[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 16456]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      ASSISTANCE FOR OUR VETERANS

  (Mr. CLARKE of Michigan asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. CLARKE of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, earlier this morning, I spoke on 
how glad I was that the Representative from Michigan's First District 
was able to take a tour of the city of Detroit and visit Mercy Primary 
Care Center. But when I visited that center, I was also appalled. I was 
appalled by what I saw and what I heard--that our veterans from metro 
Detroit, our veterans, young men and women who risked their lives, 
their physical and mental health for our country, who went overseas and 
came back home to face only no prospect of employment, no income to 
even provide them with decent shelter, little access to mental health 
and substance abuse treatment. So as a result, folks that we should be 
revering as heroes ended up on the streets of Detroit, living like 
animals. No one deserves to live that way in this country.
  So right now, I'm asking this Congress, instead of just focusing on 
cutting everything and cutting programs and funding initiatives, let's 
help put people back to work. Let's provide them with mental health and 
substance abuse treatment and give them the dignity that every American 
deserves.

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