Issue Position: Veterans
Issue Position
From the revolutionary war to those serving overseas today, members of the U.S. military over the years have bravely answered the call to serve time and time again. We must ensure that when they return home, they have access to the proper care and the services they need to be successful.
Earlier this year, I introduced the Honor Those Who Served Act with Congressman Pat Tiberi and Congresswoman Joyce Beatty. This legislation will make it easier to provide headstones for veterans who currently do not have a headstone or for those whose headstones have deteriorated. Our veterans deserve better than unmarked or deteriorated graves and this bill will help remedy this problem.
In the 112th Congress, I introduced the HIRE at Home Act to help make it easier for returning veterans in the fields of health care and transportation to find employment once they are home. This bill makes it possible for service members who are trained by the military to do jobs such as truck driver or nursing assistant to receive the necessary certification to do those equivalent jobs in the private sector when they leave service. I was proud to see this bill signed into law last year.
And when we are talking about veterans who have given the last, full measure of service, it is only right that we take the steps necessary to honor those who have served our nation by ensuring a proper burial for those who have given the final measure. That is why I introduced the Place of Remembrance Act to ensure our veterans recieve the proper burial they are due. The legislation would create a Tomb of Remembrance at Arlington National Cemetery for the interment of veterans' remains from every military conflict moving forward. I introduced the legislation in response to news stories in 2011 on the Dover Air Force Base mortuary sending veterans' remains to the Prince George Landfill. After the release of the Department of Defense's Dover Report, it was recommended that the Department create an ossuary -- which my bill requested. I am pleased to see this recent development.
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