Support Our Veterans
Texas is home to over 1.5 million veterans. Lauren B. Peña will fight to ensure every veteran receives the healthcare, benefits, and respect they were promised — and that Washington stops treating them as an afterthought.
1.5M+
Veterans in Texas
22/day
Veterans lost to suicide nationally
Months
Average VA wait time for mental health
#1
Priority for Lauren in Congress
America's veterans were promised that their service would be honored. Instead, they face a VA system riddled with bureaucracy, a mental health crisis that kills 22 veterans per day, and a government that has spent more on foreign aid than on the men and women who defended this country. Lauren B. Peña will change that.
Texas is home to more than 1.5 million veterans — one of the largest veteran populations in the nation. The Austin metro area, at the heart of Texas CD-37, has a significant veteran community that has been consistently underserved by the VA system and ignored by the current congressional delegation.
The VA wait time crisis is not over. Veterans in Texas are still waiting months for mental health appointments, disability claims, and basic healthcare. Meanwhile, the federal government has found billions to send to Ukraine, to fund gender studies programs in Pakistan, and to pay for housing for illegal immigrants — while veterans sleep on the streets.
Lauren B. Peña will vote to fully fund the VA Mission Act, which gives veterans the ability to see private doctors when VA wait times are unacceptable. She will push for accountability at VA facilities, including the ability to fire VA employees who fail veterans. And she will fight to expand mental health resources specifically for combat veterans dealing with PTSD and traumatic brain injury.
She will also oppose any effort to cut military benefits, reduce the COLA adjustment for military retirees, or weaken the Survivor Benefit Plan. The promises made to veterans are not line items to be negotiated — they are debts of honor.
"We send these men and women to fight our wars, and then we make them fight the VA just to get a doctor's appointment. That is a national disgrace, and I will not tolerate it in Congress.
— Lauren B. Peña
Fully fund and expand the VA Mission Act
Ensure veterans can see private doctors when VA wait times exceed 20 days, with full federal reimbursement — no bureaucratic barriers.
VA accountability and firing authority
Give VA leadership the authority to fire employees who fail veterans, ending the culture of impunity that has allowed systemic failures to persist.
Expand combat veteran mental health resources
Triple federal funding for PTSD and TBI treatment programs specifically designed for combat veterans, including telehealth options for rural Texas veterans.
Protect military retirement benefits
Oppose any cuts to military retirement pay, COLA adjustments, the Survivor Benefit Plan, or Tricare — these are promises made to people who risked their lives.
End veteran homelessness in Texas
Support targeted federal investment in veteran housing vouchers and transitional housing programs, with a goal of ending veteran homelessness in Texas CD-37 within four years.