Political Quotes

“I come to this Chamber tonight, and I enjoyed listening to my colleagues talk about this important court nominee. But I wanted to talk about another issue that is important to the American people, and that is the way this government and especially this administration is treating our veterans. I bring this chart to this Chamber as I did last night to illustrate the fact that if a veteran goes to a veterans hospital today and looks upon a bulletin board, they are likely to see this notice. It says: Did you know the medication copayment has changed from $2 to $7. Just about a year ago, the VA decided that they were going to increase the copayment that a veteran must pay for their medicine from $2 a prescription to $7 a prescription. And at that time, I thought it was an outrageous act, that we would impose this additional financial burden upon our veterans. But looking at the President's budget which he just released for 2004, he just released it a few days ago, they do not want to charge $7 a prescription as a copay, but they are actually suggesting that this be increased to $15 a prescription. Now, think about that. At a time when we are preparing to send America's young men and women into a war, we are treating our veterans, those who have fought past wars, those who have served our country with honor, we are charging them more for the medicines they need to stay healthy or to simply maintain their lives.”