Veterans

Colorado is home to over 400,000 veterans, and Michael is committed to making our state the best place for veterans and their families to work, live, and retire. Michael believes veterans deserve timely access to high-quality care in a manner that makes sense for them. Colorado Springs is one of the most trusted cities for former service members to live, work, and play, with more than 80,000 veterans and 111,000 active service members comprising 17% of the city’s population. Too often, veterans have difficulty accessing their full benefits because of unnecessary red tape and inefficiency within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) bureaucracy. Michael has worked across the aisle to introduce common-sense reforms and hold the VA accountable for providing proper care to veterans and their families.

Michael worked with his colleagues from Colorado to create a program for veterans who live more than 40 miles from a clinic to receive care at non-VA medical clinics. When he heard complaints that health care providers in the program were encountering reimbursement delays, Michael successfully lobbied to eliminate a regulation causing the hold-up, expediting payments to providers.

Michael also partnered with Colorado lawmakers to ensure that the Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center in Aurora was completed and that future VA construction projects are effectively managed. He has introduced bipartisan legislation to change the culture at the VA and strengthen protections for whistleblowers. Michael is an avid supporter of the Colorado National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic and is working to ensure this program, which offers veterans opportunities for self-development through sports therapy and rehabilitative activities, and provides custom adaptive prosthetics for veterans to Alpine and Nordic ski, rock climb, scuba dive, and participate in sled hockey.

Michael has consistently supported measures to address the challenges servicemembers face during their transition from military service to civilian life. One of his top priorities is ensuring that veterans and their families have access to health care, including mental health support. He supported historic bipartisan legislation to expand Department of Veterans Affairs health care eligibility to over 3.5 million toxic-exposed veterans. Michael has also introduced legislation to address military suicide rates, help spouses of active duty service members save for retirement, protect veterans from housing discrimination, better support military families by tackling the military childcare crisis, and improve access to post-9/11 G.I. Bill and other education benefits.