Columns
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
justice for our wounded warriors
The recent reports from Walter Reed Army Medical Center - stories of wounded warriors being subjected to squalid living conditions, neglect, and abuse - are outrageous. But this is only the tip of the iceberg. There are also chronic problems with Veterans Administration (VA) health facilities all across the country - staff shortages, long waits for appointments, and worse.
During my years as a Navy pilot, I learned one of the most important lessons of my life: Never leave a buddy behind. That principle applies on the battlefield. It also applies after our service men and women return home from war and re-enter civilian life.
Democrats in Congress are committed to cleaning up the mess at Walter Reed and in our veterans' health care system. Within days of the initial revelations in the press, we subpoenaed the top generals and civilian officials to testify at oversight hearings in both the House and Senate. But demanding accountability is not enough. We must also act aggressively to fix what is broken.
I have joined with Senators Barack Obama (D-IL) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) to sponsor the Dignity for Wounded Warriors Act. This legislation is designed to ensure that wounded service members get the treatment, care, and services they deserve. The bill will set strict standards for facilities, and require robust inspections. It will reduce paperwork and red tape for recovering service members. And it will create an oversight board to prevent a repeat of Walter Reed, and to serve as a high-level advocate for recovering service members. We are committed to passing this bill as soon as possible.
At the same time, we've got to address the fact that the administration has consistently underestimated veterans' health care needs - and it has grossly underfunded the VA. Last month, Democrats added $3.6 billion for veterans' health care to the final funding bill for 2007.
At the same time, I am also solidly behind legislation authored by Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD) titled the Assured Funding for Veterans Health Care Act. This bill would increase funding for VA health care, and it would make annual funding for veterans' health care mandatory - in other words, not subject to discretionary spending decisions that can lead to reductions.
Last month, I re-introduced the Joshua Omvig Veterans Suicide Prevention Act of 2007, named for a young solider from Grundy Center, Iowa, who took his own life soon after returning from Iraq. My bill directs the VA to create a comprehensive program to address the growing rate of suicide among veterans returning from combat - including 24-hour access to mental health care for veterans deemed at risk of taking their own lives.
I believe our government has a profound moral contract with the men and women who have fought for our country and sacrificed so much. In Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, he urged Americans "to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who has borne the battle, his widow and his orphan." The new 110th Congress must have no higher priority than ensuring that our wounded warriors and veterans receive the first-class health care they so richly deserve.
