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Washington, D.C. - Veteran’s Day annually provides an important opportunity to honor and thank those who have given so much in defense of freedom. It also provides a chance to reflect on the service and sacrifice of our nation’s veterans and renew our country’s commitment to ensuring that our veterans are receiving benefits and care worthy of their sacrifice.
Over the last few years Congress has made great strides toward this end. We enacted the Post 9-11 GI Bill to help them pursue higher education and to ease their transition from the battlefield to the classroom. We have changed procedures for funding the Veterans Health Administration to ensure its budget is not held hostage by political games. And, we are working to resolve the claims backlog so that eligible veterans receive the disability benefits they deserve.
While we have done a lot for our veterans, we still have much more to do. One issue of particular importance is to address the situation of our homeless veterans.
On any given night more than a hundred thousand of our military veterans make their way to a shelter, a corner protected from the wind, or beneath an overhang on a building to shield themselves from the elements.
But over the course of a year, government estimates suggest that twice as many veterans may experience homelessness, as some find themselves with no place to live and others move into some kind of housing. Our homeless veterans, many of whom served in Vietnam and the armed conflicts that have followed, have earned the right to expect that – for whatever reason they may find themselves destitute, alone, and homeless – they will not be left to sleep on a sidewalk in the rain.
The United States is a better country than that.
Last spring the House passed a bill, the End Veteran Homelessness Act of 2010 (HR4810), to provide housing and other services for homeless veterans. It was a rare act of bipartisanship when the House voted 413-0 in favor of this bill. I was pleased to have been part of that unanimous action.
We are awaiting movement from the Senate, where the bill has been referred to the Veterans Affairs Committee. It’s hard to say what its prospects are there. But, it is my hope that our Senate colleagues consider it with the sense of urgency this issue demands.
Our veterans deserve to know that we will fulfill the promises we have made to them. This is what a great nation does.
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