Patrick Kennedy

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. Madam Speaker, I regret that I was unable to participate in a series of votes on the floor of the House of Representatives today. Had I been present to vote on rollcall No. 529, on agreeing to the Holden amendment to H.R. 4785--Rural Energy Savings Program Act, I would have voted ``aye'' on the question. Had I been present to vote on rollcall No. 530, on the passage of H.R. 4785--Rural Energy Savings Program Act, I would have voted ``aye'' on the motion. Had I been present to vote on rollcall No. 531 on the motion to suspend the rules and agree to H. Res. 1613--Expressing condolences to and solidarity with the people of Pakistan in the aftermath of the devastating floods that began July 22, 2010, I would have voted ``aye'' on the question.

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time, and I thank Mr. Coble for his bill. Service dogs, yes, they do a lot of really important functions, among which is to provide service and support for our veterans. We just expanded last year the definition of those eligible for service dogs to those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder because these animals know when these veterans are in crisis and they can help get them out of the house, they can help them not only see when they can't see, as we commonly associate service dogs to be sight for the blind, but now these service dogs are doing a lot of things in addition to helping in our law enforcement. I love the term ``to detect,'' to search and rescue. I only wish our country had that attitude when it came to our Nation's heroes who are suffering from these neurological disorders of blindness, of TBI, of post-traumatic stress, because they need more than just service dogs. They need us to go in there and unlock the mysteries that are keeping them held hostage to the disability of their service to our country. The constant IED attacks and concussions on the brain that are going to cause a permanent, unless we step in and save them, permanent disability for these veterans. We have an opportunity. We talked about civil rights, voting rights. This is the biggest civil rights fight for our day and generation, those with neurological disorders, for those suffering in their minds. We don't see it, and so we don't take it seriously. The fact is they need someone to come in and set them free from being prisoners of their war injuries. We need to be the first responders in the next couple of years, dedicate ourselves to saying while combat operations are over in Iraq, the war hasn't ended for these veterans. It is just beginning as they face the disabilities that they have incurred, suffering by their sacrifice to our country. So we talk about how great service dogs are in so many respects. Let's put those service dogs out of business. Let's restore the eyesight of our veterans. The biggest TBI, traumatic brain injury, is lost eyesight. The biggest TBI confusion, loss of memory, loss of ability to go outside. These dogs are bringing them out into the real world. Let's not allow us to be having to rely on others to support these veterans. Let's restore their brain capacities by investing in stem cell research. Let's restore their functions by making sure that we invest in all of the genetic trip wire identifications so they don't have to get Alzheimer's 20 years prior to the average American, which is what all neuroscientists say these veterans are going to be facing if we don't step in soon. They don't have to get Parkinson's disease because we are not doing anything. Let's get in there, and in the words of my uncle, President Kennedy, when we talked about civil rights, he said, Who amongst us would be willing to abide by the counsels of patience and delay, and trade the color of their skin for someone else's, and abide by those laws back in the 1960s? Well, now, who amongst us would trade places with these suffering TBI victims, these veterans, and say we can't do better to bring you home, not only in body when you get home from your war serving our country, but in mind? Because we know the suicide rates are off the charts, unacceptable. We know that what they are facing is unacceptable, and we need to be the ones who come in and shed some light on their lives so they don't have to rely on service dogs. We don't have to rely on anything else but their potential to live their own independent lives free for themselves, without any dependence on anybody else, and we can do that if we put our commitment out there, professing like we did today that we care about our first responders. Hey, let's put it into action and invest in these things that will bring our veterans home, not only in body but in mind. In the meantime, we can make sure they have service dogs, for which this Congress provided $5 million to expand the definition of those who are suffering from other neurological disorders other than eyesight loss. That's a good thing, but let's not make it the answer, the Band- Aid. Let's get to the real solution and save these veterans from being held hostage to their terminal situations, which would not be terminal if we would dedicate ourselves to intervening and intervening soon on their behalf. I thank my colleagues for letting me explain myself with respect to these service dogs, because they do a lot of good things, but we need to make sure our people are also given some support and independence by their not having to rely on dogs in the future.

