[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 186 (Monday, November 20, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H13355-H13356]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   CALIFORNIA'S VETERANS WILL SUFFER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of May 
12, 1995, the gentleman from California [Mr. Filner] is recognized 
during morning business for 2 minutes.
  Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, my colleagues before me have said the issue 
is not the balanced budget, but who is going to pay for it.
  Mr. Speaker, I am here today because it is vital to inform the 
country about the impact of the Gingrich budget on our Nation's 
veterans.
  The budget bill is a three-pronged monster: Cuts to the Veterans' 
Administration, cuts in Medicare, and cuts in Medicaid mean our 
veterans will not have access to medical care when they need it most.
  Let me tell you what the impact will be on California's veterans. 
Twenty thousand California veterans will lose eligibility for Medicaid 
under the current Gingrich budget. Of those veterans, 12,000 are over 
65 years of age, and more than 2,500 of them are in nursing homes. How 
would any of us serving in Congress like to be told at age 65 or older 
that we no longer had health care? What are these veterans going to do?
  By the year 2002, California will be the home of almost a million 
veterans who are 65 and older. Most of them will be eligible for 
Medicare, and all of them will be affected by the proposed Medicare 
cuts.
  My colleagues on the floor say that is not a cut. I will tell you 
that these veterans will know that it is a cut.
  Cut off from Medicare and from many hospitals that will be forced to 
close, 

[[Page H 13356]]
veterans will have to look to the VA for health care. With the cuts 
proposed for that system, they will also be limited in their ability to 
get the care they need.
  When we called upon our veterans, not one of them said, ``Sorry, I 
cannot afford to serve.'' When veterans asked their country to keep the 
promises made to them, how can we say now, ``Sorry, we cannot afford 
it?''
  I simply fail to understand how we can repay the very people who 
fought for us with massive cuts to the medical care they were promised.
  We must be vigilant in protecting our veterans and the benefits they 
were promised. As a Nation, Mr. Speaker, we have a moral obligation to 
keep the promises we made to our veterans.

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