Political Quotes

“in a similar vein, 9 months ago, in August of last year, the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee reported the Veterans' Benefits Enhancement Act to the Senate floor. Today, there are about 150,000 young Americans serving, sacrificing, and suffering in Iraq. This legislation, which is on the Senate floor today--we are trying to get it so we can debate this bill--would provide much needed and long overdue benefits for veterans young and old. This legislation on which we had to file cloture--here it is: Republican filibusters, 66 and still counting. They are going up, it seems, a couple times a week. It is hard to comprehend, but we have had to file cloture on allowing the Senate to proceed to debate on an issue of this importance. We should have gone to it Thursday night. No, we had to file cloture on it. We are going to vote on cloture tomorrow, and then, if we get cloture, they will make us use the 30 hours, waste the 30 hours, just eat up time. This bill has 38 provisions and 8 titles, all extremely important. It expands eligibility for traumatic injury insurance, extends eligibility for specially adapted housing benefits to veterans who have been burned severely. As the Presiding Officer knows, those improvised explosive devices cause infernos, and people are burned often. The bill increases benefits for veterans pursuing apprenticeships or on-the-job training programs. It restores veteran status to Filipino veterans who served under U.S.…”