Our federal government's failure to address the health needs of veterans might well have something to do with the fact that a growing number of Representatives and Senators never served in the military and have no first-hand knowledge of the challenges faced by veterans. The below graph (courtesy of the Pew Research Center) clearly shows how the number of veterans in Congress has decreased from 75% to 20% over the past 40-50 years.
This apparent lack of concern for veterans' issues on the part of politicians might also be influenced by the fact that the number of veterans is steadily decreasing. Veterans today make up less than 7% of our nation's population (estimated at 317 million) and as the below graph shows, that percentage will continue to decrease. (The graph can be found on the VA's website.)
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