Memorial Day reminds us of the price of freedom. This weekend is a time to remember the Americans who gave everything, and to sit with the terrible weight of what freedom costs. It is also a time to keep faith with the men and women who served beside them. Veterans do not need another round of polished speeches from politicians who forget them after the wreaths are laid.
For years, former servicemembers watched Washington move faster for almost every political priority except them. The same bureaucrats who always found money and urgency for illegal immigrants and climate programs told veterans to wait in line.
During the Biden administration, the Department of Veterans Affairs’ benefits claim backlog rose 24 percent. Under President Trump, it has fallen 63 percent. That contrast says a lot about the different priorities driving Washington today.
House Veterans’ Affairs Republicans advanced the Veterans ACCESS Act to give veterans more control over where they receive care. Every Democrat on the Committee voted against it.
The Sharri Briley and Eric Edmundson Veterans Benefits Expansion Act would increase support for disabled veterans and the surviving families of fallen service members. It shouldn’t be a controversial piece of legislation, yet almost every Democrat on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee voted against it.
A bill to help severely disabled veterans and Gold Star families came before Congress, and Democrats found a reason to vote no.
The same divide is evident when it comes to our servicemembers rights. The Biden administration discharged more than 8,700 servicemembers under its COVID vaccine mandate, all during the worst recruiting crisis in decades. Republicans fought and won to end the mandate and reinstate those troops with back pay and full rank.
We are now also fighting to protect veterans from losing their 2nd Amendment rights simply for using VA benefits. For years, veterans who needed help managing their finances could be reported to the federal background check system without due process. Republicans are advancing legislation to ensure the men and women who defended the Constitution are not punished for using the benefits they earned.
The contrast is just as clear inside the military. Under Biden, our military was dragged into a political experiment. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion became a government-wide priority. Biden’s Pentagon pushed climate plans, pronoun guidance, and DEI bureaucracy while recruiting numbers and collapsed.
Our troops do not need political lectures. They need good training, safe housing, modern equipment, and leaders focused on bringing them home. They need a country that respects sacrifice more than social engineering. That is why House Republicans are pushing the military back toward mission, away from woke distractions, to restore a culture that honors service instead of apologizing for it.
We just passed the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, which, in addition to cutting nonsense DEI programs, provides $157 billion for our troops, veterans, and military families. It fully funds veterans’ health care. It invests in mental health, suicide prevention, homelessness programs, medical research, prosthetics, barracks, and military housing.
Yet for many veterans, no issue better symbolizes Washington’s failures than the catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan. Abbey Gate was a national tragedy, an unnecessary one. Thirteen American servicemembers were killed. Many more were wounded. Families were shattered. Veterans who carried that mission for 20 years watched the withdrawal collapse into chaos. I am so proud that one of the first bills I passed into law was to posthumously award the Congressional Gold Medal to the thirteen servicemembers who perished in that attack.
The Biden administration wanted the photo op of ending a war. They ignored the cost. They prioritized optics over security. They handed terrorists a victory, abandoned our allies, and created a wound that many veterans will carry for the rest of their lives.
Republicans are still demanding answers because the families of the fallen deserve more than excuses. They deserve leaders who protect their rights, expand their care, honor their families, fix broken systems, and keep politics out of the chain-of-command. They deserve a country that remembers the fallen by respecting the living.
This Memorial Day, we remember the fallen. We pray for their families. We honor every American who gave everything for this country.
Remembrance must come with responsibility. A salute is not a substitute for a vote. Republicans will always ensure veterans have leaders who do more than just thank them.
Lisa McClain is the House Republican Conference Chair and represents Michigan’s 9th District in the U.S. House of Representatives. She also serves on the House Committee on Financial Services and the Committee on Education and Workforce.
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