Barbara Boxer: “I will take just a moment of the Senate's time to thank a few people who worked hard to put together a colloquy. This is…”

“I will take just a moment of the Senate's time to thank a few people who worked hard to put together a colloquy. This is a very important conversation between three Senators that deals with the critical issue of the health of our soldiers who are coming back from combat. So I will read this for the Record. This colloquy is about a Comprehensive Casualty Care Center at the San Diego Naval Medical Center, and this is the colloquy. It starts off with myself saying: I would like to thank the Senator from Alaska and the Senator from Hawaii for their outstanding leadership on this bill and especially for their commitment to providing care for our Nation's combat-wounded servicemembers. I understand that I have a commitment from both Senators that they will work to ensure that $6.2 million in funding is included in this bill for the establishment of a Comprehensive Combat Casualty Care Center at the San Diego Naval Medical Center. This vitally important funding will ensure that for the first time, combat-wounded servicemembers from the West Coast--who have endured approximately 25 percent of all casualties--will be able to receive treatment and recover from their wounds closer to their home. Since many of the most severely wounded require months of treatment and rehabilitation, this will alleviate significant hardship on our servicemembers and their families. No longer will they have to travel to Texas or to the East Coast for treatment.…”