Issue Position: Veterans

Issue Position

Veterans Have Sacrificed for Our Freedoms, Jim Banks Will Fight to Honor Our Commitments to Them

Veterans deserve our utmost respect for their service to our country. As an Afghanistan War veteran himself, Jim Banks understand the sacrifices they made to protect our freedoms. As a State Senator he has actively worked to advocate for Hoosier veterans and with your help he will take that battle to the U.S. Congress to fight for veterans across the country.

The challenges facing our veterans are significant. There are fewer and fewer Members of Congress who have any military experience. As a result politicians in Washington are less familiar with the promises made to our veterans in exchange for their service to our country. Historically we've seen promises made to the men and women who serve our country broken by politicians and these policy decisions often lead to bad national outcomes.

We've seen scandal after scandal in President Obama's administration dealing with the Veterans' Administration. Their efforts at managing single-payer healthcare through the government, a troubling preview of what we can expect if nationalized healthcare isn't derailed, have left veterans waiting for needed care forgotten and abandoned.

Our veterans deserve better from their government and we need someone in Congress who can build upon the success our legislative delegation has experienced advocating for a continued VA presence in northeast Indiana, protecting area veterans from long drives and unnecessary overnight stays to receive needed care. If we should fail to live up to our commitments to veterans, future generations will place little stock in the commitments the military makes to them in exchange for their military service.

During his service in the State Senate, Jim has introduced legislation that helped veterans on a variety of fronts, including helping disabled veterans with legal assistance and studying the impact of post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury on returning veterans. Returning veterans have also benefited from legislation authored by Jim Banks that protect their jobs while deployed and helps them qualify for in-state tuition education benefits that may get disrupted by their service. His efforts on these policy fronts have been recognized by the Senate leadership who appointed him Chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs for the 2014-15 legislative session.

Jim Banks has been recognized for his work on behalf of veterans on several occasions by Indiana veterans' organizations. In 2014 the Indiana Department of the Disabled American Veterans recognized Jim with their Legislator of the Year Award. That same year, as well as the year before, Jim was recognized by Indiana American Legion with their Distinguished Public Service Award. The Department of Defense also recognized Jim with a Certification of Appreciation for Public Policy Leadership.

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