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. I thank the gentleman for yielding. I want to acknowledge the gentlelady from Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn) for her comments. You know, history is so important because it teaches us about the future. And we might think this is a 90-year-old piece of history dug up out of the past that we are just reflecting on. But we all know right now that it wasn't until this last three cycles that we had the election of the first woman Speaker of the House in the history of this great democracy, arguably one of the most powerful offices in the Constitution, leading the House of Representatives, Speaker Nancy Pelosi. And that one of the first items she had to take on as a Speaker was the passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Equal Pay Act. So you know, we are talking about 90 years ago, and yet up until this day we are still fighting about whether women ought to get equal pay for equal work. That was not something that was a fait accompli in terms of a bill that would have been passed. But it just shows you we think we live in times where all of the great battles in the history of civil rights are behind us because they happened, oh, during the 1960s, or they happened back in the early 1920s, or they happened way back then. You know what? They're happening now. We had an historic election in 2008, the election of the first African American President of the United States. When I go to my schools around my district, majority-minority, they finally say, ``We belong in America.'' Because just as it was empowering for women to finally know they had a legal seat at the table, it wasn't just the legalese that mattered, it was the spirit of the law. And what matters is the message that it sends to all of our people that this is a country that's in constant dynamic motion in terms of always trying to improve itself, expand the circle of opportunity for people who have been previously shunted aside in our country. And I think that it's a wonderful opportunity today to celebrate what makes us the greatest country on the face of the earth. We might not always get it right, but we're going to get it right because we're a country that moves forward, that has progress, that's constantly striving to make it better. People put us down all over the world. They put us down here all over our own country. We're the greatest country in the world. We're the model where everywhere people want to come here because of things like we're celebrating today. Because you know what? For most people in the world the notion of a political right is a foreign notion. The notion of equal rights is a foreign notion. Human dignity, human rights are foreign notions. We may not always get it right, but we ultimately will get it if we stick to it, and we remember things like this as guideposts as to how we need to continue the constant fight to move our country ever forward in the promise that Dr. King laid out in his ``I Have a Dream'' speech that we could all be treated as we ourselves would want to be treated someday. You know, because there but for the grace of God go each and every one of us. It's a human dignity issue. One of the false things that keep us behind in life, perceptions, those are irrelevant when we talk about things like this because we finally recognize what makes our country great is we are not going to segregate, we are not going to discriminate. We are going to elevate every human being no matter their gender, their color, their creed, their disability or ability, for that matter. This is a country that's about everybody. As this President said last week, it's not us versus them. In this country it's all us, Barack Obama, President of the United States, and, boy, is he right. Girl, is he right. Thank God in America it doesn't matter if you are shut out because someday, because of our Constitution in this great country, we might be able to get a way in for everybody if they have something going against them. And the women fought the fight, African Americans, minorities, people with physical disabilities through the ADA. It's a constant fight. Everybody owes a debt of gratitude to everyone else for making our country a freer, more equal place for all people to live.

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. I just want to take this opportunity to thank you for your work on making sure that those who are American citizens, over 4\1/2\ million Americans are Americans but don't enjoy the full rights of Americans because of where they live, on an island called Puerto Rico, where people think that you need a passport to get there. It is an American territory. And by virtue of being a territory, people on Puerto Rico do not have full voting rights power. And your work not just on this, what may be considered a ceremonial thing, but your work to ensure this country fulfills its obligations to treat all Americans with full liberty and their enfranchisement granted under the Constitution is so much something I think needs to be acknowledged. It's great to swear people in, but let's make sure we also guarantee those rights that we already guaranteed Americans, like the 4 million Americans in Puerto Rico or those who live here in the District of Columbia or in any of the territories around the world that are of American domain.

