This op-ed piece written by the Congresswoman on protecting health benefits for our Veterans was published in the Casa Grande Dispatch on March 26.

"Advocates for our Veterans just won a tough battle. A few short weeks ago, the White House dropped consideration of a proposal that would charge Veterans and their insurance companies for care of injuries sustained defending our country.

When I first heard of this plan in hearings before the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, I was shocked and angered at the suggestion that we would try to pass off our country’s responsibility to provide the care and treatment that the members of our armed services earned. 

I took that case before the Budget Committee, sharply criticizing the proposal and calling for the Obama administration to keep our promises to veterans and look elsewhere to cut costs. After learning that the White House was still considering this policy despite the strenuous objections of multiple veterans services organizations, I led efforts against the plan. Joined by a diverse group of members of Congress, I authored a letter to President Obama adamantly opposing any proposal that would allow the Department of Veterans Affairs to bill a veterans personal insurance for treatment of a service-connected disability.

I am extremely pleased that the White House acknowledged our concerns, but our work is not complete with this victory. We still need to make real progress for our veterans. With an aging veterans population, and more than 700 Arizonans and 33,000 Americans wounded fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, we should be doing more to care for our fighting men and women and their families and survivors - not less.

This is not a partisan issue, and members on both sides of the aisle have joined me in supporting the Home Front to Heroes Postal Benefits Act - a measure I co-sponsored to provide those serving overseas with vouchers for free mail that their friends and family can use to send them care packages. This and other new policies are areas we can all agree on and should be promoting for our veterans, instead of reducing their health and welfare to another budget line item.

My constituents can stand reassured that I will fight tirelessly to ensure veterans receive the treatment they deserve. They have already given up more than enough."