[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 153 (Wednesday, November 3, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2248]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 3064, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA APPROPRIATIONS 
                               ACT, 2000

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                            HON. LANE EVANS

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 28, 1999

  Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to the DC/Labor-
HHS Appropriations conference report. There are many reasons to oppose 
this measure. Among the worst of the provisions contained in this 
conference report is the irresponsible across-the-board 1-percent cut 
in discretionary spending fashioned by the House Republican leadership.
  It is the worst kind of cynicism to claim that a 1-percent across-
the-board cut will correct waste and fraud in government programs. I'm 
strongly opposed to cutting the funding for veterans' medical care just 
approved by Congress. The majority whip has issued a press release that 
claims the cut in Veterans' medical care funding he is recommending 
would not affect health care for America's veterans. Veterans know 
better. You can't cut health care funding without cutting health care.
  Congressman DeLay sent a press release to the leadership of major 
veterans service organizations defending the 1.4-percent cut in 
appropriations he originally supported, which affected veterans, among 
other discretionary programs. Let me state that three years of 
straight-line funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has 
left the agency struggling to meet the increasing costs of medical care 
for the growing number of enrolled veterans it treats.
  Now the Republican leadership claims a $190 million cut in veterans' 
medical care funding would do no harm. They maintain these funds can be 
squeezed out of the budget and be found in ``mismanagement and waste.'' 
What the Republican leadership fails to acknowledge is the tremendous 
changes VA has already made to be more efficient. In the last few 
years, VA has closed thousands of beds, eliminated thousands of staff 
positions, and strengthened many of their auditing systems.
  House Democrats have strongly supported proposals all year that would 
have added sums ranging from $2 to $3 billion to the President's 
initial proposal for veterans' medical care. Indeed we have all worked 
hard to improve funding for veterans. Veterans service organizations 
have called on Congress to appropriate up to $3 billion more than the 
administration's original budget proposal for veterans' health care. 
Now many veterans services organizations have vehemently denounced the 
Republican leadership's proposed across-the-board cut. I quote from a 
letter signed by the executive directors of AMVETS, Disabled American 
Veterans, Paralyzed Veterans of America, and the Veterans of Foreign 
Wars of the U.S. regarding these cuts: ``It seems disingenuous at best 
for Congress to recognize a problem in funding for veterans health 
care, provide the dollars with one hand to help solve that problem, and 
then take dollars away with the other. No one is fooled by this budget 
sleight-of-hand.''
  Mr. Speaker, no one is going to be fooled by this belated and 
disingenuous concern about government inefficiency. I urge my 
colleagues to vote ``no'' on this abrogation of responsibility. Vote 
``no'' on this conference report.
  It is already evident VA will struggle, even to deal with the 
unprecedented increase Congress has enacted and the President has 
signed into law. How will this affect the VA health care system? In 
many parts of the country, veterans must wait up to six months just to 
see a primary care doctor. VA has also unraveled mental health and 
long-term care programs which were once hallmarks of the VA system. 
There are now even complaints that VA's highly-regarded special 
emphasis programs for which there is supposedly congressional 
protection--such as spinal cord injury and blind rehabilitation--are 
under attack.
  VA has done much to streamline its services in recent years. Over 
five years, VA has reduced its workforce by almost 10 percent, closed 
hundreds of beds throughout the system, reduced its inpatient census by 
almost 30 percent and eliminated 37 percent of its inpatient treatments 
per year. It has integrated or consolidated 50 medical centers. In 
testimony before the Veterans' Affairs Committee this April, four 
Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) directors, commenting on the 
proposed future efficiency-derived savings, concurred that ``all the 
low-hanging fruit has been picked.'' Savings available to the system in 
the future, the directors said, will be harder fought and more 
disruptive.
  The Republican leadership has contended that VA could absorb further 
cuts ``without having any effect on health care to veterans,'' citing 
figures from studies that were challenged earlier this year. For 
example, the majority whip's release contended VA could save a million 
dollars a day by eliminating some of its overhead in capital assets. 
But whether savings of this magnitude could be realized in the 
immediate future with significantly uprooting current VA programs is 
highly questionable. Even without the Republican budget cuts, ``there 
isn't enough money in the budget now to tear down or renovate 
underutilized buildings, let alone to replace them with new, modern, 
smaller clinics. Any savings here will require investment, not magic, 
and will not come quickly.''
  Likewise, DeLay's release pointed to a report suggesting $17 million 
is lost each year in fraudulent or improper workers compensation 
claims. Actually, testimony at the March 24 Subcommittee on Oversight 
and Investigations hearing demonstrated that VA's workers compensation 
costs are not unusual, and that the answer is in heading off injuries 
and helping employees with rehabilitation. In fact, VA has been cutting 
these costs since 1994, and is completing automation of its claims 
system for better management, but savings are already part of the FY 
2000 budget.
  The DeLay release also noted his plan would not affect benefits 
checks. Of course, it wouldn't. That, at least, is still out of Mr. 
DeLay's reach. It's troubling that he would even mention compensation 
for service-connected disabilities and his restraint with regard to 
compensation for service-connected disabilities.

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