With Memorial Day approaching and thousands of our young people graduating it is a week to both take time to reflect and to look toward the future. As we celebrate with our families and friends this weekend we should all be mindful of the sacrifices millions of Americans have made to secure our freedom and hopeful that our best days are yet to come.

This week the United States Senate completed its work on a comprehensive immigration reform proposal. As I have maintained during this process, any immigration reform must be tough, fair and practical. The Senate bill will toughen our border security and deal practically with the reality of the 11 million undocumented workers we have in this country. I worked to amend the bill to require that the President determine that a guest worker program will strengthen U.S. national security before those provisions can take effect. In addition, we are a Nation of laws and we need to ensure that we enforce our immigration laws. During floor debate, the Senate added more border security measures and employer verification and sanction provisions to enhance enforcement of these laws. I believe this legislation thus accomplishes all three of these goals and represents a comprehensive solution to the immigration crisis facing our Nation. I look forward to helping move this process forward with the House of Representatives and getting a bill to the President to sign.

Next week I will be in Colorado on the Western Slope as part of a Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources fact finding trip on oil shale. The purpose of the trip is to learn more about the status of the technology used in development of oil shale and the impact of potential development on the communities of the region. Committee Chairman Domenici, Senator Hatch and I will tour several sites in Utah and Colorado and conduct a field hearing with energy experts, local officials and community leaders in Grand Junction on the issue.

This week I was part of a Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearing on the theft of 26.5 million names, Social Security numbers and other personal identity information from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs. While I find it inexcusable that such a data theft could take place, what is most important to me now is that our veterans in Colorado are able to act quickly to defend themselves from any further risks or potential identity theft. I encourage all veterans, their families and friends who are concerned about the risks posed to their privacy as a result of this theft to visit my Senate website for more information on steps they can take to protect their personal data.

Also this week, I heard back from the U.S. Department of Agriculture regarding my request for an investigation of possible improper or illegal political influence within the Department of Agriculture exerted during the permit review process of the U.S. Forest Service for the proposed Village at Wolf Creek. The Department of Agriculture Office of the Inspector General assured me that they were reviewing the details of the case and my request. I hope that any investigation that is conducted is complete and thorough. If there has been wrongdoing, then the consequences of that wrongdoing will have to be addressed.

Our farmers in the northeastern part of Colorado stand on the precipice of a devastating drought. To combat this, I have asked cities and irrigation companies along the Front Range to help relieve the looming agricultural thirst and act immediately to help in this emergency situation. While I know our state is especially water conscious, I encourage every Coloradan to take steps to further conserve their water usage. The decision we make in the next few weeks, days or even hours could have a huge impact on the lives of these farmers whose hard work puts food on all of our tables.

In addition, this week I delivered the commencement speech at my youngest daughter Andrea’s graduation from North High School in Denver. I am proud of Andrea and I am proud of the thousands of other young men and women graduating this year. At the end of the speech I posed this question to the graduates, “How will you serve humankind?” I think this is a question we should all ask of ourselves because the answers each of us gives will determine the path our great Nation will take toward progress.

Finally, this Memorial Day, I will attend the memorial ceremony at Fort Logan National Cemetery in Denver. I consider myself fortunate to have had a father that was intensely proud of his membership in the fraternity of veterans and taught me what that meant. He was a soldier during World War II and when he passed away at the age of 85, his mind suffering the ravages of Alzheimer’s, he was able to make one thing clear – he wished to be buried in his World War II uniform. As President Franklin Delano Roosevelt once said, “Those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy forget in time that men have died to win them.” Let us not forget.

This holiday weekend I hope you will join me in remembering the men and women who have died for our freedom, and that you enjoy the company of family and friends.

Sen. Salazar urges VA to protect the veterans it serves and releases information to help veterans protect themselves against data theft

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