Issue Position: Veterans

Issue Position

Jim believes we owe a tremendous debt to our men and women in uniform --active duty, Reserve and National Guard, and veterans. He feels strongly that it is our duty as a country to honor promises made to those who served and to their survivors.
* Jim has supported a modernized GI Bill, which includes his legislative fix to rules that had prevented Guard and Reservists--returning from multiple deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan--from receiving educational benefits.
* Jim has also backed an increase for veteran disability compensation and clothing allowances for individuals with service-related disabilities.
* Jim fought to repeal the so-called "widow's tax" that prevents war survivors from fully collecting insurance benefits for policies purchased by their deceased spouses.
* In response to a Supreme Court ruling that held the First Amendment right to protest takes precedence over family members' grief, Jim has proposed a plan to protect the right of military families to honor their fallen soldier at a funeral without being disrupted by protestors. Jim's plan would increase the quiet time before and after military funeral services and expand the buffer zone around the military service and along the route to the funeral service area.

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