Political Quotes

“my thanks to Senator Thune for yielding and the Presiding Officer for presiding over the balance of the day. I am here with sadness--not for the first time and, tragically, not for the last, I fear--because I am here to speak to the decimation and destruction of veterans services ongoing in real time, right before our eyes, affecting real people in their daily lives. And it is a tragedy and a travesty because the people affected are our Nation's heroes, whom we all say we respect, but in practice, right now, Elon Musk and Donald Trump have launched an assault to degrade and denigrate. Donald Trump has called veterans suckers. Elon Musk shows the same kind of disrespect in the cuts, in hiring freezes, and in reductions in amounts of research--a panoply, a tsunami, of cuts in both resources and workers that are essential to the VA's functions in providing healthcare as well as PACT Act benefits that veterans have earned. They deserve them without delay. And this assault on veterans is unprecedented in our Nation's history. We had a hearing this morning in the VA Committee on various pieces of legislation, some of them probably positive in the effects that they may have if we pass them. I have cosponsored some of them and will support others. But their meaning and effect will be absolutely eviscerated if these cuts--including 80,000 workers in addition to the 2,400 already fired--are, in fact, discharged in the future.…”