Issue Position: Military & Veterans Affairs

Issue Position

Those who wear the uniform and serve today, as well as our veterans, command the highest respect and honor from this nation. Yet, this community of servant leaders, their challenges, and the opportunities they create are not well understood, and therefore, are not best served. This needs to change.

As a Soldier and one of the first female combat veterans ever elected to Congress, I have the privilege of giving voice to the concerns of a growing number of recent veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as veterans from conflicts past. I understand firsthand that at times our troops are asked to go to battle and fight for our country. They do so, putting their lives on the line, without hesitation. My responsibility in Congress is to be their voice, to ensure that we do not send them to war unless as a last resort, and ensure that when they make that transition and lay the uniform down, that they are served and empowered as they seek to find a way to continue their mission of service.

In my first year in Congress, I was proud to pass the first bill I introduced, the Helping Heroes Fly Act, with unanimous support. This law ensures our disabled and severely wounded warriors receive dignified treatment and privacy while going through what could sometimes be painful or embarrassing airport security checkpoints.

I have also worked hard to combat the serious epidemic of sexual assault in our ranks by introducing the Military Justice Improvement Act (MJIA) in 2013. This bipartisan bill aims to restore the faith of the American people and military sexual assault survivors by removing decision-making from the military chain of command, and empowering experienced trial counsel to determine whether to take a case to a special or general court-martial proceeding.

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