Congressman John Carter (R-TX31) has today been awarded the Colonel Arthur T. Marix Congressional Leadership Award for consistent strong support of national defense and the uniformed services community by the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA).

"It is a great honor and privilege to receive this award," said Carter. "I dedicate it to our troops at Fort Hood, and all the individuals who worked so hard with our office to push the initiatives we introduced this session to support our men and women in uniform and their families. I hope we can use the successes we have achieved thus far to bring every one of these initiatives into law before we adjourn this year."

Carter, Co-Chairman of the House Army Caucus, authored and successfully passed into law this session the Military Spouses Residency Relief Act, to allow spouses to claim the same state of residency as their military member. He has also introduced the Military Spouses Employment Act to provide tax incentives to encourage employers to hire military spouses.

The former Texas judge represents the Fort Hood area, and led national efforts to provide support for the casualties of the November 5 attack by introducing the Fort Hood Families Benefits Protection Act to raise their status to the same level as casualties of the 9-11 Pentagon attack. Carter also introduced the Military Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act to protect service members who report radical Islamic activities to help avoid similar attacks in the future.