[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 72 (Friday, June 10, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 10, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                         PUT OUR VETERANS FIRST

  (Mr. CANADY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. CANADY. Mr. Speaker, the repeated flip-flops in the Clinton 
administration's policy toward Haiti are no longer only an issue for 
front-page debate.
  The failure of this policy has now become a matter of critical 
personal concern for many veterans in Florida.
  You see, Mr. Speaker, many of the medical professionals employed at 
MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa have been moved to Guantanamo Bay to 
assist with the processing of Haitian refugees.
  In its haste to devise a plan to implement its most recent Haitian 
refugee policy, the Clinton administration decided to raid hospital 
staff from a facility used by many veterans.
  Veterans in my district report that their regular checkups have 
either been rebuffed at the door or canceled by phone.
  This is an outrage.
  Charles Gurey, a veteran from Brandon, FL, said it all:

       What irks me is, I'm having something taken away from me 
     that I earned and it's being given to someone overseas. We 
     need to be taken care of first and then the rest of the 
     world.

  Mr. Gurey is right. He and all of west-central Florida's veterans 
deserve better.
  Put MacDill's medical professionals back where they belong: serving 
American veterans and active-duty personnel.

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