[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 12 (Wednesday, February 4, 2004)]
[House]
[Page H369]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS BUDGET

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Filner) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker and colleagues, I was truly sad when today in 
the Committee on Veterans' Affairs hearing I saw the figures in the 
administration's budget request for the Department of Veterans Affairs 
for the coming fiscal year.
  Last year in an effort that was actually just completed a couple 
weeks ago, many Members of Congress, both Republicans and Democrats, 
worked with the support of our Nation's veteran service organizations 
to finally arrive at a budget, while not completely adequate, at least 
addressing many of the needs of our veterans.
  So I was very disheartened to find ourselves in the same place we 
were a year ago. We were faced with the same tired old proposals to 
raise the copayments on prescription drugs at the VA, a proposal that 
Congress soundly defeated probably many times.
  We are faced with a proposal for a $250 annual fee for many veterans, 
which Congress also has defeated. So we are faced with a VA policy of 
continuing to suspend enrollments for the so-called priority 8 
veterans. These are veterans, but they cannot be enrolled because we 
cannot handle them.

                              {time}  1915

  And this budget request from the administration cuts the VA nursing 
home program and cuts funding, if you can believe this, for medical 
research. Imagine how our veterans must feel. Actually, we know how 
they feel. The Paralyzed Veterans of America has issued a press release 
entitled. ``Another Year, Another Inadequate Budget Request for 
Veterans' Health Care.''
  They go on to point out that this request includes the lowest 
appropriation request for VA health care made by any administration for 
a decade. Although the VA Under Secretary for Health has testified that 
an average yearly medical care increase of 12 to 14 percent is needed 
to meet the cost of inflation and mandatory salary increases, there is 
less than 2 percent more than last year's appropriation recommended in 
the President's budget.
  Likewise, the leaders of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and other 
veterans organizations have expressed dismay, if I can say the least, 
at the proposed VA medical care funding. In fact, I feel I should just 
pull out the old tapes and old speeches from last year and rerun them, 
except it is not last year. And since the last budget request from this 
administration, the Nation has sent our young men and women to a war in 
Iraq, and they will be coming home as, guess what? Veterans.
  Caring for our veterans is one of the costs of war, and the budget 
request does not take note of this fact.
  I have enormous respect for Secretary Principi, who I believe does a 
great deal with inadequate budgets. But even this Secretary, or should 
I say especially this Secretary, needs a Congress that will pass a 
budget that is worthy of our veterans.
  So sign me up for the battle again this year. Whatever is needed we 
will do to fill the budget holes that the President has left in this 
fiscal year.
  Most of all, let us take note that this budget request points out the 
need for mandatory funding for VA health care. Let me repeat, mandatory 
funding of VA health care. It is now called discretionary, so we have 
to go through this battle every single year. Let us pass mandatory 
funding for VA health care so we will not have to rerun the same tapes 
next year and the next year and the next year.

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