Challenges hes faced there and plans for the future. Its the second Largest Government Department with more than 250,000 employees. The Heritage Foundation hosted the 50minute event. Welcome. I serve as president of the i want to welcome everyone today. My name is brian rogers. I serve as president of the Jesse Helms Center foundation. Were located in North Carolina just outside of charlotte. The purpose of the helms center, a Nonprofit Organization that houses the senators archives. We focus on youth programming for on Free Enterprise as well as hosting lectures with our partner here at the Heritage Foundation and other lectures we do throughout the state and our country. So why the helm center lecture . Jesse helms served in the United States senate for 30 years. In 1994, he became chair of the Senate ForeignRelations Committee becoming the second north carolinian to do so besides nathanial macon. He was a leader, top leader, in a modern conservative movement. He along with Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan were instrumental. He was very instrumental in winning the cold war and defe defeating communism. Matter of fact, Margaret Thatcher wrote, jesse helms record as a Freedom Fighter is unmatched. He was also well known bipartisan senator. He and joe biden were very Close Friends and to this day Vice President biden still talks fondly of his relationship with helms and we refer to in the archives some love letters, really, that joe biden and helms shared that are open. Weve put them on our website, that are kind of unique. But in 2001 when helms announced his retirement, Walter Russell meade wrote in the wall street journals opinion section, as senator helmets prepares to step down, i cannot help but feel that we are losing something all too rare in american politics. A man who consistently put principle before expediency, loyalty before ambition. In these qualities, we could use a lot more like him. And, of course, senator helms admiration of the Heritage Foundation is very well documented. He and dr. Ed fulner were good friends and on october 6th, 2000, in a letter he penned to dr. Fulner, he wrote, if america is saved, heritage will have played an enormous role in her salvation. And finally, i know senator helms and mrs. Helms, too, would be so proud not only be humbled by this lecture but also be so very proud of secretary wilkie who served on his staff and when secretary wilkie stepped away from his staff to pursue other things, senator helms wrote wrote a letter to him and quote, senator helms said, you are a young man of high principle, great judgment, and remarkable wisdom for one so young. I predict a great future for you. And he was right. Like he has been on so many ways. But introducing senator wilkie, i mean, secretary wilkie today, is retired Lieutenant General james carfano. And the e. W. Richardson fellow. Hes been here since 2009 and served in our u. S. Army for 25 years. In addition to leading Heritage National security and Foreign Policy team, he also serves on the nonprofit which educates the public about Veterans Affairs. So ill turn it over to colonel carfano. Wow. This is the best day of my life. I get to introduce a great friend and a Great American and i love what senator helms wrote. Unfortunately, hes no longer a young fellow, but hes still a man of high principles. Thank you, brian. Its a real honor to partnership with the Jesse Helms Center on this lecture series and on other projects that weve done over the years, and so you guys bring so much to us and were just so grateful for that. So, thank you. Weve done weve had a number of impressive speakers over the years. However, weve never, ever had a personal speaker with a personal connection with the senator as we do today with our guest, secretary of veteran affairs, robert wilkie. Secretary wilkie was an aide to senator helms in the 1990s. Served on the board of the Jesse Helms Center and actually stood right here on this stage, had my job, and introduced so many distinguished speakers over the years, so to have him doing this, what great payback that is. Hes a guest hes our guest today and deservedly so. He was confirmed by the u. S. Senate on july 23rd, 2018, and sworn in on july 30th, 2018, as the 10th secretary of veteran Affairs Prior to this current position, mr. Wilkie was the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness issues, the adviser to the secretary and deputy secretary of defense for total force management. He also served jim mattis as undersecretary of defense and Ronald Rumsfeld as assistant secretary of defense. Before that, he was a special assistant to the president of the United States for National Security affairs and a senior director at the National Security council. Did you ever see this guy at all . For five years, he was Vice President for strategic programs. One of the largest engineering and Program Management firms in the world. Hes a colonel in the United States air force. We dont hold that against him. And he previously served in the navy reserve with the joint i do