Political Quotes

“Today, it is my honor and privilege to bring H.R. 4974, the fiscal year 2017 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act to the House for consideration. I present this bill alongside my very good friend and ranking member of the subcommittee, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Bishop), who has been an essential partner all along the way. I greatly appreciate the participation and support of our committee members on both sides of the aisle as we considered priorities and funding levels for the important programs in our bill. We analyzed the budget request, developed questions, and held oversight hearings to get direct feedback from members of all the services, the Department of Defense leadership, the Secretary of the VA, and the VA inspector general. We received over 1,000 requests from Members, again, from both sides of the aisle, and we gave them full and fair consideration. The bill is also the product of actively listening to the concerns of our veterans and veteran advocates, servicemembers, spouses, caregivers, military family members, and healthcare providers both within and outside the VA over the past year. As we consider this bill, I can't proceed further without noting that this subcommittee has a formidable level of support from the chair and ranking member of the full committee. So I thank Chairman Rogers and the ranking member, Mrs. Lowey.…”