Vet Voice Foundation Begins Briefing Presidential Candidates

WASHINGTON, DC – The Vet Voice Foundation, a non-partisan, non-profit veterans education and mobilization organization, today is announcing that it has begun briefing all the 2020 presidential campaigns on a progressive vision for national security and veterans’ policy, and is in the process of scheduling briefings with the remaining campaigns.  Vet Voice reached out all the campaigns of both major parties to offer a briefing, and already has briefed the campaigns of  Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Beto O’Rourke, Amy Klobuchar, Kirsten Gillibrand, Seth Moulton, Bill de Blasio, Eric Swalwell and Andrew Yang.

The group also publicly released the briefing book it is providing to the campaigns – “A Progressive Veterans’ Approach to Resetting National Security” – which contains findings from a survey of Vet Voice Foundation veterans.  In this way, the campaigns are hearing the voices of those who served, about the issues most important to them, and how they would like to see them addressed.

The briefing book can be found, here:   https://www.vetvoicefoundation.org/national-security-survey

“The military is a reflection of society, and there’s a very healthy progressive component among those who served. They want to see a vision for the defense institutions they love that, among other things, addresses the forever wars we’re in, and allows all those who are able to serve the chance to serve, and they want to see us give our our veterans the benefits they’ve earned – not pawn them off to the private sector, when they take off the uniform,” said Dan Helmer, an Iraq and Afghanistan Veteran, who headed the survey for the Vet Voice Foundation. “The Vet Voice Foundation is committed to bringing those voices to the campaigns, so they can be heard.”

The book that Vet Voice is briefing campaigns on is the summary of findings of a survey of almost 1,500 veterans.  Out of those, however, nearly 7-in-10 don’t believe that the American public understands their perspectives. The report aims to rectify that, by laying out for campaigns how they feel about:  The Use of Military Force, including under the 2001 Authorization of Use of Military Force; Congress reestablishing its role in oversight and war powers; Ending the War in Afghanistan and other “Forever Wars;” Climate Change as a national security threat; Reducing our nuclear arsenal; Cyber Security, and; Resetting our national spending priorities, while tackling income inequality.

The briefing represents an initial effort to bring the voices of America’s progressive military veterans to the forefront of the 2020 debate.  Vet Voice is committed to continuing efforts like these, and will announce more in the weeks and months ahead.