Date: 2004-06-22
Speaker: LINDA T. SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Speaker. I would join my colleagues a little more often if they .H4746 were not up here so late at night. I know that the gentleman has already talked about a number of issues that particularly impact young people in this country. I know that I was here when we talked about the tuition increases and the rising costs of student loans. the increasingly bleak job market for recent graduates. I know that the gentleman talked about the voter suppression issue. and tonight I want to talk a little bit about the men and women who are putting their lives on the line in Iraq and in many places around the globe to protect our country. Mr. Speaker. we are rapidly coming up to the 4th of July. our Independence Day. and I think it is timely to thank the men and women who sacrifice themselves on behalf of our country. An interesting statistic that I ran across is that 70 percent of the people serving in Iraq are ages 18 to 30. and that is obviously a big group of young Americans. Unfortunately. while people talk a lot about patriotism and about supporting our troops. unfortunately. what we are seeing under the current Bush administration is that many of the support mechanisms for these men and women. once they come home. are being dismantled. So instead of talking and giving just lip service to how we should be supporting our troops. we should be passing legislation that stops the cuts that the President has proposed. especially cuts to VA health care. It was not too long ago that I visited. and I have been there on several occasions. Walter Reed Medical Center. which is where the wounded soldiers come after they are stabilized from the theater in Iraq. and I had an opportunity to talk with many young men in the amputee ward. some as young as 19. 20. 21. 22. who are going to need ongoing health care for their injuries. They are going to need job retraining because the jobs that they are going back to they cannot hold anymore. And. unfortunately. what we have seen this government do is cut benefits to VA programs. especially the health care programs. at a time when out of the other side of their mouth. they are saying we need to support our troops. So I find that there is a level of hypocrisy in what the Bush administration says. and actually what they are doing. I tell people all the time. the measure of our patriotism is not just about rah. rah. and cheering the troops while they are in war. in theater. but it is how do we treat those same men and women once they come home and they need us. Unfortunately. we are seeing that this administration is bent on cuts to VA services. Veterans who have fought some -of their toughest battles for this country on foreign soil then come back to fight the bureaucracy of the VA health care system and face everincreasing delays to be seen by doctors. closing of facilities and consolidation. which means that they have to travel many. many more miles just to go and get the basic services that they are entitled to. I just want to note. before I engage my two other colleagues here this evening in discussion. that even VA Secretary Anthony Principi publicly acknowledged that he tried in vain to secure more funding from this administration. So what kind of priorities does this administration have if they cannot meet the funding request of the VA Secretary who was handpicked by President Bush? Mr. Principi is someone the President picked. but he is also a veteran. So he could not keep quiet about how egregiously low the funding level is for the VA administration. So I think it is timely that young people know that we are asking them to make a great sacrifice in risking their health and their lives overseas. they are being divided from their families and. again. they are coming back to an administration that is saying they support the troops when. in fact. the services and the followup care that they are going to need is being cut while they are away. I do not know what my colleagues think about that. but I yield.