American Veterans Disabled for Life Commemorative Coin Act

Floor Speech

AMERICAN VETERANS DISABLED FOR LIFE COMMEMORATIVE COIN ACT -- (House of Representatives - May 15, 2007)

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Mr. KIRK. I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Madam Speaker, there are over 50 million Americans who have worn our country's uniform, and over 20 million are alive today. Among them there are 3 million Americans who are disabled from wounds in battle. Thanks to advances in military medicine, soldiers who once died of their wounds are now surviving and they return from battle with broken bodies, but not broken spirits. It is that spirit of men and women that we honor today. This Moore-Kirk bill will help raise funds for a memorial to disabled American veterans.

I want to particularly thank my bipartisan partner in this effort, Representative Dennis Moore of Kansas. We formed a bond and a partnership to pass this bill first authored by Representative Sue Kelly of New York. Mr. Moore and I worked many weeks to get over 290 cosponsors, Republicans and Democrats, to make sure this bill could come to the floor.

In 2000, Congress authorized the construction of the Americans Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial just south of the Rayburn Building within sight of the U.S. Capitol. Last December, President Bush signed into law a bill transferring control of the land for the memorial from the District of Columbia to the National Park Service. Now, the American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial Foundation needs to raise approximately $65 million to cover the cost of construction.

Our bill today will authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to mint commemorative silver dollars to be sold with a surcharge that will help the American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial Foundation to raise the money it needs for this memorial. Not only will these coins be collectors' items, but they will benefit this worthy cause.

Earlier this year, I had the privilege of meeting with an extraordinary young man, Sergeant Bryan Anderson of Rolling Meadows, Illinois. Bryan's story is, unfortunately, all too common for our soldiers in Iraq, but his spirit is uncommon, and his attitude sets him apart from the average person.

You see, Bryan lost both legs and an arm to a roadside bomb in Iraq. He jokes that he would have lost both arms if he hadn't been smoking when the bomb detonated. His sense of humor and determination are clearly apparent in the interview that he gave to Esquire Magazine in January. In it he said, ``This wound does not define me. It may be how I look on the outside, but it is not who I am. I guess you could remember me easily as being a triple amputee, but that's not who I am. It has nothing to do with who I am. I have always been the same person.''

Bryan is a self-described ``adrenalin junkie'' who hopes one day to become a Hollywood stuntman. Since his appearances on the cover of Esquire, he has had numerous opportunities to use his story for the gain of this legislation, often being baited to say if he has any political affiliation or asked what he thinks about the war. Each time he refuses to take the bait. He says he doesn't want to talk about politics. But he is always willing and excited to talk about the American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial.

Washington has legions of professional advocates who make a living convincing people to see issues from their point of view, but none of them compare to Bryan Anderson. With Bryan, what you see is what you get, an American veteran with an inspirational story that has dedicated a good portion of his life to seeing that this memorial be built, not just for himself, but for 3 million disabled American veterans, and for everyone to remember the sacrifices that they have made.

Bryan is a genuine man that you may one day meet. I hope passage of this legislation brings us closer to a day when Bryan returns to Capitol Hill to see the memorial that he helped to build.

With more than 3 million disabled American veterans in the United States, it is fitting that we construct a memorial in Washington, D.C., within sight of this Capitol. It is my hope that my colleagues will answer Bryan Anderson's call to action and support this legislation to make this memorial a reality.

With that, I just want to once again thank my colleague from Kansas (Mr. Moore) for an outstanding partnership and a great bipartisan victory today.

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