1. Bruce Frank Vento was an American educator and politician, a Democratic-Farmer-Labor member of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 until his death in 2000, representing.
10 Facts About Bruce Vento
1. 2.
Bruce Vento was a public school teacher in St Paul, Minnesota prior to entering politics.
3.
Bruce Vento served in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 1971 until 1976 before entering the House.
4.
Bruce Vento is recognized for his efforts in cleaning the environment and promoting affordable housing.
5.
Bruce Vento is widely known for the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 1986, which provides federal money for shelter programs.
6.
Bruce Vento introduced the first bill in the US Congress to grant honorary US citizenship to Laotian and Hmong veterans who served in the "US Secret Army" in Laos during the Vietnam War.
7.
Bruce Vento worked with the Lao Veterans of America, the Lao Veterans of America Institute, the Center for Public Policy Analysis and others to research and advance the legislation in Congress, Washington, DC, and the Lao- and Hmong-American community.
8.
Bruce Vento worked with Hmong elders and community leaders in the Twin Cities and across the United States, including Cherzong Vang, Colonel Wangyee Vang and others to build support for the legislation which took over 10 years to gain the bipartisan support for passage on Capitol Hill, Congress and the White House.
9.
Bruce Vento died in 2000 while still a member of Congress from pleural mesothelioma, a rare form of lung cancer, as a result of exposure to asbestos.
10.
Bruce Vento had already announced that he would not run for a 13th term in 2000.