Political Quotes

“I thank the gentlewoman from Arizona for yielding to me and for all her hard work on behalf of our veterans. Mr. Speaker, as the ranking member of the Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs Subcommittee, I rise in support of S. 2258, the Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act. Unlike Social Security COLA increases, Congress must act each year to provide veterans with the COLA increase that they earned and deserved. I was proud to introduce the corresponding legislation in the House with our subcommittee chairman, Jon Runyan. Together, we also introduced legislation to make this yearly adjustment automatic. So today, the House will pass a number of bills that are designed to meet the bipartisan goal of ensuring our Nation's heroes receive all the benefits they have earned. But there is an important bill that has been blocked from consideration in the House. That bill is H.R. 2529, the Veteran Spouses Equal Treatment Act, which would provide all married veterans and their families access to Federal benefits that they deserve. Last week in the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, only one Republican had the courage to vote to provide access to VA benefits to legally married, same-sex couples, regardless of where they live, couples who received the benefits while they were in the military but lost them upon becoming veterans if they reside in certain States. We heard all types of pitiful excuses.…”