[1]Lucas Kunce for U.S. Senate

John,

I was a Marine stationed at the Pentagon during the 2018-2019 shutdown. So
with everything going on right now, I wanted to share with you the reality
of what these shutdowns mean for our national security and how they impact
our service members and military families. Will you please let me explain?

[ [link removed] ]CHIP IN NOW →

Before the government shutdown from December 2018 to January 2019, a lot
of us were already working 10+ hours a day and not seeing our families
enough or sometimes at all. But then, just as the holidays were coming up,
we had to cover for furloughed civilian employees.

Service members at military facilities across the country had to deal with
the same thing. The Coast Guard couldn't even fund two paychecks. But this
was more than just needlessly letting politics punish military families.

No matter what DC politicians tell you, the Pentagon and many facilities
that are critical to our safety just can't function properly without
civilian employees — there just aren't enough service members to cover for
them.

That shutdown was a real threat to our national security.

Now, with an aggressive China and a warmongering Russia, politicians like
Josh Hawley are once again deciding their personal politics are worth
forcing another shutdown that hurts our national security and military
families.

[ [link removed] ]Headline from The Hill that reads: These 19 Senate Republicans voted
against advancing short-term funding bill

It's disturbing how familiar this feels — not just to what happened 5
years ago, but to what now feels like it's happening every few months.

We’ve had years of senators blocking or voting against key Pentagon
nominations, putting another huge strain on members of our armed forces.
This year, one senator has even been allowed to block hundreds hundreds of
military promotions.

Last year, we had senators try to block healthcare coverage for our troops
who were exposed to toxic burn pits. And now politicians are regularly
playing games with our defense budgets.

It'd be just misguided (but still dangerous) if these politicians were
genuinely trying to have a positive impact on policy — like preventing
more overseas wars. Instead, it's clear each time these actions have more
to do with elevating a "brand" or scoring political victories.

There's no clearer evidence of that than the fact that, particularly in
the U.S. Senate, these politicians are hardly ever consistent about what
goals drive their need to hold up supporting our troops. They never appear
to accomplish any of those “goals” either.

Whether it be restricting abortion access, some phony culture war, or the
ridiculous idea that we should still have troops in Afghanistan, it always
ends up being clear what these efforts are truly for: Politicians getting
ahead in the Washington game.

It's even more ridiculous to hear these same politicians — many having
built their careers on spending trillions of dollars on pointless wars and
handouts to corporate elites — claim "concern about spending" is the
reason military families and our national security should suffer.

Politicians caring more about themselves than the people they’re meant to
serve isn’t anything new. What’s new is how far they’re willing to go
without even pretending to hide it.

I’m running for U.S. Senate because working Missourians deserve a leader
who won’t let their personal politics, shady corporate mega-donors, or
anything else get in the way of protecting and doing right by our people,
our state, and our country — but I can’t do it without your help.

[ [link removed] ]So if you’re ready to defeat Josh Hawley and elect someone who actually
knows what it means to stand up and defend our country, please add a
donation of any amount to my campaign today.

If you've stored your info with ActBlue Express, we'll process your
contribution instantly:

[ [link removed] ]Contribute $10
[ [link removed] ]Contribute $25
[ [link removed] ]Contribute $30
[ [link removed] ]Contribute $50
[ [link removed] ]Contribute $100
[ [link removed] ]Contribute $250
[ [link removed] ]Give another amount

Thanks for hearing me out,

Lucas


 


This email was sent to [email protected]. Email is the most important way for us to reach you about opportunities to get involved. If you need to remove yourself from our email list, click here to unsubscribe: [link removed]

Paid for by Lucas Kunce for Missouri.

Use of military rank, job titles, and photographs in uniform do not imply endorsement by the Department of the Navy or the Department of Defense.