Political Quotes

“I thank the chairman of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, who has correctly and appropriately stated what our goal is in seeking the transfer of funding--a goal that will be fulfilled by the bill coming to us from the House. It is, in fact, coming to us from the House, but as Chairman Isakson has very correctly stated, it is the result of an initiative that he--and I have been very proud to join him in this effort--initiated with the VA Secretary at our meeting last week. And the leadership of the House has joined in that effort. I am proud and honored to be his partner in this effort, which is absolutely necessary to continue the VA's health care programs. This transfer of $3.4 billion is required by the fact that the community and care programs of the VA will in effect exhaust their revenue streams unless we enable the VA to use some of this Choice funding in this effort. It is necessary to permit VA programs and veterans to have access to money that is there. It is for the same purpose as the community and care programs. They are, in fact, identical programs in terms of their basic efforts and goals. The meeting we had--that Chairman Isakson had last week--was very productive and important in reaching a consensus, a bipartisan consensus, and I urge my Democratic colleagues on this side of the aisle to join this effort to enable VA programs to go forward and to make sure we continue to keep faith with our veterans.…”