Issue Position: Veterans

Issue Position

As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, Derek is committed to making sure our service members are the best trained, most well equipped fighting force in the world. In Congress, he has gone to bat for our local installations like Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Naval Base Kitsap because they are important to our national security and our region's economy.

Derek has been recognized as a champion of veterans and won the Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs Legislator of the Year award. He has fought to improve veterans' healthcare, housing and job training and passed laws to help veteran-owned businesses. In Congress, Kilmer is fighting for veterans by helping service members enter the civilian workforce, ensuring veterans get the services they need, and holding VA administrators accountable for denying care.

Derek is working to:

Ensure service members can successfully transition into the civilian workforce
Derek is a cosponsor of the Troop Talent Act, a bill to ensure that the experience of our veterans is acknowledged as they seek professional licensing and certifications. Derek has authored bipartisan initiatives to prohibit discrimination against servicemembers and veterans seeking jobs and housing.

Eliminate veterans' homelessness

We have an obligation to take care of those who served our nation--and that means no veteran should have to face the threat of homelessness. While the HUD-VASH program has made significant progress in reducing homelessness, Derek is fighting to ensure that Native American veterans aren't left behind.

Ensure veterans get the care they've earned

Derek also worked to enable veterans to access care at the Naval Hospital in Bremerton, reducing travel times and providing more access to comprehensive care.

Advocating for our local military installations

Derek has been a champion for our region's civilian workforce at Navy Base Kitsap. He fought to exempt civilian employees working on behalf of our national defense from furloughs caused by the across the board cuts required by sequestration. When local shipyard workers and other civilian employees in our region stopped getting paid because of the government shutdown, Derek returned his own paycheck to the Treasury. And Derek is pushing Congress to ensure that when shipyard workers go overseas to perform maintenance on U.S. vessels they are still eligible to receive overtime pay.

Enhance our nation's ability to deal with cyber threats

Derek understands the growing threat cyber attacks pose to our national security. That's why he is connecting higher education institutions with agencies and local stakeholders to strengthen cyber training and research opportunities in our region. He has authored and helped pass through the House legislation to improve our nation's cyber capabilities, and is working to improve communication between government and private industry so that they can work together to identify and combat threats.

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