[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 43, Number 42 (Monday, October 22, 2007)]
[Pages 1347-1349]
[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

October 16, 2007

    Good afternoon. Thanks for coming. Welcome to the Rose Garden. I 
appreciate Senator Dole and Secretary Shalala and other members of their 
Commission for joining me today. Welcome.
    I just finished an inspiring meeting with Secretary Gates and Acting 
Secretary Mansfield, with service members who were rebuilding their 
lives after being severely wounded in the service of our country. I wish 
all Americans could hear the service members talk about their strong 
desire to not only rehabilitate but to enter--be productive citizens 
here in America. I was most impressed by your spirit and your courage, 
and I--welcome here to the White House.
    I appreciate the fact that they are helping to find a--to define a 
culture that says, we're going to judge people by their potential, not 
their disabilities. I appreciate the fact that they are demonstrating 
the great breakthroughs in technologies that are now available for the 
wounded. I don't know if you noticed, two of them came in on a Segway.

[[Page 1348]]

    Medical advances have enabled battlefield medics and hospitals to 
provide our wounded warriors with care that would have been unimaginable 
just a decade ago. Yet our system for managing this care has fallen 
behind. It's an old system; it's an antiquated system; it's an outdated 
system that needs to be changed.
    You know, that's what happened at Walter Reed Army Medical Center 
earlier this year. First of all, the care that's provided there is 
magnificent. Our doctors and nurses at Walter Reed are great healers and 
caregivers, and they've saved a lot of lives. But there were serious 
problems caused by bureaucratic delays and administrative failures, and 
we're not going to let those problems continue.
    We took immediate steps to address the problems at Walter Reed. The 
building where outpatients were living that was substandard was shut 
down. They were moved to high-quality housing, and those responsible 
were held to account. And to ensure wounded troops at Walter Reed and 
other facilities across America get the care they deserve, I asked 
Senator Dole and Secretary Shalala to chair a bipartisan Presidential 
commission. The Commission conducted a comprehensive review of the care 
provided to service members returning from the global war on terror from 
the time they leave the battlefield through their return to civilian 
life.
    At the end of this review, the Commission submitted specific 
recommendations for modernizing and improving our system of care. My 
administration strongly supports the Commission's recommendations. We've 
taken steps to implement them where we can through administrative 
action. And today we're sending Congress legislation to implement the 
recommendations that require legislative action.
    The legislation will help us achieve three important goals. First, 
this legislation will modernize and improve the way we evaluate 
disabilities and award compensation for injured service members. Right 
now the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs both have their own 
systems for making these determinations. The Commission found that this 
process is difficult to navigate and confusing for service members and 
their families. We need to streamline the system.
    So this legislation will assign both Departments clear and separate 
roles. The Defense Department will determine whether wounded warriors 
are still fit for service. Those unable to serve will receive a pension 
from the Defense Department based on their rank and length of service. 
Then they will move directly into the Veterans Affairs system, where 
they will receive compensation for their disabilities. This compensation 
will take into account both loss of earnings and the overall impact on 
the quality of life resulting from a service member's injury or 
disability.
    This new system will also emphasize rehabilitation and retraining. 
It will provide new support and financial incentives for therapy and 
education. It will help our wounded warriors rejoin their communities. 
Look, these men and women want to be productive, and they want to be 
active members of our society, and this legislation will help them 
achieve that goal.
    Secondly, this legislation will strengthen support for families 
during the recovery process. When our service members suffer wounds, 
their families suffer with them. They pray beside hospital beds; they 
discuss the options with the doctors; and they help injured loved ones 
readjust to everyday life. These commitments often require family 
members to take long leaves of absence from work, yet many family 
members cannot get this time off without losing their jobs.
    Our military families deserve better. So this legislation will give 
many parents and spouses the opportunity to take up to 6 months of 
unpaid leave when their loved ones are seriously wounded in combat. It 
provides severely wounded service members with aid and attended care 
services--for instance, up to 40 hours per week of in-home help from an 
assistant--so their families do not have to shoulder the 
responsibilities of caring alone.
    Third, this legislation will improve treatment for Posttraumatic 
Stress Disorder. The Commission found that many service members still 
worry about the stigma associated with this serious condition. We need 
to end this stigma by encouraging those suffering to get help. This 
legislation will make it easier

[[Page 1349]]

for our troops to receive care for this disorder, and it will help 
affected service members to move forward with their lives.
    The need to enact these reforms into law is urgent, and I call on 
both Republicans and Democrats in Congress to come together and pass a 
good bill that I can sign into law. We also need to complete the 
Veterans Affairs appropriations bills that funds veterans' benefits and 
other ongoing programs. I fully recognize Congress and I have our 
differences on other appropriations bills, but the Veterans Affairs bill 
is one where we agree. I ask the House and Senate to work together to 
pass a bill that I can sign, and send it to my desk by Veterans Day.
    As we work with Congress on this legislation, my administration will 
continue to institute the recommendations of the Dole-Shalala Commission 
that do not require congressional approval. We're acting on the 
Commission's recommendations to form a new corps of well-trained 
recovery coordinators. These coordinators will work with families to 
establish recovery plans and monitor the healing process, facilitate the 
transition to civilian life, and ensure wounded service members do not 
get lost in the system.
    We're also acting on the Commission's recommendations to ensure 
health professionals working at the Defense Department and Veterans 
Affairs facilities can easily share patient information. This will allow 
us to provide patients with better care as they move through the system. 
We're also developing a new secure web portal, where service members 
will be able to access all their medical files and benefit information 
in one place.
    We're acting on the Commission's recommendation to create incentives 
for medical professionals and administrators to work at Walter Reed. One 
out of every five wounded service members passes through this hospital. 
And while Walter Reed is set to close at 2011, we will ensure it remains 
a state-of-the-art facility until the last day of operation.
    By taking these steps, we'll honor a shared commitment to care for 
those who defend our freedom. One of those people is Ryan Groves. While 
serving with the Marines in Iraq in 2004, he lost his left leg and 
severely injured his right leg in a rocket attack. Today, he refuses to 
allow his disability to stop him from living his life. He's going to 
Georgetown. He wants to be a lawyer. He travels using the Segway. He's 
an amazing fellow. He's an inspiration for all Americans. And we need to 
build a system of care that is worthy of the sacrifice that he and 
others have made.
    I look forward to working with Congress to achieve this goal. 
Together we can give our wounded warriors the best possible care and 
help them build their lives of hope and promise.
    And now it's my honor to introduce Secretary Donna Shalala.

Note: The President spoke at 4:25 p.m. in the Rose Garden at the White 
House. 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. 
The transcript released by the Office of the Press Secretary also 
included the remarks of Cochairs Dole and Shalala.