Joe Cunningham: “Veterans health care, when we add $1.7 billion last year and add $1.36 billion this year over last year's, it is a…”

“Veterans health care, when we add $1.7 billion last year and add $1.36 billion this year over last year's, it is a slight commitment to show that the veterans are important. The medical research in this bill, one may say, why do we have medical research in a veterans bill? Well, all the way back from World War II, veterans that had nuclear reactions from the bombs where we put our people in harm's way, from the Desert Storm Syndrome to Agent Orange to anthrax shots, and for example, how does anthrax shots, with more and more women in our military, affect a woman who may have a child? That medical research is very, very important within the military. There is an issue that I have been working on since 1991, and quite often when there has been a promise given by someone like General MacArthur and the President of the United States almost 60 years ago, it is difficult to get that priority in a bill. We have been able to do that with our leadership's help.”