Political Quotes

“I come to the floor today in recognition of the approaching Memorial Day holiday to express my deepest gratitude, respect, and appreciation for the men and women of our Armed Forces and for our veterans. In order to commemorate our vets, the first bill to be marked up and passed out of my Appropriations Committee was the Fiscal Year 2015 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies bill. I wanted to make sure that there is no question in anyone's mind that veterans are my No. 1 priority. As the chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I have put money in the Federal checkbook to improve the veterans health care system so that wounded and disabled warriors get the care and benefits they need. I have worked to ensure veterans suffering from post- traumatic stress disorder, PTSD, or a traumatic brain injury, TBI, receive better diagnosis and treatment through the Defense Department and the VA. In the bill that passed out of my committee today, we established even more checks on the VA by including an additional $5 million to investigate the wait time practices at all VA medical treatment facilities nationwide. Our committee must invoke even more oversight to ensure that the tragedy that occurred at the Phoenix, AZ VA hospital is not repeated again in other hospitals. The greatest power my committee has is holding the VA accountable by closing the purse strings of their budget.…”