[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 149 (Thursday, November 10, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12635-S12636]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              VETERANS DAY

  Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, tomorrow our country is going to be 
celebrating Veterans Day. Together, across the country, we will be 
honoring the service and sacrifice that so many Americans have made to 
keep all of us safe and free.
  Tomorrow, in the State of Washingon, I am going to join with local 
veterans at a breakfast for the Compass Center, which provides services 
to homeless veterans.
  I will be at a ``Service of Remembrance'' at the Evergreen-Washelli 
Memorial Park in Seattle, and I will visit the Washington Soldiers Home 
in Pierce County.
  I am looking forward to those events and the chance to share my 
thanks with those who have sacrificed so much.
  Veterans Day is not just a ceremonial holiday. It is not just an 
occasion for us to thank others for what they have done for us. It is 
also a time to ask if we have done enough for those who serve our 
country. And that is a very timely occasion today with so many veterans 
coming home from places such as Iraq and Afghanistan, and with an aging 
veterans population that needs more care today.
  So today I ask: Are we keeping our promise to those who served our 
country? Do our politicians and our budgets reflect the great debt that 
we owe to so many veterans?
  I want to try to answer that question by looking at how we treat our 
veterans who need health care and how we budget for their needs and how 
we treat our Guard and Reserve members.
  First of all, we recognize we have an obligation to those who serve 
us. When they signed up to serve our country, we agreed to take care of 
them. They kept their part of the bargain, and now we need to keep 
ours.
  In my home State of Washington, we have made a tremendous 
contribution to that effort. I am sad to report that 102 servicemembers 
from Washington State have made the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of our 
Nation in this war in Iraq. They have earned a place of eternal honor 
in a rollcall of freedom.
  We owe them and their families a debt that can never be fully repaid.
  Many other veterans have come home to us with serious injuries, both 
visible and invisible. They need our help as well.
  Today, more than 6,500 Washington State citizens are serving in 
Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.
  Since 2001, more than 1 million Americans have served in Iraq and 
Afghanistan, and of those 20,000 have been from my home State of 
Washington.
  Back in March, I traveled to Iraq and Kuwait. I had the opportunity 
to meet with a number of our Washington State National Guard who are 
serving our country there. I saw firsthand they were all operating 
under tremendously difficult and dangerous conditions. I also saw how 
every one of them was professional and fully committed to completing 
their mission.

  We need to do right by everyone who serves us because we made a 
promise and because it keeps our military strong. The way we treat our 
veterans today affects our ability to recruit new soldiers tomorrow. 
But don't take my word for it. Listen to what George Washington once 
said:

       The willingness with which our young people are likely to 
     serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly 
     proportional as to how they perceive the Veterans of earlier 
     wars were treated and appreciated by their country.

  Those are the words of George Washington. They are just as true today 
as when he said them.
  Let's look at how well we are keeping our promise, starting with 
health care. We can all be proud the VA provides some of the best 
health care available anywhere in America. We have a great health care 
system in the VA, but we don't fund it like a priority. Every year it 
is a struggle to get Congress to provide the funding that is needed. 
That is why we need to make veterans health care spending mandatory so 
it is not subject to budget games every year.
  This year we had a big fight to make sure veterans did not lose their 
health care. Starting last February, I began warning that the lines 
were growing at the VA and we needed to do more. I pointed to the many 
veterans who were returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan who needed 
care. Three times I offered amendments to boost VA funding in the 
Senate. And three times they were voted down. For months the VA and the 
administration assured us that everything was fine.
  But then in June we learned that the VA was facing a massive 
shortfall of $1 billion. Again, I introduced a bill to provide the $1.5 
billion in supplemental that the VA needed for funding. That time it 
passed.
  Today, the House and the Senate are in negotiations to set the final 
veterans health care budget for fiscal year 2006. I am very concerned 
we will not provide enough funding. Yesterday, I joined with leaders 
from six national veterans service organizations to send a message. 
Together, we said we are watching. We expect the House and the Senate 
to keep their commitment to America's veterans. Any dollar below the 
Senate level is $1 taken away from a veteran. It is a VA clinic that 
will not be constructed. It is a VA doctor who will not be hired. It is 
a veteran who doesn't get the care America promised them when they 
enlisted. We cannot leave our veterans without care; we have to stick 
with the Senate budget in the final appropriations bill.
  I am also very concerned about how we treat those who have challenges 
such as post-traumatic stress disorder. Instead of focusing on getting 
help to those who need it, today the VA is moving to scrutinize and 
stigmatize our veterans with post-traumatic stress syndrome. That is 
why I worked with Senators Durbin and Obama to put language into the 
Senate VA bill that will require the VA to explain its plan to Congress 
and to hold veterans harmless, except, of course, in cases of fraud. 
Those protections have to stay in the final bill that emerges from this 
conference. We will be watching.
  As I think about the way we treat veterans health care, it is pretty 
clear we need to do two more things. First of all, the VA has to 
provide an accurate accounting of how it is spending the money we have 
provided. It needs to give us a clear picture of the needs it is seeing 
throughout the country. Second, the Bush administration needs to start 
sending realistic budgets, no more gimmicks, no games--send a 2007 
budget that is based on real numbers and real needs. They need to send 
a budget that takes care of both our aging veterans and our veterans of 
current operations. When I look at our budget and our priorities, I 
know we have a lot more work to do to keep our promise to our American 
veterans.
  Another area that concerns me is how we are treating our Guard and 
Reserve members, especially when they come home from the battle front. 
In this war, we are relying on Guard and Reserve heavily. It is 
estimated that 40 percent of those on the ground in Iraq are citizen 
soldiers. Unfortunately, today the support services for the Guard have 
not kept pace with the way we are now relying on them in this war. They 
did not often have access to employment services or job training or 
family support or health care when they return home.
  This past summer, I held a series of roundtables around the State of 
Washington. I heard from Guard and Reserve members who had come home, 
who could not find a doctor that accepts TRICARE. I heard about 
reservists who returned home and fell through the cracks without the 
payments or support they were promised. I heard from veterans who could 
not find a job when they came home to this country after serving so 
honorably.
  Our transition services are left over from the Cold War. They do not 
work for a military that now today relies so

[[Page S12636]]

heavily on Guard and Reserve members. I fear this administration is 
moving the cost of war on to businesses and families who are our Guard 
members. I believe they have already sacrificed enough. To do our part, 
we have to update transition and employment services that we bring to 
the returning Guard and Reserve members.
  As I evaluate today how we were treating our veterans, one thing is 
clear to me: America's military personnel are providing the highest 
level of service to our country, but we have got some work to do to 
make sure our support of them, when they come home, is equal to the 
service they have provided. I am committing to keep a promise our 
country has made. I ask for the support and leadership of every member 
of the Senate to do the same. We owe our veterans nothing less.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Madam President, I commend my friend from the State of 
Washington for an excellent statement and comment. She has been a 
tireless worker in terms of veterans' rights. Listening to her today, 
reminds us once again about our responsibility to them. I commend her 
for her excellent presentation. I certainly want to work with her in 
every possible way to make sure those efforts are achieved for people 
not only in the State of Washington and Massachusetts but all across 
the country.
  Madam President, how much time remains?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Seventeen minutes remains.
  Mr. KENNEDY. I ask the Chair to let me know when 1 minute is 
remaining.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair will notify the Senator.

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