Rubio Campaign Press Release - This Is How We Serve Our Veterans

At the first Republican debate this year, I was caught a bit by surprise when the moderators asked me about how I feel God has spoken to me . . . and if I could find a way to link that to veterans' issues.

But it wasn't so hard, since our men and women in uniform are one of God's greatest gifts to America. It's an issue I'm always glad to talk about, because it's so important and because there's a lot I would like to see done to serve our vets better.

Last year, as new scandals at Veterans Affairs hospitals were uncovered seemingly every day, I fought to make sure that the VA secretary had the authority to fire senior employees who weren't doing their jobs.

At first, Bernie Sanders, who's running for the Democratic nomination, blocked this basic accountability measure, as a favor to government-employee unions. But we managed to get it into law, alongside measures to improve health care choices for our nation's veterans.

Still, that didn't go nearly far enough. I've also introduced a measure that would give the VA the ability to fire any employee that is doing his or her job poorly or covering up failure. I appreciate my friend Jeb Bush's support for this proposal.

The House passed that bill this summer, although President Obama has threatened to veto it. As President, I'd keep fighting to give vets more choices, protect whistleblowers, and modernize the system.

Treating our vets right goes beyond the VA. There are many reasons why I will reverse the harmful sequestration cuts made to the military over the past few years. But one is that reversing them would be a good thing for those serving us in uniform: A stronger military budget means our troops can remain the best-trained and best-equipped in the world, aren't overstretched, and aren't getting pink slips when we need them to confront the national security threats we face.