More than 1,000 veterans across the country have pledged their support for Gore.

After graduating from college, Gore enlisted in the U.S. Army and volunteered to serve in Vietnam as an army journalist. "I didn't do the most, or run the gravest danger. But I was proud to wear my country's uniform. And my own experiences gave me strong beliefs about America's obligation to keep our national defenses strong. I've believed in a strong defense, and I've fought for it, for all my public service -- not just in an election year, but every year." Today, Gore is a member of The American Legion, Department of Tennessee Post 57.

In 1998, Gore and the Administration signed into law the Veterans Programs Enhancement Act to streamline and improve the services of the Department of Veterans Affairs. This act authorized an increase in compensation payments to veterans who have service-related disabilities, which will help more than 2.3 million veterans and more than 300,000 surviving spouses and children of veterans. In 1999, Gore fought for an additional $1 billion in funding for veterans' health care, including long-term care, infrastructure needs and quality and waiting time issues.

In 1993, the Medicare actuaries projected that the program would go bankrupt last year, but because of important reforms that Gore fought for, it is now solvent for another quarter century. Gore plans to protect the Medicare surplus by placing it in an iron-clad "lock box" so the surplus is dedicated only to Medicare and cannot be used for massive tax cuts or other spending. Gore would dedicate the interest saved from debt reduction to the Medicare Trust Fund in order to extend the solvency of the program until at least 2030. George W. Bush does not devote one dime to extend the life of Medicare and drains $100 billion out of Medicare's surplus for a massive tax cut for the wealthy.

Gore opposes raising the retirement age and believes we can extend the life of Social Security without damaging benefit cuts or tax increases. He would put the entire Social Security surplus in an off-budget "lock box" to protect it from being used for other purposes and keep the program solvent for more than 50 years. Gore would also add another tax-free retirement savings option on top of Social Security's guaranteed benefit. Bush would drain $1 trillion from the Social Security Trust Fund and partially privatize the 65-year-old program for the first time ever. Under Bush's retirement strategy, Social Security would go insolvent by 2023, if benefit reductions are not implemented. In order to keep Social Security from the brink of insolvency, Bush would have to make deep cuts in benefits, which could mean a 54 percent cut for workers retiring in 2037 or later.

Gore has been a leader on national security and defense issues for nearly two decades. A former member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Gore worked on a bipartisan basis to improve America's national defense. As president, he will do whatever is necessary to keep the nation's military the best-trained, best-equipped, most capable fighting force in the world. Gore and the current Administration reversed the decline in defense spending that began under the Bush-Quayle-Cheney Administration. The current Administration has given U.S. troops the largest pay increase in 20 years. Gore will continue to boost pay and benefits, improve readiness and invest in modernization. In fact, Gore would invest $100 billion of the projected budget surplus to strengthen our national security. Bush proposes only $45 billion, because his massive tax cut drains the surplus and leaves few resources to invest in national security.