[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 43 (Tuesday, March 13, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3013-S3015]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   CONDITIONS AT WALTER REED HOSPITAL

  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, by now, most Americans have heard about 
the appalling conditions at Walter Reed, as exposed by the Washington 
Post articles. Those stories detailed conditions which not one of us 
should

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have to endure, especially our injured troops who have sacrificed so 
much for this country.
  The Washington Post uncovered rooms with mice infestation, moldy 
walls, and holes in the ceilings. Their series also showed the 
administration is failing to provide adequate medical care for our 
injured troops who face inexcusably long waits for the most basic care. 
If squalid living conditions and lack of adequate medical care are not 
bad enough, troops face a daunting maze of paperwork for the simplest 
things.
  One serviceman had to show his Purple Heart to even prove he had 
served in Iraq. Others told us that when they returned from Iraq, their 
uniforms were caked in dirt and blood, and they were forced to spend 
endless hours trying to secure new, clean uniforms. A severe shortage 
of caseworkers means patients endlessly search for answers to routine 
questions.
  Mr. President, our service men and women are not the only ones facing 
bureaucratic nightmares. We also learned of problems their families 
face when they try to visit their loved ones at Walter Reed. From a 
lack of translators for families of Hispanic soldiers, to complicated 
and outdated forms for hotel reimbursement, relatives find themselves 
spending countless hours on paperwork--time which could be spent with 
their injured sons, daughters, husbands, wives, fathers or mothers.

  Despite White House efforts, it was eventually revealed that members 
of this administration had known for years of the problems that plagued 
Walter Reed.
  The President's response to Walter Reed has been slow and more media 
strategy than substance. Unfortunately for our troops, the 
administration has tried for weeks to paper over problems instead of 
offering us real solutions. Days after the first reports, 
administration officials repeatedly attempted to play down the 
problems. They painted walls and held press conferences and told 
America that the problems were overblown. But the press and the 
American public didn't buy it; they have been misled too many times by 
this administration. Stories on the President's failure to care for our 
injured troops continue to appear.
  After 2 weeks of endless news on the horrible conditions at Walter 
Reed, the administration decided fall guys were needed.
  First to go was MG George W. Weightman, the head of the hospital. The 
second--a bit higher on the food chain--was Army Secretary Francis J. 
Harvey. Finally, yesterday, the administration fired Lieutenant General 
Kiley, the Army Surgeon General and former head of Walter Reed.
  On top of the fall guys, the administration has created numerous 
commissions to review the care of our injured troops and veterans.
  Mr. President, while firing people who were involved in failures and 
creating panels to review problems are usually positive steps in the 
right direction, in my view, the administration's history, 
unfortunately, leads me to be fairly skeptical. For one, while Army 
Secretary Harvey, Lieutenant General Kiley, and Major General Weightman 
ignored for years the problems at Walter Reed, the buck stops with the 
President. As the White House spokesperson said a few weeks ago, the 
administration has been aware of this for some time.
  Real accountability is not just finding fall guys; it is publicly 
owning up to failures and, even more important, changing course. 
Moreover, it is unlikely the panels are the solutions they seem to be. 
In the past 7 years, we have seen many recommendations from many 
commissions--including those from the 9/11 Commission and the Iraq 
Study Group--simply be ignored by the White House.
  What good are fall guys and commissions if they produce no real 
change?
  It is now undeniable that the administration has failed our troops 
and veterans. What is needed, and what these men and women deserve, are 
real solutions that will meet the needs from the battlefield to the VA 
and everywhere in between. Our forces in battle deserve adequate body 
and humvee armor, communications gear, and equipment to jam IEDs. What 
they don't need is another day in the field without those items.
  Our injured heroes returning from Iraq deserve adequate mental care, 
treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain 
injury, and they deserve less bureaucratic redtape. What they don't 
need is another report of the administration's failure to care for them 
or a White House media strategy to cover those failures.
  Our veterans of Iraq deserve benefit checks to be mailed on time so 
they can provide for their families and are not forced into 
homelessness. What they don't need is another day without the benefits 
they deserve.
  In the end, what all of our brave men and women need is an end to 
this administration's excuses. Democrats know what our troops deserve. 
We know they deserve a Congress that will not hide this 
administration's mistakes and will, instead, provide solutions. Lastly, 
Democrats took steps toward that goal.
  The HEROES, Honoring and Ensuring Respect for Our Exceptional 
Soldiers, plan will ensure that our service members no longer fall 
through the cracks and fail to receive the treatment they deserve. It 
calls for increased oversight and coordination between the various 
committees overseeing our troops and our veterans. This effort is 
especially important because so many of us know the problems at Walter 
Reed are not unique. Instead, I fear much of the health care system for 
our troops is broken because we failed to do our job. From poor 
facilities to long waiting lines to overwhelming redtape, the system is 
failing our troops.
  We need a comprehensive look at this problem and we need 
comprehensive solutions. Our troops and our families deserve no less.
  Mr. President, I was stunned over the weekend to see that some of 
these brave men and women who have been injured in Iraq are now facing 
the indignity of being sent back before being cleared for duty.
  According to a Salon.com article from March 11, several dozen injured 
soldiers at Fort Benning, GA, are being sent back to Iraq as part of 
the President's escalation plan. Those soldiers, the article tells us, 
have various medical problems that should prevent them from returning 
to battle. But the President is sending them anyway.
  Let me quote directly from the article:

