[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 20]
[Senate]
[Pages 28468-28469]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              VETERANS DAY

  Mr. GRAHAM of Florida. Mr. President, I rise to recognize the 
significance of Veterans Day and to honor the Americans it celebrates. 
On Veterans Day we pay tribute to the men and women who have fought for 
our freedom and those who continue to do so right now--they are far 
from their homes and families, striving to keep us safe from terrorism. 
These service-members exemplify what it means to be an American--
courage, selflessness, and a deep love of and commitment to his or her 
fellow countrymen.
  First proclaimed by President Wilson in 1919, Veterans Day was 
initially known as Armistice Day and was intended to commemorate the 
armistice between the Allies and Central Powers that ended the fighting 
of World War I. In 1953, a Kansas citizen named Alvin King lobbied to 
change the holiday's name to honor all veterans, not just those from 
World War I. On June 1, 1954, President Eisenhower signed into law an 
act proclaiming November 11 to be Veterans Day. Yesterday, we 
celebrated the 50th anniversary of that celebration.
  There are currently 25 million American veterans. Every day more and 
more service-members return home from Iraq and Afghanistan becoming new 
members of that elite group of citizens. These heroic Americans freely 
offer their lives to protect those they leave behind, and those they've 
never even met. For this sacrifice, we owe them our continued support 
and care.
  Unfortunately, the Bush administration has established a disturbing 
pattern of behavior that seriously undercuts this long-held ideal. In 
the past 2 years, the President has been full of patriotic words and 
speeches--rhetoric that has proven hollow. At a time when 133,000 
service-members celebrated their Veterans Day in the deserts of Iraq, 
the Administration continues to undermine our veterans' ability to 
receive the quality health care they have earned. With the recent Iraq 
supplemental spending bill, the administration took an opportunity to 
demonstrate its commitment to our troops and twisted it into another 
way to short-change our veterans.
  In that appropriations bill, my Senate colleagues and I worked hard 
to secure an additional $1.3 billion for VA healthcare. These 
desperately needed funds were subsequently removed at the insistence of 
the Bush Administration. Nationwide, 80,000 veterans--including more 
than 10,000 in my home State of Florida alone--are forced to wait 
longer than 6 months to see a VA doctor. When the service-members 
currently serving in Iraq return home and become veterans, they will be 
entitled to 2 years of priority VA health care after they have 
separated from military service. This added influx of patients, when 
coupled with the administration's refusal to give VA the money it needs 
to care for them, will only strain the system further.
  During debates on that same supplemental spending bill, my fellow 
Democrats and I joined together to offer an amendment that would have 
helped rectify a longstanding inequity in the retirement pay our 
veterans receive--or, should I say, don't receive. Currently, the 
earned retirement pay of veterans who are both disabled and eligible 
for military pensions is reduced simply because they receive disability 
benefits as well. This practice of denying concurrent receipt does not 
apply to other Federal workers, only to the courageous men and women 
like the ones currently serving overseas, who made the armed services 
their careers.
  I spent Veterans Day working alongside employees at the Miami VA 
Healthcare System and saw first-hand the number of veterans turning to 
VA for health care. As part of my duties there, I assisted the nursing 
staff on a patient floor and enrolled veterans for health care in the 
admissions area. This workday gave me an opportunity to see the 
numerous challenges facing VA. I stand in awe of both the VA staff and 
the heroic men and women they serve.
  As we honor our veterans this week, we must not follow the 
administration's lead of making empty promises. We must fight to ensure 
quality health care for all of veterans, just as they have fought to 
ensure our quality of life. We must pay this nation's service-members, 
past and present, the highest tribute we can and finally give them what 
they have so bravely earned.
  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I wish to say a few words about Veterans 
Day, the day we honor millions who have served in our Armed Forces. We 
give thanks to those who risk their lives and, frankly, who are risking 
their lives as we speak. They have done it and they are doing it now 
out of love of country.
  We also mourn those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our Nation. 
As American casualties mount in Iraq, Veterans Day takes on a very 
special meaning. Many in our country have lost loved ones in Iraq, and 
every day we all pray for the safe return of our men and women in 
uniform.
  In my home State of California, we have lost 73 from California or 
based in California. The burden is heavy for their relatives--mothers, 
dads, children, friends. Yet we know they went over there, in many 
cases, following their families in a rich military tradition and, in 
some cases, because they wanted to stand up and be counted for their 
country.
  They have courage and dignity. It is our responsibility to only send 
them into harm's way when we know what we are doing; to only send them 
into harm's way when we have a plan; to only send them into harm's way 
when we have an exit strategy, and these are issues we will continue to 
work on because some of us, I am afraid, do not see that plan and do 
not see that exit strategy.
  I wish to say on a personal note that November 11 is also my 
birthday. I say that because as a child, I was so proud I was born on 
what was called Armistice Day because Armistice Day reflected a day of 
peace, the end of a war, the end of the war to end all wars, which 
World War I was known as. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be. There were 
more wars. In 1954, Congress changed the name of Armistice Day to 
Veterans Day to pay homage to all of our veterans.
  I regret I am not able to spend today with veterans in my State. I 
really had wanted to do that, but I do appreciate this opportunity to 
pay tribute to them on the floor of the Senate.
  One more point on veterans. Earlier today I introduced legislation to 
help our future veterans by reimbursing States and localities that 
continue to

