Paul Coverdell: “the Senate just conducted two very significant and unprecedented votes--unprecedented in the respect that, as the good…”

“the Senate just conducted two very significant and unprecedented votes--unprecedented in the respect that, as the good chairman of the Senate Armed Services committee has pointed out, this is the first time that the Congress has taken steps to provide health care equity for our Nation's military retirees. This effort was not led by the White House. It was led by Congress and by military retirees across the country. I have been deeply involved in this issue for many years now. As my colleagues know, I am the lead cosponsor of S. 2003, Senator Johnson's bill to restore the broken promise of lifetime health care made to military retirees. The mere presence of this bill, as Chairman Warner noted, drove the debate on military retiree health care this year and moved us to the point where we are today--on the verge of enacting the first comprehensive solution to the military retiree health care issue. This is a matter of fairness for military retirees, but our goal must be accomplished without destroying the fiscal discipline that has made this day possible.”