[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 42 (Tuesday, March 7, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H2725-H2726]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                             VA RESCISSIONS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 4, 1995, the gentleman from Virginia [Mr. Scott] is recognized 
during morning business for 3 minutes.
  Mr. SCOTT. Madam Speaker, the strength of our national defense has 
always depended not only on the size of our armory, but in the people 
who serve. Stock piles of bullets, bombs, and ships are of no use 
without the brave men and women who are willing to put aside personal 
hopes and dreams for a time to serve the common good. We owe a 
tremendous debt of gratitude to these Americans; and one of the ways we 
have done this is to provide health care services to our veterans. 
Unfortunately, these services are now the subject of proposed budget 
cuts.
  The rescissions that target Veterans' hospitals, and more 
specifically remove funding for ambulatory care facilities at Veterans' 
hospitals, will reduce access to general health care for our veterans, 
and will make it more difficult to deliver important preventive health 
care services at these facilities.
  The construction of the ambulatory facility at the VA hospital in 
Hampton, VA is also considered a top priority by the 177,000 patients 
that currently receives its services. As the fourth oldest hospital in 
the system, the VA Medical Center in Hampton provides outpatient and 
inpatient care to veterans who have defended our country in its time of 
need. This veterans' facility and the others across the country are 
able to return the favor by meeting health care needs of these 
dedicated veterans.
  The six projects under attack in the GOP rescissions, are not new 
projects. Several have been under consideration for congressional 
funding since 1989. The funding has been approved in the past. It is 
only now, as the new majority looks for ways to finance tax cuts, that 
the ambulatory care facilities are at risk.
  Mr. Speaker, the veterans who use these facilities are not wealthy, 
or 
 [[Page H2726]] even middle class in some circumstances. The services 
they receive at the VA hospital constitute their sole access to health 
care. As we move from inpatient care to primary care in the general 
delivery of health care, it is important that we continue to offer 
similar services to our veterans. These preventive services reduce the 
need for costly inpatient services. In the long run, this will go 
further toward saving taxpayer dollars than the assorted tax cuts being 
proposed by the majority.
  I call upon my colleagues to vote to restore the funding to the VA 
ambulatory care projects when the rescission package is brought to the 
floor next week. These projects make sense, and send a clear message 
that we are committed to our veterans and to their well-being. It is 
the least we can do to thank them for their service.

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