Caring for our Veterans

Sherrod is committed to making sure that those who have put their lives in harm’s way to defend our country have access to the best healthcare possible. He helped secure the largest-ever increase in VA funding and has held the VA accountable for the disability claims backlog, long wait times, understaffing, and inadequate care.

Sherrod knows that comprehensive care for our veterans must include mental and behavioral care, and he helped pass the Female Veterans Suicide Prevention Act and the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act to expand treatment and support for those struggling with trauma and mental illness.

Sherrod is working to help servicemembers and veterans rejoin the civilian workforce, introducing and co-sponsoring the Wounded Warrior Employment Improvement Act, the VOW To Hire Heroes Act, and an expansion of the Yellow Ribbon Program to provide veterans with job training and placement services.

Sherrod’s Patriot Employer Tax Credit Act would reward companies that hire veterans and servicemembers. Solar by Soldiers, which he helped launch, trains veterans to succeed in Ohio’s clean energy economy. Sherrod has secured millions of dollars for career services and related support programs for Ohio’s veterans, and passed legislation that gives hiring preference to Gold Star families.

For many who enlist, the military offers a pathway to an education that may otherwise be out of reach. In the Senate, Sherrod co-sponsored a law that permanently expanded GI Bill education benefits for post-9/11 veterans.

He has passed legislation that makes these benefits more flexible and accessible to the families of fallen soldiers. Sherrod has stood up for veterans targeted by shady for-profit colleges and worked to stop them from preying on those who have served in our military.

As part of his bipartisan GI Bill expansion, Sherrod saw to it that the veterans and servicemembers who had been taken advantage of by failed for-profit schools had their education benefits restored.

Sherrod has secured millions of dollars to end homelessness and expand access to affordable housing for Ohio veterans.

Working with Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Jack Reed (D-RI), Sherrod passed key provisions to ensure that no servicemember is discharged into homelessness.

Sherrod also worked with Senator Reed to introduce the Military Consumer Enforcement Act, which would protect veterans and their families from foreclosure and eviction.

Sherrod is making sure we recognize the courage and sacrifice of those who serve. He has joined the entire Ohio congressional delegation to introduce bipartisan legislation to allow the battlefield cross to be displayed at the graves of fallen soldiers and presented long-overdue military medals to Ohio veterans.

Sherrod and Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) have honored the legacy of Ohio veterans by pushing to designate the Ohio Veterans Memorial and Museum in Columbus as the National Veterans Museum and Memorial.

The Columbus Dispatch wrote that Sherrod was “responsible for legislation requiring the Department of Defense to deliver the remains of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan to airports convenient to their families, not just major hubs often hundreds of miles away.”