hold that against him. Joint force Intelligence CommandNaval Special warfare group, too, but he does have army guys in his family, so thats a great redeeming value on his part. Among his many awards and decorations, mr. Wilkie is a recipient of the defense distinguished medical. Today hes here to talk about a subject which was very, very dear to senator helms heart. One of the most important things that we do, which is honor our veterans in deed and in spirit. Ladies and gentlemen, please join with me giving a warm welcome to the secretary of Veterans Affairs. Thank you, thank you so much, colonel, and thank you, brian, and i will make a confession right at the beginning. Yes, i am the one who broke the mold in the family. I have my hearing. Im not a field i am not a field you got it, im not a Field Artillery officer. But it is an honor for me to be here. I was thinking, as colonel said, about the times ive stood up here. And the roll call of americans and foreign dignitaries who have delivered this address is not only impressive but i think it is indicative of a better time in washington. When there were fewer barriers between those who might have had differing views, but as senator helms used to say when he would quote lyndon johnson, people that you may have disagreed with in the morning but walked out arm in arm at the end of the day. He used that in his eulogy of his very good friend and one of the Great Americans of the second half of the 20th century, hubert humphrey. Two people who you could have not found on more polar opposites but came together in within one regard, their love of country and their belief that the security of the United States meant that the world had a hope to be free. So, amongst those who have stood in this place, jon kyl, marco rubio, john bolton, mike lee, ted cruz, my friend, the ambassador to the United States from the state of israel, ron dermer and nile gardners friend, daniel hadden, conservative member of the european parliament. So this is about them and this is about the legacy of senator helms, as brian said so eloquently. But im going to go back to the 1970s, not in this country, but in the United Kingdom. The Aircraft Carrier freedom, the place where democratic representative began. 1970s when senator helms came to the United States senate, the United Kingdom was on the eve of destruction. I saw it as a Young American whose father was stationed on a British Military base. What we now know is the sovietbacked labor unions were holding the uk in hostage. The welfare state drew the life out of the people. And the socialist labor government accepted the United Kingdoms devolution into thirdworld status. Out of the depths of those times came two remarkable leaders. One was a methodist grocers daughter. The other was a baptist sheriffs son. They became united in an unapologetic defense, the belief that western civilization was worth celebrating and defending. It was britain and her progeny, the United States, that created the notion of a limited government in which the democratic impulse was balanced by political traditions resting on order, faith, liberty, and justice. Margaret thatcher and jesse helms were cut from the same cloth. Their youth forged in the small towns of middle england and western North Carolina taught them that a nation is built on the home and the family, not with programs and bureaucrats. Their protestant morality informed their politics. Churchill and jefferson were their loadstars. Evil to them was not an impolitic term to shy away from. Evil was a threat to be confronted and destroyed. In the mid 1970s when mrs. Thatcher was first elevated to the leader of the conservative party, her avout purpose was to reach out to potential allies across the ocean and she decided to come to the United States with the socialist Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, james callahan, denied her the use of the British Embassy where she could have set up an office and actually conducted meetings with famous americans. Enter william f. Buckley, called his friend, jesse helms, i need an office for somebody, shes sort of like you, shes just from middle england, but she wants to meet your friends. And out of that one phone call, mrs. Thatcher began a journey that not only transformed the United Kingdom but led her to a role, as john the baptist heralding the arrival of ronald repgen a f reagan a few years later. Margaret Hilda Thatcher sat down with Ronald Reagan, milton friedman, billy graham, barry goldwater. And the forging of a blueprint that swept away the democratic socialist governments in london and washington were formed. Thatcher saved them much to the chagrin of the boys in her party. The personification of Ronald Reagan, restore American Pride and vanquish soviet tyranny. In all of her trials, in all of her trials, through almost 13 years leading United Kingdom, she never forgot the role played by jesse helms. Not in robust health. She made the journey from london to monroe, North Carolina, when the helms center was dedicated in april of 2000. And as