Supporting Military Members and Families
Bernie believes that we must “protect and defend those people who have protected and defended us.” As military members and families face unique challenges and circumstances, Bernie has worked on legislation supporting these American heroes by enhancing the quality and responsiveness of health care through the VA, expanding survivor and dependent benefits, and increasing access to education via the Post-9/11 GI Bill.
American service members and their families encounter unique challenges as they work to protect our nation.
Who are America’s service members? Who are America’s military families?
There were over 2.2 million military members between the active duty and guard and reserve components of each branch as of 2013. In the same year, there were just shy of 3 million family members (children, spouses, and adult dependents) of these military members.
What particular challenges do military members face?
For American service members, there are a number of unique demands associated with life in the military. These include: “the risk of injury or death, whether during training, while operating military equipment, or in wartime deployment; separations from family; frequent moves; living in foreign countries; long and unpredictable duty hours; pressure to conform to high standards of behavior; and a male-oriented culture.”
What about their families?
While the demands on military members are often discussed, less well-known are the strains that fall on military family members. These men, women, and children are often subject to prolonged separation from a parent or spouse and frequent relocations. Because of these hardships, nearly 40 percent of military spouses have jobs that are mismatched to their education level, compared with only 10 percent among their civilian counterparts.
Programs to address these challenges have, from time to time, received consideration or been passed into law by Congress.
American soldiers and their families make great sacrifices for our country and should have the full support of their government.
So what has Bernie done for American military members?
There are a number of actions that Bernie has taken to support America’s military members, including co-sponsoring and strongly advocating for a GI Bill for the 21st century to allow military members and veterans to receive free college educations.
In June 2008, the Senate passed legislation creating the Post-9/11 GI Bill, which Bernie co-sponsored. Always proud of American military service members’ contributions to our country, Bernie regularly advocated for this piece of legislation allowing millions of military members and veterans to attend public schools 100 percent tuition-free, aiming to allow millions to enter the middle class. In support of the new GI Bill, Bernie said the following:
“Today’s GI benefits do not come close to covering the cost of a college education. That is why it is so important that we update these benefits.
People must understand that caring for our service members is part of the cost of going to war. We are spending nearly $12 billion a month in Iraq. Surely we can spend a little more to provide a college education for the brave men and women we send to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
Cool. Has Bernie done anything else for our men and women in uniform?
Yes! In addition to creating the Post-9/11 GI Bill, Bernie has introduced the Comprehensive Veterans Health and Benefits Act, a broad piece of legislation aiming to strengthen mental health service, education benefits, and access to sexual assault counseling and treatment for American service members and veterans. This bill has received tremendous support from military and veterans’ service organizations, including the Military Officers Association of America, Veterans of Foreign Wars, the National Association for Uniformed Service, and 24 other military organizations.
How would Bernie’s foreign policy affect the lives of American service members?
Bernie’s foreign policy and beliefs about the role of the U.S. military also directly impact the lives and safety of American military members. In his opposition to the invasion of Iraq, the first reason Bernie gave for voting against the resolution was the human cost of war:
“I have not heard any estimates of how many young American men and women might die in such a war or how many tens of thousands of women and children in Iraq might also be killed. As a caring Nation, we should do everything we can to prevent the horrible suffering that a war will cause. War must be the last recourse in international relations, not the first.”
This may seem somewhat removed from supporting American military members, but America’s foreign policy is, in reality, a matter of life and death for thousands of Soldiers, Marines, Sailors, and Airmen.
What has Bernie done for military members after they transition to civilian life?
All military members eventually become military veterans. As chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, Bernie fought tremendously to support veterans in this country. Read more about his support for veterans here.
There are more than 3 million military family members in the United States. Over the past decade, this group has seen their spouses and parents fight in foreign wars, some of whom never returned.
Has Bernie done anything for these military families?
Yes! Among the 27 military and veterans’ service organizations writing letters of support for Bernie’s comprehensive military members and veterans’ legislation, one was the National Military Family Association. This is because in addition to supporting military members, Bernie has worked just as hard to support military families.
The legislation Bernie introduced includes provisions to expand dependency and indemnity compensation to families of military members killed in the line of service, and to expand educational benefits to surviving spouses and dependents of military members. In addition, the GI Bill that Bernie co-sponsored can be transferred to a service member’s spouse or dependent, allowing them to attend college and get ahead. Bernie also worked to secure funding for childcare for military families.
Senator Sanders is also a founding member of the Senate Military Families Caucus, a “bipartisan group that will focus on issues facing the families of active and veteran service men and women.”
Supporting Veterans
Bernie strongly believes that when the government sends young American men and women off to war, the government absolutely must be prepared to take care of them when they come home. Bernie has fought for better health care and increased education benefits for veterans and their families. Bernie’s efforts on behalf of veterans have led to endorsements of his legislation by many veterans’ service organizations, and Congressional awards from the Military Officers Association of America and the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
There are nearly 20 million veterans in the United States, many of whom grapple with the lingering effects of their military service.
Has Bernie done anything to help veterans?
Bernie has a long history of passionate advocacy for, and effective deal-making on behalf of, veterans across the country. He has chaired the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, brokered significant legislative compromises, and championed the causes of ending veteran homelessness, reducing the VA claims backlog, and expanding access to the VA system. Bernie has shown himself to be a close ally of veterans and someone who understands these Americans’ unique needs and challenges.
On February 27, 2014, Bernie introduced veteran-focused legislation into a contentious Congress deeply concerned about spending. As he introduced that legislation, Bernie stated something that should have been obvious to recalcitrant Senators reluctant to spend money on veterans: “It is about what our priorities are. And in my view, at the very top of our priority list has got to be to protect and defend those people who have protected and defended us, those people who have given much, much more than we can ever repay.”
