Political Quotes

“Mr. President, too often this body talks about supporting our veterans while doing far too little to pass critical legislation that would actually help them. The Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, of which I am a member-- and I am joined by my colleague on that committee, Senator Tillis, with whom I have worked on a number of issues in our time together in the Senate. Chairman Isakson and Ranking Member Blumenthal have had in this committee perhaps the best cooperation of any standing committee in the Senate. And we continue to work to address challenges facing veterans and the Veterans' Administration. Through hearings and legislative markups, we have listened and learned from veterans. As a result, we have worked together across the aisle to produce legislation that reflects the needs of those who served our country. It is a minimum we ought to be doing, and I think we are generally doing that pretty well. One result of our efforts has been the bipartisan Veterans First Act. It is a good bill that comprehensively addresses a host of issues facing veterans, including education benefits, homelessness, health care, and VA accountability. As we see too often, even commonsense legislation like Vets First can't make its way to the floor. Our inability to act on this doesn't mean we shouldn't try to address specific issues that have bipartisan support.…”