brian said, she noted on that day that jesse helms record as a Freedom Fighter for the west is unmatched and convictions so triumphantly validated and circumstances so embarrassing for his critics that theyve been rewriting them ever since. As she said, senator, no, always said yes, liberty. It was not easy for Margaret Thatcher and jesse helms to stand to thwart the tides, global totalitarianism and yell stop. Senator helms used to say they dont understand, i dont care what the press says about me, andmaggie. No one was neutral to either one of them and that was a testament to what they thought politics should be. Not a tussle of baynalities buta battleground. They understood freedom better than many of their critics. Senator helms resolutely believed that American Freedom required a Massive National defense. He told the veterans of civil wars at the old hotel in raleigh back in 1973, sooner or later, a weak america will be challenged. Sooner or later, a weak america will have to fight or surrender. Senator helms from that small town in southwestern North Carolina understood better than anybody who did the fighting. He said on that day that the fighting will be done but it will be done as it always is done by the average man. By the fellow who runs the gas station. And the fellow who runs the Little Grocery store in North Carolina and the barbers of North Carolina. And people carrying rifles and not typewriters. And he understood better than anyone else what a scratch farmer from tennessee by way of bunkham county, North Carolina, meant when he said, liberty and freedom and democracy are so very precious that you dont fight to win them once and then stop. Liberty and freedom and democracy are prizes awarded only to those people who fight to win and then keep fighting eternally to hold them. That fellow was alvin york. The greatest of american soldiers of the great war. So, let me tell you for a minute why the department of Veterans Affairs exists. It exists because this nation knows the values of the prize that veterans have won and defended. The Veterans Affairs department exists to care for nose wthose defend this country, as senator helms said. The gas station men, the small town grocers, the barbers. Ordinary americans asked to do extraordinary things to defend this country just like alvin york. Ive been spending a great deal of time in the last year talking about the end of the war to end all wars because thats the war in which the United States of america erupted onto the world stage. 4. 7 million americans served in that war. And they came from all corners to plant the American Flag on the globe. There were others other than alvin york. There were ordinary americans like nedam roberts and William Johns johnson. Members of the legendary 369th infantry from new york. 191 days on the front lines. More than any other american regiment. 1,500 casualties. More than any other unit in the American Expeditionary forces. They were so ferocious that dekeyser, himself, called them the harlem hell fighters. Over 100 soldiers from that unit were awarded no unit received more recommendations and honors and no unit had more holders, the medal of honor, even though some of those honors came long after the recipients had passed away. Another ordinary american at that time was a nearsighted farmer from jackson county, missouri, who lied and cheated to get into the Field Artillery because he could not bear the thought of his friends and neighbors going to war and he not being there to support them. He had two horses shot from under him during the offensive and he would go on to be one of the greatest president s in our history. Captain harry s. Truman. My own greatgrandfather was there. He left a small town law practice in the mississippi delta and a parttime teaching job at ole miss to join up with the American Army assembling in camp gordon, georgia. Another part of georgia was my fathers grand my wifes grandfathe grandfather. A teenager from southeastern North Carolina who never ventured much beyond two or three counties in the carolina, but before he was 18, he was marching up into the bloody hell of the new sargon. 4. 7 million americans took up arms. 200,000 wounded. 150,000 did not return. That time, america was not ready for them. Chaotic, inefficient series of organizations, tried and failed to serve people like roberts, johnson, truman, bullard, and somerville. Veterans care was a national embarrassment. Major general frank hine, world war i veteran himself and v. A. s first, led the consolidation and reform that unified and improved response for veterans across america. The wake of world war ii, 16 million returning world war ii veterans, after 22 years at the helm, general hynes stepped down and a grateful president truman turned to the one man he knew he could carry on the legacy. General omar bradley. When anyone tells the problems in this town or this country are intractable, i ask them to think about the first eight weeks that omar bradley served as the head of the veterans administration. 