Phoenix, Ariz. (CNN)—President Barack Obama was in Phoenix Monday to talk to the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention about the military commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Obama pledged: “If a project doesn’t support our troops, we will not fund it. If a system doesn’t perform, we will terminate it. And if Congress sends me a defense bill loaded with a bunch of pork, I will veto it. We will do right by our troops and taxpayers. We will build the 21st century military that we need.”

Outside the Phoenix Convention Center, a mixed crowd expressed their feelings about the president’s efforts to reform health care.

Many members of various labor unions carried signs showing that support.

A protester said he was scared the entire country will get stuck in a government run health care system.

Over the weekend, the Obama administration stepped back from its insistence on a public health insurance option.