[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 102 (Friday, July 20, 2001)]
[House]
[Page H4374]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      VETERANS' HEALTH CARE NEEDS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Kerns). The Chair reallocates 5 minutes 
of the balance of the majority leader's hour to the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Foley).
  Mr. FOLEY. Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to come to the microphone 
today. I have been traveling the State of Florida for the past several 
months meeting with editorial boards trying to enlist their support on 
an issue that I consider vitally important to veterans in my State and 
veterans throughout the country. Veterans have fought for our country. 
Now they are forced to fight for their health care. 1.6 plus million 
veterans now live in the great State of Florida. Regrettably, with the 
State with the second largest population of veterans, we have one 
benefits claims center, in St. Petersburg. The average backlog of cases 
for veterans processing their claims is anywhere from 170 days to 275 
days. As I tell my veterans in the community who are desperate to find 
answers to their claims, ``The answers you get may not be the ones you 
want. I cannot guarantee you the answer satisfies your claim. They may 
reject your claim.''
  But, by God, we owe them an answer. We owe them, yes, you are 
approved for benefits or, no, you are not so they can at least go on to 
the appeals process. My good friend the gentleman from California (Mr. 
Hunter) will be addressing the Congress in a moment on military issues. 
I am chagrined that people who are brought to this fight to help us 
take down totalitarian regimes, to protect and provide freedom for our 
allies, who have fought wars like World War I, in fact, I have a 
veteran of World War I who lives in my community, 98 years old, Mr. 
Ross, veterans of World War II, Korea, Desert Storm, Vietnam and others 
are made to wait in line and wait for months to get answers to very 
simple questions.
  I am thrilled the gentleman from New York (Mr. Walsh) and his 
committee on the supplemental just passed included at the request of 
myself and many, many Members of Congress an additional $19 million for 
veterans benefit administration for unexpected claims processing costs. 
We should not have considered them unexpected claims processing costs 
because we should have known that this backlog existed. We have talked 
about it for months. We have pleaded with the past administration. I am 
delighted Secretary Principi has been actively involved in this issue.
  Mr. Bush, when he campaigned for President and now as our Commander 
in Chief, spoke eloquently about the need to make certain that our 
fighting forces were well provided for and that we made troop readiness 
and troop morale a keystone of this administration. I applaud him for 
that and I certainly applaud Mr. Principi for his dogged pursuit of 
revising and providing leadership at the VA. I know he has answered 
many of my phone calls and letters personally by telling me that he 
will be in the forefront of the fight to make certain that the 
efficiencies that we have long sought will finally come to bear.
  The military has often told me that they are having a difficult time 
in recruiting people to serve in the armed services of our country.

                              {time}  1115

  It may be that the veterans who have served before are telling them 
that it is not all what it is cracked up to be. I think if we decide to 
emphasize the need to provide these expedited claims processes, we 
would find more veterans thrilled with the idea that their government 
is standing by them, as they stood by us. Maybe you would find young 
recruits thinking about engaging in military service, when they asked a 
veteran, that they would get that gold-plated assurance that, yes, the 
government did stand by me after I had served and made my life better.
  So I thank the gentlemen and gentlewomen who have participated in 
increasing the supplemental by this $19 million. I urge us to do more. 
I urge us to do a lot more, because, again, if we are to be the kind of 
Nation that leads others to prosperity and peace abroad, if we are to 
be the Nation that holds the ideals of that flag behind the Speaker's 
rostrum to the high standards we would expect, if we are that Congress 
that believes that that flag deserves protection from desecration, that 
we ought to make certain that this Congress is the one that expedites 
the appeals process and the claims process for those valiant men and 
women who have risked their lives to make America strong and secure. We 
should do nothing less, and we must do much more.

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