(U.S. Senate) – Earlier this week, the Disabled American Veterans awarded U.S. Senator Jon Tester their 2023 Veterans’ Champion Award for his numerous legislative achievements over the years and his longstanding commitment to supporting the nation’s disabled veterans and their families as Chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee.

“It’s an honor to receive the Veterans’ Champion Award from the Disabled American Veterans and National Commander Parsetich, a Montana champion for veterans in the Treasure State and across the nation,” said Chairman Tester. “I’m proud of the work we’ve done together to defend veterans’ health care and benefits with bipartisan victories for toxic-exposed vets like the PACT Act and mental health care in the Hannon Act. As Chairman, I’ll always have veterans’ backs in Washington and hold VA accountable to do right by their service each and every day.”

After holding a joint Senate and House Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearing Tuesday to hear DAV’s top legislative priorities, Tester met with leaders from Montana’s DAV department to discuss addressing the unique challenges disabled veterans face in rural America. Tester was presented the award by DAV’s National Commander Joe Parsetich, an U.S. Air Force service-connected disabled veteran from Great Falls, Montana.

“DAV and our more than one million members greatly appreciate Senator Tester’s unmatched commitment to fighting for the best interests of veterans and their families, and his significant contributions to improve health care services and benefits for those who served,” said Commander Parsetich. “Over the past 17 years in the Senate, he has led bipartisan efforts to enact landmark legislation to provide long-overdue health care to toxic-exposed veterans, bolster access to health care, expand veteran caregiver assistance, modernize and strengthen education benefits, and eliminate barriers to care and improve services for women veterans. He is a true champion on behalf of our nation’s veterans, which is why—as a fellow Montanan—it was my great honor to present him with the 2023 DAV Veterans’ Champion Award. We thank him for his dedication to our cause and look forward to many more victories for veterans in the future.”

As the only member of the Montana delegation who sits on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, Tester has worked for years alongside DAV and other Veterans Service Organizations to improve the delivery of health care services and benefits for those who served and their families, including disabled veterans. This includes laws authored by Tester to deliver comprehensive health care and benefits to toxic-exposed veterans under Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our PACT Act, strengthen support for women veterans under the Deborah Sampson Act, bolster mental health care services under the Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act (Hannon Act), and more.