Kathy Castor: “I thank my colleague from Florida for yielding the time and for her dedication to the Nation's veterans as well. Mr.…”

“I thank my colleague from Florida for yielding the time and for her dedication to the Nation's veterans as well. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of designating the Bay Pines VA Medical Center in Pinellas County, Florida, the Congressman C.W. Bill Young VA Medical Center. I am very proud to cosponsor this bill, and I would like to thank Chairman Miller of Florida, Congresswoman Brown, and all of our colleagues for honoring Bill Young with such a designation. I have been fortunate to serve alongside Bill Young for the 7 years that I have been here. Seven out of the 43 years that Mr. Young served in the Congress, we represented St. Petersburg and the Tampa Bay area together. And I know I speak for my predecessors, Jim Davis and Sam Gibbons, who also passed last year, when I say that Congressman Bill Young was a gentleman and an outstanding partner for the interests of the Tampa Bay area and the State of Florida. It is very appropriate that we honor Bill Young by naming the Bay Pines VA Medical Center after him. He was a fixture at the Bay Pines Veterans Day and Memorial Day ceremonies every year. But more importantly, he was a fixture when there was no ceremony, when he would visit wounded soldiers in the hospital or at their homes, when there was no fanfare, and he just determined that it was just his desire to ensure that the servicemembers and their families received the care that they deserved and that they had earned.…”