Julia Brownley: “Thank you to the gentlewoman from Arizona. I rise to support the motion to instruct conferees. I grew up in a military…”

“Thank you to the gentlewoman from Arizona. I rise to support the motion to instruct conferees. I grew up in a military home. I personally understand the sacrifices our servicemembers and their families make in service to our Nation. My father was the proudest marine, my brother was a P-3 pilot for 20 years in the Navy, and my uncle served in both World War II and Vietnam. When I was elected to Congress, I asked to serve on the House Veterans' Affairs Committee to represent our future veterans at Naval Base Ventura County and throughout our country to represent our current veterans that live in Ventura County and throughout the country, and to represent our military families who also commit to serve our Nation. One of the greatest pleasures of working on the Veterans' Affairs Committee is addressing the issues at hand in a bipartisan way, and I want to thank Chairman Miller for his leadership and Ranking Member Michaud because this committee has remained in a bipartisan mode to address these issues. Every week, we discuss innovative ways to improve access to good-paying jobs, how to strengthen education opportunities for our veterans, to reduce wait times for critical and fundamental health care, and much, much more. I was deeply honored when my colleagues elected me to serve as the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Health to ensure our veterans' health needs are properly addressed, including improving access to traditional and mental health care.…”