Marsha Blackburn: “Thank you, Madam President. This weekend, thousands of Tennesseans and, of course, millions across this Nation are going…”

“Thank you, Madam President. This weekend, thousands of Tennesseans and, of course, millions across this Nation are going to pause and give thanks for our veterans. Quite frankly, this is something we should be doing every single day. I am just amazed and so grateful that there are men and women, like the Presiding Officer, who have worn the uniform and who have served-- brave men and women who wake up every day in some of the most dangerous places on the face of the Earth and do a job that would bring many of us to our knees. We look at this and say it is basically impossible. When our veterans have done their part and come home, they find themselves facing another set of struggles. The challenges the veterans face are well documented, and we hear about them: long waits and long lines at VA hospitals and clinics, long recoveries from battle wounds that they have suffered, and severe emotional and mental health struggles that, if left untreated, could end in tragedy. There are systems in place to help our returning heroes. We just need to be using these correctly. Earlier this year, the VA OIG--Office of Inspector General--released a report showing that the agency's system for keeping track of controlled prescriptions had almost entirely broken down. Think about that. We are in the middle of an opioid crisis in this country. There is a system in place, but the VA's system for keeping track of all of these prescriptions had almost entirely broken down.…”