Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I thank my colleagues across the aisle for working on this issue. I think it is particularly powerful when what happens in this marble building isn't some distant theoretical policy conversation. This actually affects people in each of our districts. I first learned about this issue about a year and a half ago. I was at home talking to a group of veterans at the University of Washington Tacoma. We were discussing their service to our Nation and some of the challenges that they had experienced in coming home. Then the conversation took an unexpected turn. One of the veterans talked about a servicemember, who is a friend, who had gone overseas, and, in his words: Had seen quite a lot. He said when that veteran came home, he wasn't quite the same person that he had been. Unfortunately, those challenges led to some substance issues, and then to an other than honorable discharge. As a consequence, as he explained, that veteran was unable to get mental healthcare treatment through the Veterans Administration. Here was a veteran, someone who sacrificed for his country, who was unable to get the services he earned, due to a condition that he most likely developed through that service. Coming back to this Washington, I was honored to cosponsor this bill, and I appreciate the work of Representative Coffman, and other colleagues, in advancing this important bill. This bill is simple.…”