As the daughter and niece of soldiers, I believe that we owe an eternal debt of gratitude to the men and women who serve in our armed forces and their families and their survivors, and I am committed to paying that debt. I am on the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, and I’m working hard to help increase employment opportunities for our fighting men and women and to make it easier for Vets in rural areas to access basic health care and information about critical services.

The Rural Veterans Health Care Improvement Act of 2009, which I introduced in the House, is one of my top legislative priorities. The bill includes a wide range of important measures to ensure that all our service members get the care they have earned, such as making it easier and cheaper for them to travel to service providers and allowing the VA to work with community health centers to provide mental health service in our communities.

I was pleased to introduce the Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2009, an annual bill that will help service-disabled Veterans and survivor families keep pace with the cost of basic needs like food and housing. I was proud that it was my first bill to pass the House of Representatives. I also introduced a nonpartisan bill to ensure that our service members and Veterans can access accelerated life insurance benefits when terminally ill without their families paying the price.

In May, I traveled to Afghanistan to visit with our troops over Mother’s Day, and I am currently working to expand access to quality physical and mental health care and to great educational opportunities for our Veterans.

CHECK OUT NEWS COVERAGE OF THE CONGRESSWOMAN’S TRIP TO VISIT OUR FIGHTING MEN AND WOMEN IN AFGHANISTAN.

I also led efforts within the House of Representatives against the White House’s consideration of a policy that would have charged Veterans’ personal insurance for care of injuries suffered defending our country. You can see the letter I wrote to President Obama condemning the proposal here.