Political Quotes

“I would like to point out for the Record that both Mr. Walz and Mr. Wenstrup are both veterans, and we are so grateful for their service to our country in so many different ways. Mr. Chair, it was our first commander-in-chief, George Washington, who said, and I paraphrase, that we can never expect young men and women to rise to the occasion to fight for our country and for our freedom unless we take care of those who have already sacrificed on the battlefield. So the wonderful thing about serving on the Committee for Veterans Affairs, Mr. Chair, is that it is completely bipartisan. This is all about our veterans. We just love them in the State of Maine--66,000 veterans strong in our Second District of Maine, Mr. Chair. We have one of the highest percentages of our population that are veterans in the country, and we are very, very proud of that. I must say that, in my dealings with Togus--which is, by the way, Mr. Chair, the first military hospital in the country. It is about 150 years old now. They set up to take care of our Civil War veterans about 150 years ago. In any event, in talking with the folks at Togus, they made it very clear to me, Mr. Chair, that one of their biggest problems they have, and it is ongoing, is: How do we hire quickly and retain the best quality doctors, nurses, and medical technicians to care for our heroes? That is why I am so excited and grateful for this opportunity to vote for H.R. 1367, because it helps solve one of these problems.…”