My Priorities

As a member of the Armed Services Committee, Senator Gillibrand is a champion for our nation’s veterans and service members. She strongly believes that our service members are the greatest asset to our national security and that supporting those who serve is central to ensuring military readiness. She supports annual pay raises for service members, and each year she assists hundreds of New York veterans with disability claims pending within the Department of Veterans Affairs—helping to clear delays and often resulting in veterans receiving over $1,000 in average monthly payments from the VA. She also passed major legislation to ensure veterans exposed to burn pits and other toxins get the health care and benefits they earned. And after a nearly decade-long fight, she successfully reformed the military justice system to make it more professional and fair.

Older Americans have worked hard all their lives — and Senator Gillibrand is fighting to ensure they can age with dignity and respect. She has consistently fought against attempts to cut Social Security and Medicare and is pushing to expand Social Security benefits to better keep up with inflation. She also helped seniors save money on their health care costs by passing legislation to cap the cost of insulin for older Americans at $35 a month, cap their out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs at $2,000 a year, and cap their premium increases for drug coverage. Senator Gillibrand is also championing legislation to address the nationwide shortage of long-term care workers to ensure older Americans get the care they need. And as the population of older Americans grows, she’s working to ensure that states are prepared to address their needs. She introduced the Strategic Plan for Aging Act, a landmark bill that would provide states with resources to help older Americans navigate everything from housing to food insecurity. And in the workplace, three out of four older workers have seen or experienced age discrimination, but Senator Gillibrand is fighting to help them get justice. She introduced a bipartisan bill that would ban forced arbitration clauses in cases of age discrimination, which would allow victims to have their day in court.