Accomplishments
Delivering Results
Veterans
reFORMING THE VETERANS ADMINISTRATION
Senator Rubio fights to ensure veterans are taken care of by the people they served. In 2017, to mend horrific neglect and abuse in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), he wrote and passed the VA Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act, which gave the VA secretary the power to fire bad employees and protect whistleblowers. The Veterans of Foreign Wars “saluted” Rubio for sending an “unmistakable signal to all employees that maintaining the status quo no longer works for those who have borne the battle.”
PASSING THE PACT ACT
In 2021, Rubio worked with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) on legislation to require the VA to provide benefits to veterans suffering from toxic burn pit exposure. This legislation was incorporated into the Honoring our PACT Act, which became law in 2022. This landmark law also provides long-overdue help to tens of thousands of Marines, military family members, and civilian staff who developed severe illnesses from contaminated water at Camp Lejeune.
HELPING VETERANS RETURN TO WORK
Rubio also works to ensure military service members are welcomed in the workforce when they return home. In 2014, he made it easier for veterans to become certified mariners. And in 2020, Rubio secured the passage of his Supporting Veterans in STEM Careers Act, which directs the Office of Science and Technology to study barriers to workforce reentry for veterans and directs the National Science Foundation to help veterans pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
REMEMBERING THE FALLEN
Rubio has also shown his commitment to honoring those veterans whom the U.S. should not forget. In 2020, Rubio led a bill to rename the St. Augustine VA clinic after Private First Class Leo C. Chase, Jr., the first man from St. Johns County to be killed in the Vietnam War. The same year, Rubio led legislation to award the Medal of Honor to Sergeant First Class Alwyn Chase, who saved six comrades from a broken-down vehicle before dying from his wounds. And in 2022, Rubio passed a bill to rename the Clay County VA clinic after Chief Petty Officer Andrew K. Baker, who died in a tragic helicopter crash in 1997.