Political Quotes

“I will very briefly touch on some of the other provisions in the bill. We restore full COLA for military retirees. As we all know, the House and the Senate passed and the President signed the bill to undo the provision in the Budget Act, but they did not include those members of the military who signed up after January 2014. They are still suffering from a cut in the COLA. We address that. This bill does expand VA health care and among other ways it provides dental care. I don't know about other States, but in my State--and I suspect all over this country--in talking to veterans, they think dental care is part of health care. Right now, except for service- connected situations, dental care is not provided. We have a major pilot project to say to veterans: Yes, dental care is part of VA health care and you can get that. As to advanced appropriations for the VA, not everybody knows this, but we were 7 to 10 days away from disabled veterans not getting their checks when the government was shut down. This legislation ensures veterans receive consistent access to the benefits they have earned by establishing advanced appropriations for the mandatory accounts at VA. We move forward in a bipartisan way to end the benefits backlog. My colleague from North Carolina pointed out it is a serious issue. Everybody agrees it is a serious issue. I think the VA is making some progress. This legislation has significant language to help the VA move forward in that area.…”