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About Stephanie
About South Dakota
House of Representatives
Thomas
Blue Dog Coalition

This Memorial Day, veterans and their families in South Dakota and across the country will reflect upon the sacrifice of those who have served in uniform. Your federal government also should recognize this sacrifice through appropriate and fair treatment of our nation’s veterans. Unfortunately, all too often, our government has not been keeping its promises.

It is not surprising that our state has the largest per capita number of veterans, because South Dakotans have always answered their country’s call to serve. And this Memorial Day, we remember with new relevance those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, and those who continue to serve today. More than 120,000 men and women currently are serving our country overseas, including a great many sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, and moms and dads from South Dakota.

The sacrifices we ask of our men and women in uniform are great. They give up some of their freedom to protect freedom for the rest of us. I believe a promise made should be a promise kept. It sounds simple enough, but in the case of the government’s treatment of our nation’s veterans, promises are being broken and that needs to stop. Veterans who have stepped forward and in many cases put their lives on the line should not be pushed to the back of the line when we are distributing federal dollars.

Failing to take care of our veterans’ basic health care needs disrespects their service and turns our commitment to them into little more than hollow words. In Congress I continue to cast South Dakota’s vote in favor of reestablishing our commitment to our nation’s veterans, prioritizing their needs, and honoring their service.

Throughout this Memorial Day recess, I will be traveling across the state to hold meetings with veterans and their families. I want to provide an update on happenings in Washington regarding crucial veterans’ programs. But most of all, I want to hear from South Dakota veterans and their families, to hear how their lives are directly affected by veterans policy set in Congress.

This Memorial Day, I join with all of our state to remember those who have served, and in making a renewed commitment to honoring their service.

U.S. Representative Stephanie Herseth serves on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, and is the Ranking Member of its subcommittee on Economic Opportunity.