[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 146 (Wednesday, November 13, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10880-S10881]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              VETERANS DAY

  Mr. KERRY. Madam President, on Monday I was privileged to stand with 
thousands upon thousands of veterans and their families who traveled to 
Washington to visit the Vietnam Wall for its 20th anniversary, to 
reconnect with those with whom we had served, and above all to honor 
our fallen brothers and sisters.
  These veterans, some of whom traveled for days and all at their own 
expense, proved something I think every American knows deep down in 
their heart--something that cuts to the quick of what we as Americans 
stand for--that part of being an American means keeping faith with our 
citizens and those heroes who gave so much to our country. That 
responsibility extends to those of us who have the honor to serve here 
in the Chambers of Congress.
  Today, my friends, after another Veterans Day where words of praise 
for America's veterans were spoken, at a time when it is an 
increasingly real possibility that more Americans will be sent into 
harm's way for their Nation, we must keep faith--in deeds and not just 
words--with the veterans of our country. We must do the duty we were 
sent here to do, as they did their duty wearing the uniform of our 
country.
  Because of a 111 year-old law, when our soldiers have returned from 
combat wounded, debilitated by illness, missing limbs, confined to 
wheelchairs--disabled for life these veterans have been told that their 
retired pay would be reduced dollar-for-dollar for any VA disability 
benefits they received. Yesterday the House and Senate reached a 
compromise on the issue of concurrent receipt in the National Defense 
Authorization Act. The authorization act has been held up for weeks 
because the administration has threatened a veto if concurrent receipt 
language was included in this bill. The compromise that was reached 
yesterday begins to correct the injustice created by this archaic law 
but it does not go nearly far enough.
  The compromise language applies only to veterans injured during 
combat, combat-oriented training, or certain other hazardous 
activities, with a disability rating of 60 percent or greater, and 
those with a rating of at least 10 percent if they received a Purple 
Heart. This compromise leaves a bitter taste in the mouths of anyone 
who believes we have a faith to keep with our veterans. On October 10, 
the House passed overwhelmingly a motion to instruct their conferees to 
accept the far more comprehensive Senate-passed concurrent receipt 
language--which would have provided all disabled veterans the full 
amount of their disability benefits and their retirement pay. There is 
strong bipartisan support for full concurrent receipt in both Chambers 
of Congress, yet because of the considerable pressure from this 
administration we have been forced to accept a compromise that will 
leave hundreds of thousands of our veterans behind.
  I cannot believe that this administration is willing to tell a 
veteran who, through service to his country, has suffered an injury 
leaving him 50 percent disabled, that he is not entitled to both 
disability compensation and retirement pay earned for 20 years of 
service. Military retirees are the only category of federal employees 
who are required to relinquish a portion of their retirement pay when 
they receive VA disability benefits. Not only does this practice 
unjustly penalize our disabled career soldiers--it weakens our military 
by effectively encouraging injured servicemembers to leave the military 
early in their careers. We have been working for years to right this 
wrong. This change in law is a beginning, but much remains to be done.

  The issue of compensation for our disabled veterans is only one 
aspect of a much larger problem--we are failing to meet our promises to 
the people who have so courageously served our country. Nothing 
punctuates this fact more than the ongoing financial crisis facing the 
veterans health care system.
  We must address simple mathematics. From 1996 to the present, the 
number of veterans seeking health care from the VA has grown from 2.9 
million to 4.5 million, while the VA's health care staff has decreased 
from 195,000 to 183,000--forcing many veterans to wait 6 months or 
longer for care. But this administration's continued refusal to fully 
fund our VA has done nothing to help them hire new staff, let alone 
offer better care to our Nation's veterans.
  The overall thrust of their approach to this funding crisis has been 
to push reforms aimed at reducing enrollment in the veterans health 
system rather than providing the funds necessary to ensure that every 
veteran gets the best health care we have to offer. Even VA Secretary 
Principi identified a $400 million shortfall in the fiscal year 2002 
budget of the VA health care system. But the administration requested 
only $142 million to compensate for this shortfall, and plans to make 
up much of the remainder of the shortfall by imposing ``efficiencies'' 
on a system that's already reached a crashing point.
  In July Congress passed $417 million for veterans health care as part 
of the fiscal year 2002 emergency supplemental--to reduce waiting times 
for health care, keep clinics open, and establish new Community Based 
Out-patient Clinics. But in August the President blocked $275 million 
of the amount provided by Congress, announcing the administration would 
only spend the $142 million it requested for VA health care.
  This is not the way to keep faith with our veterans. They are aging 
and in need of medicine and health care, they are sitting in our 
waiting rooms, and struggling to pay hefty bills and still afford rent 
and food. Many are homeless--in fact, nearly one quarter of all 
homeless Americans are veterans. By any measure, we are not doing 
enough for those who have done so much for us.
  That is why I am asking the Congress to provide full funding for 
veterans medical care in the fiscal year 2003 VA/HUD Appropriations 
bill. The committee reported bills in the Senate and House both provide 
$25.3 billion for the VA health system, an increase of $3.3 billion 
over the fiscal year 2002 level, and $1.8 billion more than the 
administration's request for 2003.
  Because we are not doing enough for our veterans, I am asking the 
Senate to reject the President's proposed $1,500 health care deductible 
for Priority 7 veterans included in his fiscal year 2003 VA/HUD budget. 
So far the House and the Senate have rejected the President's request 
to include this deductible in the VA/HUD Appropriations bill.
  I am also asking this body to join me in urging the administration to 
rescind the VA memo dated July 18, 2002 that ordered the directors of 
every veterans health care network in the country to cease outreach 
activities such as health fairs, open houses, newsletters, and public 
service announcements.

  And I ask the Senate to call on the VA to rescind its new regulations 
which require the rationing of health care. These regulations--which 
give priority for health care to veterans with service-connected 
conditions, without taking into account the medical needs of patients--
could add to the VA's red tape, making the already long waiting times 
at many VA facilities even longer.
  I believe it is also important the Senate join in supporting Senator 
Johnson's Veterans Health Care Funding Guarantee Act, which would 
assure adequate funding of these important priorities.
  Regrettably, this administration has launched an assault on Priority 
7 veterans, those who lack a service-connected disability and whose 
income is higher than the current VA eligibility standard--$24,500 for 
a single person. Priority 7 veterans have grown from 2 percent of VA 
patients in 1995 to about 33 percent currently--a total of 1.6 million 
veterans. Although this increase coincides with the 1996 law that 
changed the VA's eligibility system, veterans have turned to the VA 
mainly because they have nowhere else to go for affordable prescription 
drugs. These are the same people who would benefit most from a Medicare 
prescription drug benefit--their incomes are too high for Medicaid, but 
too low to handle the health system's growing reliance on expensive 
prescription drugs.

[[Page S10881]]

Where are our priorities when we are content with not passing a 
prescription benefit plan for our seniors--including these honorable 
men and women--and then say that we will not fight for adequate funding 
for our VA hospitals? I find these misplaced priorities disturbing and 
I think it high time we finally did something about it.
  We should remember the words of George Washington: ``The willingness 
with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter 
how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive the 
veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their 
nation.'' Today, after one of the most meaningful days in our year, it 
is time for us to show our commitment to our veterans and, by doing so, 
show our soldiers that their service means something to this country 
and to this government--that we won't just send them into harms way and 
forget about them when they come home. We will remember their service 
and always keep faith.

                          ____________________