[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 43, Number 11 (Monday, March 19, 2007)]
[Pages 342-343]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Following a Meeting With the President's Commission on Care for 
America's Returning Wounded Warriors

March 16, 2007

    A couple of weeks ago I announced that Senator Dole and Secretary 
Shalala agreed to chair a Commission of our fellow citizens to look into 
the health care that our veterans and those in the military are 
receiving.
    Today I was pleased to meet the Commission members that have been 
selected. We've got Purple Heart recipients; got the wife of a severely 
wounded troop; we've got a doctor; we've got compassionate people who 
all care about whether or not our Government is fulfilling its 
responsibility to make sure our health care systems, both at DOD, 
Defense Department, and at the Veterans Administration, are meeting our 
obligations.
    And I assured the members of this committee that I will support 
their work and will address the problems that they find. We owe it to 
those who wear the uniform and their families to make sure that our 
troops have the best, and that's what this Commission is meant to do. 
And I thank you for your willingness to serve. You're doing the country 
a great service, because the Commission report will ensure that service 
goes beyond my time in office. In other words, it'll really set

[[Page 343]]

the stage for this Presidency and other Presidencies, set a standard 
that we expect Government to follow.
    So thanks for being here. Appreciate your time.

Note: The President spoke at 9:10 a.m. in Room 180 of the Dwight D. 
Eisenhower Executive Office Building. In his remarks, he referred to 
former Senator Bob Dole and former Secretary of Health and Human 
Services Donna E. Shalala, Cochairs, President's Commission on Care for 
America's Returning Wounded Warriors.