It should have to go without saying that we need to help out our veterans, some have been through so much unimaginable horror that most of us could not handle. So we need to do everything in our power to say thank you to our veterans because they were there when they believed it was their time to protect and defend what our country stands for.

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So here's how we can do what is right:

• Providing robust funding for the comprehensive caregiver program will actually save money in the long run by spending less on more expensive, less compassionate institutional care.​

• Families also deserve to be compensated for the care they already provide; they deserve education on how to best care for their loved ones, transportation to and from medical appointments, and respite care that allows them the time needed to care for themselves.

• Fight to fairly compensate military survivors by finally ending the unfair practice that prevents military widows and widowers from receiving their Dependency and Indemnity Compensation and the Survivor Benefit Plan - even though they are entitled to both.

• Fight to change harmful VA regulations that restrict access to care and benefits based on the character of discharge.

• Work to ensure that any service member discharged from the military for marijuana use or possession can apply for a discharge upgrade, so they can become eligible for the full complement of services and benefits provided by the VA.

• Immediately do everything in my power to stop deportations of non-citizen members of our armed forces, veterans, and their families.

• Hold for-profit colleges that try to take advantage of our veterans accountable.

• Ensure access to better jobs and job training.

• Make it easier to transfer the skills service members learned during their military service into the civilian workforce.

• Expand and improve incentives for companies to hire veterans such as minor tax breaks.

• Make sure no Veteran is making less than 50% more than the state minimum wage is at the time. So if the minimum wage was $20 an hour a veteran would make at least $30 an hour with Oregon paying the difference of what the job pay typically is.

• Guarantee a commitment to Housing First, while also respecting the preferences of certain veterans to live in housing that meets their unique needs. No veteran should be homeless ever.

• Establish homelessness assistance grants to build permanent supportive housing and $5 million to provide outreach to homeless people to help connect them to available services. In the first year of this plan, 250 Housing Trust Fund units will be prioritized for housing the homeless.

• An innovative program started in Vermont through legislation initiated by the one and only Senator Sanders, hired veterans to provide support to service members and their families before, during, and following deployment on everything from health care and benefits to marriage and financial counseling. This effort has been hugely successful in ensuring that veterans, service members, and their families can access the resources they have earned to help them live a healthy and productive life. This should be established here in Oregon as well.