(WASHINGTON, DC) - U.S. Representative Chet Edwards was in Fort Worth Monday to speak at the Fort Worth VA Outpatient Clinic Groundbreaking Ceremony and gave the following remarks as prepared for delivery:

Mr. Brink, thank you for your introduction and for your dedicated service to our veterans.

Congressman Burgess, Congressman Barton, Mayor Pro Tem Hicks, Director Dalpiaz, VA employees, distinguished veterans and ladies and gentlemen:

Tomorrow, on Veterans Day, we will honor our veterans with our words. Today, we honor them with our deeds. Our nation has a moral responsibility to provide quality health care for our veterans. Keeping our promises to those who have kept their promise to serve is what today is all about. This groundbreaking is about better health care for our veterans, and it is about respect for those who have worn our nation’s uniform.

The present Tarrant County VA outpatient clinic was designed for 45,000 visits a year from veterans in 16 North Texas counties. In 2008, it will have over 165,000 visits, far more than three times its planned capacity. The veterans who use the clinic and the dedicated VA employees who serve in it, deserve better than that.

The new VA clinic, when completed in 2010, will be the largest VA out patient clinic in the nation. It will more than quadruple the size of the present clinic, allowing for more employees and space and more efficient care. This clinic will mean better health care, more services and shorter waiting times for veterans needing care. Expanded services in radiology, primary care, mental health, dental and many other services will mean better health for veterans and fewer trips to the Dallas VA hospital. That is good news for veterans and taxpayers alike.

I want to salute my congressional colleagues, beginning with Michael Burgess, in whose district this clinic will reside. Michael worked tirelessly to have this clinic authorized in 2005, and, as a physician, is a respected leader in Congress on health care issues. I want to salute the dean of the Texas delegation, Joe Barton, for his work in support of this clinic and his long-time commitment to our nation’s veterans.

It was a privilege for me, as Chairman of the House VA Appropriations Subcommittee, to support the appropriations to help build this clinic, for which Mr. Burgess and Mr. Barton had worked so long and so hard. To our VA employees, doctors, nurses and staff, let me salute you. Without your professionalism and dedicated service to our veterans, this new clinic would be but brick and mortar. Thank you for making your service to veterans not just a job, but a labor of love. You are truly making a difference in the lives of thousands of American heroes.

On the eve of Veterans Day, I am proud to say that it is a new day for America’s veterans. The 110th Congress, which will end next month, has passed the largest increase in veterans’ funding in the 77-year history of the VA and a new 21st century GI Education Bill of Rights.

Our nation can never fully repay its debt of gratitude to those who have served, but we intend to respect you with our words and our deeds, with better health care and earned benefits. It is the right thing to do for our veterans and our country.

May God bless our veterans and the land that we love.

Edwards is Chairman of the House Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee.