Political Quotes

“The bill before us today, the Dignified Burial and Other Veterans' Benefits Improvement Act of 2012, S. 3202, is a minibus collection of veterans measures that primarily focus on ensuring that our veterans receive proper burials that reflect and honor their service. The bill also establishes and expands several health care and transition assistance benefits, and it names four VA health facilities after Americans with distinguished honor. I appreciate the hard work of all of our colleagues in the House and in the Senate and of our staffs on the measures that were included in this bill. We all share the same goal--helping our veterans and their families receive the benefits that they have earned and deserve. This bill advances that goal, and I support its passage. Title I of this bill will allow the Secretary of the VA to provide a casket or urn to those veterans who die without a known next of kin, without identification or without financial means, thereby ensuring that these veterans are laid to rest with the utmost dignity. Mr. Speaker, there is also an allocation of $5 million in this title to attempt to address the longstanding maintenance, operation, and ownership issues at Clark Veterans Cemetery in the Philippines. Along with soldiers and civilians of other nationalities, over 2,200 American veterans are buried at Clark.…”