[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 52 (Tuesday, April 1, 2003)]
[House]
[Page H2555]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             PUT VETERANS BENEFITS FUNDS BACK IN THE BUDGET

  (Mr. HOLT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HOLT. Madam Speaker, the leadership of the House of 
Representatives narrowly passed a budget resolution on March 20 that 
would severely cut veterans benefits, including health care, disability 
compensation, pensions, and other benefits.
  Now, 211 of my colleagues and I opposed this budget resolution and 
many of us voted instead for an alternative budget resolution preferred 
by the American Legion and other veterans groups that would have 
increased veterans benefits. I am sad to say it did not pass.
  Now today, the majority party voted for a motion to instruct 
conferees presented by the Democrats. I must question the seriousness 
of this vote. Maybe it is April Fool's Day, but cutting veterans 
benefits does not seem very funny to me.
  How can Congress even consider cutting veterans benefits during a 
time of war?
  I must question the seriousness of it because only a week ago when my 
Republican friend and colleague, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. 
Smith), the chairman of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, expressed 
his own outrage at the leadership's budget proposal, he was severely 
rebuked by his own party. Now, no American should be rebuked for 
standing up for veterans.
  The promise that the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) got and 
this motion to instruct today should not have been necessary. It should 
have been in the original budget resolution that the veterans were 
looked after, that their disability payments would be taken care of. 
Certainly at a time of war and great sacrifice by our Nation's armed 
services, we cannot let these cuts stand.




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