“Tomorrow, we pause to pay tribute to the millions of men and women who have served in our Armed Forces over the 228 years since our nation’s founding. As I do most every year, I will march with Maine veterans, other dignitaries and hundreds of patriotic citizens from Longfellow Square to Monument Square in Portland. All across America similar parades will be held, wreaths will be placed at monuments and flags will be planted in cemeteries. Solemn commemorations, both public and private, will take place in large cities and small towns, in veterans’ hospitals and long-term care facilities and in the homes of families with veterans, who have lost a loved one or who have a relative currently on duty somewhere around the globe.
“Through these tributes, we say thanks and offer our salute to all those who have ever worn the uniform of our Armed Services. But there is a much more tangible, and I believe necessary, way for us to demonstrate our appreciation. And that is to apply the spirit of Veterans Day year round to our public policy toward our veterans.
“That is why I work so hard with the rest of the Maine Congressional delegation to increase funding for the veterans hospital at Togus, its many successful outreach programs and for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) at the national and regional levels. Still, far too many veterans must wait months to receive medical care, pay higher co-pays for their prescriptions, travel out of state for services and endure other hardships. Yet each year, the VA must come before Congress to compete with other agencies to secure funding for health care and other services we promised to our veterans. I believe the time is long past due to end the yearly fighting for decent funding levels, and I have sponsored legislation to make veterans’ health care funding mandatory. Our veterans fought for us, and I will always fight for them.
“I am also proud to have been part of the successful campaign to end the Survivor Benefits Penalty or ‘Widow’s Tax,’ that denied benefits to spouses who sacrificed on the home front. I will continue to work with others in Congress to end the so-called ‘Disabled Veterans’ Tax,’ a misguided provision of our veterans’ law which forces disabled military retirees to give up one dollar of their pension for every dollar of disability pay they receive. And I am a co-sponsor of the comprehensive ‘Salute to Veterans and Armed Forces Act,’ legislation to improve the services we provide uniform personnel today and guarantee long overdue benefits for the veterans and military retirees who have already served.
“As we mark Veterans Day 2004, tens of thousands of our fathers and mothers, husbands and wives, sons and daughters, friends and neighbors are on assignment around the globe, from the Korean Peninsula to the Balkan Peninsula. Many thousands stand in harm’s shadow on the streets and in the country sides of Iraq and Afghanistan. Let us honor the sacrifices the brave men and women of our Armed Forces and their long-suffering families are making on our behalf. Let us bear in mind that those serving today are the veterans of tomorrow and rededicate ourselves to fulfill the promises we have made to them. And let us pray that they will come safely home to receive our gratitude and appreciation when they march in future Veterans Day parades.”
