Veterans
Improving Veterans’ Care
Jim fully supports funding and enhancing healthcare access, systems, and benefits for veterans. Our veterans deserve to get the care and benefits they’ve earned, period. That means reducing the shameful backlog of disability claims at the VA and improving and expanding care that the VA provides.
A New Focus on Mental Health
Understanding and expanding mental health care services for our veterans is a high priority. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan took an extraordinary toll on the mental health of our combat veterans. We must address the alarming suicide and addiction rates among our soldiers and veterans, and direct new resources to understand and treat Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Putting Our Vets to Work
Jim believes that after all that they have sacrificed for our country, no veteran should be homeless or jobless. That’s why he supported the Veterans Economic Opportunity Act, which created a new office at the Veterans Administration to better administer the VA’s current vocational and educational programs, as well as other social services.
Jim helped pass the bipartisan Veterans Opportunity to Work Act, which gave tax breaks to businesses that hire veterans. We can do more to ensure the valuable skills veterans acquired in the military are utilized in their new civilian professional life.
Combating Homelessness
Nationwide, 60,000 veterans are still living on the streets or in uncertain housing situations. Jim’s office works continuously with the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the VA to secure VA Supportive Housing vouchers for rental assistance and supportive care services. Jim supported legislation to make more veterans eligible for federal housing aid, like Section 8 rental assistance and public housing programs. He believes that veterans should receive fair access to federal housing and homeless assistance programs.
