The war on terror has consumed our public conscience for the last 20 years. Hundreds of thousands of Americans have been killed or wounded in this senselessness. Soldiers and their needs have been ignored, terrorists are armed with American weapons, the rights of citizens have been eroded. Steps should be taken immediately to correct these actions. Americans need to know that we are being taken to prevent more situations like this from taking place in the future.

In addition to the irreplaceable loss of life, vultures have taken advantage of our predicament to lie, cheat, and steal fortunes from the government. The Pentagon has received over $14 trillion since 9/11. We have spent more than $3 trillion on counter terrorism. We have spent another $2 trillion in the Afghanistan War, with as much as half of that total going to defense contractors. An alarming percentage of this money has disappeared without trace into the pockets of political donors. That is money fighting terrorism, and doesn't show the staggering lack of support that our veterans desperately needed.

While Afghanistan maybe over, we still need to maintain a vigilant watch on groups around the world. This will require maintaining our strong military. Unfortunately, I have found Congress's support to be lacking. Despite record levels of monetary support, our VA hospitals are still overwhelmed. Our veterans deserve better than partisan bickering.

I have written additional ways to save money and keep military readiness at even greater levels in the Budget and Infrastructure pages. Perhaps the most important job that Congress has is the security of the country by maintaining a strong military presence. The United States has had the strongest military in the world since the early 1940s. That is something the world hadn't seen since the United Kingdom ruled the seas from the defeat of Napoleon to the start of WW1. This is an expensive task, and must be handled in a precise and efficient manner. I can safely say that Congress has failed to do that, and is something that I would dedicate myself to fixing.