Mr. KENNEDY. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. For those of you who may be watching on your C-SPAN at home, you may wonder how it is that everything just has to be broken down Republican versus Democrat, right versus left. I think there is one special interest group in our country that there shouldn't be any disagreement about, it's a good special interest. And that's our Nation's veterans. We are consumed right now with a lot of problems our country has. But perhaps the families that's facing the greatest challenges right now are the families that have already borne the biggest sacrifice so that we could have elections today in my State and other States across the country and we could have an election this November. We are very good in this country at getting down on ourselves, berating our political system, saying it's no good. After you hear a colleague of mine like that talk about China, I think people get the picture of the fact we've got it pretty good in this country. For all intents and purposes it's not perfect, but as Winston Churchill said, ``Democracy's the worst form of government except for all the others.'' Most places of the world people don't have rights of any kind even to lobby, a lobbyist, or a special interest. They just don't have rights. What makes our country so great and what we stand for as a people so great is that we can speak our mind. We can come to the floor and talk, just as my colleague did, about the one child per family policy in China. We can talk about the economy, as my other colleagues did before that. But let's just stop for a second and understand one thing. We would not have an economy if terrorists were in our malls today blowing up backpacks. Because of our veterans, our soldiers who have borne the battle, those terrorists, in large part due to their work, have been kept over there as opposed to coming here. Yes, that's cost us a lot of money as a country to fight those wars. But the cost, the indelible costs of this war is on those veterans who have suffered what many people would like to think, because there are no cures, no interventions, no treatments, permanent chronic damage as a result of the physical torment their bodies, their brains took serving our country. I am here to say good news. Good news is that if this country comes to our veterans' side and decides not just to talk a good game about supporting our veterans, but actually that we're going to do whatever it takes to save those veterans, because we constantly say, oh, the war is over, oh, the combat operations are over. We are bringing them home safely. Try telling that to a veteran with traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress. The combat operations as we know them may have been concluded officially, but their war is just beginning, their war against the disabling symptoms of their service, of the casualties of their experience, fighting for us, saving our country, saving this world from more 9/11s. So what's our attitude going to be? Are we going to come to their rescue, or are we just going to talk a good game? Within the next couple of years we can come in with new cell recuperation, through stem cell research, restore and repair damaged brains, with the knowledge that we have of genetics. We can help avert all kinds of the other challenges they are going to face higher risks for because of their exposure to all of these conflicts on our behalf. They are going to be high risk. We can turn all those trip wires off with the research we can do now, not in 2 years from now, not in 4 years from now, not in any period of time. Because if you are one of those veterans and you have come home and you are suffering, you are saying to yourself, how long is it going to take before I get relief, before someone comes in and saves me as a prisoner of my war injury. We shouldn't make them wait any longer than is necessary to get to the cures and the answers that are going to set them free.

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. It seems like my colleagues, as the saying goes, know the cost of everything but the value of nothing. I think the gentleman is exactly right, entitlements. That's where the money is. We all know it. And yet my colleagues have not seen fit to increase research, biomedical research that could show enormous offsets in the cost of care for people with Alzheimer's, autism, Parkinson's, epilepsy. But that's just the costs. Think about the difference in people's lives that research in helping people live more functional lives, the cost in their quality of life that could make. But are they talking about savings in those respects? No, they're just talking about dollars and cents that seem to fit on a piece of paper, but not in a difference in people's lives. Here they're talking about a couple million dollars on a bike path. They say that that is something we shouldn't care about. I'm the Congressman from that district. I know what dollars come back home. I know the value of this bike path. It helps get people to enjoy the quality of their life. In case people don't understand, there is a public health epidemic. It's called diabetes. It's called lack of exercise. I think we actually ought to be encouraging people to be outdoors. It is a public health issue. We will be paying for this public health problem if people don't exercise. But this gentleman seems to dismiss the cost of a bike path. The point is that once again, cost of everything, value of nothing. So we'll hear a bunch of these amendments come on down the pike. I just ask people to keep in mind this is coming up on the silly season, election time. People will sound like they care a lot about your bottom line. But the real issue is, do they really care about the other kinds of deficits? The deficits in education. You can only make first grade once in your life, second grade once, third grade once. And if your kid's in the classroom with 35 kids that year because we decide to save money, guess what? Too bad for your kid. They have no dress rehearsal in their life. No dress rehearsal. So if we decide to save money this year, too bad for that kid because we all of a sudden got serious about our deficit. Forget their deficit that they're going to live with for the rest of their life in terms of human potential because that wasn't on their balance sheet, ladies and gentlemen. That GNP never factored into their timetable, into their value system. That's not the GNP they were looking at. So let's start changing the way we value what our economy is and what it is that we value when we're looking at dollars and common sense.

