[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 190 (Thursday, November 30, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2271]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          DON'T HURT VETERANS

                                 ______


                             HON. SAM FARR

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 30, 1995

  Mr. FARR of California. Mr. Speaker, on Wednesday, November 29, the 
House of Representatives voted to return the VA-HUD appropriations bill 
to conference. By doing so, Congress recognized that the bill was 
unfair legislation which neglected the needs of our Nation's veterans 
and military retirees.
  The bill underfunded many important veterans programs. It eliminated 
educational help for those willing to work at VA facilities. It cut 
money for construction, modernization, and improvement of VA 
facilities. It reduced funding for VA programs by over $40 million from 
last year.
  But above all, the VA-HUD bill provided insufficient funding for 
veterans medical care--$400 million less than the President requested. 
In my district, tens of thousands of veterans and military retirees 
rely on VA medical programs. The cuts in the bill would have threatened 
the quality care they depend on.
  I joined the 217 other Members--Democrats and Republicans--to 
recommit the VA-HUD bill in order to fix this serious flaw. Our motion 
to recommit specifically requested that $213 million be restored to 
veterans' health care programs. Without this additional funding, the 
bill would have forced our veterans and military retirees to make an 
extra and unfair sacrifice in the name of deficit reduction.
  Veterans and military retirees are willing to take their fair share 
of spending cuts in order to eliminate the deficit. But they do not 
deserve burdensome cuts which unfairly target them.
  Our bipartisan vote yesterday will go a long way toward making the 
bill better, one that treats all our Nation's veterans and retirees 
fairly.

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