“When I deployed to Iraq, I took great comfort in my faith in God and my savior Jesus Christ, and I carried scripture and a cross my father had given me on my dog tags. Recent action by the Department of Defense prohibits companies holding lawful trademark licenses for military emblems from producing dog tags that feature religious insignia, such as a bible verse or a cross. This is unacceptable. Our service members fight for our freedom and our Constitution, and one of those freedoms is our freedom of religion. Our service members should have access to dog tags that display that religious freedom and companies should not be penalized from producing those tags.”

“When I joined the Army after the attacks on September 11, 2001, I had significant student loan debt from law school, which took me over 15 years to pay off. During my time in the military, I served with many others who had previously received an education and took out loans to pay for it. For generations, the GI Bill has offered a pathway to education for our nation’s veterans, but as a new generation of men and women answer the call to service, this bill needs to be modernized to meet their educational and financial needs, which often include student loans. Servicemembers, like myself, who joined after they obtained their education, cannot take advantage of the GI Bill, so we should give those veterans the same amount of credit toward the student loans they incurred prior to their military service.”

“It is sad that some of my colleagues seek to undermine the president’s authority with an amendment that protects the Ayatollah instead of our nation’s security interests. I lost brothers and sisters in arms during my service in Operation Iraqi Freedom thanks to Iranian improvised explosive devices, and we cannot sit by as these state sponsors of terror try to acquire nuclear weapons. A nuclear Iran is a threat to America, our allies around the globe, the entire Middle East, and our friends in Israel.
Nobody wants war with Iran, but a distinction between war and protecting American interests in the region must be made. The president should be able to take timely and decisive action to protect our country and its servicemembers and this amendment subverts the president’s executive authority to do so. The president is the Commander in Chief, not Congress.”