[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 101 (Thursday, June 12, 2025)]
[House]
[Page H2811]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      HONORING WOMEN VETERANS DAY

  (Ms. TOKUDA asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. TOKUDA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of national Women 
Veterans Day.
  Last week, I spoke with a combat veteran from Kaneohe, Hawaii, my 
hometown. She was among the first class of women to graduate from West 
Point. Two decades after leaving the Army, she returned to serve as a 
chaplain. She deployed to Afghanistan, earned Airborne and Air Assault 
qualification, and was awarded the Legion of Merit and five Meritorious 
Service Medals.
  Yet she felt compelled to come all the way to Washington, D.C., to 
join in a veterans protest on D-day because the very progress she 
helped to secure she now saw being callously unraveled.
  These include women's history erased from Defense websites; senior 
female leaders pushed out; accountability on sexual assault fading; and 
a narrow, male-centric culture of lethality that sidelines women in 
service.
  She asked me: How is it we are fighting and having to refight the 
battles we have already won?
  Shame on this administration for turning its back on women like my 
constituent who have worn the uniform and are now made to fight again 
for the dignity and respect they have already earned.
  Women veterans are watching, and they will not be silent.

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