Gwen Graham: “it seems the issue now is not whether we are going to meet this responsibility which we have taken on ourselves by a…”

“it seems the issue now is not whether we are going to meet this responsibility which we have taken on ourselves by a vote of this Senate and the House of Representatives to provide to returning combat veterans, men and women who actually were under fire, a 2-year period of access to the Veterans' Administration health care services. The issue seems to be when we should make this commitment. My answer to that question would be: Now. The fact is, unless this war goes on much longer than the administration or any American prays that it will, there will be returning veterans, particularly reservists who, as soon as they complete their period of active duty, are going to be eligible for these health care costs. I hope we are not taking the position that this war is going to drag on so long that no reservist, no National Guard member will be eligible for these benefits prior to September 30 of this year. There also will be regular duty combat soldiers who will be separating from service and therefore become eligible. I believe, if we are concerned about the morale of our service men and women and wish to show American support for their gallant service, there is no better way to do it than to indicate that we are fully committed to meet our responsibilities to those men and women when they return home. The issue is, is there enough money in the VA budget to accept this new responsibility?”