The Relationship Between Military Service and Legislative Behavior for U.S. Representatives in Recent Congresses

Abstract

Military veterans serving in the U.S. House of Representatives during the 113th–115th Congresses (2013–2019) exhibited distinct legislative behavior on selected defense-related topics compared with their nonveteran colleagues. Examining 208 House roll call votes on issues salient to military veterans in which more than 90,000 individual Representative votes were cast as well as by categorizing more than 19,000 bills sponsored, this study finds that there was a small but distinct veteran voting trend that opposed Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) troop reductions. In addition, younger members exhibited a trend that suggests future Congresses may be more willing to approve use of military force than in previous decades. Finally, this study empirically demonstrates the tension in conservative fiscal policy preferences between increasing defense spending versus restraining total government expenditure.