Political Quotes

“as chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, I would hope that every American understands that the cost of war does not end when the last shots are fired or when the last missiles are launched. The cost of war continues until the last veteran receives the care and benefits he or she has earned on the battlefield. War is an incredibly expensive proposition in terms of human life, human suffering, and in financial terms. In my very strong view, if we are not prepared to take care of those men and women who went to war, then we should not send them to war in the first place. Taking care of veterans is a cost of war, period. In terms of Iraq and Afghanistan, the human cost of those wars is almost 7,000 dead. The cost of war is 530,000 veterans seeking care at the VA in 2013 for post-traumatic stress disorder, not to mention those struggling with traumatic brain injury. The cost of war is too many servicemembers coming home with missing arms and legs, lost eyesight, or lost hearing. The cost of war includes veterans each day dying by suicide, high rates of divorce, wives trying to rebuild their lives after losing their husbands, kids growing up in one-parent homes, and a too high rate of unemployment for returning servicemembers. Those are some of the real costs of war that this Congress cannot ignore.…”