[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 52 (Tuesday, April 1, 2003)]
[House]
[Page H2556]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page H2556]]
                              {time}  1615
                          VETERAN BUDGET CUTS

  (Ms. SOLIS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. SOLIS. Madam Speaker, I rise today with much disappointment. I am 
disappointed that the Republican-driven budget resolution that passed 
cuts, over 10 years, $14.6 in direct spending for our veterans benefits 
and $14.2 billion in veterans health care.
  How can the Congress even consider cutting benefits to our veterans 
when hundreds of thousands of American men and women in uniform are 
currently risking their lives overseas? What will it tell them upon 
their return? Thanks for your service, but you are on your own?
  Our veterans and our future veterans deserve a lot better. Every day 
I pray for the safe return of our troops, realizing that some may not 
come back at all. Lance Corporal Jesus Alberto Suarez del Solar is one 
of our heroes who was killed recently in action, last Thursday. Suarez, 
although not even a U.S. citizen, chose to serve our country as a 
Marine.
  Suarez' father is a U.S. citizen, and feels, and I quote, ``both 
betrayed and proud.'' In the Los Angeles Times article Mr. Suarez says, 
``President Bush has not demonstrated to me or to thousands of other 
people that this war is justified.'' These are the words of his father.
  How can we send our sons and daughters off when we cannot promise 
them support back home? I urge my colleagues on the other side of the 
aisle to reconsider these cuts.

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