Third Congressional District candidate Joe Kent offers his opinion on a recent vote by U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez impacting veterans
Joe Kent
Third Congressional District candidate
U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez recently voted with every Democrat against a bill to fully fund the Veterans Administration, making it clear that she is comfortable with denying wounded U.S. Military veterans and the children of those killed in the service of our nation without compensation or medical care.
When we send our troops off to war, the American people promise that we will take care of them and their families if they are wounded or killed. Marie and every Democrat broke that sacred promise. She claimed the bill did not include enough funding, but it allocated $10 billion more than the Biden Administration requested for VA spending. Marie previously stated she supported fully funding the VA, but that was a lie.
Adding insult to injury, Marie has continued to vote to keep our troops involved in endless wars overseas. Earlier this year, she voted against removing U.S. Armed Forces from Syria, and later a U.S. Military helicopter crashed in Syria and 22 service members were injured.
Marie’s voting record is clear: She is willing to send our troops off to fight and die but is not willing to compensate our troops for the cost of the wars she votes for but has never served in.
Marie also voted against repealing Biden’s pistol brace ban, a policy that affects thousands of disabled veterans who rely on stabilizing pistol braces. Marie wants to brand disabled veterans felons for simply owning a pistol brace.
This is hypocrisy at its most outrageous: Marie votes to deprive veterans of medical care and access to firearms while voting to keep them involved in wars overseas.
Marie routinely claims I do not know what it is like to “work for a living.” I enlisted in the U.S. military at age 18 and served over 20 years in Special Forces and deployed to combat in the Middle East 11 times for our nation. Marie’s life experience is limited to attending Reed College, an elite liberal private university that costs $60 thousand in tuition per year and masquerading in her husband’s coveralls.
She is not working for the interests of the people in her district — she is working for her donors. Marie takes corporate PAC money routed through other PACs. She is co-chair of the Blue Dog coalition, and the Blue Dog PAC accepts contributions from defense contractors like Raytheon Technologies.
Marie is working for special interests and D.C. elites, not the thousands of veterans in her district who rely on the VA for healthcare. I support fully funding the VA, expanding access to Tricare, and strengthening Congressional oversight of the VA system. As someone who receives my healthcare from the VA and Tricare, I understand the importance of ensuring our nation’s veterans have access to quality healthcare.
For more information, go to JoeKentforCongress.com.
Also read:
- Opinion: IBR’s evasive, misleading and dishonest excuses for higher cost
Joe Cortright argues the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program has withheld detailed cost estimates while offering contradictory explanations for rising costs tied to the I-5 Bridge project. - Opinion: The limits for drug-impaired driving
Target Zero Manager Doug Dahl explains how Washington law defines drug-impaired driving and how officers are trained to recognize impairment beyond alcohol limits. - Opinion: ‘Please make your voice heard by taking my legislative priorities survey’
Rep. John Ley invites Clark County residents to share their views by participating in a legislative priorities survey during the 2026 session. - POLL: Do the proposed changes to the Clark County Council’s Rules of Procedure suggest the council lacked authority in 2025?
A new reader poll asks whether proposed changes to the Clark County Council’s Rules of Procedure indicate the council lacked clear authority during a 2025 board removal. - Letter: ‘HSD needs to give a detailed line-item accounting of where the last levy went, and of how they plan to use this one’
Randall Schultz-Rathbun urges Hockinson School District to provide detailed, transparent accounting of past and proposed levy spending before asking voters for additional funds.
wpDiscuz
