The following are the major points from Barack Obama's platform.
Full text is available here.
A Sacred Trust
- Reversing the 2003 ban on enrolling modest-income veterans, which has denied care to a million veterans
- Strengthen VA Care
- Establish a national "zero tolerance" policy for veterans falling into homelessness by expanding proven programs and launching innovative services
- Crack down on employers who commit job discrimination against guardsmen and reservists
Help for Returning Service Members
- Ensure a Seamless Transition
- Fully Fund VA Medical Care
- Hire additional claims workers, and improve training and accountability
Improved Mental Health Treatment
- Improve mental health care at every stage of military service
- Improve Care for Traumatic Brain Injury
- Expand Vet Centers
The following are the major points from John McCain's platform.
Full text is available here.
Providing for Our Service Members
- He worked to increase pay scales for servicemen and women during both the Persian Gulf War and the current War on Terror and to increase enlistment and reenlistment bonuses for reservists and guardsmen. He also sponsored bills to give special tax relief to deployed service members and to set up overseas savings programs for the men and women fighting in the Gulf War
Honoring the Service of Reservists and Guardsmen
- McCain has supported legislation to expand retirement benefits for reservists, supported provisions to expand eligibility for health care benefits for reservists and their families, and sponsored legislation to grant survivor benefit payments to the spouses of reservists who die during or as the result of training
Improving Veterans' Health Care
- Funding Veterans' Health Care
- Expanding Veterans' Access to Health Care
- Serving the Special Health Care Needs of Veterans
- Health Care for Retired Veterans
Providing Veterans with the Benefits They Have Earned
- McCain has voted consistently to increase funding for veterans' benefits. He also pushed for various initiatives to ensure that veterans who are eligible for benefits know what they are entitled to and have the resources to obtain their benefits
Caring for Our Disabled Veterans
- McCain has been a staunch supporter of repealing the historic ban on receiving both disability and retirement pay at the same time
- McCain has worked to increase VA resources for paralysis research
Easing the Transition to Civilian Life
- McCain believes that we must do what we can to smooth the transition for veterans from military to civilian life
- He has supported numerous bills to help homeless veterans by providing them with counseling, independent living training, and residential treatment programs
Protecting for the Families of Our Fallen Heroes
- He cosponsored legislation to double the death gratuity payment in 2003 for service men and women who are killed in the War on Terror
- McCain introduced legislation to allow service members to designate who they want their benefits to go to in the event of their death