José E. Serrano: “I want to thank the gentleman for his amendment. I did not have as illustrious a military career as he had, but in the…”

“I want to thank the gentleman for his amendment. I did not have as illustrious a military career as he had, but in the sixties I was proud to serve our country. There is something that troubles me a lot, and I have to say it. There is always so much talk about our veterans, our veterans, our veterans, and yet, at the same time, people cut the Veterans Health Administration. At the same time, they try to take away preferences that they have gotten and they have earned the hard way. When we think of veterans, we shouldn't only think of that picture we always see of the person in uniform and so on. There is also the veteran in a wheelchair. There are the young kids that come here and greet us Monday nights sometimes, with a missing limb and so on. So, to me, I am either a contradiction or I am the way a lot of people should be. I will have to be really forced into voting for Congress to declare war. Given a choice, I don't want any war. But coming back from that war, I have become a big-spending liberal when it comes to veterans. Give them whatever they want. Give them whatever they need. Give them whatever they deserve. And I mean that sincerely. So this, to me, is an important amendment that the gentleman brings up. This, to me, is one that sticks to our comments that we care about the veterans.…”