Issue Position: Defense and Veterans' Issues

Issue Position

Virginia's 8th district is the home of the headquarters of the United States military, housing the Pentagon, Arlington Cemetery, the Iwo Jima Memorial, Fort Belvoir and Fort Myer, as well as thousands of defense-related jobs. The member of Congress from this district has a special responsibility on defense and veterans' issues.

For me, this obligation is also personal. My dad is a West Point graduate who served in Korea and then was part of the United Nations peacekeeping force in Trieste, where I was born. My father-in-law fought in the Battle of the Bulge and was awarded two Purple Hearts. I know we owe veterans and their families the best our nation can offer.

We must work swiftly to fix the deficiencies at the Veterans Administration and veterans' hospitals, we must do more to help ease the transition for military veterans to civilian life, and we must continue efforts to maximize opportunities for and adequately support military families, who sacrifice so much.

We must have an outlook of engagement toward the world and be vigilant in meeting our special responsibilities abroad. Simultaneously, we must be wise in our defense spending. Sequestration weakens our military; the United States government must not employ arbitrary sequestration again. We can achieve efficiencies in our large defense budget while maintaining a robust and well-prepared military.

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