Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman, and I certainly appreciate the gentleman's very expansive assessment on the two underlying bills that we are about to address today. Let me, first of all, say that I live in a community of a very major veterans hospital. In fact, I carried the legislation to name it after Dr. Michael E. DeBakey, who created the MASH units in World War II. We care about veterans, as do my colleagues across the aisle in both the House and the Senate. I believe that it is important to move the Veterans' Access to Care Through Choice, Accountability, continue through the process, and to make sure that our veterans, after the many audits that we have received on the individual hospitals, know that there is a long period of time for those veterans newly accessing veterans health care. Who does that include? That includes the recent returnees of Afghanistan veterans or Iraq veterans or even those veterans who have maintained good health and now find themselves in senior years, such as Vietnam veterans, and are coming to the system for the first time. It is intolerable for them to have to wait. I believe this is a very important initiative. If we are to send soldiers overseas or in the line of battle, as many are promoting now in light of the violence in Iraq, can we not without shame stand and provide them the kind of health care for them and their families?…”