Remarks Following a Meeting With the President's Commission on Care for America's Returning Wounded Warriors

A couple of weeks ago, I announced that Senator Dole and Secretary Shalala agreed to chair a commission of our fellow citizens to look into the health care that our veterans and those in the military are receiving.

Today I was pleased to meet the Commission members that have been selected. We've got Purple Heart recipients; got the wife of a severely wounded troop; we've got a doctor; we've got compassionate people who all care about whether or not our Government is fulfilling its responsibility to make sure our health care systems, both at DOD, Defense Department, and at the Veterans Administration, are meeting our obligations.

And I assured the members of this committee that I will support their work and will address the problems that they find. We owe it to those who wear the uniform and their families to make sure that our troops have the best, and that's what this Commission is meant to do. And I thank you for your willingness to serve. You're doing the country a great service, because the Commission report will ensure that service goes beyond my time in office. In other words, it'll really set the stage for this Presidency and other Presidencies, set a standard that we expect Government to follow.

So thanks for being here; appreciate your time.