From the speech of Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio

I heard from Dr. John Schupp, a Cleveland State University professor, who emphasized the importance of doing more, not less, for our veterans. Dr. Schupp founded the SERV Program, a two-semester program at Cleveland State University designed just for veterans. The program helps veterans apply for GI bill benefits, offers veterans-only classes that help ease the transition back into the classroom for many veterans who have not been in a classroom for 6, 8, 10 years or longer. He works with veterans to navigate VA issues and offers a veteran-to veteran mentoring program.

Mr. President, we need more programs like this. Dr. Schupp's involvement, his brainchild, his program much of this should be done by the Department of Defense before our soldiers, our marines, and our sailors leave government or military service. Dr. Schupp has taken up the slack, frankly, for much that hasn't been done. We need more programs like this, not just in Ohio but across our great country.

We need more Federal investment in our Nation's veterans. We must continue to honor our heroes from World War II and Korea and Vietnam, while finding ways to care for the new generation of veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq-and Kosovo, as one of the veterans came from yesterday. As more and more veterans return from these overseas engagements, especially from Afghanistan and Iraq, we must ensure that this growing group has access to the best care and the best benefits available. They have earned them.

Congress cannot simply wait to correct problems that arise. We can, we must anticipate those problems and address them now, not later. Providing care and support for Ohio's veterans is a moral obligation. Instead of vetoes, our veterans deserve, from their Government, the support they have earned. Congress can start by overriding the veto of the Labor-Health and Human Services appropriations bill.

I strongly encourage my colleagues to stand up for middle-class families, stand up for our communities, stand up for our workers, and to stand up, importantly, for our Nation's veterans. I strongly encourage my colleagues to override this veto.

I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.