[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 154 (Friday, November 18, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H10912-H10913]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    WAIVING POINTS OF ORDER AGAINST CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 2528, 
 MILITARY QUALITY OF LIFE AND VETERANS AFFAIRS APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2006

  Mr. GINGREY. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I 
call up House Resolution 564 and ask for its immediate consideration.
  The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:

                              H. Res. 564

       Resolved, That upon adoption of this resolution it shall be 
     in order to consider the conference report to accompany the 
     bill (H.R. 2528) making appropriations for military quality 
     of life functions of the Department of Defense, military 
     construction, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and related 
     agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2006, and 
     for other purposes. All points of order against the 
     conference report and against its consideration are waived. 
     The conference report shall be considered as read.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Gingrey) is 
recognized for 1 hour.
  Mr. GINGREY. Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the 
customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. 
McGovern), pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. 
During consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the 
purpose of debate only.
  House Resolution 564 waives all points of order against the 
conference report and against its consideration, and it provides that 
the conference report shall be considered as read.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of House Resolution 564 and the 
underlying conference report for H.R. 2528, the Military Construction 
and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for fiscal 
year 2006.
  Today, this House has the opportunity to pass a conference report 
that will provide $45.4 billion to fund the very important needs of our 
servicemen and women, our veterans, and our military infrastructure.
  This conference report provides an all-inclusive look at the programs 
that are related to the quality of life of those who currently serve 
America in the armed forces, their families, and those men and women 
who have sacrificed so much for our freedom in the past.
  Mr. Speaker, by providing $45.4 billion, this conference report 
actually marks an increase of $3.1 billion from fiscal year 2005, and 
it is an increase of $300,000 from the President's request.
  The bill funds the Department of Veterans Affairs at $22.5 billion, 
$1.7 billion above the fiscal year 2005 enacted level, and $575 million 
above the 2006 budget request by the President. Particularly important 
is the funding for veterans' medical services that includes for the 
very first time $2.2 billion strictly allocated for specialty mental 
health care on top of a doubling for funding of mental health research.

[[Page H10913]]

