Date: 2007-03-21
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

You know. you are absolutely right. And in addition to the oversight and accountability and new direction that the supplemental on Iraq seeks to provide for the direction that* the actual conduct of the war is taking. it is really imperative that we focus on the portion of the bill that relates to what it does for our veterans because. clearly. this administration. and the former Republican leadership of this Congress. did a disservice to them. They spent. in the 2 years that I was here prior to your arrival. the careless disregard that I noticed for veterans coming from the former Republican leadership was just really -unbelievable because so often. Mr. Speaker. I heard our colleagues and friends on the other side of the aisle stand on the floor and profess undying devotion to our Nations veterans and how it was imperative that we support them. Well. words are nice. But that is all they were because every opportunity that our colleagues had. in the time that I was here. when I first got here as a freshman. to help our Nations veterans. the Republicans said no. No. In January of 2003. which is actually prior to my getting here. the Bush administration actually cut off veterans health care for 164.000 veterans. Dont believe me? You have only to look at the Federal Register to see the documentation of that. March 2003. the Republican budget cut $14 billion from veterans health care that was passed by Congress. with 199 Democrats voting no. That was H. Con. Res. 95. vote Number 82 on March 21. 2003. Then we moved to a year later. March 2004. One would think that the Republicans had a year to think about it and would have finally realized that it was time to stand up for our Nations veterans. They certainly said it a lot. When it came to doing it. they fell short. The Republican budget shortchanged veterans health care then by $1.5 billion. That was passed by Congress with 201 Democrats voting against it. In March of 2005. another year later. President Bushs budget shortchanged veterans health care by more than $2 billion for 2005. and cut veterans health care by $14 billion over 5 years. and passed with 201 Democrats again voting against it. Now. lets go to the summer of 2005. And I was here by then. I could not believe that this happened. because for months and months the Bush administration denied that there was a shortfall. said that there was no problem. stalled and pushed back. And finally. in summer of 2005. Mr. MURPHY. after democratic pressure. the Bush administration finally had to acknowledge in Fiscal Year 2006 that there was a short fall in veterans health care that was their error of $2.7 billion. And we had to fight all summer to get it fixed and have an emergency supplemental bill just to address the shortfall. It took pressure and cajoling and shame to finally bring them to the table and get them to do that. And then in March of 2006. President Bushs budget cut veterans funding by $6 billion. Mr. Speaker. over 5 years. That was passed b the then Republican controlled Congress. Fast forward to January 31st of 2007. The new direction Democrats increased the VA health care budget by $3.6 billion in the joint funding resolution. And now. I can tell you that in our supplemental that passed out of the House Appropriations Committee last Thursday. on which I sit. with none of the Republicans. zero voting for it. $1.7 billion to the request for veterans health care. including $550 million. Mr. Speaker. to address the backlog at the VA health care facilities so we can prevent similar situations like what happened at Walter Reed because certainly. if we didnt know what was going on in Walter Reed. we have to make sure we address the needs of our veterans in health care facilities across this country that are run by this administrations VA agency. $250 million for medical administration so that we can insure we have sufficient personnel to address the rising number of veterans that are coming back from Iraq. and that we have to make sure we maintain a high level of services. $229 million for treating the growing nuniber. of veterans. $100 million to allow the VA to contract with private mental health care providers to provide veterans. inclucling Guard and Reserve members who so often are neglected.