Our Veterans Deserve Better

Floor Speech

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Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, last month, we celebrated Veterans Day, a day where we rightly single out the members of our military, past and present, and pay tribute to their service and sacrifice.

When you stop to think about it, it is amazing that men and women choose to serve in our Armed Forces, knowing full well that their sacrifice could be tremendous and even require their life. But, still, they volunteer. They do so because America--her ideals, her people, and her way of life--are worth defending.

The entire Nation owes our military personnel and veterans a huge debt of gratitude, and ensuring that debt is properly repaid is one of my top priorities in Congress.

Mr. Speaker, as I travel North Carolina's Fifth District, I hear a similar refrain. No matter where I go, constituents tell me horror stories of their experiences with the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Veterans from my district and across the country are frustrated with the lack of service they are receiving. They are angry because they can't get an appointment or a phone call returned. And they are outraged, as I am, that the Obama administration is doing nothing to solve the multitude of problems that have been revealed.

My heart is always touched when veterans and their families describe their efforts to get service through the VA and how the VA wouldn't help them until my office intervened. These stories affect me more than words can say.

I am always happy to know that my office has helped, and my staff is encouraged when we get a problem solved. However, these veterans shouldn't have to contact their congressional office to access the benefits they have earned.

To say I am fed up with this administration's treatment of veterans is an understatement. How they can turn their backs on the veterans the way they do is unconscionable to me.

It is past time to put an end to the agency-wide pattern of mismanagement at the Department of Veterans Affairs. The bureaucratic incompetence is abominable, and there needs to be a shakeup at all levels. The agency needs to be led and staffed by people who believe America has a duty and an obligation to help our veterans.

Right now, it seems there is no sense of responsibility or concern from the Obama administration with the disgraceful way our veterans are being treated. It is time for President Obama to truly commit to reforming the VA and give America's veterans a meaningful, decisive plan to right the many wrongs.

Regardless of the outcome, my office will continue to leave no stone unturned when it comes to serving our veterans.

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