[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 52 (Tuesday, April 1, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H2559-H2560]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           REPUBLICAN BUDGET

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Miller) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MILLER of North Carolina. Madam Speaker, we speak of the 
generation that fought the Second World War as our greatest generation. 
The men and women now serving our Armed Forces, the soldiers now in 
harm's way in Iraq and Afghanistan, are pretty great, too. They are 
dedicated and courageous, and I am proud of them.
  I am not proud of the budget that this House passed less than 2 weeks 
ago in the dead of night, however. The budget makes severe cuts in 
benefits for our veterans, benefits that our Nation has seen as simple 
gratitude for more than a century, as the least that we could do for 
those Americans who defend our freedom at the risk of their own lives.
  The House budget cuts veterans benefits across the board, health care 
benefits, disability benefits, survivor benefits, pensions, everything, 
a total of $28

[[Page H2560]]

billion in cuts over the next decade. In my State, in North Carolina, 
more than 30,000 veterans will be pushed out, forced out of the VA 
system. Tens of thousands more North Carolina veterans would face 
sharply higher costs.
  The budget cuts benefits when needs are increasing. World War II 
veterans and Korean War veterans are aging. Their health care needs are 
pressing, and Vietnam veterans are just behind them. There are already 
waiting lists, and those lists will only grow longer, if the benefits 
are available at all.
  The men and women in uniform in Iraq and Afghanistan must see this 
budget and wonder if our praise for them today is simply hollow 
rhetoric intended to score political points, not a sincere appreciation 
for their service. The House budget walks away from our debt to 
veterans so we can cut taxes.
  I know that I am not the first today to point out on this floor how 
lopsided that tax cut favors the richest Americans. I know that I am 
not the first to point out that Americans making more than a million 
dollars a year get a tax cut of $90,000, but ordinary Americans fare 
much less well. Half of North Carolina families get less than $100 a 
year. One-third of North Carolina families get nothing at all.
  Madam Speaker, the Americans who would benefit the most from proposed 
tax cuts owe the most to our veterans, and the veterans who need their 
veterans benefits the most would benefit least from the proposed tax 
cut.
  The majority party is now saying that they did not really mean it, 
they had their fingers crossed behind their backs the whole time. They 
knew the Senate would put veterans benefits back into the budget and 
that they would go along. Just minutes ago, the majority party voted to 
repudiate the very budget that they adopted less than 2 weeks ago.
  Veterans deserve better than that kind of political double talk. 
There should not be bargaining chips and back-room budget deals between 
the House and Senate. They have earned better than that.
  Madam Speaker, I do not believe that the House budget adopted less 
than 2 weeks ago reflects our Nation's values. I do not believe that we 
have become a Nation of ingrates.

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