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Memorial Day is our opportunity to honor the brave men and women who throughout our nation’s history have made the ultimate sacrifice in order to preserve our freedoms. If not for those who answered the call to duty, we would not be the great nation that we are today. For their service and sacrifice, we as Americans are eternally grateful, and I encourage the people of North Florida to take the time this Memorial Day to remember our nation’s heroes. The federal government also should recognize this sacrifice by keeping the promises we have made to our veterans, and in Congress and at home, I am working hard to make good on these promises. In Washington, after years of Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) budgets that have barely kept up with inflation, this Congress increased benefits and healthcare funding for our veterans in 2008 by $6.6 billion above the 2007 level, the largest increase in the 77-year history of the VA. This Congress also focused serious attention on the 400,000 claims backlog by adding 3,100 new claims processors to the VA, reducing the unacceptable delays in receiving earned benefits. More recently, I worked in the House of Representatives to pass an expanded GI Bill that would restore the assurance of a full, four-year college education for our veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. In the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, our guardsmen and reservists have been deployed at a level that we have not seen since World War II. Many of these guardsmen and reservists were in career professions before these wars, and many will return home unable to continue these professions because of physical or mental injuries sustained during service. This new GI Bill would make the veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan part of American economic recovery efforts, just as the veterans of World War II. Some in Congress originally preferred to pass a GI Bill that was only partially funded through 2009, but I believe that our veterans deserve better. By working with my colleagues in the House, I was able to persuade them that the GI Bill must be fully funded and paid for upfront, so that there is no chance that these important education benefits for our veterans will be cut in the future. This bill is still going through the legislative process, and I encourage the Senate, as they consider the GI Bill and the supplemental bill, to strengthen veterans’ benefits and fully fund the GI Bill. At home, I also am working to make sure that the critical needs of our veterans are met. On May 12, I joined the people of Jackson County, the veterans of North Florida, and the VA to celebrate the upcoming opening of the new veterans’ clinic in Marianna, Florida. The new veterans’ clinic will begin taking applications and scheduling patients for future appointments beginning June 5 and will open for full services mid-June. The clinic will be a primary care facility that also provides mental health services, treats chronic diseases, and performs wellness screenings. The VA anticipates that about 4,000 veterans, both new and existing, will be served at the Marianna veterans’ clinic. I am so proud of this new veterans’ clinic, but more than that, I am proud of the veterans it will serve. Our veterans deserve the best and most accessible healthcare that we can provide. We must always remember that caring for our veterans is a continuing cost of war and an important component of our national defense. The phrase, “Support our Troops,” found on bumper stickers and symbolized by yellow ribbons, is more than just a slogan—it is a solemn commitment to the men and women who put on the uniform and serve and defend our great country. With the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, we have a new generation of veterans who need our support, and I believe that it is our moral duty to provide them with the care and benefits they were promised and deserve. I am proud of the progress that this Congress has made to strengthen veterans’ benefits and improve access to veterans’ medical services. We still have much more to do in Washington and in North Florida, and I will continue to work to build on this progress and honor the commitment we have made to our veterans |
