claim: Representative Frederica Wilson has never supported a bill intended to help military veterans.
origin: Amid an ongoing public dispute between President Donald Trump and Rep. Frederica Wilson over the contents of a phone conversation Trump had with Myeshia Johnson, the widow of Sergeant La David Johnson, some conservatives have turned their attention to Wilsonâ€™s past policies on military veterans.Â On 21 October 2017, the conservative Western Journalism web siteÂ reported: < Rep. Frederica Wilson has cast herself as the champion of veterans and their families with her recent attacks on President Donald Trump over comments he denies making to a Gold Star family. However, when it was time to cast a vote for veterans, the record shows that the Florida Democrat has not supported key legislation â€” or any legislation supporting veterans at all, for that matter. > The article goes on to accurately describe parts of Wilsonâ€™s voting pattern on veterans-related legislation but also fails to mention other bills that she has co-sponsored and voted for, which were intended to assist veterans. Thus, the article gives a woefully incomplete and misleading picture of Wilsonâ€™s legislative history in regards to military veterans.Â The claim, in the Western Journalism articleâ€™s headline, that Wilson has â€œnever supported a pro-Veteran billâ€ is utterly and demonstrably false.Â The VoteSmart.org web siteâ€”cited by Western Journalism, and in an earlier Fox News reportâ€”does not exhaustively list every bill which was in any way related to veterans, or had implications, but rather selects â€œkey votes.â€ This incomplete collection is the basis of both articles. That VoteSmart.org summary states that since Wilson became a member of the House of Representatives in 2011, she has: There are many legislative measures that were not included in the â€œkey votesâ€ summary on VoteSmart.org, or in the Western Journalism article. The following is a very small sample of Wilsonâ€™s participation in legislation intended to help military veterans. An extensive list can be found here.Â Â