Political Quotes

“I will reiterate the extent to which this motto came directly from a quote from President Lincoln at his Second Inaugural Address at a particularly important and historic moment in our Nation's history. That was the point. The literal culmination of the Civil War had occurred almost around that exact date or was occurring shortly thereafter and shortly before the President was to be assassinated, I believe in April, a month after this speech. To go back and edit this and then go around changing the VA to pull out a quote directly from Lincoln just, again, shows a lack of focus on what the VA should be focused on. That is the point of the amendment. Can we just get back to trying to figure out how to provide care and do what we said we are going to do for millions of veterans who are tired of waiting and having technological systems that aren't working properly so they have trouble getting in and out of care and being able to use care in the private sector? There are lots of things we need to be fixing at the VA, and this is certainly not one of them. Madam Chair, I think that I have made the point. I think the amendment should be supported. I think we should get the VA focused on what the people of this country want us to focus on, supporting the care for veterans. Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.”