Dear friends,
Every Veterans Day, we hear the same beautiful words.
Thank you for your service.
Politicians stand in front of flags, deliver carefully rehearsed speeches, and tell us how much they respect the men and women who served our country.
And I want to ask them something.
If you love our veterans so damn much, why are so many being left behind?
Because while Washington is busy polishing its patriotic speeches, veterans are losing access to healthcare, struggling to keep their homes, and watching the very programs they earned come under pressure.
And this year, the evidence is particularly disturbing.
They Served Their Country. Now They’re Paying the Price.
Let’s talk about a veteran named Scott Boyd.
He served in the Army, experienced combat, and eventually built a life in Ohio.
After losing his job and struggling with PTSD, he fell behind on his mortgage.
He needed help.
Instead, his monthly payment increased by $1,181 after a loan modification.
How does that happen?
The Trump administration ended a VA mortgage assistance program that helped struggling veterans avoid foreclosure.
And Scott was not alone.
An October investigation found that more than 15,000 veterans experienced mortgage payment increases of at least $150 a month after loan modifications. More than 700 saw increases of $1,000 or more.1
Think about that.
Thousands of veterans asked for help, and their bills went up.
Somebody explain to me how that qualifies as supporting our troops.
Meanwhile, Veterans Are Waiting for Healthcare.
On Veterans Day itself, another investigation revealed conditions at the East Orange VA hospital in New Jersey.
An 80-year-old Vietnam veteran arrived with a life-threatening medical emergency.
He needed immediate surgery.
But the operating room was closed.
He waited seven hours as the hospital tried to arrange the treatment he needed.
The investigation documented serious staffing shortages, interruptions in critical services, and mounting pressure on medical workers. 2
And East Orange is not the only facility facing problems.
A Senate report earlier this year documented the departure of more than 40,000 VA employees during fiscal year 2025, most of them healthcare workers. 3
The Trump administration disputes claims that care is declining, and the VA has also announced new investments in veterans’ homelessness assistance.
Those efforts matter.
But so do the veterans whose care has been disrupted.
You cannot wave a flag high enough to hide a closed operating room.
Here’s What Makes Me Angry
We can find money for political priorities. We can find money for massive defense contracts.
But when veterans need the medical professionals, benefits specialists, mental healthcare, or housing assistance they were promised, we’re told the system needs to be more efficient. 4
Efficient for whom?
Certainly not the veteran waiting for treatment.
Certainly not the family facing foreclosure.
And certainly not the exhausted nurse trying to care for patients in a chronically understaffed hospital.
I am tired of watching politicians wrap themselves in the American flag while the people who served under that flag are treated as an afterthought.
Patriotism without accountability is just political theater.
Our veterans deserve better.
To Our Veterans, I Want to Say This
Thank you.
Not because today is Veterans Day.
Not because a calendar tells us to remember you.
But because your service, your sacrifices, and your families matter every single day.
You deserve quality healthcare, affordable housing, mental health support, fair disability benefits, and the dignity of knowing your country will keep its promises.
You deserve to be heard when something is wrong.
And you deserve leaders who understand that public service means serving people, not just making speeches about them.
Our veterans are not Democrats or Republicans first.
They are our neighbors. Our parents. Our children. Our friends. Our community.
And we owe them a hell of a lot more than another round of applause.
❤️ Let’s Turn Our Gratitude Into Action
This Veterans Day, I’m asking our People Power United community to do something meaningful.
Contact your members of Congress.
Ask them to investigate staffing shortages at VA hospitals, protect earned benefits, address the mortgage assistance failures, and ensure veterans can receive timely medical treatment.
Call (202) 224-3121 and/or use our editable letter-writing tool.
Tell them:
I am asking you to protect veterans’ healthcare, housing assistance, and earned benefits. Please explain what actions you are taking to address VA staffing shortages, prevent service disruptions, and help veterans whose mortgage payments increased after changes to VA loan assistance programs.
And please, friends, share these stories.
Because the next time a politician stands before a flag and declares how much they love veterans, the American people should be ready with a question:
Then what the hell are you doing to protect them?
We will not cower.
We will not look away.
And we will not allow veterans and their families to be forgotten when the Veterans Day ceremonies end.
To our veterans, we see you, we appreciate you, and we stand with you.
Accountability over empty promises. Freedom over fascism. People over politics. Power to the People.
With gratitude and determination,
Laurie Woodward Garcia
Founder, People Power United
This would be an opportunity to ask for passage of Improved Medicare For All, which would include all veterans AND all of their family members.
From experience, the VA tends to deny veterans their disability benefits or the VA lowers the disability rating. I don't know currently but there used to be significant delays in decision making. This also needs more scrutiny.