                              {time}  0915

  Mr. Speaker, I should note that over the past 2 years, funding for 
veterans medical care has increased by 18 percent. Let me repeat: 
Funding for veterans medical care has increased over the past 2 years 
by 18 percent. The conference provides a particular victory for 
veterans back home in northwest Georgia, my district, and across the 
Nation. This bill does not, and I repeat, does not, contain any new 
fees for veterans medical services or prescription drugs. This 
conference report provides $6.2 billion for military construction, $5.1 
billion for Active Duty construction, and $1.1 billion for Reserve 
components.
  Mr. Speaker, I will conclude my statement by acknowledging 
Subcommittee Chairman Walsh and Chairman Lewis for their overall vision 
and dedication to completing this bill, both here in the House and in 
the conference, for the sake of our servicemen and women, past and 
present.
  Mr. Speaker, I look forward to this debate. I encourage my colleagues 
to support the rule and the underlying conference report.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my friend the gentleman from Georgia 
(Mr. Gingrey) for yielding me the customary 30 minutes.
  Mr. Speaker, this is the first conference report that the House will 
consider as a military quality of life-VA appropriations bill. As we 
all know, as a result of the subcommittee realignment adopted earlier 
this year by the Appropriations Committee, military construction, 
Defense Department health programs and all veterans programs are now 
contained in this one appropriations bill. I want to express my respect 
and voice my praise for the work of Chairman Walsh and Ranking Member 
Edwards for their work on this bipartisan-supported conference report.
  This final conference report is a significant improvement over the 
earlier House-passed bill, especially in the areas of medical care and 
benefits for our veterans. Veterans medical services are funded at 
$22.5 billion, which has long been the position on this side of the 
aisle as the minimum amount of funding required to meet our veterans 
health needs. This total is $575 million above the President's budget 
request and $1.7 billion more than last year.
  Mr. Speaker, over the last 2 years, the funding amount needed to meet 
veterans medical care has increased by 18 percent, so while I welcome 
this increase in veterans medical services, I remain concerned about 
the total amount of funds that will actually be required over the 
coming year. I predict that we will still need to find additional funds 
next year to meet the fiscal year 2006 medical needs of our veterans.
  Other important actions taken by the conferees are the specific 
targeting of $2.2 billion for specialty mental health care for our 
veterans and fully funding the requested amounts for posttraumatic 
stress disorders. In addition, this bill creates three Centers of 
Excellence for mental health and PTSD medical care.
  Mr. Speaker, last week I was at a forum in western Massachusetts, and 
I met a Massachusetts father whose son had served in Iraq. He told me 
about the difficulty his son had attempting to reintegrate himself back 
into civilian life following his tour of duty. One night during a 
conversation, his son broke down in tears and laid his head in his 
father's lap and cried. The father told me at that forum that the next 
time he held his son's head in his lap was a couple of weeks later when 
he cut the rope that his son had used to hang himself in their 
basement.
  Mr. Speaker, we need to recognize the vast need, the urgent and 
increasing need, for counseling services for the men and women 
returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. The New England Journal of 
Medicine reported earlier this year that one in five of the soldiers 
leaving the Iraq war are suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder 
and other mental health problems. We have to make their ability to 
receive counseling and support simple and seamless. We have to make 
sure that they do not run into bureaucratic walls or receive the 
runaround just when they need help the most.
  I know that this is something that the chairman and ranking member 
think about a great deal, and I simply want to express my support for 
their efforts to confront this growing crisis.
  Mr. Speaker, this conference report also increases the amount of 
funding for military construction and housing over the President's 
request and over the amount in the House-passed bill. Even so, at this 
level of funding, if will take nearly eight decades to meet the needs 
currently identified by the Pentagon for military housing and modern 
basing and training facilities.
  Mr. Speaker, everyone in this Congress talks about how we support our 
troops and how we honor their service and sacrifice, but year after 
year we fail to meet the needs of our veterans, the old and the new, 
and we fail to provide the funds to provide our uniformed men and women 
the housing and training facilities that they need in order to prepare 
for the deadly duties we demand of them.
  This is a matter of priorities. This is a statement of values and 
principles about whether and how we really do believe our troops and 
our veterans merit the very best this Nation can provide. We just 
cannot stand here year after year and praise the conferees for doing 
the best they could within the budget allocation they were given. It is 
the Congress that determines the amount of that budget allocation for 
our veterans, for our military housing and construction, for our 
military's quality of life. As my good friend and colleague from 
Illinois Jesse Jackson, Jr., said yesterday on the floor of this House, 
it's like a farmer saying the summer harvest is bad when he failed to 
plant seeds in the spring.
  Mr. Speaker, like all of my House colleagues, I will be supporting 
this conference report, but we simply have to do better in the future.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. GINGREY. Mr. Speaker, I would like to close this morning by 
saluting those men and women who so proudly and bravely serve our 
country. Their sacrifices and their families' sacrifices are beyond the 
average American's comprehension. We must acknowledge that without 
these individuals, the rest of us could not enjoy the freedoms we so 
often discuss in this Chamber.
  The appropriation conference report that will be passed today should 
stand as a ``thank you'' to those who have worn the uniform of our 
Nation. Some will say the bill does not provide enough for those who 
are veterans of military service. Well, in a way, Mr. Speaker, I would 
agree with that. I honestly do not believe we can ever do enough to 
support our military men and women. They deserve so much more than we 
will ever be able to afford to give. It is truly an unbalanced 
relationship. They sacrifice everything for our liberties. We can only 
repay a small portion of that debt.
  So, Mr. Speaker, I will finish my remarks simply by saying thank you 
to our troops, thank you to our veterans, and may God bless you and 
keep you safe.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the 
previous question on the resolution.
  The previous question was ordered.
  The resolution was agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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