Patty Murray: “I rise to discuss how we are doing in caring for America's veterans. With our country at war, with 1.5 million Americans…”

“I rise to discuss how we are doing in caring for America's veterans. With our country at war, with 1.5 million Americans who have served in the global war on terror, and with many of them coming home in need of care--it is a critical question. Last week, we got a shocking report from the Government Accountability Office, which found that the VA has misled Congress about its failure to plan for our veterans. Based on that report and other research, I came here to the Senate floor 2 days ago and shared my concerns with the full Senate. I said that the Bush administration has not been honest with us about its failures to plan for the needs of our veterans, and that we still have a lot of work to do to get back on track. And I warned that--3 rac{1}{2} ext{ years into this war--the Bush administration still does not have a plan to meet the needs of all the veterans who will be coming home.} For those who want to see my full remarks and all the evidence I cited, you can watch or read my speech on my Web site at http://murray.senate.gov.”