Bob Filner: “I have had the honor, privilege of chairing the Veterans' Affairs Committee for the last 4 years. The voters of this…”

“I have had the honor, privilege of chairing the Veterans' Affairs Committee for the last 4 years. The voters of this Nation have changed the party in charge, and so I think this will probably be my last day on the floor as the chairman. I just want to thank the veterans of this Nation from around the country and around the world. I have met with them. They have changed me as a person. I have learned incredible amounts from them. I have learned how much we have to do to fulfill our commitment to our Nation's veterans. I think we have done a lot in this committee for the last 4 years. Some of our staff is here, and I want to thank them because they have made it all possible. In fact, Mr. Speaker, we have a fellow from the Military Fellows Program who worked with us for a year that the Speaker set up for us to bring in the military folks from different services and from different occupations to both help us and to help them with a year on Capitol Hill. One of those is completing his year just about now, Ricco Player. We want to thank you, Ricco, for all of your work. As a marine, he is going to be deployed to Afghanistan after Christmas, so we wish him the best but we want to thank him for the work. He has taught us a lot, and hope that you will bring back some of our knowledge to your fellow marines. In the last 4 years, Mr. Speaker, we have added almost $25 billion to the health care needs of our veterans.…”