[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 71 (Wednesday, June 7, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H3482-H3483]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          HELPING OUR VETERANS

  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to go out of 
order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the gentleman from Ohio 
is recognized for 5 minutes.
  There was no objection.
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, Ohio is home to one million veterans 
and servicemembers. On May 22, a couple, 3 weeks ago, the Pentagon 
announced that the names, the Social Security numbers and other 
personal information of 26.5 million veterans and their spouses, 
including most of the 1 million in Ohio, across the country, including 
every living veteran discharged since 1975, had been stolen from the 
home of a Department of Veterans Affairs data analyst.
  Now, this is a department, the VA, which has a leader, a political 
appointee, who was rewarded for his service as a national party chair 
for one of the two political parties, not someone who was put in place 
because of his lifetime dedication to veterans.
  This breach of confidence at the VA is unacceptable. To fix this, our 
government owes to veterans, we should offer veterans free credit 
reports and work with America's credit bureaus to waive fees associated 
with placing security alerts on their credit accounts. We should be 
willing to reimburse veterans for costs caused by identity theft 
resulting from this scandal, and we should amend the bankruptcy law 
passed by this body last year. When the bill was then considered, I 
opposed it, as did many in this body, in part because it did not extend 
bankruptcy protections to victims of identity theft, which is what 
could happen to many of these veterans.
  Veterans trusted that their government would protect this personal 
information. They did not think this Department of Veterans Affairs 
would be run by a political operative. We must regain that trust by 
taking the important steps I just mentioned.
  Ten days ago, we all honored our veterans and honored those who died 
in the line of duty on Memorial Day. Once the parades were completed, 
once the graveside ceremonies were finished, too many politicians came 
back to Washington, simply not concerned about what happens to veterans 
in this country.
  Negligent policy and irresponsible budgets have endangered the care 
available to veterans. We have failed to adequately fund the VA health 
care system to improve the quality of health care, to reduce the wait 
times for all veterans. As good as the service is at VA hospitals like 
Brexfield, like Wade Park in greater Cleveland, all over Ohio, and all 
the VA clinics all over our State, veterans too often have to wait too 
long for care. We need to provide enhanced mental health care service 
for soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
  Returning veterans should have access to first-rate education 
benefits through an enhanced 21st century GI bill and job training 
programs. Current benefits for vets with 4 years of active duty 
military service cover less than two-thirds of the average cost of 
tuition and fees at a 4-year public college. We should be covering more 
of that cost.
  We must not forget, it is not just the veterans; it is the families 
and children of servicemembers and veterans who also are sacrificing 
for their country.

[[Page H3483]]

We should recognize and reward their sacrifices by helping to ease the 
burden they carry while their loved ones are deployed.
  We should protect family budgets by giving tax breaks to maintain 
reservists' family income. We should support tax incentives to help 
ensure that reservists called up for active duty do not suffer a pay 
cut. We should offer financial incentives to small businesses that want 
to do the right thing and be patriotic, that allow activated reservists 
to return to their good jobs.
  No other group of Americans has stood stronger, has stood braver for 
our democracy, for our way of life than our servicemembers and 
veterans. They deserve a government for a change, not one that has 
shortchanged them, not one that celebrates Memorial Day and Veterans 
Day and then turns its back on veterans, like far too many people in 
this body that would rather give tax breaks to the rich and then cut 
veterans' benefits. That is not what we need.
  Veterans deserve, all of us deserve, a government that is committed 
to the same values that those soldiers, those Marines, those veterans 
fought to preserve.

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