John Kerry: “what I said was that the Senator says we do not know what happened to this person. I will go back into the Record. That…”

“what I said was that the Senator says we do not know what happened to this person. I will go back into the Record. That is what the Senator says. He says it is unanswered. I have pointed out that it is not unanswered. The fate has been determined. This is not a handful. I heard the Senator from Iowa say just a handful have been answered. I do not consider when General Vessey gives them 196 cases that we are down to 73, that more than 116 cases is a handful. Those are 116 American families that have an answer today. And I am proud to stand on this floor advocating a policy that will get more answers for families, not less. The Senator suggests that when the chiefs of these veterans groups speak they speak for all veterans. He cites the Vietnam Veterans of America. Mr. President, I am one of the four founders of the Vietnam Veterans of America. I know that at least one of the other four founders believes as I do. That is 50 percent. And I know that many of my friends are members. I am a lifetime member. Leadership does not speak for me on this. I also know that in the VFW there are thousands of members who do not share the opinion of some of the leaders. That is true in all of these organizations. And no Senator should be intimidated by the notion that when a President of an organization or somebody writes a letter it represents all of the views of all of the organizations.”