Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, for the past half of a century people wearing the uniform of the United States of America in federally-owned buildings have been telling young 18-, 17-, 19-, and 20-year-old enlistees that if they served their country honorably for 20 years, that upon retirement they would receive free health care for them and their spouse in a military facility for the rest of their lives. By and large, our Nation did a pretty good job of honoring that promise until about a decade ago. Then, with the demise of the Soviet Union, the subsequent drawdown, the subsequent reductions in the defense budget, the military health care system started telling these military retirees when they hit 65, we are sorry, we cannot see you anymore. Go see a doctor out in Medicare. They justifiably feel betrayed, and betrayed is the proper word. They were made a promise. They kept their end of the promise, and their Nation let them down. Today I am going to ask my colleagues, Democrats and Republicans, to honor that promise. After all, great nations keep their word.”