Dusty Johnson: “I join Senator McCain and the other cosponsors in support of this legislation. We have a fundamental question before us…”

“I join Senator McCain and the other cosponsors in support of this legislation. We have a fundamental question before us, and that is whether the military retirees of this Nation deserve to have the same kind of health care system that Members of this body have, or other Federal employees, through the Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan. That is the amendment that the military retiree organizations are asking to have and we can, once and for all, be done with the question about whether we are going to live up to our commitment to our military personnel in terms of the medical care that they were promised and which they deserve. I think there is an across-the-board agreement in this body that if we are truly going to live up to this obligation, this legislation is what we have to pass. It would involve a waiver, and the fundamental question we have, then, is whether we have 60 votes in this body to get into the surplus dollars, or whether those surplus dollars will remain available for tax cuts and other purposes. If you believe that military health care is a first priority, ought to come first, rather than the crumbs that come after we have made other budget decisions, you will support the Johnson-McCain amendment.”