she fears she may lose the medical benefits she has come to rely on, though people with 'serious or complex' medical conditions could be granted exceptions. She now works about 15 hours a week in 'gig' jobs but isn't sure she can work more as she deals with the physical and mental toll of the cancer. Mealing, who used to work as a medical receptionist in a pediatric neurosurgeon's office before her diagnosis and now volunteers for the American Cancer Society, went on Medicaid after going on short-term disability. 'I can't even imagine going through treatments right now and surgeries and the uncertainty of just not being able to work and not have health insurance,' she said. Felix White, who has Type I diabetes, first qualified for Medicaid after losing his job as a computer programmer several years ago. The Oreland, Pennsylvania, man has been looking for a job, but finds that at 61, it's hard to land one. Medicaid, meanwhile, pays for a continuous glucose monitor and insulin and funded foot surgeries last year, including one that kept him in the hospital for 12 days. 'There's no way I could have afforded that,' he said. 'I would have lost my foot and probably died.' ___ Associated Press writer Susan Haigh in Hartford, Connecticut contributed to this article.
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Minnesota Shootings Shake Capitol Hill, Spark Security Fears
The names of some congressional officials from the state were listed in the suspected shooter's papers.
