This week, folks across southeast Missouri will gather at American Legion posts, VFW halls, and cemeteries to honor the men and women who served our great country in the United States Armed Forces. Every American owes our service members a debt of gratitude for protecting the freedoms we hold dear, and repaying that debt starts with how we treat them when they come home.

As a Member of Congress, one of the most important parts of this job is to make sure our veterans get the help they deserve when they need it. Whether that be a veteran waiting on a disability claim, a widow whose records request has gone unanswered, or a family waiting on medals their relative earned, these are all problems my office can help with. Since I was first elected in 2013, I am proud to have helped recover more than $11 million for veterans and their families in southeast Missouri in earned benefits, and I will never stop working to make sure they and their families get what they’ve earned.

During my time in Congress, I’ve made it my mission to make sure our veterans in southeast Missouri are taken care of. In the One, Big, Beautiful Bill, which I authored, we secured $7.5 billion for military family support, including nearly $5 billion to help service members with housing and relocation costs. When West Plains was in need of a new VA clinic, my office stayed in constant contact with the Department of Veterans Affairs to help deliver that new facility, and it officially opened in March of this year. I was also proud to play a role in delivering the VA Health Care Center to Cape Girardeau, which offers a wide variety of services and has offered quality care to our service members since 2022. I’ve hosted Veterans Benefits Summits at VFW Post 3838 in Cape Girardeau and American Legion Post 66 in Kennett where we invited veterans to come and sit down with the VA, the Social Security Administration, and state service officers in one room instead of having to drive from office to office. Seeing a veteran walk out with answers after months of waiting is what this job is about.

I’ve also had the chance to tour facilities like the Missouri Veterans Home in Cape Girardeau to hear directly from the veterans who live there and the staff who care for them. I’ve stood alongside heroes at Missouri’s National Veterans Memorial in Perryville, a place built so those who served can be honored right here in the heartland. Conversations and experiences like these stay with me and guide so much of my work in Washington, and I’ll never take them for granted.

Southeast Missouri is all about God, country, and family, and nobody has done more to protect all three than the men and women who have served in our Armed Forces. They left their families and hometowns to serve a country they love, and many of them came home and went right back to work on our farms, in our factories, and in our classrooms. Veterans have given more to this country than we’ll ever be able to repay. We are the home of the free because of the brave, and I am honored to represent so many of them. To every veteran in southeast Missouri, your service means more than words can express. Thank you.