[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 160 (Thursday, November 13, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12519-S12520]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       NATIONAL VETERANS CEMETERY

  Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I rise to express my profound 
disappointment in the action the President took on November 1 of this 
year when he used his veto pen to line-item veto $900,000 from the VA-
HUD appropriations bill. This money was set aside for the final 
planning and design of a new national veterans cemetery to be built at 
Fort Sill in Lawton, OK. While I am disappointed, I know my 
disappointment pales in comparison to the shock and frustration that 
the veterans of Oklahoma and their families have expressed to me and my 
staff regarding the President's action.
  The shock and frustration expressed by veterans living in Oklahoma 
who have selflessly served our country and their families comes because 
the President's veto will further delay a national cemetery that has 
been in one stage of planning or another since 1987 when the Department 
of Veteran Affairs stated its intention to build a new national 
cemetery in Oklahoma.
  I hope my colleagues will bear with me as I review what the veterans 
of Oklahoma and their families have gone through over the past 10 
years.
  Efforts to establish a national veterans cemetery in central Oklahoma 
date back to 1987. That year the Department of Veterans Affairs, in a 
report to Congress, identified central Oklahoma as an area in need of a 
national veterans cemetery because of Oklahoma's large veterans 
population and an official acknowledgment that the Fort Gibson cemetery 
in eastern Oklahoma would soon be full. The Oklahoma congressional 
delegation did not make this determination, Oklahoma's large veteran

[[Page S12520]]

population did not make this determination the VA made this 
determination.
  The VA then embarked on a 4-year selection process and narrowed the 
potential cemetery sites to three: Fort Reno, Edmond, and Guthrie. The 
Congress, in accordance with the 1987 report, appropriated $250,000 in 
fiscal year 1991 for the purpose of conducting an environmental impact 
statement on these three sites to determine which site best met the 
needs of our veterans and was suitable for construction of a cemetery.
  In late 1993, the VA officially announced Fort Reno as its preferred 
site, and Congress, in 1994, appropriated another $250,000 for the 
initial planning and design stages of the cemetery. Unfortunately, in 
that same year a land dispute arose over the Fort Reno site. After a 
year of trying to work out an agreement on the property at Fort Reno no 
resolution could be found.
  On January 23, 1995, the VA issued a press release announcing that it 
was no longer committed to the Fort Reno site because the land dispute 
could not be resolved. In that same press release Jesse Brown, the 
Secretary of Veterans Affairs, made the following statement:

       I am reiterating VA's commitment to provide a new national 
     cemetery for the veterans of this region. We will look for 
     other potential sites and expedite the selection decision.

  Thankfully, another piece of property was soon found at Fort Sill 
that could be used for a cemetery, and true to Secretary Brown's 
statement the process was expedited.
  The VA, using money left over from the initial environmental impact 
statement, conducted another study of the piece of property identified 
as a potential cemetery site at Fort Sill. The second environmental 
impact statement was completed on the property at Fort Sill and it was 
deemed suitable for a cemetery.
  Again, acting on the VA's commitment of 1987 to build a national 
veterans cemetery which was reiterated in January 1995, by Secretary 
Brown, the Congress adopted an amendment that I offered to the fiscal 
year 1997 Defense authorization bill that called for the transfer of 
that property at Fort Sill for the establishment of a new national 
veterans cemetery.
  I recently spoke to the Army and was informed that this land transfer 
is progressing very well and ought to be complete by mid-January of 
1998--that's about two months away.
  This year I worked with my good friend, Senator Bond, chairman of the 
VA-HUD appropriations subcommittee, to include $900,000 for the final 
planning and design of the cemetery. It was included in the bill that 
was passed by the Senate and included in the conference report.
  As I stated earlier, about a week ago, the President used his veto 
pen to line-item veto this project. This project was the only VA 
project that was line-tem vetoed this year.
  Besides being disappointed at the President's action, I don't 
understand it. The cemetery project is completely within the budget 
agreement that was hammered out this year. The cemetery project was 
identified by the VA as a project it wanted.
  I do want to let the administration and the veterans of Oklahoma know 
that I am committed to this project and I intend to work with the 
administration and the VA to see that the veterans of Oklahoma get a 
new national veterans cemetery in a timely fashion. Ten years has 
already been a long time to wait. The veterans of Oklahoma and their 
families have endured much as they served our country, I intend to see 
to it that the establishment of a new national veterans cemetery does 
not become yet another test of that endurance.
  Mr. President, I believe the President made a mistake. He made a 
mistake in several items that were vetoed in the MilCon bill and he 
made a mistake in this case. The VA had made a commitment to build this 
cemetery. The veterans who served our country so well are entitled to 
be buried in a national veterans' cemetery. The Veterans' Department 
said maybe the new cemetery in Oklahoma should be a State cemetery. 
However, the veterans of Oklahoma have stated they want to be buried in 
a national veterans' cemetery, and I am committed to that. I know the 
veterans of Oklahoma are committed to that. We have had a commitment 
from this administration and this administration should not renege on 
it. They should not go back on their word to the veterans of Oklahoma, 
as evidenced by the President's veto. I think it was a mistake.
  It just so happens the President does not have a Secretary of 
Veterans' Affairs. I will be meeting with the Acting Secretary and the 
President's nominee to be Secretary and hopefully we will come to an 
understanding very quickly that this is a commitment that will be 
completed. We need to uphold the commitment we made to the veterans of 
Oklahoma that we will have a national cemetery built.

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