[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 180 (Wednesday, November 14, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S6960]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO WOMEN VETERANS

  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. President, today, on the week we celebrated 
Veterans Day, I wish to pay particular tribute to our Nation's women 
veterans. Maryland women served our Nation long before they were 
permitted to serve in the military, from Mary Digges Lee, who collected 
money and supplies to support the Revolutionary Army, to Harriet Tubman 
who spied for the Union in the Civil War. Today Maryland is home to 
over 50,000 women veterans. Our Maryland National Guard is led by the 
extraordinary Adjutant General Linda L. Singh and, for the first time 
this year, an all-woman command staff.
  As we honor our veterans, we must also keep the promises we made, as 
a nation, to them. That requires understanding and addressing the 
unique and complex needs of our women veterans. We know that they 
suffer higher rates of PTSD and suicide than their civilian 
counterparts and have medical issues that are too often overlooked or 
ignored. Later this week, I will be meeting with some truly heroic 
Maryland women who have served their Nation and continue to serve each 
other. I look forward to their insight on the programs and services 
they use and the ways we can expand the networks that might deliver the 
support our women veterans deserve.
  This Congress has worked on a bipartisan basis to support our 
Nation's veterans, and we must continue those efforts. There is still 
much to do, from ensuring that the VA system delivers the care and 
programming that Congress has authorized, to assessing the feasibility 
of peer-to-peer assistance for women veterans, with emphasis placed on 
women who suffered service-related sexual trauma or who are at risk of 
becoming homeless.
  We live in freedom because of those brave Americans who have chosen 
to take up the mantle of service in uniform; they deserve our full 
support in making the transition to civilian life, on an equal footing, 
regardless of gender, after that service is finished. Women veterans 
should not face unequal treatment; we need to broaden the discussion 
and strive to make things better for America's daughters who have 
served. Every veteran must know that they have our respect and 
gratitude and that we will support them as thanks for their sacrifice.

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