With so much news happening here in Michigan and across the nation, I wanted to reach out to you to share several important updates regarding my efforts to support members of the Michigan National Guard who were deployed to Washington, D.C.

While our service members have repeatedly demonstrated their effectiveness and reliability, unfortunately they have been failed in return. It was brought to my attention by family and friends of the Michigan Guard that our troops in the nation’s capital were being served inadequate food. This was not a matter of bad tasting food; it was about food that was not safe to eat.

On March 2, I led all 14 members of Michigan’s House delegation in a bipartisan call for the current food contract to be voided and for per diems to be issued immediately throughout the remainder of the Michigan Guard’s deployment. This is one of only a few times the entire Michigan House Delegation came together to act on a Michigan specific issue in recent memory. Despite this admission of sickness from the National Guard, the food contract was not terminated. In response to this inaction, on March 4, I led a second bipartisan effort calling for retroactive per diems to be given to guardsmen and guardswomen deployed to Washington, D.C. This effort garnered the support of over three dozen of my colleagues, both Republicans and Democrats, from more than 20 states.

As I walked the perimeter of the Capitol, I began to make it a point to talk to members of the Michigan Guard. It became clear very quickly that the safety of the food had become a widespread issue and our men and women had been paying out of their own pockets for food.  One Guardsman from West Michigan that I frequently spoke with told me that he and his wife added up the amount of money he spent while deployed for meals. Shockingly this number totaled over $1,000. It’s appalling that while deployed to our nation’s capital, members of the Michigan Guard couldn’t have full confidence in the safety of the meals they were being provided.

While my staff and I were continuing to craft a legislative response, I knew we had to do something more immediate to lift morale and support our troops. Thanks to the generosity of the Michigan State Society and MSU Federal Credit Union, I led “Operation Food Drop” for the Michigan Guard. Working together, my fellow members of Congress from Michigan and I passed out more than 1,000 Chick-fil-A sandwiches over breakfast, lunch, and dinner to the Guard. Additionally, we handed out snacks as well as gift cards to help cover the cost of their next meal.