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. I appreciate the gentleman's yielding. I too want to join in paying tribute to the gentleman from New Jersey for this amendment and also to the chairman, Chairman Edwards, for his diligence to this mental health issue in the bill. As I said earlier, these wounds may be invisible but they're not invisible to the members of our uniform who are suffering from them. I think it may not come as a surprise to most people that those servicemembers dying of suicide outnumber those who are killed in action. And that does not include our veterans. It wasn't until this defense bill that we just passed that we included a provision that the President of the United States would actually send a letter of condolence to the family of those who had taken their life in the field, and we all know what the pressures are on those individuals: more tours of duty, longer times away from their families, and more stress. The fact of the matter is I think that this work that you're doing, Rush, is to be commended. I think it is also important for everyone to note that this historic health bill that we just passed will encompass 72 percent of all veterans who will get their care thanks to this Congress' work to include mental health parity in the health care reform bill that was just passed. Seventy-two percent of all vets will never see the VA for their health care but, rather, through private health insurance. And this Congress passed legislation making it illegal for them to be discriminated against based upon health status, whether it be mental, physical, and we all know that mental now is a neurological disorder. Thanks again for your good work. Again thank you to the chairman and ranking member for their good work on this.

Mr. KENNEDY. The blood-brain barrier reduces the ability for a bruise that is absorbed by the regular body to be absorbed by the brain. This drug helped reduce the swelling. The DOD has an obligation to implement it. They are not. They should. And they ought to.

Mr. KENNEDY. I thank the chairman and my ranking member for all the work they did to make this a fine veterans appropriations bill. Ladies and gentlemen, if our soldiers were caught behind enemy lines, we would think nothing of mounting the full might of military power to go in and retrieve those members of our military. In fact, every American would wrap yellow ribbons around their trees in solidarity in order that we may set those prisoners of war free, in order that we may bring back those hostages of the Taliban, or the terrorists, or whomever may have captured them. But ladies and gentlemen, something is going on in this country, something very tragic. Our military, our Veterans Affairs, everybody talks a good game, talks a very good game of patriotism when it comes to saying we're going to stand by our guardians of freedom, while those very guardians of freedom aren't free themselves. They may have come home in body, but they have not come home, many of them, in mind. They are suffering from the signature wound of this war. What is that? Traumatic brain injury. What is that? Post-traumatic stress disorder. My colleagues, these veterans in essence are being held hostage. They're being held hostage all over this great country. They are in essence prisoners of war. They are prisoners of this war, prisoners of traumatic brain injury and its symptoms, its many symptoms: loss of memory, loss of cognitive ability, and the symptoms that ensue. Many of them self-medicate. Many of them isolate. Why? Because these injuries are invisible, invisible to the naked eye, but not invisible to anybody who loves them. These are real injuries. They are injuries that can turn their lives upside down. All of the commanders in DOD say they are doing something about it. I'm not seeing it. In fact, I was briefed a year ago on some neuroscience research of an off-label drug that's used to treat bleeding in the intestines, to reduce swelling. They thought it might help reduce swelling of a concussion and the onset of swelling in the brain. Guess what? It proved to be effective, initial findings showed. If this were the battle of AIDS, that drug would have been in the field helping our soldiers. But no, we don't have the urgency we have with AIDS. Somehow we don't have the urgency when it comes to our veterans and the signature of this war wound, TBI and PTSD, that we bring when it comes to something like AIDS. We don't set aside parochial concerns. We don't set aside partisan. We don't set aside the value of someone's proprietary research concerns. When are we going to make our special interest the veteran? There's nothing dirty about special interests so long as we make it the right one. When are we going to agree that there is one special interest in this town that there should be no disagreement about, and that's the veteran. When are we going to say with our actions, not just our words, that the veteran is the one who counts? When are we going to say we're going to release them from terror, the terror and tyranny of their bondage, of their disability because they served us? Ladies and gentlemen, this study showed that if you reduce the swelling in the brain you can reduce the longer-term impact.

