Some long-overdue changes to improve veterans' benefits may finally come to fruition. Legislation in Congress would enhance education services, improve healthcare and bring benefits more in sync with cost-of-living realities.

These changes deserve bipartisan support. The improvements also would chart a new course and a welcome departure from the frustration that has plagued the Veterans Affairs system. And it would bring us closer to fulfilling our nation's promise to support those who have served our country.

The changes would include proper reimbursement for veterans for certain emergency treatment received outside the VA network and establish programs to help homeless veterans in finding jobs and housing.

Benefits to families who have lost a child to military service or as a result of service-related disability, and for surviving spouses and children, would increase in line with a cost of living index.

Another important change: streamlining the application process for VA health benefits. Some veterans reported waits of six months or more.

The changes come after years of veterans' testimony and reports from the Government Accountability Office that point to a deeply flawed system. Concerns include failing to ensure proper medical treatment and complaints that the VA altered diagnoses to cut costs.

Hawai'i's U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka has long fought to turn that tide. Now the chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, Akaka is rightly leading the charge to push the changes through Congress.

Akaka pointed to the soaring demand for services faced by the Veterans Affairs Department, brought on by the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and the soaring demand for services.

He's right. Roughly 40 percent of veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars have sought services through the VA health system. A recent RAND Corp. study estimated that about 300,000 troops returning from Afghanistan or Iraq suffer from symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder or depression; half were receiving no care. These statistics are punctuated by a recent spike in suicides among those involved in combat in these regions.

"I have been fighting to provide VA with the resources it needs to care for both these newest veterans and those from previous wars, to improve mental health care to catch and treat invisible wounds such as PTSD, and streamline the process to make it easier on wounded warriors and their families," Akaka said.

That's the right course, and one Akaka has wisely been advocating for years.

With the new administration and the support of Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki, veterans are poised to get the care they so richly deserve.

It's imperative we live up to our promise to support those who put their lives on the line for our freedom. Taking care of wounded veterans and giving them the benefits they have earned is our moral obligation.