Political Quotes

“I want to thank the body for this. So we had a chance to do the right thing here, folks. We did the right thing with Josh Jacobs and veterans' benefits. Now we have the opportunity to pass the Elizabeth Dole Veterans Programs Improvement Act of 2023. This legislative package includes five veterans bills that were considered and unanimously approved by the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee back in February and delivers on many of our longstanding priorities for our veterans and leading veterans services organizations. I am going to tell you what it does, and then I am going to talk about something specifically. It expands home- and community-based support for aging and disabled veterans--home- and community-based support. Among other provisions, it also helps Native Americans and Alaskan Native veterans achieve homeownership by lowering interest rates on VA Native American direct loans and reforming this program so it can work for our veterans--particularly, our Native veterans. The part that I understand that is controversial is that it directs the VA to explore medical cannabis as an alternative treatment for veterans experiencing chronic pain and symptoms of PTSD. Why? So that we--but more, importantly, the veterans--have a better understanding of the role medicinal cannabis plays in treating the wounds of war. The jury is still out on this.…”