Mr. KENNEDY. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. Neil Armstrong, in his famous quote when he landed on the Moon--an objective that no one thought was realistic when President Kennedy made the challenge earlier that decade. They thought it was impossible. But the United States got behind that mission, and we carried the day because we are the United States. How fitting it would be if we could apply Neil Armstrong's quote to not only putting a man on the Moon, but apply that quote, ``One small step for man; one giant leap for mankind,'' to those veterans when it comes to them being able to say, I stepped out of my wheelchair. I was able to step out of my bed. I was able to step out of my house because this country went ahead with science. Nothing is more personal. In about 3 weeks, I am going to celebrate, in a sense, my father's life once again--the anniversary of his passing. What people don't know is that I marvel at the fact that I had an extra year with my dad that no one had expected because a neurosurgeon gave me that year. To me, that neurosurgeon and modern science gets as personal as it can get, because it gave me someone I loved for an extra year. Ladies and gentlemen, let's harness the innovation technology that we have on behalf of our veterans. If we don't have an urgency on behalf of them to work to set them free from being prisoners of their war injuries, held hostage from their trauma of serving this country, then what are we going to get worked up for? Ladies and gentlemen, I want to thank people like Jim Langevin who have fought the fight and been an example. Isn't it time we continue to stand by them and continue that fight? Let's pass this resolution, but let's rededicate ourselves to taking this fight not only to helping make sure people don't fall behind, but also making sure that they move forward to a brighter future, something that they can look forward to. That's what America has been all about. Thank you, Jim. It's been an honor to serve with you. I look forward to many years ahead of your serving this great country of ours.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. Speaker, my good friend and colleague, Mr. Langevin, I rise to support H. Res. 1504, commemorating the ADA. Mr. Speaker, you are the embodiment of what the ADA meant to accomplish. To accomplish the great mission of America, to widen the circle of opportunity for more and more Americans to participate in the American Dream. Your service in Congress exemplifies the rawest elements of the American Dream, the potential that exists when we are lifted by what we believe in ourselves rather than what we are told by others. That spirit of possibility also represents the best of America itself. However daunting appear the challenges that loom before us, we must not forget that our Nation was built on possibility and founded on the principles of overcoming overwhelming obstacles. The true strength of our Nation is derived not only from the fact that we are the most diverse Nation in the world, but we are also the most inclusive Nation in the world. In much of the world, minority populations continue to be persecuted and discriminated against. Yet in America, people exercise their right guaranteed under the Constitution and the 1965 Voting Rights Act to cast their ballot for Barack Obama, who received more votes from more Americans than any other previous Presidential candidate in American history. It's nearly 50 years ago that my uncle entered the White House, and among the many challenges he issued to the American people was the Civil Rights Act. The true strength of our Nation is not derived only from the fact that that is our big challenge, but that we must keep it going forward. He said, ``The heart of the question is whether all Americans are to be afforded equal rights and equal opportunities, whether we are going to treat our fellow Americans as we want to be treated. If, in short, he cannot enjoy the full and free life which all of us want, then who among us would be content to have the color of his skin changed,'' or, in this case, to have the physical condition that they are in changed and abide by that situation that they are living in. As he goes on, ``Who among us would be content with the counsels of patience and delay?'' With this anniversary of the ADA, perhaps it's timely to think about all the new ranks of those with disabilities, our returning veterans suffering from TBI and PTSD. I will never forget the day we passed the mental health parity bill. The most eloquent speech that I heard that day was given by none other than the man in the rostrum, Jim Langevin. He came down to the floor of the House. He said to his colleagues, All of you see my disability; I am in a wheelchair. But for millions of Americans, the disability they face is no less paralyzing in their lives. This disability comes in the form of a neurological disorder, a brain illness. To them, they have a very real disability, but we don't treat it as such. That's why we need to pass legislation prohibiting discrimination against the mentally ill. Jim Langevin carried the day on that mental health parity bill. I will always be grateful for that. Today, we stand at the new frontier, as my uncle said, of the possibility of scientific breakthrough to help our veterans through their traumatic brain injury and their posttraumatic stress disorder. I say that the new challenge of the disability movement is not to stand by with the patience and delay that too many of us have witnessed when it comes to research. Now, research can seem something esoteric, but research isn't esoteric to someone who is paralyzed in a wheelchair, who is looking forward to the day when we can regenerate the spinal cord and allow them to step out of that wheelchair. Research, to someone with Alzheimer's, for them to be able to restore their memory and restore their ability to come back to their family, that's as personal as it gets. Research that allows us to reconnect the wirings in the brain for a family who has children with autism.

