Political Quotes

“Mr. Chair, let me first thank the distinguished chairman as well as the distinguished ranking member for their great work with respect to this legislation. This amendment makes a modest adjustment to the bill that would increase funding for the Defense Health Program by $10 million. It is budget neutral by reducing the Department of Defense's departmentwide operation and maintenance funds by a corresponding amount. Let me first take this opportunity to express my strong support for the critical work of the Defense Department overall. The adjustment made by this amendment will still leave the Department with an extremely robust amount of operation and maintenance funding while ensuring that necessary resources are available for vital research and development that will aid both servicemembers and civilians alike. The Defense Health Program oversees all medical and health care programs for the Defense Department. DHP's research and development activities help advance medical research to provide innovative solutions for servicemembers and their families facing medical trauma as well as advance the state of medical science in areas that benefit our broader society. Over the last 10 years, there has been a significant increase in the amount of reported cases of PTSD in servicemembers. These increases are seen in both those deployed overseas as well as in nondeployed servicemembers.…”