Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) this week met with New Jersey members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) organization. Among the topics discussed at their meeting was how the federal government can better assist our veterans' families and improve our veterans' health care and job opportunities.

"Long after their days on the battlefield, members of VFW continue to fight for their comrades. And this week, I was able to personally thank them for their tireless advocacy on behalf of veterans," said Senator Menendez, Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. "This meeting was an opportunity for me to hear first-hand about the challenges they and others face upon returning home from duty. I have always believed that how we take care of our veterans defines who we are as a nation. I assured them that I will continue to fight to provide opportunities for veterans to succeed when they leave the military and to ensure that we take care of those who have sacrificed for us with benefits that can adequately provide for them and their families. And as long as I am in the Senate, I will continue making issues important to veterans a priority of mine."

Senator Menendez has long beenstanding up for veterans. Menendez fought for record increases in funding for veterans' health care and helped pass the Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act into law. He was an early and strong cosponsor of the Post 9/11 GI bill, and fought for legislation to help our veteransfind employment and transfer their skills to the workforce, including the VOW to Hire Heroes Act.

The VFW is an organization that was born of the challenges faced by veterans in 1899. These brave citizens returning from the Spanish-American War had no health care or post-service remuneration for their sacrifices. Today, VFW is an organization of 1.9 million whose advocacy has culminated in a 20thCentury GI Bill, the Veterans Administration, and nearly 9 million volunteer service hours on behalf of our veterans.

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