President Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address contained these words, “…to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan…”

In what used to be the norm, most members of Congress served in some capacity with the United States Military. These days they are harder to find roaming the halls of Congress.

Montana is home to over 100,000 veterans (I am one of them) so this voting bloc can make a big difference in a statewide race. Since Conrad Burns was defeated in 2006 by Jon Tester, Montana has not had a military veteran serving in the U.S. Senate or the U.S. House. Congressman Pat Williams was the last U.S. Representative from Montana to serve in the military.

It was really no surprise to me that U.S. Senator Jon Tester brought forth the Veterans issue after hearing that Congresswoman Michele Bachmann proposes to cut $4.5 billion from the Veterans Administration (VA). Frankly, I am surprised that Bachmann would propose these cuts although the chances of VA funding being cut are very slim. But there it was – posted on her website (PDF).

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