Date: 2007-02-27
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I was very disturbed last week and have been disturbed. and here in the 30Something Working Group. we have been talking quite a bit about our veterans. Now. I mentioned that a. little earlier because the veterans. we say we are the 30something Working Group. A lot of those veterans are 30something now. Many of them are even 20something. because of their service. Some of them are 40 and 50something. And they are coming back. In the last Congress. in the 109th and 108th. those were the only two Congresses I can account for.. because beyond that it was my mother serving here. and I am pretty sure that I can get a good account from her about what happened or I can research in the bers coming to the floor chestbeating. "Oh. I support the men and women in uniform and our veterans. and I am going to be in the veterans parade and I am going to wave and carry on and I am going to let them* know that I love them." Well. let me just say this: In the 108th and the 109th Congresses. veteran benefits were cut. period. They were cut. And as we continue to talk about it. as we continue to dissect the Presidents budget. this document here. as we continue to dissect this budget here. find out what isin it and what is not in it. what is going to be given to the American people arid what is going to be taken away. we are going to find out where this administration falls and the old majority in this House falls on the issue of veterans. Now. I can speak. and I know we can speak. in a very bold voice. when we talk about our commitment to veterans. I have a veterans hospital in my district. I have actually two. When I go and visit. I look at those men and women. They could have served back in Korea. World War H. I even met a gentleman who served in Grenada. Haiti. 82nd Airborne. You have these individuals that are there. Vietnam. that are there. Some folks may not know that they served. but we know they served. Our responsibility in Congress is not to just carry on and talk about how we support the men and women in uniform and those who have served. and we honor them and we appreciate them. but I think it is important that we speak with our dollars and our commitment here as Members of Congress. In January of 2003. the Bush administration cuts off veterans health care for 164.000 veterans. That is on our Web site. March 2003. the Republican budget cuts $14 billion from veterans health care. That was passed by Congress with 199 Democrats voting against that measure of cutting the $14 billion. In March 2004. the Republican budget shortchanged veterans health care again by $1.5 billion. That was passed by the Congress. 201 Democrats voting against that measure. March 2005. President Bushs budget shortchanges veterans health care again by more than $2 billion. Again. 201 Democrats voted against that. This was House Resolution 95. The vote number was 98. In the 30Something Working Group. we actually pull information from the important that Members and the American people realize that. Again. November 2005. the Bush administration as it relates to the short-. fall. Democrats fought that summer to be able to get back the $2.7 billion that was taken out. And we have a member of the Appropriations Committee here. but in the last continuing resolution because the Republicans did not do their job. Mr. Speaker. in making sure that the work was done when the Democratic Congress took over. they couldnt get all of the bills passed. They just kept punting down the street. In our continuing resolution. we retooled Members projects and other nonissues that werent a priority because of the thirst that veterans have and the Departnient of Veterans has to provide the services for our men and women that serve. The Democrats increased the VA health care budget by $3.6 billion in a joint funding resolution. I say all of that to indicate it is important that we do this. One last point. While we were on break. The Washington Post: "Soldiers face neglect and frustration at Army top medical facility" here in Washington. D.C.. Walter Reed Hospital. This is a Washington Post article. Sunday. February 18. 2007. It was dropped here on my doorstep in Washington. D.C. I read this. and it was a followup article. I think it is important that the American people and Members of Congress pay close attention to what is happening. You have patients and outpatients that are saying that Walter Reed. they are encountering a messy bureaucratic battlefield that reminds them of the real one that they faced overseas. It also talks in this article about rats and mice and dead insects in this hospital. Smells and carpet stains. Again. Mr. Speaker. our job. yes. we say we support the troops. Yes. we say we support veterans. We are supposed to say that. But when we come here and we take our voting card out and we go to these committees. we have to make sure that we follow through on what we say. So I am excited by the fact that by reading everything that I have read about what has happened in the last two Congresses and beyond. that we have already put $3.6 billion. and we havent had a full cycle to be able to even dissect the budget and to appropriate. So saying that. I want to pass it over to the gentlewoman from Florida