Media

Today, President Obama, Secretary Gates and Secretary Shinseki announced that the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) are creating lifetime electronic records for service members and veterans - streamlining the transition of health care records between the DOD and the VA.

Speaker Pelosi on President Obama's announcement:

"During an interview at the Capitol shortly after Congress broke for its recess, Pelosi spoke a simple truth too often ignored in the tiresome laments about the loss of bipartisanship in Washington. 'If you can't find common ground, that doesn't mean you're partisan,' she said. 'It just means you believe two different things.'"

Today marks the start of the 15th anniversary of the genocide that occurred in Rwanda where an estimated 800,000 women, men and children were murdered. This evening in Rwanda's capital, Kigali, an official hundred day commemoration of the genocide will begin. As part of this event, 10,000 candles will be lit to remember the victims and express support for the survivors in the national stadium. Speaker Pelosi lights a candle in commemoration:

Genocide anywhere is a challenge to the fundamental morality of all humanity.

In Rwanda, we failed to meet that challenge. All of us - the international community and the United States Government did not do enough to stop the genocide, to end the violence, and to save the lives of hundreds of thousands.

Today, I called President Berlusconi on behalf of my colleagues in the Congress to express our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of those who suffered death and destruction in the earthquake in the Abruzzo region of Italy.

President Berlusconi and the Italian government have our steadfast support as they search for survivors, comfort those affected, and move toward helping the people of Abruzzo rebuild their lives.

Having visited Italy as part of a U.S. delegation in the aftermath of the earthquake in Southern Italy in 1980, I have seen firsthand the courage of the Italian people in the face of a similar tragedy. I hope that it is some comfort that so many people throughout the world are thinking of them and praying for them at this difficult time.

"Fresh from a visit with her newest, eighth grandchild and an astonishing three-month run of lawmaking that ends the Republican era in Washington, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi vowed Friday to press ahead on climate change and health care, while making a moral and practical case for restraining U.S. debt levels that have many in her own party worried about the future."