DNC Veterans & Military Families Council

The Veterans and Military Families Council (VMFC) is raising serious concerns following new reporting from Ms. Magazine detailing the growing crisis facing women veterans as reproductive healthcare access continues to erode under the Trump administration.

According to the report, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has moved to implement one of the strictest abortion bans in the country – eliminating not only abortion services, but even counseling, including in cases of rape or incest. This policy reversal undoes limited protections put in place just a few years earlier and places women veterans in an increasingly precarious position when facing medical emergencies tied to pregnancy.

As combat veterans, service members, and military families, the Veterans & Military Families Council recognizes a fundamental truth: trust matters. For generations of troops, that trust has included the independent reporting of Stars and Stripes.

Recent reporting from NPR detailing new Pentagon efforts to tighten control over Stars and Stripes – after dismissing it as “woke” – raises serious concerns for those who have served and those who continue to serve. These changes are not about strengthening readiness; they represent an attempt to exert greater control over information, narrative, and ultimately the truth available to service members.

For decades, a little-known policy has quietly undermined the benefits earned by disabled veterans. Under current federal law, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is required to recoup certain separation or severance payments by withholding VA disability compensation – often years or even decades after a veteran has left active duty.

The policy may be legal, but that does not make it just.

This article was first published at Bleeding Heartland on September 4, 2018. As the DNC has effectively shut down the Veterans & Military Families Council during this critical election year instead of working with Council leadership to resolve problems, this remains a critical issue for Democrats in 2026 and beyond.
Democrats have a patriotism perception problem…one with a simple solution.

Let’s start by acknowledging the elephant in the room. Literally. The GOP (symbol: you guessed it, the pestiferous pachyderm) owns the idea of “patriotism,” that deep pride in and love of country that is such an emotional driver for many. And drive it does…straight to the polls.

Nathaniel Rakich and Dhrumil Mehta reported on this phenomenon in early July at FiveThirtyEight.com, and the numbers are stunning even to someone who has been warning of this problem for more than a decade. In their piece “We’re Divided On Patriotism Too,” they wrote,