[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 89 (Wednesday, June 29, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H5470]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         IN SUPPORT OF FULLY FUNDING THE NEEDS OF OUR VETERANS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Oregon (Mr. DeFazio) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, for 2 years, the Democrats in the House 
have been saying that the veterans budget is underfunded. It has been 
denied by the Bush administration. Last year we were joined by the 
Republican chairman of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) who knew that the veterans budget 
was underfunded. For supporting us in the effort to increase veterans 
spending to help meet the promises and the obligations of our 
government and the American people to those who have served our country 
in its time of need, he was removed from the committee chairmanship. He 
was torn out of that position because he had the temerity to say there 
was not enough money to meet the obligations to America's veterans.
  As recently as yesterday, the Republican leadership resisted a 
Democratic amendment on a party-line vote to increase funding for 
veterans benefits because they said there was no problem.
  Now, today they are scrambling to find $2.6 billion that they admit 
the budget is underfunded, and they say, well, no, we blame the 
actuaries. The political hack that Bush appointed to be head of the 
Veterans Administration, the former Republican National Committee 
chair, said they did not realize there was a war in Iraq or 
Afghanistan. The estimates were made in 2002, and he had not read the 
paper since. So he did not know there were any veterans coming home who 
had lost their limbs, who were grievously injured. So they did not 
revise those things until just yesterday, when they realized they are 
$1 billion short for this year and $2.6 billion short for next year.
  Come on. Do you think the American people believe that the Bush 
administration does not read the papers, does not realize we are at war 
in Iraq and Afghanistan, when there are tens of thousands of Americans 
coming home who are only asking one thing: you made me a promise when I 
signed up and put my life on the line. You promised you would take care 
of me if I was wounded, and you promised you would take care of my 
family if I died. That is a pretty simple promise. We have made that to 
every person who signed up in an all-volunteer military, and this 
administration has broken that promise.
  I have veterans who have been waiting 6 months for an initial 
appointment, veterans in pain who cannot get operations, and they say, 
come back in 2 years, 2 years. This has been going on for years now. 
Two years this has been going on with this administration as they slash 
the veterans budget, and they deny there is a problem and suddenly they 
say, it was their actuaries who were wrong because they made a 
prediction in 2002 and the Bush administration did not notice that we 
were at war since then and that we had a whole lot more veterans.
  This is extraordinary. An administration that wants to wrap itself in 
the flag and talk about supporting the troops who is not willing to put 
up the money to deliver on the solemn promises that we have made to 
these veterans and to their dependents and to their families. This is 
outrageous. And just yesterday, they defeated, on a party-line vote, an 
amendment just to put $1 billion back in and take that money from the 
millionaires and billionaires in America, to reduce their tax cuts from 
$141,000 to $129,000 a year. Most Americans do not even earn that, but 
the Republicans could not even vote to reduce the millionaires' tax 
cuts that much to fully fund for this year, not next year, veterans 
benefits. We are going to need a lot more money next year for veterans 
who are going to need services. It is going to be very expensive to 
meet our promises and our obligations.
  It is time that this administration and this Republican-led Congress 
acted in good faith to fully fund those benefits. No more denial of 
medical services and benefits to veterans because we say we do not have 
enough money. We have the money if we can restrict the permanent tax 
cuts for millionaires and billionaires to give to our Nation's 
veterans, those who have given so much in service to our country.

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