Political Quotes

“I will be very brief. This is a bipartisan amendment offered by my colleague from New York, the gentleman from the Second Congressional District, Congressman Peter King, and myself, to transfer $10 million to mental health programs within the Department of Defense. It is fully offset. Madam Chair, 22 veterans every day are committing suicide; 273,000 veterans have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury since 2000; and the pace of post-traumatic stress disorder is going to require new thinking, new innovations, new technologies, new partnerships, and collaborations. That's exactly what this bipartisan amendment crafted by Congressman King and myself does. This amendment creates new public-private partnerships between the Department of Defense and teaching hospitals and research institutions for the research, the treatment, and outreach on military mental health matters. This is not a matter of partisanship, this is a matter of doing the right thing for our veterans. It was my honor to work together on a bipartisan basis with the gentleman from New York (Mr. King), and I urge my colleagues to support this amendment. I reserve the balance of my time.”