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. Well, there he is. Who's in charge now? All right, Jimmy. Well, I'll get my chance later. And you better be ready, because there will be no holding back then. God bless you. I am so proud to be your colleague.

Mr. KENNEDY. How much time do I have?

Mr. KENNEDY. I don't know who is controlling the time.

Mr. KENNEDY. May I ask unanimous consent to have the requisite 5 minutes that I was initially given?

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. Speaker, one of the peculiarities of parliamentary procedure is that all discussion on the floor of the House is directed to the person who occupies the Speaker's podium. But it is on rare occasion when the significance of the individual presiding over House proceedings outweighs the proceedings themselves. This is such a time. It is with great pride that I stand here on this historic occasion as my close friend Jim Langevin presides over the House from the Speaker's rostrum. Jim is an individual who embodies the best of the American people. He is the personification of the word ``courage.'' I have known Jim since our time together in the Rhode Island State Legislature, and I have been fortunate to witness his overcoming obstacle after obstacle throughout his life. As a teenager, Jim made a commitment to a life of public service, seeking a career as a police officer. When a cruel twist of fate denied him the path that he envisioned, the easy road would have been to give up. But Jim would not be dissuaded. Instead, he drew on a spirit of perseverance that any lesser of us would have struggled to find.

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. Madam Speaker, I regret that I was unable to participate in a series of votes on the floor of the House of Representatives today. Had I been present to vote on rollcall No. 339, Motion on Ordering the Previous Question on the Rule for H.R. 5072--FHA Reform Act of 2010 (H. Res. 1424), I would have voted ``aye'' on the question. Had I been present to vote on rollcall No. 340, on the Rule providing for consideration of H.R. 5072--FHA Reform Act of 2010, I would have voted ``aye'' on the question. Had I been present to vote on rollcall No. 341, on the motion to suspend the rules and agree to H. Res. 989, expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States would adopt national policies and pursue international agreements to prevent ocean acidification, to study the impacts of ocean acidification, and to address the effects of ocean acidification on marine ecosystems and coastal economies, I would have voted ``aye'' on the question. Had I been present to vote on rollcall No. 342, on the motion to suspend the rules and pass H. Res. 1178, directing the Clerk of the House of Representatives to compile the cost estimates prepared by the Congressional Budget Office which are included in reports filed by committees of the House on approved legislation and post such estimates on the official public Internet site of the Office of the Clerk, I would have voted ``aye'' on the question. Had I been present to vote on rollcall No. 343, on the Republican Motion to Instruct Conferees on H.R. 4173--Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, I would have voted ``nay'' on the question. Had I been present to vote on rollcall No. 344, on the motion to suspend the rules and agree to H. Res. 1330, Recognizing June 8, 2010, as World Ocean Day, I would have voted ``aye'' on the question. Had I been present to vote on rollcall No. 345, on the motion to suspend the rules and agree to H.R. 5278, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 405 West Second Street in Dixon, Illinois, as the ``President Ronald W. Reagan Post Office Building,'' I would have voted ``aye'' on the question. Had I been present to vote on rollcall No. 346, on the motion to suspend the rules and agree to H.R. 5133, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 331 1st Street in Carlstadt, New Jersey, as the ``Staff Sergeant Frank T. Carvill and Lance Corporal Michael A. Schwarz Post Office Building,'' I would have voted ``aye''' on the question.

