[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 67 (Friday, May 22, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S5367]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 ISTEA

  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, we will vote on ISTEA today. I know a 
number of colleagues want a voice vote. I can feel the pressure 
building. We are about to leave. I say to colleagues, we are not going 
to voice vote the bill. We can't have a voice vote. This is an 
important piece of legislation, and a whole lot has happened in 
conference committee. Frankly, all of us should be on record voting nay 
or yea, yea or nay.
  For my own part, I want to talk about this piece of legislation. 
There are two points I want to make. This is a very important piece of 
legislation. I thank Minnesotans for all of their guidance. There is 
much about this legislation that I believe in, especially the important 
investment in infrastructure. I think it is a balanced approach.

  However, I will not vote for this bill, and I will not vote for this 
bill for two reasons. First of all, I won't vote for this bill 
because--we still don't know what the offsets are, but it looks like 
much of it comes from VA. I say that because I believe it is an outrage 
that the money that could have gone into veterans health care--and I 
could go on for hours about what the gaps are in veterans health care--
will, instead, be used as an offset in this legislation. I also believe 
that too much of this spending will take the place of other 
discretionary, affecting the most vulnerable citizens in this country.
  The second reason that I cannot vote for this piece of legislation, 
as much as I believe in much of it, is the process. I think at the very 
end of this process there were several decisions made, one having to do 
with a sensitive environmental land dispute issue in Minnesota, the 
Boundary Waters, and I respectfully disagree with the way this is being 
done.
  I will not do any bashing on the floor of the Senate. I don't want to 
do that. But I will not support this piece of legislation, I want to go 
on record.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have a letter printed from 
the Paralyzed Veterans of America. They say, ``Don't Rob America's 
Veterans Again.''
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                 Veterans and Tobacco-Related Illnesses

       VA compensation benefits should not be taken away for 
     tobacco-related illnesses. Nicotine addiction is a medically 
     recognized disability. DOD was culpable in veterans becoming 
     addicted to cigarettes, and therefore these are bona fide 
     service-connected disabilities. Smoking was not ``willful 
     misconduct.''
       Taking away tobacco-related VA compensation benefits 
     because it is inconvenient for VA to process them, because 
     they are costly, or because it is politically incorrect or 
     unpopular, is a very dangerous precedent to set. What will be 
     next, excluding benefits for bad diet or an unpopular war? 
     There is no sound legal or moral basis to take this benefit 
     away from veterans.
       While some argue that veterans made the choice to smoke, no 
     veteran chose to become addicted to nicotine and tobacco 
     products. The tobacco companies, with the unwitting 
     assistance of a military which encouraged and subsidized 
     smoking, made the choice for veterans by getting them 
     addicted to cigarettes.
       This is not a new benefit that will be eliminated for the 
     future. This is current law--benefits are already being 
     granted--and what Congress is considering is taking away a 
     veterans benefit.
       Veterans are being singled out for unfair treatment. Other 
     federal beneficiaries will continue to receive disability 
     compensation for tobacco-related illnesses; no one is 
     proposing to abolish SSDI benefits. If passed, this will 
     create an inequitable, unjust and unconstitutional situation 
     under the equal protection clause for one class of 
     individuals--veterans.
       Prohibiting compensation for tobacco-related illnesses will 
     have adverse effects on veterans seeking other benefits--
     related compensation (such as cancer resulting from chemical 
     exposure), and certainly access to health care.
       VA's projected savings for prohibiting tobacco-related 
     claims are highly exaggerated. Experience to date shows that 
     it is very difficult for veterans to prove these claims; 
     approximately 7,400 claims have been filed, of some 3,100 
     that have been adjudicated thus far, fewer than 300 have been 
     granted.
       Any effort to take the money away from veterans tobacco-
     related compensation, in order to pay for pork-barrel 
     transportation projects is an absolute outrage. This is 
     election-year politics at its worst.
       Congress must not support this outrageous proposal; Don't 
     Rob American's Veterans!
                                  ____


             Congress: Don't Rob America's Veterans Again!

       Congress wants to take billions of dollars from veterans' 
     disability compensation in a money grab to increase overblown 
     spending for transportation and highways.
       As a result, thousands of sick and disabled veterans will 
     be denied earned disability compensation.
       Congress wants to exploit a veteran's use of tobacco as a 
     convenient excuse to stop paying benefits where tobacco use 
     may have had any role in a disability--even though the 
     Department of Defense encouraged, subsidized and promoted 
     tobacco use among servicemen and women.
       Yet, Congress is not penalizing other Americans for their 
     use of tobacco. Social Security, for instance, will still pay 
     for tobacco-related disabilities.
       Congress has already slashed billions from veterans' health 
     and benefits programs, only to spend the money elsewhere.
       To those in Congress who support this outrageous proposal, 
     here's our advice: Quit your own bad habit of continually 
     robbing veterans' programs.
       Don't Rob America's Veterans!
       A message from: AMVETS; Blinded Veterans Association; 
     Disabled American Veterans; Jewish War Veterans of the 
     U.S.A., Inc.; Military Order of the Purple Heart of the 
     U.S.A., Inc.; Non Commissioned Officers Association of the 
     USA; Paralyzed Veterans of America; Veterans of Foreign Wars 
     of the United States; and Vietnam Veterans of America, Inc.

  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I think they are right. There are too 
many veterans out on the streets that shouldn't be. There are too many 
veterans that are struggling with PTSD that are not treated. There are 
too many veterans that, as they get older, are not clear what care 
there will be.
  We have a flat-line budget that is not going to work for veterans. I 
think it is a big mistake to have taken this money out of what should 
have been an investment in veterans health care.
  I yield the floor.

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