Political Quotes

“I thank the gentlewoman from Arizona (Ms. Sinema). I really appreciate your comments and your concern for this significant problem. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take a moment to outline something that I have become aware of in my time here in office. While this problem is very monumental, there are many small things that the VA can do right now to make a difference. One of these changes can be made by the VA immediately. I would like to read a letter I received recently from an American Legion representative in my district that illustrates the problem better than I could. Dear Dr. Benishek: Here is the situation. Recently I encountered a suicidal veteran from the Sault area who had severe PTSD, 100 percent VA disabled. He called me on a Wednesday hysterical and said that he was contemplating suicide. He was traveling around with his wife in the car at the time. I thought this was a very dangerous situation. After several back-and-forth conversations with him, I found out he was not taking any medicines and had not seen his VA psychiatrist in a long time because, as he put it, the psychiatrist was not helping him and it seemed that he didn't really care. He insisted that he stay at Wilwin, the American Legion veterans facility, but I told him we needed his psychiatrist's okay. As a veteran myself, I thought I should try to help him the best that I could. So I called the VA Suicide Hotline to get answers on how I should handle the situation. Here's the problem.…”