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. Madam Speaker, I regret that I was unable to participate in a series of votes on the floor of the House of Representatives today. Had I been present to vote on rollcall No. 337, on a motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill H.R. 1961, the Hoh Indian Tribe Safe Homelands Act, I would have voted ``aye'' on the question. Had I been present to vote on rollcall No. 338, on a motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill H. Res. 518, Honoring the life of Jacques-Yves Cousteau, explorer, researcher, and pioneer in the field of marine conservation, I would have voted ``aye'' on the question.

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank Mr. McKeon and obviously Mr. Andrews for their great stewardship of this important legislation and say the real Don't Ask, Don't Tell question that we have for our military is don't ask how many antidepressants you are on because this Nation had to call you up, not once, not twice, but three and four times. The real Don't Ask, Don't Tell question is don't ask how many parents or how many wives are at home waiting with their children, worried about their families getting called up over and over and over again because we won't up the standing military so that we don't have to overextend these tours of duty over and over and over again, creating the largest generation of military men and women who are going to be permanently scarred because of their overextension of service of duty. That is the real Don't Ask, Don't Tell. The Don't Ask, Don't Tell is what is the long-term cost to this country, mental health-wise, for this terrible neglect of our men and women in uniform.

Mr. KENNEDY. I want to thank the gentleman from New Jersey, because one more thing you won't hear the answer to is that 72 percent of the health care for veterans is going to be the private insurance market, and thanks to this gentleman, Mr. Andrews, and many others, who led the way for the private insurance market covering, with no preexisting condition, no annual or lifetime caps, those 72 percent of veterans out there today are going to have their cognitive neurological disorders, the traumatic brain injury, covered, covered, covered by the private insurance system, thanks to this gentleman from New Jersey, Mr. Andrews, and his colleagues on the Democratic side.

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. I want to thank Chairman Skelton and Mr. McKeon for their good work on this legislation, helping to provide for our soldiers, sailors, airmen, coastguardsmen, and for all of those who serve our country in this war on terrorism. Mr. Chairman, as we approach Memorial Day, I want to thank our servicemen and -women for their service to our great country. When they come home, the war that they fought on our behalf sometimes just begins. It begins for them personally. That is the war to try to cope, to cope with the many challenges health-wise that they have been encumbered with because of their service to our country, and they shouldn't have to worry one bit that they don't have us to back them up 100 percent. They need to know that we are there for them just as they have been for us. That is why, in this legislation, we have the best and the latest in medicine for brain research and for neuroscience technology in order to make sure that the signature wounds in this war, traumatic brain injury and posttraumatic stress disorder, are researched properly and that they are researched at the evidence-based level by the Department of Defense. Our soldiers deserve no less than the best when it comes to making sure that their challenges and their wounds are addressed. The Department of Defense needs to do that. We make it a priority in this authorization bill. When we do that in this bill, we also do that for this country because, just as they did overseas, they are not only going to kick down the doors over there; they are going to kick down the doors here at home when it comes to advancing mental health and neuroscience for all Americans. What we are learning is thanks to these great soldiers who are serving this country so proudly. God bless all of our men and women. Let them know that we stand behind them over there and when they get back here at home as well.