11 million americans demobilized. In two years, general bradley built 52 hospitals and established the academic relationships that today serve as the core of veterans care and 172 hospitals and 1,200 clinics. The Washington Post praised Omar Bradleys revolution. Vavmt bring v. A. Brings more hope for veterans. He turned the v. V. On a dime and completely overhauled and revolutionized the system. It was bradley who established the constitution we know now, and if you know that he was behind the 1945 Homestead Program that meant world war ii veterans had Community Care with the doctor of their choice and buy drugs from their local pharmacies, i doubt anybody on the other side ever talked about privatization when omar bradley ran the department of Veterans Affairs because it was about serving veterans needs. There are also other war stories that need to be told. In the 1960s and 70s i saw through the eyes of a child that america forgot the wisdom of alvin york and harry truman. They forgot the Important Reasons why we send americans overseas and why we must welcome them when we come home. As a child i learned first hand the price of war. My father was grievously wounded in the invasion of cambodia. We didnt see him for almost a year as he recovered, but because of how our veterans were treated then my father and his colleagues paid another price. He was actually allowed to recover for three years by the good graces of the great general greg abrams and he did return to fort bragg in the Allamerican Division, most decorated combat unit in the armed forces of the United States, the unit that alvin york served on the western front in 1918. My father is a senior officer in that division was not allowed to wear his uniform off post because the leadership in washington, d. C. , were afraid of the reaction that he would get. That was not berkeley, california. That was not cambridge, massachusetts, that was the heart of Richard Nixon country, and as a child growing up at fort sill and fort bragg, i also saw the world through the eyes of kindergarten and Elementary School classmates. There was always a chance in my world that when a classmate was called to the Principals Office there was bad news waiting. It wasnt a call to go to the doctor. Something had happened in southeast asia. That is what happened on april 4, 1975. President ford had ordered the evacuation of all of the orphanages in say gon. He called it operation baby lift. One of the air force volunteers was a medic, a Master Sergeant from North Carolina named denning cicero johnson. He was taking care of 138 vietnamese orphans on a c5 as it lifted off the air base. It didnt make it to the end of the runway. Over a hundred children died that day and 11 airmen. 44 years after that aircraft went down, my wife and i escorted sergeant johnsons daughter, a friend of ours from our childhood to panel 1w of the vietnam memorial, watched denise touch the name of her father, one of the last four americans to perish in that conflict. So as the nation corrected the mistakes of the 1960s and 70s, in many ways it has, i had the prifl edge of speaking at the Nixon Library and president nixon would be astonished and appreciate that even hollywood stands up for veterans and that has aloud lowed us to make impot changes on behalf of veterans because we actually are one of the few, few causes in the United States that can engender support from every corner of america. One of our efforts is to create a modern, 21st Century Health care administration. I refer back to my fathers wounds. After 30 years of jumping out of airplane, he needed two new knees and had a bad back and had lead in his body that they couldnt take care of. The rest of his life he carried around an 800page paper record. That is what our veteran his been subjected to for decades, but under this president s leadership, we are finally able to begin putting in place an Electronic Health care record that will begin to be built the moment that Young American walks in to a military entrance processing station so that by the time that american becomes a veteran, we will know everything that had happened to her on her journey through the armed forces. No longer will veterans be forced to travel to doctors offices with boxes of paper that disintegrate in their hands. The other thing that i wanted to address is a charge that many of you have heard. Ironically, the congress chose dday for us to begin the implementation of the mig. The most transform tiff piece of the legislation and the history of our Department Second only to the g. I. Bill of june 1944. The mission act says finally, that if we cannot meet the needs of veterans across this country, we will give veterans across america the opportunity to get their care wherever they live, but let me tell you what else has happened. Ive also been allowed to present to the congress the largest budget in the history of our department. 220 billion calling for 400,000 employees across 172 hospitals, 1200 clinics, only in washington, d. C. , would somebody say that a budget of that size would be a clarion call to privatize an institution. So let me tell you where we are. In the last year, we have had 3. 