Veterans deserve our respect and support in war and after they come home. Yet as a nation, we continue to allow our government to pay only lip service to honoring these men and women for their service. Supporting our troops can never be just a slogan. We must do better.

Veterans make up 9% of our population. Yet they make up 25% of the homeless in our country. One third of all homeless men are veterans. On any given night in America, over 200,000 veterans are homeless. How can we put bumper stickers on our car to “Support Our Troops” and continue to allow this to happen?

Over 1 million veterans have no health insurance.

Government bureaucracy drives our veterans and their families to the breaking point with delays and red tape in processing disability claims.

National Guardsmen must battle to get their old jobs back.

Returning Iraq veterans are facing an economy of rising unemployment.

If we can spend tens of millions of dollars each day to private contractors, many of whom earn over $100,000 each year, we can find the resources to end this national shame of neglecting our veterans.