[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 99 (Tuesday, June 29, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5504-S5505]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   UNANIMOUS-CONSENT REQUEST--S. 1237

  Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I thank the Republican leader.
  I came to the floor last week and spoke in support of S. 1237, which 
is the Homeless Veterans and Other Veterans Health Care Authorities Act 
of 2010, an extremely important and timely bill that will help many 
women, women with children, and men with children today who served our 
country, who have come home and do not have the support and services 
they need and end up homeless on our streets. So I come to the Senate 
floor today to urge our colleagues to pass this bill quickly.
  I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate 
consideration of Calendar No. 360, S. 1237, the Homeless Veterans and 
Other Veterans Health Care Authorities Act; that the committee-reported 
substitute amendment be considered; that an Akaka amendment, which is 
at the desk, be agreed to; the substitute amendment, as amended, be 
agreed to; the bill, as amended, be read a third time and passed; that 
the committee-reported title amendment be agreed to; and that the 
motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening 
action or debate.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection?
  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, reserving the right to object, and I 
will have to object on behalf of my colleague, Senator Coburn from 
Oklahoma, he has some concerns about this legislation, particularly, as 
he indicates in a letter I will ask to have printed in the Record, that 
it be paid for up front so the promises to America's veterans are, in 
fact, kept. So I object.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Objection is heard.
  Mr. McCONNELL. I ask unanimous consent that the letter from Senator 
Coburn to myself on this matter be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                                  U.S. Senate,

                                    Washington, DC, June 24, 2010.
     Hon. Mitch McConnell,
     Minority Leader, U.S. Senate,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Senator McConnell: I am requesting that I be consulted 
     before the Senate enters into any unanimous-consent 
     agreements regarding S. 1237, the Homeless Veterans and Other 
     Veterans Health Care Authorities Act of 2010.
       I strongly believe we must honor our commitment to our 
     nation's veterans as well as our taxpayers. This means we 
     must fulfill the promises made to veterans who made 
     sacrifices defending our freedom, but in a fiscally 
     responsible manner that doesn't bankrupt our country, 
     endangering those very freedoms for which they sacrificed.
       This bill authorizes $3.4 billion in new spending over the 
     next five years. Yet, the legislation does not reduce 
     spending by other government programs to pay for this new 
     spending. At this time, when our nation is projected to add 
     more than a trillion dollars a year to our already 
     unsustainable $13 trillion national debt, it is irresponsible 
     to authorize any new spending that is not paid for because 
     the end result will either be a false promise to our veterans 
     or a lower standard of living for the children and 
     grandchildren of those veterans who will be burdened with the 
     debt.
       I would like to pay for this legislation by reducing lower 
     priority and wasteful spending elsewhere in the government. 
     There are many options to do this, including:
       Eliminating nonessential government travel which would save 
     $10 billion over ten years;
       Reducing unnecessary printing costs of government documents 
     which would save $4.4 billion over ten years;
       Disposing of unneeded and unused government property which 
     would collect up to $15 billion;
       Eliminating bonuses to government contractors whose 
     projects are over budget or behind scheduled;
       Collecting $3 billion in unpaid federal taxes from 
     government employees, including nearly $2.5 million owed by 
     Senate staff; and
       Rescinding the $100 million increase Congress approved for 
     its own budget this year.
       There are also hundreds of duplicative, outdated, and 
     wasteful programs that could be eliminated to pay for this 
     bill.
       Several months ago, the Senate passed S. 1963, the 
     Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act, which 
     authorized $3.6 billion in new caregiver benefits for some 
     veterans. At that time, I warned that unless they bill was 
     paid for--which I offered amendments to do its--passage would 
     be ``an empty promise to veterans and benefits no one except 
     perhaps the career politicians who will claim credit for 
     doing something to help veterans without really having to 
     make any difficult choices.'' Unfortunately, I was right.
       The same is likely to be true of this bill. It contains 
     billions of dollars of additional promises which are 
     unaffordable to taxpayers and uncertain for veterans in need.
       Veterans and taxpayers should be weary of unpaid for, 
     election year promises made by Washington politicians. With 
     the percentage of Americans approving of Congress' 
     performance barely above single digits, more broken promises 
     and red ink will only bring greater disdain to this 
     institution.
       I would, therefore, insist as a condition of my consent for 
     the passage of this bill that the new and expanded benefits 
     in this legislation be paid for upfront so the promises it 
     makes to veterans are kept.
       Again, thank you for protecting my rights regarding S. 
     1237, the Homeless Veterans and Other Veterans Health Care 
     Authorities Act of 2010.
           Sincerely,
                                               Tom A. Coburn, M.D.
                                                     U.S. Senator.

