Providing for our Veterans

I’m a disabled veteran and former combat medic, I know the struggles our service men and women go through in the field, in addition to transitioning into civilian life. Veterans have placed their lives on the line to protect our country. They are entitled to the benefits they have earned and deserve.

I have had the honor of serving our service men and women and their families as the Vice President of the Department of Defense Health Policy Board. As both medicine and the kind of combat our troops engage in has changed, so have the injuries. We are seeing more troops surviving tragic battlefield injuries than at any time in history, including multiple loss of limbs, loss of genitalia and other traumatic, life changing injuries.

Even as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan wind down, I know the resources of our veterans health care system are strained. The most troubling of which has been the lack of sustained outreach to veterans suffering from diverse mental health problems including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and a significantly raised number of suicides. In addition, we have over 300,000 troops suffering from Traumatic Brain Injuries.

While our troops have access to some of the most advanced trauma care on the battlefield, I believe it is our moral obligation to ensure they retain that level of care once they have transitioned into civilian life. Our veterans are entitled to the benefits they have earned and deserve.

Rich's Priorities:

Creating Jobs

The most important issue we face as a nation is strengthening our economy and creating jobs. Whether it was running Southern Arizona’s first trauma center, or helping run one of the world’s leading health and wellness companies, I’ve learned a few things about building a business and creating jobs. Too few politicians in W…

Fixing a Broken Immigration System

I have a unique perspective of the complexities of this issue – I’m Hispanic and have worked along the border as a deputy sheriff and doctor for more than 25 years. I’ve witnessed first hand how our nation’s immigration system is broken. I’ve seen the human cost of not having a workable solution. I’ve see…

Balancing the Budget Responsibly

We can’t afford for Washington to continue to play the same old political games with the budget. Just in the last year, we have seen repeated threats of government shut downs, gone to the brink of default and listened to overheated rhetoric that gets us nowhere. If members of Congress were running a business or were on a c…

Holding Washington Accountable

Washington has proven over and over again that it is in need of adult supervision to do the right thing. As long as Congress can't responsibly reduce the budget deficit, I propose we cut their pay until they complete their jobs. And we ought to also freeze it until they do their job and balance the budget. Congress needs to start feel…

Preserving Social Security and Medicare

While Social Security faces challenges in the future, we must approach it from a position of preserving, not destroying, this retirement security. This is a program that belongs to the American people – we all pay into it. I do not support efforts to privatize Social Security and strongly oppose the use of the Social Security Trust Fu…

Our National Security

Thanks to the exceptional men and women of our armed services and our intelligence community, our nation is safer today than it was a decade ago. We defeated the number one threat to America, Osama bin Laden, took down many of the leaders of al Qaeda and weakened the Taliban. But many challenges remain in the ever changing global envi…

Protecting Women's Health Care

Throughout my time as U.S. Surgeon General, I remained steadfast in my belief that every woman should have access to comprehensive health care, including retaining access to reproductive health care options and FDA-approved prescription contraceptives. As a medical doctor, I know that a woman’s access and choice of reproductive healt…