Veterans, Service Members, and Their Families

I have always believed that when we ask our young men and women to fight in defense of our nation, we make a promise that we will give them the resources they need to do their jobs. We also promise to take care of them when they return home. As a nation, we have an obligation to support those who have sacrificed for us. After World War II, our government adopted the GI Bill to provide health, housing, and educational benefits. Veterans like my father could count on their government to stand by them. Just as we did then, we have a responsibility now to ensure fair compensation policies, full education benefits, and the health care that our veterans and their families deserve.
In the past two decades, the men and women of our Armed Forces have been asked to fight two separate, difficult wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Faced with tremendous challenges, they have responded with great skill, courage, and honor. More than two million U.S. service members were deployed to serve in these wars, and they are now our fastest-growing veteran population, totaling nearly three million. In addition, Minnesota National Guard reserve and active duty military have been deployed to NATO countries in Europe, both before and during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as to the Middle East and bases across the world. Thousands of Minnesotans in uniform have served. Minnesota’s active duty servicemen and women, National Guardmembers, and Reservists have continued our state’s proud tradition of military service to the nation.
It is important that our veterans have access to timely, affordable care. Maintaining quality care and services requires adequate staffing levels in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). I strongly oppose the current administration’s plans for large-scale VA staff reductions, which will undermine the Department’s ability to carry out its mandate, including for more than 100,000 Minnesotans who rely on the VA for care.
Caring for Our Veterans and Service MembersWhen I arrived in the Senate, the Departments of Defense and VA were struggling to provide adequate services and benefits to meet the demands of both our returning service members and our existing veterans. Far too many returning service members faced inadequate treatment for traumatic brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder—the signature injuries of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Investigations at Walter Reed Medical Center revealed that many wounded warriors were being housed and treated in unacceptable conditions. And across the nation, far too many veterans faced severe bureaucratic hurdles in order to receive the benefits they earned.
Since being elected to the Senate, I have joined my colleagues in providing record funding increases to strengthen and improve veterans’ health care programs and services under the VA and the Department of Defense. We upgraded the equipment for our troops in the field to help them safely carry out their missions. We provided record funding increases to strengthen military health care and improve veterans’ health services under the VA. We passed the landmark Post-9/11 GI Bill, which provided enhanced tuition and housing benefits to service members seeking to continue their education and smoothly transition into the civilian workforce. We passed the pivotalCaregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act, which not only improved support and training for family caregivers—who often carry the largest burden of nursing our wounded warriors back to health—but also strengthened health programs for women and rural veterans. And we passed theSergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act(“the PACT Act”), which expanded VA health care eligibility to all veterans who have served in the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Global War on Terror, or were exposed to toxins or other hazards during military service. The PACT Act also provides disability coverage for those who have illnesses they acquired from their exposure to toxins in the military.
We must preserve and build upon this progress in care for toxic exposures. In March 2025, I opposed the Continuing Resolution on the budget, which did not provide adequate funding for veterans’ health care, including for those exposed to burn pits.
Additionally, in 2024 the VA announced that all veterans who were exposed to toxins will be eligible to enroll directly in VA health care without needing to apply for VA benefits. This means that all veterans who served in the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, Iraq, Afghanistan, or any other combat zone after September 11, 2001, or were deployed in support of the Global War on Terror, or were exposed to toxins or other hazards during military service at home or abroad are eligible to enroll in VA health care.
I oppose efforts to privatize the VA, and I will advocate for strong VA funding while ensuring that our veterans are getting the support and care they need and deserve. I will also continue working to ensure that VA employees are held accountable for mismanagement or mistreatment of veterans. Many veterans seek to serve in civilian positions with the federal government, whether in Washington, D.C., or in communities and rural areas in Minnesota and across the country. In response to the current administration’s terminations at federal agencies, I cosponsored thePutting Veterans First Act, which would reinstate those fired without cause and better protect these important pathways to civilian employment and continued service to our country.
National Guard and ReservesThe wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and increased deployments to NATO nations and in the Middle East have highlighted the importance of our brave citizen-soldiers in the National Guard and Reserves and the unprecedented sacrifices they have been called upon to make over the past decades. The National Guard and Reserves were not built to serve as an active duty force for prolonged periods, yet at times, as many as 40 percent of American forces fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan were Guard and Reserve troops. At the same time, our Guard and Reserves are providing much-needed help to Americans on everything from natural disasters like floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes to building and staffing mobile hospitals and testing and vaccination centers during pandemics to deploying to cities nationwide and to the U.S. Capitol to protect domestic security. The repeated mobilizations and overseas deployments of Guard and Reserve units have profoundly affected families and communities in Minnesota and across the nation.
As a member of the National Guard Caucus, I have been steadfast in my support of the Minnesota National Guard members who continue to serve us bravely and honorably, both at home and abroad. I worked to pass theNational Guard Empowerment and State-National Defense Integration Actto help upgrade Guard members by creating a position on the Joint Chiefs of Staff for the National Guard and Reserves as well as improving federal-state military coordination in domestic emergency response scenarios. I have been committed to supporting their families, who bear extraordinary burdens while their loved ones are deployed overseas. I have worked to ensure equitable GI benefits for Guard members and Reservists and have supported the largest increase in Army Guard Active Guard Reserve positions in 25 years, providing significant funding to upgrade National Guard equipment and facilities. And I have fought to secure regular funding to extend and expand to the national level Minnesota’s pioneering Beyond the Yellow Ribbon Program, which provides community support to Guard members and their families throughout the deployment cycle. Minnesotans know all too well the burden that is placed on the men and women in our Armed Forces. As a nation and as a state, we have an obligation to wrap our arms around those who serve and sacrifice for us. I am committed to continuing to ensure that we fully repay the sacrifices our veterans have made for all of us, in wars past and present.
As Minnesota’s U.S. senator, I will continue to focus on these priorities:
As Minnesota’s U.S. senator, I’ve been fighting to ensure that veterans who have risked their lives for our freedom and security have the resources they need and deserve: