Veterans

As a veteran myself, I recognize the sacrifices that our military men and women make every day, both during and after their service. I intend to honor them through my work, and fight for them every chance I get.

I am proud to have authored and introduced bipartisan bills to support our student veterans on college campuses. The Veterans Resource Center Act would authorize grants for Veterans Resource Centers to advise, assist, and support military-connected students and encourage priority registration for veterans. I co-introduced the GI Bill Transfer Extension Act, legislation that will increase flexibility for service members seeking to transfer their GI Bill education benefits. I will continue to work to support veterans and their families in their pursuit of higher education.

I believe that our commitment to our veterans is a lifetime promise. I have worked with Democrats and Republicans to advance legislation to address the challenges facing those who’ve served.

This year will mark the second anniversary of the landmark Honoring our PACT Act. This bipartisan legislation is helping veterans who were exposed to toxins and burn pits while deployed. This legislation specifically; expanded and extended eligibility for VA health care for veterans with toxic exposures and Veterans of the Vietnam, Gulf War, and post-9/11 eras, adds 20 plus more presumptive conditions for burn pits, Agent Orange, and other toxic exposures, adds additional presumptive-exposure locations for Agent Orange and radiation, and requires VA to provide a toxic exposure screening to every Veteran enrolled in VA health care.

Nearly 3.5 million veterans around the country are now eligible for care and benefits thanks to this law Since the PACT Act was signed into law, the VA has delivered more than $1.85 billion in PACT Act benefits to veterans, more than 665,000 veterans have applied for PACT Act-related benefits, more than 3.9 million veterans have received new toxic exposure screenings, and more than 287,000 veterans have enrolled in VA health care. That’s a real impact that we should be proud of. For more information on the Honoring Our PACT Act and how to sign up, visit: HERE.

Additionally, during my time in Congress, I’ve been proud of the progress we’ve made on a number of veterans-focused policies. For veterans' health care, we expanded the Veterans Choice Act, making it easier for vets to get health care from local physicians. We passed the Ensuring Veterans’ Smooth Transition Act which automatically enrolls eligible vets in VA health care in order to streamline services. For veterans' mental health, we passed the Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act and the Supporting the Resilience of Our Nation’s Great Veterans Act so more vets can access mental health care and suicide prevention programs. We passed the REMOVE Copays Act so we can reduce out-of-pocket expenses for vets seeking MH or substance abuse treatment by allowing vets to attain copay-free services through VA and community providers for their first three outpatient visits each year.

We made landmark progress to protect survivors of sexual violence, by directing the VA to work with agencies to do studies on outcomes from VA examinations and on mental health conditions related to military sexual trauma. We passed the GI Bill Guard and Reserve Parity Act that ensures that reservists get credit for their drills toward 9/11 GI Bill benefits and obtaining VA home loans. We passed a bill to require the Department of Justice to create a program for funding and technical assistance for the Veterans' Treatment Court. We passed a bill to create and fund a program for eligible veterans with PTSD to connect them with service dogs. And, for my generation of veterans, we passed a bill to create and build a Global War on Terror memorial that will be on the National Mall.

As veterans, we understand what it means to do our job and complete the mission despite the difficulties. As Americans, we continue to learn from our veterans to secure the future of our democracy.

For more information concerning work and views related to Veterans issues, please contact our office.