Barbara Boxer: “I say to my friend, when I opened up my remarks, I stated that 6,916 Americans have been injured in Iraq. My friend is…”

“I say to my friend, when I opened up my remarks, I stated that 6,916 Americans have been injured in Iraq. My friend is right, it is an enormous number. According to a report in the L.A. Times, 57 percent have been injured so severely that they are unable to return to duty. These are very severe injuries. My point is, is this the time, then, to have a budget that the President--we found out about it because The Washington Post got a copy--cuts VA by $910 million? There are these many Americans, and God knows what the total will be by the end of the month. 'We are not turning back.' The President says that over and over again. 'We are staying the course.' Well, why do we not look at this course? Why do we not look at these policies? Why do we not see if there are ways to better handle this, to internationalize this, to take the burden off of the backs of our young people, as Senator Kerry has said? Where is the plan? I yield to my friend.”