thank you __PUNCT__
it an honor to be here todai with all of you legionnair __PUNCT__
sinc join the veteran affair committe last month __PUNCT__ i been hold town hall with veteran all over illinoi __PUNCT__ and i can tell you that in the dai ahead __PUNCT__ there will be few issu i work harder on than ensur that the brave men and women who serv our countri receiv the support thei deserv and the benefit thei earn when thei come home __PUNCT__
in the come week __PUNCT__ you hear a lot of debat over the veteran __PUNCT__ budget that presid bush submit to congress __PUNCT__
you hear peopl talk about what we can afford and what add up on paper __PUNCT__ about where we can save monei and what percentag increas or decreas we should give to thi program or that program __PUNCT__
but i know those aren't the first thing that came to your mind when you heard about thi budget __PUNCT__
and thei not the first thing that came to my mind either __PUNCT__
i thought about my grandfath __PUNCT__ who sign up for duti in world war ii the dai after pearl harbor __PUNCT__
he march across europ in patton armi __PUNCT__ and when he came home __PUNCT__ it wa the educ and opportun offer by the gi bill that allow hi famili to build their own american dream __PUNCT__
i thought about the hundr of illinoi veteran i met over the last few year __PUNCT__
we ask them to leav their home __PUNCT__ leav their famili __PUNCT__ and risk their live in some far __PUNCT__ off place to protect us __PUNCT__
and yet __PUNCT__ somehow __PUNCT__ we still hear stori like the on i heard from a veteran name bill allen __PUNCT__ who told me that on a trip to chicago __PUNCT__ he actual saw homeless veteran fight over access to the dumpster __PUNCT__
that what i thought about __PUNCT__
and final __PUNCT__ i thought about a young man name seamu ahern __PUNCT__ who i met dure the campaign at a v.f.w __PUNCT__ hall in east molin __PUNCT__ illinoi __PUNCT__
he told me about how he join the marin becaus he wa so proud of thi countri __PUNCT__ and he felt that as a young person in hi earli twenti he want to give someth back __PUNCT__
he wa get ship out to iraq the follow week __PUNCT__ and as i listen to him explain why he enlist __PUNCT__ the absolut faith he had in our countri and it leader __PUNCT__ hi devot to duti and servic __PUNCT__ i thought thi young man wa all that ani of us might hope for in a child __PUNCT__
but then i ask myself __PUNCT__ when shamu come home __PUNCT__ will we serv him as well as he serv us __PUNCT__ that the question we should be ask ourselv when we talk about veteran __PUNCT__ benefit and the veteran __PUNCT__ budget __PUNCT__
and that the standard we should meet __PUNCT__
but how do we meet that standard and serv our veteran when we have a budget that __PUNCT__ when adjust for inflat __PUNCT__ ha even less monei for veteran than it did a year ago __PUNCT__ when we have less for health care __PUNCT__ for hospit __PUNCT__ and for disabl pai __PUNCT__
thi budget tell our veteran that if you want increas fund for the va __PUNCT__ you have to pai for it yourself __PUNCT__
it a budget that charg __NUM__ million veteran a __MONEY__ enrol fee just to enter into the health care program thei were promis upon enlist __PUNCT__
a budget that more than doubl veteran __PUNCT__ prescript drug co __PUNCT__ payment __PUNCT__
that will cut __MONEY__ million in fund for veteran __PUNCT__ nurs home __PUNCT__ and will elimin more than __MONEY__ million in state grant that ar desper need by va facil across the countri __PUNCT__
and thi is a budget that tell all those veteran still wait for help to keep wait __PUNCT__
there ar roughli __NUM__ compens and pension claim still unprocess __PUNCT__ but thi budget onli call for __NUM__ new employe to help deal with thi backlog __PUNCT__ not enough to make a dent __PUNCT__
in chicago __PUNCT__ veteran ar wait an averag of __NUM__ dai just to start the sometim decad __PUNCT__ long process of get their disabl claim process __PUNCT__
__NUM__ dai __PUNCT__
how can we make our hero wait thi long __PUNCT__
as troop continu to come home from iraq and afghanistan __PUNCT__ the number and the need will onli increas __PUNCT__
we know that soldier ar alreadi come home with post traumat stress disord __PUNCT__ and we know that a recent armi studi show that on in six soldier in iraq report symptom of major depress __PUNCT__
some expert predict that more than __NUM__ soldier mai need some kind of mental health treatment when thei come home __PUNCT__
for ten of thousand of other __PUNCT__ the wound thei suffer in battl will need care that could last a lifetim __PUNCT__
it is not onli our patriot duti to provid thi care __PUNCT__ it is our moral duti at the most fundament level __PUNCT__
when our troop return from battl __PUNCT__ we should welcom them with the promis of opportun __PUNCT__ not the threat of poverti __PUNCT__
over half a centuri ago __PUNCT__ it wa american legion nation command harri colmeri who first draft the legisl longhand that would becom the gi bill of right __PUNCT__ a bill that ha sinc provid educ and train for nearli __NUM__ million american __PUNCT__ hous for nearli __NUM__ million famili __PUNCT__ and led to the creation of the great american middl __PUNCT__ class __PUNCT__
that wa a bill that told our hero __PUNCT__ when you come home __PUNCT__ we here for you __PUNCT__ becaus we all in thi togeth __PUNCT__
todai __PUNCT__ we shouldn't be scrape to find the bare minimum in benefit and health care for our veteran __PUNCT__
and with the largest deploy of troop sinc vietnam fight for freedom in an increasingli danger world __PUNCT__ we should be talk about a gi bill for the __NUM__ centuri __PUNCT__
fortun __PUNCT__ my colleagu __PUNCT__ congressman rahm emanuel __PUNCT__ ha just introduc such a bill __PUNCT__
it call the welcom home packag __PUNCT__ and it offer veteran the exact same health care thei receiv dure their time in the servic __PUNCT__ doubl the educ benefit thei receiv now __PUNCT__ and a __MONEY__ down payment on a home __PUNCT__
when veteran look to congress for help __PUNCT__ thi is the kind of legisl thei should hear about __PUNCT__ not budget cut and increas fee __PUNCT__
it time to reassess our prioriti __PUNCT__
a budget is more than just a seri of number on a page __PUNCT__ it is an embodi of our valu __PUNCT__
the presid never hesit to prais the servic of our veteran and acknowledg the debt we ow them for their servic __PUNCT__ and i commend him for that __PUNCT__
now i hope he will renew hi commit by increas fund for the va __PUNCT__ and ensur that our veteran receiv more than just word of prais __PUNCT__ but also the health care and benefit thei earn __PUNCT__
georg washington onc said __PUNCT__ the willing with which our young peopl ar like to serv in ani war __PUNCT__ no matter how justifi __PUNCT__ shall be directli proport to how thei perceiv veteran of earlier war were treat and appreci by our nation __PUNCT__
washington understood then what everi veteran here know now __PUNCT__ that when we make the decis to send our troop to war __PUNCT__ we also make the decis to care for them __PUNCT__ to speak for them __PUNCT__ and to think of them __PUNCT__ alwai __PUNCT__ when thei come __PUNCT__
thank you and god bless you __PUNCT__
