Political Quotes

“I want to thank my friend from the great State of Montana, Senator Tester. This is actually a bill that he and I have cosponsored out of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, and it is a companion bill that we are going to be bringing over from the House to vote on here in a couple of minutes to hopefully get this on the President's desk very soon to get him to sign it. There is a lot of legislation that focuses on these kinds of issues: How do we address this growing problem of suicide in our country? The real tragedy is that all suicides are tragic, but there are very high numbers of suicides that impact our veterans. My State, the great State of Alaska, has more vets per capita than any State in the country. We are proud of that patriotic fact. Sadly, we also have some of the highest suicide rates in America. So since I have come to this body, I have had the privilege to serve my fellow Alaskans, and focusing on suicide has been a very, very important issue for me. It is a very important issue for my constituents, and it is a very important issue for America. As a matter of fact, the first bill I cosponsored as a U.S. Senator was called the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention Act, which was named after a young marine who had a number of deployments, and, unfortunately, when he was seeking help, he couldn't really get it, and this young, brave hero took his own life. This should be a priority for the Senate.…”