Close Menu

Russ Duerstine: Congress should focus on veterans health care and foreign policy

Capitol building with reflections at dusk

By Concerned Veterans for America

Politicians are often “champions” for veterans and military families on the campaign trail, but will that carry over into the new Congress? 

CVA Executive Director Russ Duerstine recently argued veterans health care and foreign policy should matter to members of the 118th Congress. 

Russ wrote in The Hill: 

For too long, veterans who receive their health care from the VA have been stuck in a system that manipulates wait times and prioritizes bureaucracy over its veteran patients. 

 

We’ll put the full weight of our grassroots army behind legislation that empowers veterans with the choice to use their VA benefits wherever makes the most sense for them, whether that is at a VA facility or a community provider. 

He continues that a better foreign policy should also be on the top of the priority list for Congress this year. 

We owe America’s veterans and military community a better foreign policy to honor their service, protect troops from unnecessary harm, and avoid disincentivizing enlistment. 

 

This year, we’ll also focus our attention on bringing all remaining troops home from Iraq and Syria, repealing the 2001 and 2002 AUMFs, setting a better course for military engagement moving forward, and gaining better control of the defense budget. 

Read the rest of Russ Duerstine’s op-ed in The Hill.