Gene Taylor: “the modification, that the majority was so kind to agree to, would name this year's defense bill after one of the finest…”

“the modification, that the majority was so kind to agree to, would name this year's defense bill after one of the finest gentlemen to ever serve in this body, a former soldier, a statesman from the State of Mississippi, Sonny Montgomery, and the author of the Montgomery GI bill. The bill does a lot of things this year that I think Sonny would be very proud of, particularly extending the TRICARE privileges to guardsmen and reservists, and since we are told that former Congressman Montgomery is under the weather, we hope that he is aware of what we are doing today because, again, I cannot think of anyone in our Nation who has done more to advance the Guard and Reserve than Sonny Montgomery. He caught a heck of a lot of heat from people when he used his friendship with then-President Bush to have the Guard and Reserve called up for the first Gulf War. The decision he made then, the decision President Bush made then, was absolutely the right decision, and it has led to the one-force policy that our Nation enjoys today. So, again, I want to thank the majority for working with me on that.”