U.S. Senator Ken Salazar

Member: Finance, Agriculture, Energy, Ethics and Aging Committees

 

2300 15th Street, Suite 450 Denver, CO 80202 | 702 Hart Senate Building, Washington, D.C. 20510

 

 

For Immediate Release

March 6, 2007

CONTACT:    Cody Wertz – Comm. Director
303-455-5999


  Sen. Salazar Statement on Conditions at Walter Reed

WASHINGTON, D.C. – United States Senator Ken Salazar today released the following statement on the conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center:

“I have visited the Walter Reed Army Medical Facility every year as a United States Senator. I have traveled to Iraq to be with our men and women in the combat zone twice. I honor their service and sacrifice and have worked hard to support troops on the battlefield and upon their return back home.

“At Walter Reed, I personally met with many troops and their families in their hospital rooms where they were recovering from major wounds received in Iraq or Afghanistan. I also spent extensive time in the amputee ward at Walter Reed and asked our wounded warriors and their families about their treatment.

“I did not see, nor did anyone mention, the deplorable conditions which have recently come to light, but that does not change the fact that they exist in some buildings at Walter Reed. I am personally dismayed that any of our Veteran heroes have been exposed to the conditions that existed in some of the areas at Walter Reed.

“The Nation has an obligation to provide the best medical care available to our Veterans. Regrettably, this Administration failed to plan properly for a multi-year war with a large influx of wounded troops. This was already evident in 2005 when the Department of Veterans’ Affairs poor projections resulted in a $1 billion shortfall in healthcare funding, which I successfully fought to correct.

“Because of my concerns about providing the best care to our Veterans population, I have helped lead the efforts to move Colorado’s major Veterans’ hospital to a new state-of-the-art hospital at the Fitzsimons Army Medical Center campus in Aurora. I will continue to fight to ensure that healthcare for our service men and women is funded, both through the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs.

“At this point, we have an estimated more than one million Veterans from Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. We must do everything within our means to fund the Department of Veterans’ Affairs at a level that honors the sacrifices our fighting men and women give to protect our freedoms.”

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