Veterans Day, 2023

Proclamation 10669 of November 7, 2023

Veterans Day, 2023

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

This Veterans Day, we honor the generations of women
and men who have served and sacrificed--not for a
person, a place, or a President--but for an idea unlike
any other: the idea of the United States of America.
For nearly 250 years, our veterans have defended the
values that make us strong so that our Nation could
stand as a citadel of liberty, a beacon of freedom, and
a wellspring of possibilities.

Today, I am thinking of all our Nation's veterans, who
put their lives on the line to protect our democracy,
values, and freedom around the world. We honor our
wounded warriors, so many of whom the First Lady and I
have met over the years, who are bound by a common
sense of duty, courage, and optimism, and we remember
those who are still missing in action or prisoners of
war and renew my pledge to bring them home. Our
military families, caregivers, and survivors also
answer the call to serve. I remember so clearly the
pride I felt in our son Beau during his service in Iraq
as well as those mornings I saw the First Lady saying a
prayer for his safe return. Our veterans and their
families give so much to our Nation, and we owe them a
debt we can never fully repay.

As a Nation, we have many obligations, but we only have
one truly sacred obligation: to prepare and equip the
brave women and men we send into harm's way and to care
for them and their loved ones when they return home.
Since the beginning of my Administration, we have
worked to make good on that promise, passing nearly 30
bipartisan laws to support our veterans and service
members and their families, caregivers, and survivors.
That includes the PACT Act--the most significant effort
in our Nation's history to help millions of veterans
exposed to toxic substances during their military
service. Since I signed the PACT Act into law last
year, more than 478,000 veterans and survivors are
already receiving benefits--ensuring that veterans
exposed to burn pits and other harmful substances and
their loved ones get access to the care and support
they need.

My Administration is also committed to ending veteran
suicide and homelessness and ensuring that our veterans
have the resources they need to live full lives and
thrive in their communities. We released a national
strategy to reduce military and veteran suicide by
improving lethal means safety and enhancing crisis care
as well as by addressing the economic, legal, and
mental health issues that impact veterans. The
Department of Veterans Affairs is also funding
community-led suicide prevention programs, which help
connect veterans and their families to needed services.
Every veteran deserves a roof over their head, which is
why we have taken bold actions to end veteran
homelessness, permanently housing more than 40,000
veterans last year and investing $1 billion to provide
supportive services to help homeless and at-risk
veterans and their families. My Budget also proposes
tripling the number of rental-assistance vouchers for
extremely low-income veterans to prevent homelessness.
Further, we have taken steps to improve the economic
security of veterans and their families by expanding
job training programs for transitioning veterans and
their spouses and issuing rules to protect them from
predatory educational institutions. We are also working

to ensure every veteran has access to the benefits and
services they have earned.

Earlier this year, I signed an Executive Order
directing more than 50 actions to improve access to
child care and long-term care for Americans, including
military and veteran families, and to support family
caregivers, especially those who care for our veterans.
Recognizing the talents and contributions of veteran
and military spouses, caregivers, and survivors to our
workforce, I signed an Executive Order establishing the
most comprehensive set of administrative actions in our
Nation's history to support their economic security--
increasing training and employment opportunities for
military spouses in the workforce throughout the
transition to veteran spouses status and encouraging
all Federal agencies to do more to retain military and
veteran spouses through flexible policies. The First
Lady's Joining Forces initiative is further supporting
military and veteran families, caregivers, and
survivors by improving economic opportunities and
expanding resources to promote health and well-being
for this community.

As we mark the 50th anniversary of an all-volunteer
force and the 75th anniversary of the full integration
of women in the Armed Forces and the desegregation of
the troops, my Administration reaffirms our commitment
to supporting everyone who serves in our Armed Forces.
We have taken steps to ensure that the more than
918,000 women veterans enrolled in the Department of
Veterans Affairs health care have equitable access to
benefits and health services, in part by expanding
access to reproductive health care. We have worked to
proactively review the military records of veterans
discharged under ``Don't Ask, Don't Tell'' and to
modernize the process of upgrading discharges to help
all veterans access their earned benefits. We will
continue to support our LGBTQI+ veterans and veterans
of color who have made innumerable contributions to our
Nation and have truly made our military stronger,
tougher, and more capable.

This Veterans Day, may we honor the incredible faith
that our veterans hold, not just in our country but in
all of us. They are the solid-steel backbone of our
Nation, and we must endeavor to continue being worthy
of their sacrifices by working toward a more perfect
Union and protecting the freedoms that they have fought
to defend.

In respect and recognition of the contributions our
veterans and their families, caregivers, and survivors
have made to the cause of peace and freedom around the
world, the Congress has provided (5 U.S.C. 6103(a))
that November 11 of each year shall be set aside as a
legal public holiday to honor our Nation's veterans.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of
the United States of America, do hereby proclaim
November 11, 2023, as Veterans Day. I encourage all
Americans to recognize the valor, courage, and
sacrifice of these patriots through appropriate
ceremonies and private prayers and by observing two
minutes of silence for our Nation's veterans. I also
call upon Federal, State, and local officials to
display the flag of the United States of America and to
participate in patriotic activities in their
communities.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
seventh day of November, in the year of our Lord two
thousand twenty-three, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and forty-
eighth.