3 million appointments over the rate that we had last year more than 1. 6 million of those appointments have been as general bradley predicted in our communities. For the first time in history our veterans now have the same access to care that their neighbors do. They dont have to go to the emergency room when they have the flu or a cold or a sprained ankle. We are giving them access to urgent care and in the last few months, we have approved over 6,000 clinics from alaska to florida to allow our veterans the comfort and the safety of knowing that that treatment is there whenever they need it. Perhaps the biggest challenge that we face is one that is outside the walls of our department. Senator tillis has referred to me often as forrest gump because i tend to take every issue that i confront and refer back to the roman empire at least 19th century america. In fact, senator helms once confronted me and it was my first day of working for him and looked at my wake forest resume and said, son, that is a magnificent wake forest resume. Politics and classics. You are qualified to be a tour guide in rome. [ laughter ] and have long conversations with 90yearold priests, but let me go back to the 1890s. Benjamin harrison was in the white house. Nobody knows much about Benjamin Harris other than his claim to fame was that he served four years in between two nonsuccessive terms of grover cleveland, but before he went back to indiana, he acknowledged something that began to bother him and he was a Major General in the civil war. Hed noticed in the time between the end of the war and the time that he had been the governor of indiana and u. S. Senator and then president that so many of the colleagues that hed fought with were dying prematurely, not because of the diseases of the 19th century, but because they had taken their own lives. The United States army began collecting statistics on the suicide rate for the officers and men of the 1890s. Two weeks ago i convened the very first allgovernment council to finally have a National Conversation on veterans suicide. Were bringing together, dod, hhs, hud, the Indian Health service, the National Institutes of health, to finally reach out and touch those American Veterans who have reached the end of desperation. 20 americans take their lives every day who have served in uniform. That number has been steady for well over 100 years, but the tragedy for us is that 60 of those who take their lives have no contact with the department of veteran affairs. We have to change that. We have to open our efforts to combat suicide by using the free market. By opening up the apperture and find localities for those we cannot touch. 60 we do not see and it hits all areas of life, but particularly in Rural America and indian country. Places that are hardest for us to touch, but we need everyones help, and if we just focus on the last tragic act of that veterans life this serves as a report as nothing more than a doorstop if we dont have that National Conversation on mental health, addiction and homelessness. So why are we doing it . I didnt open up with this, but im going to conclude with the reason that we are here. Since the first shots were fired in lexington in 1775, 41 million americans have put on the uniform. More than one million have died. Our department was created in the midst of the most pe pestulential war in american history. A man stood and created the charge that we live by. Probably, it is the most righteous speech ever given by an american president , and he concluded a talk on why the judgments of the lord will be righteous or as he said rightious, and then called for us to bind up the nations wounds, to care for him who would have borne the battle, but more importantly for his widow and orphan. A few years before he passed away, senator helms introduced a fellow North Carolina, general hugh shelton boarded the uss carolina and that is our memorial to those who fought and died in world war ii. There are 2,000 North Carolina names on that battle ship. 10,000 names, north carolinians who never returned. Senator helms said that the ultimate tribute to our American Armed forces is to respect the legacy that we all have been given and to preserve it for future generations. In 1964 when alvin york passed away, president johnson sent the most Formidable Army raptive he could send to the funeral of one of americas greatest heroes. Matthew bunker ridgway, a man who had led the Allamerican Division to north africa and sicily that had been charged by generalizen hower with planning the Airborne Assault on hitlers fortress. General ridgway, on the night before dday could not sleep. He was restless. Hed given the orders to the allamericans and the screaming eagles and the British Airborne and he fell out of his cot and to save himself he reached out of the Old Testament and this is in reference of the battle of jericho and the promise that joshua received on the most ferocious battle to that time