Duckworth pitches PACT Act expansion at Belleville ceremony

Good morning, everyone. So I have to start off by recognizing my former boss's boss's boss, a retired Major General William, and you're the former commander of the Illinois National Guard. He's in the audience with us. I am so glad to be here in Belleville with all of you this morning. First and foremost, obviously, thank you to our veterans and service members who are here with us today. Thank you for all of your sacrifices and the sacrifices your family have made for this great nation. Today is a day of celebration. It's a moment for all of us to take some time to honor the service of those who are willing to put the uniform on and dedicate their lives to keeping our country as safe and as strong as she should be. Despite the risks, despite the dangers, thousands of the bravest people that you and I could ever meet still volunteer to to wear the colors every year, just as they have throughout our nation's entire history. Our veterans put their country over themselves time after time, tour after tour, not just for the sake of their friends and neighbors, but for the sake of total strangers, people who will never know their names, people who will never know who to thank. You know America today is what she is because of the blood that our brothers and sisters shed in combat zones. Our children grow up with the rights they deserve because of the sweat that's poured down their faces everywhere from the hills of from the desert Fallujah to the jungles of Vietnam to the hills of Kandahar. Their sacrifices were the currency that we paid to defend America's freedoms. So when these heroes come home they deserve more than just an ovation on Veterans Day They deserve to be honored every single day of the year. Four years ago, we passed one of the most significant expansions of benefits for veterans in decades with the PACT Act, better known as the Burn Pit Veterans Act. A law that was bipartisan and that is now finally helping generations of our nation's warriors who suffered from toxic exposure in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan to more easily access the care that they need after being stonewalled by bureaucratic red tape for so long. And I want to thank our veteran service organizations for leading the effort for the PACT Act. So can I have members of our veterans service organizations please stand up and be recognized for the hard work you did to get the PACT Act across the finish line. Every one of you. You guys are wearing the hats. You know who you are. We must and can do more. No service member should ever have to fight a war overseas only to come home and fight another battle to get the care that they've rightfully earned. That's why just yesterday I introduced legislation that would add Iran to the list of countries now covered to be covered under the PACT Act. Because the consequences of war don't end when the fighting stops and these heroes fulfilled their duty to us. Now it is time that we fulfill our duty to them. It's also we must why we must fight back against cuts to the VA and closures to the VA that have made it hard for our heroes to get the appointments they need, the surgeries that they rely on, the service they count on and have paid for with every wound they suffered in the name of our nation. It's why we must make it easier for veterans to go back to school, as well as hire and train veterans for good-paying jobs. It's why we must put more support into hunger prevention programs, which more than a million veterans rely on to survive. It's why we must expand access to safe, affordable housing, because we are all dishonored. Let me say this again. We are all dishonored when a veteran is forced to lay their head down on the same streets that they defended. And finally, it's why it's making it easier for veteran families to access reproductive care like IVF to grow their families because both veteran men and women suffer from significantly higher rates of infertility than the general population. You know, I've witnessed the courage of our American heroes firsthand. In fact, I'm alive here today in front of you because of it. Tomorrow is the 22nd anniversary of my alive day, the day I almost died in a dusty field in Iraq after our Black Hawk was shot out of the sky. But I didn't. I'm only alive because of my buddies who thought I was dead, yet they still refused to leave me behind. I was quite literally in pieces, yet they risked their own lives to bring my body back to my family. And then my sergeant, my NCO, the backbone of our military, denied care for himself and shoved the medic in my direction because he was sure I was Today, I am thinking of their heroism that gave me the opportunity to not only live, but live a life so much fuller than I ever imagined. So while I can't fly combat missions anymore, or be the one to help drag other soldiers from a burning Black Hawk, if the worst should ever strike again, I promise you today that I will never stop using my current role as your public servant, serving no longer from the cockpit. But for in the United States Senate to support our veterans and ensure that our armed forces remain as strong as they can be. I hope every one of you will join me not only on November 11th of each year, but every other day too in working to do right by those who've done so much for the rest of us. God bless all of our troops who are in harm's way right now. God bless our veterans, especially those who are laying in VA hospitals or all across this great land and every other veteran who has sacrificed for us. And always, God bless the greatest nation on the face of the earth, the greatest democracy in history, the United States of America. Thank you. Thank you.