Remember Those Lost, Honor Those Living

Remember Those Lost, Honor Those Living

Memorial Day is an important opportunity to honor those men and women who gave their lives while protecting our freedom. Since this nation's founding, America's soldiers have been staunch and steady defenders of our democracy.

Memorial Day's origin is traced to the wives of fallen Civil War soldiers, who began the tradition of visiting their husband's graves and decorating them with flowers. Now, as then, we understand the importance of publicly recognizing the sacrifice made by our heroes in service of their fellow man. The families and loved ones of those lost should take comfort in knowing that a grateful nation shares in their pain.

While it is important to remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, Memorial Day should also serve as a reminder of our sacred commitment to America's veterans.

Whether they served in World War 2, Vietnam, Korea, or Iraq, our nation's veterans made it possible for us to live in peace and security.

Too often in recent years, the needs of our veterans have been overlooked, especially in the area of health care.

Currently, the Veterans Administration (VA) has a backlog of 600,000 disability cases.

Our nation's VA walk-in clinics (commonly referred to as Vet Centers) are short on staff and many veterans suffering from PTSD are going without the counseling they need. In fact, while the number of returning Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans visiting Vet Centers has more than doubled since 2004, staffing has only increased by 10 percent.

And as Americans learned of the deplorable conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the VA released a review of 1,400 hospitals and health clinics that found over 1,000 reports of substandard conditions.

This is simply unacceptable. We have a moral obligation to provide our veterans a level of care that is commensurate with the extraordinary sacrifices they made on our behalf.

After my election to Congress, I worked hard to get a seat on the Veterans' Affairs Committee.

I believed I could use that appointment to fully fund VA health care, ensure disability assistance is handed out in a more timely fashion, and give all veterans the dignity of a proper burial.

After nearly 5 months in office, I am proud to say that our committee has made significant progress.

Congress recently passed a budget that honors the 900,000 veterans in Illinois with an increase in VA health care of $6.7 billion over 2007 figures and $3.6 billion over President Bush's request. In fact, our budget included the largest annual increase for veterans funding in the 77 year history of the VA.

I believe we need to go even further. On Thursday, I introduced the Assured Funding for Veterans Health Care Act of 2007, a bill to make VA health care a mandatory spending item within the federal budget.

VA health care is currently the only major federal health program that is not funded through mandatory appropriations. With the health and well-being of our veterans hanging in the balance, the time to change that is now.

No other group of Americans has stood stronger and braver for democracy than our servicemen and women. On this Memorial Day, Congress should work to support our current and future veterans by providing them the benefits they deserve.

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