in the history of the hebrew people that i will not fail thee nor forsake thee. In 1986 Ronald Reagan awarded general ridgway the president ial medal of freedom and he said that heroes come when they are needed. Great men step forward when courage seems in short supply. I cannot think of a better way to honor abraham lincolns legacy than to remind ourselves that we cannot fail nor forsake those who serve or have served in uniform, to honor the memory of those 41 million and to honor the great men and women who always step forward when courage seems in short supply. So on behalf of our department, i thank you all for your support. I thank you for hoppering the great men and women of our nation and i thank you for honoring a Great American jesse helms. Thank you all very much. [ applause ] so in keeping with the tradition of senator helms, he loved visiting with young people as secretary willkie can attest to, but over 100,000 that he visited with when he was in office. He made that a priority and in keeping with that tradition weve had some interns here from the Heritage Foundation submit some questions and ive asked them and ive asked for brevity and i asked them to send them via text. As you travel visiting veterans and va facility, what is something you perhaps didnt know as you are traveling . Let me tell you what ive done. Ive been fortunate to be at the helm for a year and three months. Ive been in 41 states. I learned growing up in fort bragg and fort sill that the only way to walk a military outfit is it walk the post, and let me tell you what i have discovered and i have sdovred that the department of veteran affairs probably has the most dedicated workforce in the country, men and women who know that they have the most Noble Mission in the federal government and let me tell you what has happened just in the last year. You all know better than anyone that this institution was rocked and royaled by bad headline after bad headline, and there was a tremendous change in the leadership and the president of the United States is the first candidate and then the first president to make veterans the centerpiece of his administration, and let me tell you what has happened. In the last year, the department of Veterans Affairs has gone from 17 out of 17 or 16 out of 17 in terms of the best places in government to work to number six. We have the highest veterans approval rate in our history. 87. 7 . The journal of the American Medical Association says that our wait times are as good as any in the prief svate sector a the annals of interm medicine says our medical care is as good or better than any region in the country, so what does that mean . It mean, as i said earlier that veterans are voting with their feet. They want to go some place where people understand the culture and speak the language. The Leadership Team that the president has allowed us to assemble, some of whom are here today all have very deep military experience. Let me tell you why that is important . There is no other part of society that is like the armed forces of the United States. No other place in america where you not only form the brotherhood of service, but that service and that brotherhood continues until the day that you die. One of my responsibilities that is not well known is that im responsible for hundreds of cemeteries across the country. The National Cemetery administration of va has the highest employee and Customer Satisfaction rates of any part of the federal government including nasa. Why . Its because we have a simple way of looking at the lives of veterans. If a veteran can die twice. The first time is when that veteran passes away physically, and the second time is when we stop telling the story of the warrior. We are dedicated to that. One of the new charges that ive given to our cemetery people is i want us to put up in bronze, word for word, the words of lincolns second inaugural. The charge that created this incredible institution, but also the charge that in some ways is more powerful than the gettysburg address, that there is a higher purpose once you put on the uniform that the leadership of the d. C. National guard is wearing right in front of me and i thank you all for what you do. So i got around the original questi question. I have been amazed at how the va has had transformational change because were not only doing the things that you read, the Electronic Health record. Were reforming the supply chain. Were reforming our personnel system. We are changing the way we evaluate our capabilities as opposed to the private sector, but we are combining those great forces in america, the notion of military service and brotherhood with also the forces of the free market, allowing veterans the opportunity to choose if they so desire, to go elsewhere. That aint new. Bradley talked about it. We have put it into action. I always say its remarkable that in between the 19 people20 still dont understand, and this is el paso, 910 miles. We have americans that travel 700, 800 miles roundtrip to get to a va facility. Why do we force