[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 104 (Wednesday, July 27, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1620-E1621]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, ENVIRONMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES 
                        APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2006

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JEFF MILLER

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 26, 2005

  Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the distinguished 
Chairman of this

[[Page E1621]]

Subcommittee as well as Chairman Lewis of the full Committee for their 
hard work and dedication to our Nation's service members and veterans. 
Working with the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, the conference 
report accompanying H.R. 2361, the fiscal year 2006 appropriations act 
for the Department of Interior, addresses the urgent need in VA with an 
additional $1.5 billion allocated to the Veterans Health 
Administration. These funds are especially critical for VA to treat new 
veterans, those returning from Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation 
Iraqi Freedom veterans.
  Year after year, the annual budget for the Veterans Health 
Administration is the subject of great debate. On February 16, 2005, VA 
Secretary Nicholson and other VA officials stood before the VA 
Committee and justified the Administration's budget request. 
Subsequently, we learned that all the hard work and tough choices 
Congress has made to increase VA health care funding--by no less than 
42 percent in just the last four years--has now been overshadowed by a 
``discovery'' of inadequate funding. Since then, the VA Committee has 
held three separate hearings over the past month and a half to 
understand and examine VA's methodologies for forecasting health care 
costs and utilization projections, to identify the breakdown in the 
budget process, and to bring to light the serious flaws in VA's usage 
assumptions.
  Equally important, the conference report demands new levels of 
accountability inside VA. In fact, the VA Committee is seeking to 
institutionalize accountability in the budget process at VA to ensure 
that similar circumstances can be averted in the future. There is but 
one constant we can all agree upon: the VA must ensure a continuity of 
care for our severely disabled veterans.
  While $1.5 billion seems to be the right figure at this point in 
time, there are only two months left in the fiscal year. This means 
that the Department of Veterans Affairs has the ability to roll over 
into fiscal year 2006 whatever sums remain unspent in fiscal year 2005; 
I expect department officials to spend wisely. With this particular 
provision, we are not only seeking to meet the urgent needs for the 
remainder of this year, but are providing a significant down payment on 
the shortfall we anticipate in fiscal year 2006.
  Mr. Speaker, again, I applaud the work of Chairman Lewis and Chairman 
Taylor of the Appropriations Committee, as well as the leadership of 
the House and Senate Veterans' Affairs Committees.

                          ____________________