Political Quotes

“I stand in strong support of the veterans bill we are about to vote on as well. I commend everyone who worked on it on both sides of the aisle, certainly including Senator McCain, who was here a minute ago, Senator Sanders, who is on the floor, and Senator Burr, who is the ranking Republican member of the committee. I am strongly supporting it, mostly with three key provisions in mind--one I have been working on since well before this scandal and this crisis that has engulfed the VA broke; that is, to dislodge, to get moving on crucial expanded VA outpatient clinics in 18 States around the country, including Louisiana. Mr. President, 26 clinics; 2 of those are in Louisiana, in Lafayette and Lake Charles. Those should have been built by now. They have been on the books, they have been in the VA plan for years. Through what the VA readily admits was a bureaucratic glitch--a complete screw-up at the VA--they were delayed for a significant period of time. There was another glitch in terms of the so-called scoring of these clinics. That required legislation, which the House passed. But that legislation, which I was spearheading in the Senate, has been balled up in the Senate. Finally, the corrective legislation, to get moving, to get these clinics done--including in Lafayette and Lake Charles, LA--is in this bill. So I have been committed to that for months--since well before this scandal erupted.…”