them to do that if theyre passing community hospitals, doctors offices, institutions like the mayo clinic in rochester, minnesota just to force them to go it a va facility . I think thats a der gagz of our responsibility to care for those who appoint the battle. The second question from an intern. Secretary willkie, youve had the opportunity to work for many leaders, senator helms for president s and for the secretary of defense and now President Trump. Is there a particular leadership traits or lessons that you learned along the way that were profound for you . Because im going to rattle off the names, rumsfeld, rice, gates, mattis, trump, bush. Theres no way that im going to talk about any one of those and then leave out one of the others, but i am going to talk about where i grew up. I mentioned earlier that i visited the Nixon Library. I remember my mother and her fellow young army wives watching the Television Pictures of the carnage on the streets of chicago. I can see them gathered in our home at fort sill. Their husbands or either like my father had already been to vietnam at least once and were about to go to vietnam. They knew that the country was ugly at the time. They saw it coming apart and and yet, they all knew they were part of a community that had a higher calling that it didnt matter what was going on outside the walls of fort sill or fort bragg, that they were going to support the community that they had become part of. So thats the world i grew up in and the lessons i learned about Selfless Service came from that period and nile gardner is here and i can tell him that as part of my fathers recovery he was allowed to go to the United Kingdom, and i remember i remember taking trips to beautiful cities like baath and wells and oxford, and on these magnificent structures built by the likes of ren and indigo jones. They were pock marks. Coventry cathedral being the greatest example of that. This medieval structure. The home of the cathedral of st. Michael was a shell. The only thing left was the wall outside the high altar and two burnt timbers that the people of coventry had assembled the sign of the cross where the great cross of the high alter had stood for almost 700 years and it struck me at that time how fleeting liberty was and here was this great nation, the home of the freedoms that we enjoy in this country and the antecedents for what we have and they came that close to losing. Thats a longwinded way of saying the lessons that i learned, most important ones of service came from watching people at fort bragg and fort sill even when it wasnt popular to serve. One last question, and the question is a lot is asked of the va, but what can americans outside of washington, d. C. Do maybe to help the va for veterans as a whole. There are a lot of different program, but what can americans who arent veterans do to help the department . Before i answer that, i want to build on a conversation that you and i had earlier. I mentioned the list of great speakers who have come here and given the helms lecture and as i mentioned i introduced the last one being ambassador durmur. I also learned some very valuable lessons working in the United States senate in the 1990s. I looked senator helms had a great wall. It wasnt a glory wall that you see in most politicians offices that had the politician with the arm around the celebrity. In fact, the only celebrities on that wall were Close Friends of his, names like Jimmy Stewart and john wayne. Not ordinary celebrities, but there were other pictures. Hubert humphrey, jimmy carter, even alan krcranston and howl heflin. The reason i say this is i learned a valuable lesson that i mentioned at the beginning of this discussion that the person that you disagree with in the middle of the day is somebody you leave the room with with your arm around. It was a better time. Senator helms best friends in the United States senate were people like lloyd benson and dale bumpers and david pryor. One of the saddest moments of his tenure in the United States senate was the day that a plane crashed in minnesota and it took the life of senator Paul Wellstone. You could not find two figures in this country that were more polar opposites than jesse helms from monroe, North Carolina and Paul Wellstone from minneapolis, minnesota and yet, they had a special love between them that transcended politics, and i will tell you, when i was working for senator lott as the floor manager, senator helms had a terrible bout that actually led to another heart surgery, and senator wellstone saw me and he hadnt seen senator helms in a few days and he said i havent seen jesse. And then i explained it to him, and he got visibly upset. He said, can you help he . I said, sure. Can you arrange for me to go to bethesda . And i called the Capitol Police in wellstone and jesse helms was running wral tv in raleigh, a station my wife and i grew up watching. I arranged for the Capitol Police to take Paul Wellstone to the Bethesda Hospital so he could sit by the bed of somebody who probably said something bad about