Radnofsky speaks to American G.I. Forum

Barbara Ann Radnofsky (photo)
Senatorial candidate
















Remarks delivered by Texas Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate to G.I. Forum/America's Last Patrol veterans' march in Brownsville.

Our government promised service personnel the medical and health care they earned. The current appropriation process and approach to veterans has broken that promise. Our veterans deserve an advocate in Washington.

We must recognize that the demands on the Veterans administration will only continue to grow, for new veterans and for those from prior conflicts who are aging. Thus, we must be prepared to provide the Veterans Administration with the resources it needs for these future and current demands.

We must honor the promises that we made to yesterday’s veterans as well as today’s. Those who have sacrificed for us should not be denied.
My opponent in this U.S. Senate race, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, has consistently voted against veterans, as documented on the issue chart at my website www.radnofsky.com.

After 12 years of neglecting Texas veterans, my opponent responded to my call for a VA Hospital south of San Antonio, traveling to McAllen, and promising such a hospital in late 2005. She’s reneged on her own call for a veterans’ hospital in the Valley, offering instead an existing outpatient clinic in Harlingen, which Valley veterans characterized ad “breadcrumbs” and inadequate. Now, the idea has been buried by my opponent, with no progress made.

My opponent’s desertion of veterans means Texas ranks number two in the country for wounded, injured, or sick veterans denied VA care. The VA decided against the South Texas VA hospital without ever visiting South Texas, and won't change their mind without a new Texas senator.