Comedian and TV host Jon Stewart on Friday pushed for more to be done to help America’s military veterans as they get reintegrated from serving the country.
Stewart, an advocate for veterans, argued that the United States “always” had the money to fund a war but did not do enough to help them when they came home.
“[I]t’s incredibly important,” Stewart said. “Look, there is a very small percentage of Americans who bear the onus and brunt of America’s wars. And it is a tiny percentage, and it is the veterans and their families and oftentimes their caregivers. And, you know, out of sight, out of mind. When it’s time for war, we always have the money, man. Get the credit card out, put down that $6 trillion to go to war for 20 years, and then we try and balance the budget on the backs of veterans as they are coming home to reintegrate and assimilate and deal with all the health problems.”
“And the burdens of that reintegration, the burdens of fighting your own government that you have just recently sacrificed to protect and defend also leads to a lot of the mental health stresses; it leads to financial stresses,” he added. “The PACT Act doesn’t solve all their problems, but it removes at least some of the burden and obstacles, and it starts to switch the burden of proof back to the government as opposed to the veterans.”
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