Political Quotes

“Under the present system, as I understand it, nurses at VA hospitals do not receive cost-of-living adjustments. It is based on locality pay. In many areas around the country, nurses in our VA hospitals have not been getting raises. It is a bit more complicated an issue than just a simple amendment to deal with this, but for the last 3 years, in many veterans hospitals there have been no cost-of-living or locality increases during a robust economy. Many of these, mostly women but some men, work very hard on behalf of our veterans. I urge, if we could, maybe enter into a colloquy in some way and look at report language in which we might examine that issue in terms of how, for nurses who work in these hospitals, we may be able to work out some better pay increase arrangement for them at these VA hospitals.”