Kay Bailey Hutchison: “this is a major step forward. I have been working with Senator Feinstein to try to get conferees appointed for our bill.…”

“this is a major step forward. I have been working with Senator Feinstein to try to get conferees appointed for our bill. There is time in this session for the House and the Senate to come together and put a bill forward in the conference report that will do what is right by our military who are serving our country and protecting our freedom, who are in harm's way as we speak. There is time for us to take care of those good people. There is most certainly time for us to take care of our veterans and to make sure that the priorities which we have set this year, for heaven's sake, are passed in this session of Congress. If anyone says to me we don't have time to have a conference, they are wrong. It is 12:40 in the afternoon. It is Wednesday. I will work all night, if necessary, and so will our great staff working with the House, if the House will sit down with us. Our military personnel and our veterans deserve what is in this bill. It is a bill which passed unanimously. The House passed a bill overwhelmingly as well. It will move our military quality of life up. That is certainly our intent. This could not have been done without everyone's cooperation. I think that is what the people of America expect from the Congress. They deserve it. That is what we are going to give them. I want to particularly say that Senator Frist and Senator Cochran have been instrumental in allowing us to go forward.”