Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, this is a good bill. It is a bipartisan bill, and it is a bill that, I think, meets the needs of our services for their military construction, as well as for our veterans and our military families. As far as our military construction, if our services needed it, it is in the bill. If they didn't need it, it is not in the bill. I am so happy that we have taken very strong steps to address the claims backlog at the Veterans Administration. We have taken strong steps to ensure that we will soon have coordinated, interoperable electronic health records between the Veterans Affairs Department and the Department of Defense; and I am happy that in this bill, together, we will assure accountability for our Nation's veterans. Mr. Chairman, when our men and women took the oath to serve our country as part of our Nation's military, they took an oath to serve and defend; and when they completed that service, our Nation has, in fact, figuratively, written a check assuring that they will have the benefits that they need when they come back following their service. It is our duty as a Nation, our duty as a Congress, and certainly our duty as a part of this committee, to make sure that that check that we figuratively wrote to those veterans never, ever comes back marked ``insufficient funds'' and to make sure that that check--the benefits of that check don't come back redeemed in a delayed fashion.…”