Political Quotes

“Madam President, there are 2 days every year when this Nation focuses special attention on those who served--Memorial Day and Veterans Day. I plan to approach this Memorial Day by expressing gratitude to those who have served and honoring the memory of those who sacrificed their lives for our freedom. When you serve in the military, supporting your buddy is everything. So as we honor the memory of those lost in action, we know they would want us also to care for their buddies who came home. Advances in military medicine since the Vietnam war have made it possible for many to survive the wounds of war that they would not have otherwise been able to do in earlier conflicts. But these veterans still do not return as they left, and many more return to the scourge of post-traumatic stress disorders. I will see a lot of veterans this Memorial Day weekend. I would like to be able to tell the veterans of Alaska that their Federal Government is doing right by them, but when it comes to the matter of health care, and particularly the failings we see with the Choice Program, I can't in good conscience tell them things are better in Alaska. It has been a while since I have been to the floor to speak in relatively bleak terms about the care our veterans receive in Alaska because for some while things had been improving. They had been improving for much of the last 8 years, but now it seems as if this pendulum is swinging the other way.…”