[[Page 28469]]

pay their government employees who are Guard and reservists--such as 
policeman and firefighters--when they are called to active duty. This 
legislation will go a long way to help the families of these Guard men 
and women and reservists make ends meet.
  In many cases, the local and State governments are paying their 
salaries and are falling behind. It seems to me that is the least we 
can do, is reimburse for those funds. I hope others will join me in 
this legislation. By the way, many of our States and counties and 
cities are already doing this, and their budgets are hurting.
  This is a war that was, in fact, voted on here and executed by the 
President. Therefore, it seems to me the least we can do is reimburse 
local agencies who are putting out the funding.
  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, November 11, Veterans Day, is the day of 
reverence for American veterans. It is the day of the year set aside to 
honor the people who have defended our country, our way of life, and 
our freedom. It is the day that allows us to pause to recognize their 
patriotism, their love of country, their willingness to serve, and 
their willingness to sacrifice.
  Just last year, President Bush called Veterans Day the day that we 
``show our gratitude to the veterans of the United States Armed 
Forces''--a day when ``we honor veterans and we honor their families, 
and we offer the thanks of a grateful Nation.''
  The very origins of this day are both historic and symbolic. It began 
at the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month--that is, 11/11/11--
of 1918 when the allied powers signed a cease-fire agreement with the 
central powers, thus bringing to an end the 4-year bloody nightmare 
known as World War I.
  The next year, the United States set aside November 11 as Armistice 
Day to remember and honor the sacrifices that men and women made during 
World War I.
  In 1926, a congressional resolution officially named November 11 
Armistice Day. Twelve years later, in 1938, Congress made Armistice Day 
a national holiday.
  In 1954, following World War II and the Korean war, Congress made 
November 11 a day to honor veterans of all wars, and therefore changed 
the name of this most important day to Veterans Day. President Dwight 
D. Eisenhower, the President of the United States at the time, asked 
Americans to use this day to ``remember the sacrifices of all those who 
fought so valiantly on the seas, in the air, and on foreign shores, to 
preserve our heritage of freedom.'' In the first Presidential 
``Veterans Day Proclamation,'' President Eisenhower proclaimed:

       It is my earnest hope that all veterans, their 
     organizations, and the entire citizenry will join hands to 
     insure proper and widespread observance of this day.

  Just how important and symbolic this day had become to the American 
people and, especially, our veterans, was demonstrated in the reaction 
to the Uniform Holiday bill of 1968. This legislation was part of an 
overall plan to make holidays part of a 3-day weekend, which would, in 
turn, encourage travel, recreational and cultural activities, and 
stimulate greater industrial and commercial activity. In so doing, this 
legislation changed the observance of Veterans Day from November 11 to 
the fourth Monday in October.
  Seldom in all of my 51 years in Congress has Congress so misjudged 
the feelings of the American people. American veterans in particular, 
and Americans in general, demanded that the observance of Veterans Day 
be restored as November 11. It was all right to monkey around with 
Columbus Day, we learned, and even the birthday of the father of our 
country. But we should have never touched November 11.
  According to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, November 11 has a special 
meaning to veterans of all wars and is a part of American history. Of 
all the days in the year, the one day which has the most significance 
to those citizens who made an extra sacrifice in the national interest 
by their service in the Armed Forces is November 11.
  Many States simply continued to celebrate November 11 as Veterans 
Day.
  Immediately, Members of Congress introduced legislation to 
redesignate November 11 as Veterans Day. My former colleague in this 
Chamber, Senator Robert Dole, who himself was a World War II veteran 
and was destined to become a majority leader of the Senate and a 
nominee of the Republican Party for Vice President and President, 
proposed such legislation. He called November 11 a ``legal holiday that 
provides a unique and fitting day of recognition for our American 
veterans.'' It is the day, Senator Dole declared, when the Nation pays 
``tribute and homage to the men and women who have given so much in 
their quest for world peace and freedom.''
  By 1975, 42 States, including my own State of West Virginia, had 
returned to the practice of celebrating Veterans Day on November 11. In 
that year, Congress approved legislation to return the annual 
observance of Veterans Day to November 11. President Gerald R. Ford 
signed the bill, stating:

       It has become apparent that the commemoration of this day 
     on November 11 is a matter of historic and patriotic 
     significance to a great many of our citizens. It is a 
     practice deeply and firmly rooted in our customs and 
     traditions.

  More recently, when legislative ideas were circulating through 
Congress to bolster voter participation in Federal elections, at least 
one proposal centered on designating Veterans Day as the national 
election day. In response to that proposal, my office was flooded with 
phone calls from veterans, saying: ``Please don't take away our special 
day.''
  Mr. President, November 11 is their special day. It is for this 
reason that during the years in which it was my privilege to serve as 
the majority leader of the U.S. Senate, I was always determined that 
this legislative body would not be in session on this most important 
and symbolic date. I always wanted to make sure that my colleagues and 
I had the opportunity to take part in the many ceremonies that take 
place on this day in honor of the courage and the sacrifice of 
America's veterans. I always wanted to make sure that this Chamber paid 
proper homage to the men and women to whom we owe so much.
  Writing about the thousands of soldiers who lost their lives during 
the bloody battle at Antietam, Civil War historian, Bruce Catton, 
pointed out that these men did not die for a few feet of a cornfield or 
a rocky hill; they died that this country might be permitted to go on, 
and that it might be permitted to fulfill the great hope of our 
Founding Fathers.
  So may it be said of most every person who has worn our Nation's 
uniform. These people served and they sacrificed to permit this country 
to go on to fulfill the great hope of our Founding Fathers. And it is 
proper and it is right that we take one day a year to pay our most 
profound respect to the men and the women who have worn our Nation's 
uniform, and to thank them.
  I thank them and we here in the Senate thank them on this day for 
what they have given, for what they have sacrificed, and for their love 
of country.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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