Bernie served as the Chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee from 2013 to 2015.
What was Bernie able to accomplish in this role?
Despite only being able to hold the chairmanship of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee for two years (2013-2015), Bernie was able to pass some of the most impactful and far-reaching legislation since the Post-9/11 GI Bill. Congressional Quarterly applauded his work as chairman and described him as an effective deal-maker in a difficult negotiating environment. CQ hailed Bernie’s ability to “bridge Washington’s toxic partisan divide and cut one of the most significant deals in years.” Bernie’s successful negotiation led to the passage of the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act, known as the “Choice Act,” which helps veterans’ access to health care through the VA. Read more about the Choice Act here.
Why is Bernie no longer chair of the SVAC?
While Bernie still serves as a member of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, party control of the Senate shifted in early 2015 (as a result of the 2014 elections), giving the Republicans the chairmanship. Although Bernie is an independent, he caucuses with Democrats and thus could not maintain his seat as the chairman once Republicans gained control of the Senate. Bernie was the first Independent to hold the chairmanship of the Committee since its creation in 1971.
So what is this “Choice Act” all about? And how is Bernie involved?
Bernie has said that “promises to people in the military should be kept.”
Following the VA scandal in Phoenix in 2014, Congress finally began serious attempts to reform the VA system, including fixing problems with access to care, wait times, and executive malfeasance. Bernie introduced a bill in the Senate, and then worked with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), to combine their respective bills into a compromise solution. Bernie then conducted negotiations with his House counterpart Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) to craft another compromise solution between the two chambers to reach a final bill — the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act.
This bill expanded the number of options veterans have to receive VA-funded health care. It allows them to access private care and have it covered by the VA in certain situations, considering their distance from VA health care providers and the amount of time they would have to wait for VA services. Additionally, the law provides for a way to remove senior VA executives who commit serious infractions or demonstrate incompetence. The law provides half a billion dollars to hire more doctors and nurses for the VA system, and directs the VA to build an additional 26 facilities. The total cost of the bill (including the care accessed through the private sector) was projected at $16.3 billion dollars, the largest piece of veterans legislation to be passed since the Post-9/11 GI Bill.
Bernie is widely recognized and applauded as the deal-maker that made this bill possible, and as a committed advocate for veterans issues.
What else has Bernie been doing for our vets?
Bernie proposed a massive piece of legislation in the 113th Congress, known by its bill number S.B. 1982. This bill was even more far reaching than the Choice Act in many respects and covered an incredibly wide swath of important issues that affect veterans, their spouses, and their survivors.
This bill proposed to expand: health care, employment services, the Veterans Retraining Assistance Program (VRAP), Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) protections, mental health screening and health care, as well as suicide prevention efforts, reproductive health treatments for wounded vets, military sexual trauma awareness efforts and disability ratings, dental care, VA administration and building reform, survivors’ benefits, veteran hiring initiatives, the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA), small businesses, VA accountability and reform, outreach for services, Cost of Living Adjustments (COLAs), and many, many more provisions.
The bill was so far-reaching that there simply is no better way to demonstrate its comprehensiveness than to list some highlights, as we have done above. Unfortunately, the contentious nature of Congress at that time prevented most of this bill from becoming law. Many parts of it did, however, end up being passed as part of the Choice Act several months later.
That sounds like a lot. Has Bernie done anything else for veterans?
Absolutely. While Bernie led the Senate’s Veterans’ Affairs Committee, the committee played a crucial role in the nationwide campaign to end veteran homelessness. The committee authorized spending increases, protected services, and enlarged effective programs. In conjunction with the U.S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs and the House’s companion committee, the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee contributed to a 33 percent decrease in homeless veterans from 2010-2014.
In addition, Bernie co-sponsored the Post-9/11 GI Bill, a massive piece of legislation that makes college education accessible for millions of military members, veterans, and their families.
What do veterans think of him?
While we can’t speak for all veterans, we can provide you with a list of veteran service organizations that stood with Bernie when he introduced S.B. 1982. Bernie and his committee involved these groups in the planning of this bill from the very beginning and supported it wholeheartedly. These veteran-support organizations are listed below the image below. As Bernie said of the bill:
“This legislation in fact was written by these people [who stand behind me]… Because we have hearings … where all of the veterans organizations … say these are the issues that we are struggling with, this is what we are hearing about from our membership. Please do something about this.”
Supporters of Bernie’s work for veterans in the 113th Congress:
Air Force Sergeants Association
American Ex-Prisoners of War
American Military Retirees Association
Commissioned Officers Association of the U.S. Public Health Service (COA)
Disabled American Veterans
Enlisted Association of the National Guard
Fleet Reserve Association
Gold Star Wives of America
Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America
Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America
Marine Corps Reserve Association
Military Officers Association of America
Military Order of the Purple Heart
National Association of State Veterans Homes
National Guard Association of the United States
National Association for Uniformed Service
National Coalition for Homeless Veterans
Non-Commissioned Officers Association of the United States
National Military Family Association
Paralyzed Veterans of America
The American Legion
The Retired Enlisted Association
Warrant Officers Association
Chief Petty Officers Association
Vets First
Veterans of Foreign Wars
Vietnam Veterans of America
Bernie is also the recipient of several veteran service awards, given in recognition of his achievements and efforts, including the 2015 Congressional Award from the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) for his significant legislative contributions on behalf of veterans, the citation for which stated: “It is no understatement to say that Bernie has truly taken care of wounded, ill, and injured veterans and their surviving family members.”
The Military Officers Association of America also recognized Bernie’s work and achievements by awarding him their prestigious 2014 Col. Arthur T. Marix Congressional Leadership Award.
