Issue Position: Veterans

Issue Position

In his second inaugural address, President Lincoln promised "to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan." It was a promise he made to Civil War veterans, and a promise reaffirmed by our nation to veterans of every major conflict since. From our most seasoned World War II veterans to the newest generation of veterans coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan, it's a promise I intend to help keep.

First and foremost, Congress must ensure that benefits provided to our veterans stay focused on the needs of those veterans and not the bureaucracy that delivers them. We must continue efforts to streamline and modernize the VA to relieve veterans of the red tape that bogs down the system and causes delays in the provision of benefits and services.

Thanks to the progress of battlefield medicine, equipment modernization and the advancement of safety technology, more service members survive injuries that, in previous times, would have been life-threatening. We must continue efforts to make whole and fulfilling the lives of those who have been injured while serving our country.

Finally, we must provide tools for our veterans so that they may successfully participate in the free market system they have defended in uniform as they transition out of the service. While our veterans learn invaluable skills in the course of their duties, we must allow them every opportunity to apply those skills to private sector employment opportunities through education, job training, and aid with starting their own small businesses.

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