Mr. KENNEDY. I want to thank the gentleman from Indiana, Mr. Burton, for his work on this, acknowledging the families of those who have died really in combat, because these suicides are a result of combat. And the greatest signature wound in this war on terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan is a wound that involves both the psyche with traumatic brain injury, with the concussions they are serving as a result of these IEDs--improvised explosive devices--and the stress and strain of constantly worrying about your life being in jeopardy, which is posttraumatic stress. And there's nothing that is abnormal about having the stress of worrying about your life being taken, and these people have to live with it constantly nonstop because this country keeps asking them to go back and back and back and back again. This is something that's long overdue. I thank the gentleman from Indiana. Let's study, let's serve, let's make the commitment not to forget the families left behind as a result of these terrible tragedies.

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. I thank the gentlelady from Ohio, and I thank the gentleman, Mr. Petri, for his wonderful words about my Aunt Eunice. I want to acknowledge my good friend and colleague, Representative Blunt from the minority side, for his support for this bill. And I want to especially thank our majority leader, Representative Hoyer, for his leadership on this issue. It has been steadfast and long appreciated by my family and all of those in the Special Olympics family. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 5220, the Eunice Kennedy Shriver Act. This bipartisan bill seeks to reauthorize the Special Olympics Sport and Empowerment Act of 2004 and to advance the development of Best Buddies mentoring and employment programs across this country. My aunt, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founded the Special Olympics in 1968. She did so in order to help foster a society that would celebrate and enhance the lives of those with intellectual disabilities. She had seen those afflicted with intellectual disabilities, including her own sister Rosemary, my Aunt Rosemary, and saw that they were being shut out from fundamental opportunities that life had to offer. She had seen that this entire segment of our population was being denied the basic right to live a fulfilling life because of the stigma, because of the misunderstandings that pervaded our society about people with cognitive disorders. In witnessing these injustices, my aunt sought nothing less than to change our society's perceptions and approach to intellectual disabilities. Over the 40 years since the inception of Special Olympics, it has done just that. By encouraging involvement in sports, in education, in health programs, Special Olympics has given rise to an entire generation of volunteers, parents, individuals, all encouraging those with intellectual disabilities to embrace their lives and their abilities. And for those who have been involved in Special Olympics, you know that it is not the disabilities. It is the abilities. And it is not just the Special Olympians who benefit from Special Olympics. It is the volunteers. It is anybody who has witnessed a Special Olympics event. This message of understanding and compassion has led Special Olympics to develop an international organization, and today that organization represents 3 million athletes in 44,000 events all over the country, and 170 countries now have teams for the international games. I want to commend my cousin, Tim Shriver, who carries on his mother's legacy of being CEO of Special Olympics, and my cousin, Anthony Shriver, who runs Best Buddies. I want to say that if I had the chance to look back on my family's legacy, and if all of my family who held public office today were all here on the floor thinking about all of the public service in public office; if my cousin Kathleen were here, who's Lieutenant Governor; my cousin Mark, who's in the General Assembly; my cousin Joe, who was here in Congress; if my father, who served in the United States Senate for nearly five decades, who's often said to be one of the greatest Senators to ever serve in this Congress; if my Uncle Bobby, who was not only a Senator but Attorney General, was here; if my uncle, President Kennedy was here, all of them would say if there was a greater legacy in my family, it was probably none other than someone who never served in public office in my family, and that was the legacy of my aunt, Eunice Shriver, when she started the Special Olympics. It's going to be the most enduring legacy that my family ever had a part of, and it's something that all of us are very proud to be part of in the Special Olympics family. Everybody can be part of the Special Olympics. I encourage everybody to go to a Special Olympics event and, in doing so, be part of the Special Olympics spirit. It's something to behold. Let's pass the Eunice Kennedy Shriver Act.