Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding. I rise in opposition to this bill, and I adopt many of the premises that my friend, Mr. Walz, adopted. I also adopt the premise of Dr. Roe, who is a really dear friend of mine, that Tim Walz is the kind of guy you wouldn't mind riding across the country with. That is because he is honest, he is knowledgeable, and he is sincere. Frankly, I attribute all of those same characteristics to Dr. Roe. But, Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to this bill. Everybody on this floor agrees that our veterans deserve the best care possible. There is no debate about that. All of us in this House are focused on that goal. But this bill does nothing to meet that goal, in my view. This bill is part of--and I do not ascribe it to Dr. Roe--a significantly long history of a partisan effort to scapegoat Federal civil servants that has been going on for decades, long before Dr. Roe got in it or Mr. Walz got in it. It is a follow-on to the dangerous hiring freeze the Trump administration imposed in January and the repeated attempts over the last several years to extract more and more cuts from Federal employees' pay and benefits, which contributed over $150 billion in cuts in pay and benefits over the last 6 years. Stripping away the rights of VA employees to work in a nonpartisan, professional environment will not improve the care our veterans and their families deserve and expect from the VA medical system.…”