him during the vietnam protest and Paul Wellstone was a student at the university of North Carolina. That was america, and ill tell you one other story. Its from the late lloyd benson. Some of senator helms books you need to read the acknowledgements and Madeleine Albright and people who worked with him and appreciated his honesty. When he had his first heart surgery, he was run for example reelection. I wont mention who was running, but he was trying to get benson to campaign in North Carolina against jesse helms and at the third request benson told me this. He turned around and said you dont seem to understand how this place works and mark disler knows this because he was wither rin hatch at the time. Jesse helms is my friend and more importantly, he is bensons best friend and im too old to get a divorce, and what do you think would happen to the state of texas if i went to North Carolina and campaigned against jesse helms . He would have us tied in so many knots i would be open in an auntie annes franchise. There is a sublime part to that they think many of us miss today that you had politicians of great passion, great verve, and at the end of the day they talked about families. They talked about friendship and they talked about what is good for the country. I wanted to say that because that was one of the great lessons i learned working in the United States senate and its one of the lessons that i think those of us who work in va shared. This is one place where we need to put aside partisan divisions and work well and work for those who have borne the battle. Now what was your question . [ laughter ] well go ahead. I think how we can help. How we can help. Thats well, we can help not just by saying thank you for your service. You can help by doing things like supporting fisher house. You can do things by volunteering at a shelter or a vet center. You can do things by paying attention to whats going on in the community. My wife and i grew up in fayetteville, North Carolina sitting underneath fort bragg and 90 minute away from camp lejeune. We have members of our family who spend a great time with a wonderful organization for charity and every week theyre out finding veterans who are homeless in our community. Thats the kind of thing that we can all do. The other thing that i would recommend and it is not something that you can manifest materially and it is to ensure every day when you read the headlines, you just think that there is a greater purpose out there that no matter what is going on, this country has always endured and when you see somebody you recognize as having served, just strike up a conversation. You dont have to say thank you for your service, you can do that, but just talk. I think thats a very important thing. [ applause ] and this concludes the program. On behalf of the jesse helms, and thank you, secretary willkie for your words today. Thank you. [ applause ] sdwloo u. S. House today approved the ongoing inquiry of President Trump. That vote was 232196. The measure lays out the next step for the impeachment investigation in the coming weeks. It was mostly a party line vote. Two democrats voted against the measure, Colin Peterson of minnesota and van drew of new jersey. Justin amash who is now an independent voted yes with other democrats. The house is not in session next week. Theyll be back november 12th and the white house put out this statement, the president has done nothing wrong and the democrats know it. Nancy pelosi and the democrats unhinged obsession with the illegitimate impeachment proceeding does not hurt President Trump and it hurts the american people. The statement went on it is unconstitutional and fundamentally unamerican. Cspans campaign 2020 coverage continues live friday night with president ial candidates in iowa and mississippi, starting at 7 30 p. M. Eastern on cspan the democratic president ial contenders speak at the liberty and justice celebration in des moines. Featured speakers include senator michael bennett, former Vice President joe biden and senator corey booker and governor Steve Bullock and mayor pete buttigieg, julian castro, kamala harris, senator klobuchar, representative beto orourke, bernie sanders, tom steyer and senator Elizabeth Warren and andrew yang. Then at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan2 President Trump holds a Campaign Rally with supporters in tupelo, mississippi. Watch cspans campaign 2020 coverage live friday at 7 30 p. M. Eastern on cspan and at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan2. Watch any time on cspan. Org and listen listen on the go with the free cspan radio app. Go shopping and see whats now available at the cspan online store including our allnew campaign 2020 tshirt, sweatshirts and hats. Go to cspan store. Org and browse all our products. National institutes of Health Director dr. Trancfrancis collid other nih leaders testified about funding and research efforts. This is about two and a half hours. The subcommittee will come to order. Thank you all very, very much and we apologize for being