National Security

As a senior Member of the House Armed Services Committee and chairman of the Subcommittee on Air and Land Forces (ALF), my priorities include:

• supporting our service members and their families,
• restoring our military's readiness, and
• improving U.S. counter terrorism policy.

Ultimately, I am committed to crafting defense policies that best safeguards our nation and does so in a forward-thinking, effective manner.

Over the past few years, this nation has relied heavily upon the traditionally auxiliary forces of the National Guard and Reserves to take a leading role in longer deployments overseas into hostile territories. I think that it is time that we recognize their sacrifices which is I have introduced legislation to help improve the quality of life for these servicemembers.

We must expand the size of our active duty force. With more and more of our troops committed to long deployments overseas, the strain on our servicemen and women and their families is devastating. We must increase our end strengths to provide some relief to our troops and their families. While our men and women are serving overseas, we must also be assured that they have access to the best equipment available.

I am proud to represent two military installations, Fort Lewis Army Post and McChord Air Force Base, as well as thousands of military retirees, veterans, military families, and reservists. I understand how important it is to recruit and retain the best and brightest for our Armed Services, and to do so, we must work to make serving an attractive career option. Towards that end, we must provide better housing and health care benefits, competitive pay, and support for spouses and children.