The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“Veterans (Executive Calendar)” mentioning Jerry Moran was published in the Senate section on pages S4815-S4816 on July 12.
Of the 100 senators in 117th Congress, 24 percent were women, and 76 percent were men, according to the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
Senators' salaries are historically higher than the median US income.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
Veterans
Mr. TUBERVILLE. Madam President, last week, when we were all back home, we all got to celebrate the Fourth of July. Cooking out, spending time with our family and friends, watching fireworks is always special.
Sitting there with my family, I thought about how blessed we are to live in the United States of America. We get to live in the most free and prosperous country in the history of the world. We owe that freedom and prosperity to the people who declared their independence on July 4, 245 years ago.
They fought and won their freedom for an idea called America. That American idea lives on two-and-a-half centuries later, thanks to the generations of men and women who, like many before them, put on the uniform to defend this great country. Many gave their lives, the ultimate sacrifice, to defend the United States. But many more are still with us, and future generations will continue to volunteer to protect the freedoms and liberties this country affords us every day.
Today we have got almost 20 million veterans in the United States, and 400,000 of them call Alabama home. I have had the honor and pleasure to meet many Alabama veterans the past few years. I am always heartened to talk with them about their service to our great country, but what I hear over and over again is that there is more we can do for all of our veterans: better access to care, better opportunities to reenter civilian life.
Taking care of our veterans is personal for me. My dad served in World War II and died on Active Duty after the war. But he taught me so many valuable lessons, like work ethic, perseverance, and love of country. When I meet with veterans, I see the same patriotism my dad lived out every day of his life.
You know, I never served myself. The Vietnam war was over before I got out of college, but many guys I knew from back home served in Vietnam. I saw how badly they were treated by the media, by Hollywood, and even by their fellow Americans. They were just trying to serve their country. They watched their friends die, and when they got home, they weren't treated very well.
I thank God we treat our veterans today better than we did when I was growing up. And veterans from the Vietnam era are still the largest of the veteran group in this United States that we live in today. More than 100,000 Vietnam vets live in Alabama.
But there is still more we can do to give them the care and resources that they need and deserve. I am honored to be a member of the Senate's Veterans' Affairs Committee, where we can hear about the problems facing our veterans firsthand and work together on commonsense solutions.
The biggest challenge our veterans face is the access to quality care. We have all seen it in the news. We have heard about it firsthand. Far too often, veterans can't get the care they need in a timely manner. One veteran who doesn't have access to care is one too many.
My main priority is to get veterans the care they need and they well deserve by whatever means at our disposal, period. A solution to help address that problem is the GHAPS Act, Guaranteeing Healthcare Access to Personnel Who Served, introduced by my friend and committee ranking member Senator Moran from Kansas.
The GHAPS Act would identify persistent gaps that veterans face and would help craft innovative solutions to make certain all veterans receive quality and timely care, especially our veterans living in rural areas. The bill would also direct the VA to create a telehealth strategic plan so that we can use modern methods to improve access to care.
I am proud to cosponsor that legislation and will be working with Ranking Member Moran to get this bill passed.
We also need to do more to address the scourge of veteran suicide. It is absolutely tragic that more than 18 veterans take their own life every day. I have partnered with groups like America's Warrior Partnership, who are gathering data on veteran suicide across the country to determine how we can combat this terrible epidemic, leveraging both the VA and community resources.
At the same time, we must do more to make additional treatments available to veterans who haven't had success treating their traumatic brain injuries or post-traumatic stress disorder. One step we can take is to pass my bill, the HBOT Access Act. HBOT stands for hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
My bill would permit HBOT as a treatment option for those veterans who have tried other evidence-based treatment options for TBI or PTSD but have not seen substantial improvement. I have heard from veterans and veterans service organizations that point to HBOT as a treatment that has produced positive results for individuals suffering from severe head and brain injuries. Many former football players, including ones who played for me, found success with HBOT in treating their head injuries after suffering from concussions.
HBOT is already approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a treatment option for more than a dozen different conditions, including severe burns, infections, and decompression sickness. But the FDA does not recognize HBOT as an approved treatment option for TBI or PTSD, meaning veterans can't receive this care at the VA facilities or elsewhere and must pay for it out of their own pocket if they do use it. My bill would change that.
If veterans are saying they have improved after using HBOT and if veterans service organizations have seen similar success, I say we listen to them. We should not leave quality options on the table while the veteran suicide crisis worsens.
I want to thank my colleagues Senators Hoeven and Cramer as well as the American Legion and the Patriot Angels for supporting this important legislation. I hope my fellow colleagues will join me in passing this commonsense bill.
Finally, we need to improve resources for veterans to find jobs after their service in the military. Too many face unnecessary hurdles in rejoining civilian life. They have some of the best skills you can ask for. Yet sometimes our veterans, like so many others, can fall prey to addiction, homelessness, or just be flat out down on their luck.
Thankfully, we have got quality organizations that are doing good work helping veterans in need. One of these organizations is Three Hots and a Cot, based in Clay, AL. Three Hots is a small nonprofit organization founded by veterans for veterans. They get funding mostly through donations but also through a Veterans Affairs supportive housing grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Three Hots offers temporary assisted housing to 18 veterans at a time. They will drive the veterans to healthcare appointments at the VA, to grocery stores, to job interviews, and to church until they can get back on their feet. And the job doesn't stop once the veterans are settled in an apartment on their own. Three Hots will help with the transition by doing tasks like stocking their pantry, getting them furniture, and checking on them regularly.
In their 10 years of operation, Three Hots has helped more than 1,600 veterans and family members with an 83-percent success rate. This is the holistic type of approach to a tough issue that we need more of. They meet veterans where they are at in the community and help them find the resources available.
There are more great organizations across the country offering to help veterans in need, but oftentimes our veterans don't know these resources are available. I will be working closely with my colleagues to better connect veterans with the resources that are out there so they can be equipped with the skills they need to succeed at home.
Folks, simply, without the brave men and women who wear the uniform, we wouldn't have the freedoms we enjoy and sometimes take for granted every day. Our service men and women risked everything by joining the military. The least we can do is to repay their service and sacrifice by taking care of them when they return home to the country they gave so much to defend. That is what I will be doing on the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee and throughout my time here in the Senate
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