       As the military scrambles to pour more soldiers into Iraq, 
     a unit of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Benning, 
     GA, is deploying troops with serious injuries and other 
     medical problems, including GIs who doctors have said are 
     medically unfit for battle. Some are too injured to wear 
     their body armor, according to medical records.
       On February 15, Master Sgt. Jenkins and 74 other soldiers 
     with medical conditions from the 3rd Division's 3rd Brigade 
     were summoned to a meeting with the division surgeon and 
     brigade surgeon. These are the men responsible for handling 
     each soldier's ``physical profile,'' an Army document that 
     lists for commanders an injured soldier's physical 
     limitations because of medical problems--from being unable to 
     fire a weapon to the inability to move and dive in three-to-
     five second increments to avoid enemy fire. Jenkins and other 
     soldiers claim that the division and brigade surgeons 
     summarily downgraded soldiers' profiles, without even a 
     medical exam, in order to deploy them to Iraq. It is a claim 
     division officials deny.

  Mr. President, that report is very disconcerting. If it is true, it 
represents a new outrage and yet another example of how the 
administration's failure to plan for the war is being taken out on our 
brave women and men. MSG Ronald Jenkins, who is one of the soldiers who 
told Salon he was ordered to Iraq even though he has a spine problem 
that doctors say would be damaged by Army protective gear, said:

       This is not right. This whole thing is about taking care of 
     soldiers. If you are fit to fight, you are fit to fight. If 
     you are not fit to fight, then you are not fit to fight.

  I could not agree with Master Sergeant Jenkins more. This whole 
thing--the war, the buildup, the aftermath--must be about taking care 
of our soldiers.
  Mr. President, far too frequently, taking care of our soldiers has 
been little more than an afterthought for this administration. 
Unfortunately, the list of failures we see goes on and on. Stories 
emerge every single day and, still, with this war, set to enter on 
Monday its fifth year, this administration has failed to make caring 
for our troops a top priority.
  There has been more than enough time to address problems facing our 
troops. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, the administration has 
failed our Armed Forces.

[[Page S3015]]

  Mr. President, the administration and Republicans in Congress owe our 
troops, their families, and our veterans a lot more.
  I am not going to sit idly by and wait for them to act, and I am not 
going to wait for another commission. I am going to continue to be out 
here on almost a daily basis to talk about it, to fight for our troops, 
for our veterans, and their families. They deserve nothing less.
  I thank the Chair. I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a 
quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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