Thom Tillis

Sen. Thom Tillis On Veterans Issues, Donald Trump & HB2

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• published: 26 May 2016
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Republican Sen. Thom Tillis says the federal government shouldn't have a role in resolving the fight over the state law known as HB2. That’s one of the things the state’s junior senator told our Washington, D.C. team during a wide-ranging interview. Our D.C. bureau reporter Geoff Bennett has more of that interview, which started with a focus on the veterans issues Tillis is pushing in Congress. Republican Sen.Thom Tillis represents North Carolina’s military interests on Capitol Hill as a member of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee. Tillis’ staffers point to his legislative breakthroughs on that front -- everything from making it easier for military spouses to get government jobs to treating veterans who were exposed to burn pits while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. On Tuesday, the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee considered legislation Tillis co-sponsored, which extends benefits to veterans exposed to water contamination at Camp Lejeune. "We have independent agencies who think that there is significant or modest evidence to prove that the illness was caused by the toxic substances down at Camp LeJeune," said Tillis on Wednesday. "That should be enough for any of us to say we should find the funding, and we should find the support to help the people who are affected." Meanwhile, some of Tillis' Senate colleagues are calling for Veterans Affairs Secretary Bob McDonald to resign. That's after McDonald compared the long wait times at some VA hospitals to the time people spend waiting in line at Disney theme parks. Tillis told chalked it up to a "poor choice of words." He added that McDonald "needs to get past it and get back to the work of improving the VA and serving our veterans.” We also asked Tillis about the other issues dominating the headlines, including the fight over the state law known as HB2 and Donald Trump's status as the GOP's apparent presidential nominee. "I’m a delegate in North Carolina. I’m committed to Senator [Marco] Rubio as long as there are bound delegates. I will support the nominee, and if that nominee is Mr. Trump, I will gladly support him." On the same day that the state's senior senator, Richard Burr, criticized HB2 for going too far," Tillis said it's an issue that should be solved locally. "We shouldn't let partisan hacks up in Washington control something that I think the state can get right if we have people in Raleigh and Charlotte get together and work it out," he said.