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Washington.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I again thank the Republican leader. I 
know he is objecting on behalf of another Senator. I just wish to say 
that this is such an important bill.
  We had an amazing woman come and visit last week. Her name is 
Natalie, and she has two young children. She is living in Issaquah, in 
my home State of Washington. She has been through some very tough 
times. She is a Navy veteran. She is a single mom. She came home from 
serving our country and ended up without a place to live, and they are 
now living on the streets. She, like any mom, wanted to do everything 
she could to take care of her kids and provide them the kind of quality 
of life every one of us does, but she could not find a stable job or 
income and ended up on the streets.
  Natalie became homeless in 2007 when she could not find work and had 
to move out of the house she was staying in.
  Natalie wanted nothing more than to provide her two children with the 
stable and loving home every family deserves, so she fought to secure 
transitional housing, and she was very fortunate to find a program 
called Hopelink in Washington State that gave her the support she 
needed to get back on her feet.
  Natalie is now back in stable housing, taking care of her children 
and advancing in her nursing career. She came to Washington, DC, last 
Tuesday to help make sure no other family has to face the challenges 
she overcame so bravely.
  Unfortunately, not every family gets the support that Natalie's did.
  Homeless women veterans and homeless veterans with children are two 
terribly vulnerable groups that are growing by the day.
  Back in my home State of Washington, veterans service organizations 
and homeless providers have told me they are seeing more homeless 
veterans coming for help than ever before.
  And unfortunately, more and more of these veterans are women, have 
young children, or both.
  In fact, female veterans are between two and four times as likely to 
be homeless as their civilian counterparts and they have unique needs 
and often require specialized services.

[[Page S5505]]

  That is why I introduced the Homeless Women Veterans and Homeless 
Veterans with Children Act and it is why it's so important that we move 
quickly to pass it.
  My bill would take three big steps forward toward tackling the 
serious problems facing this vulnerable group.
  First of all, it would make more front-line homeless service 
providers eligible to receive special needs grants.
  This would help organizations in Washington State and across the 
country help support families like Natalie's.
  It would also expand special needs grants to cover homeless male 
veterans with children as well as the dependents of homeless veterans 
themselves.
  And it would extend the Department of Labor's Homeless Veterans 
Reintegration Program to provide: workforce training, job counseling, 
child care services, and placement services to homeless women veterans 
and homeless veterans with children,
  It is so important that we not just provide immediate support but we 
also make sure our veterans have the resources and support they need to 
get back on their feet.
  This is a very personal issue for me.
  Growing up, I saw firsthand the many ways military service can affect 
both veterans and their families.
  My father served in World War II and was among the first soldiers to 
land on Okinawa. He came home as a disabled veteran and was awarded the 
Purple Heart.
  Like many soldiers of his generation, my father did not talk about 
his experiences during the war. In fact, we only really learned about 
them by reading his journals after he passed away.
  And I think that experience offers a larger lesson about veterans in 
general. They are reluctant to call attention to their service, and 
they are reluctant to ask for help.
  That is why we have got to publicly recognize their sacrifices and 
contributions.
  It is up to us to make sure that they get the recognition they have 
earned.
  And it is up to us to guarantee they get the services and support 
they deserve.
  This bill passed through the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee with 
strong bi-partisan support.
  Because supporting our veterans should not be about politics, it 
should be about what kind of country we want the United States to be. 
And about what our priorities are as a nation.
  That is why I am proud to stand here today: for Natalie, her 
children, and families just like hers across the country.
  At this time, with our economy struggling--it is a very tough time, 
particularly for our veterans who are returning home--the most 
vulnerable population today is our women because many of the 
transitional housing and projects for our veterans don't have 
facilities for women or for women with children or, as a matter of 
fact, for men who are veterans coming home to young children.
  So this is an extremely important piece of legislation. This had 
bipartisan support coming out of our committee. I will keep coming to 
the floor to ask for unanimous consent because I cannot go home and 
look at someone who served our country with distinction and honor who 
today is living on the street because the Senate is objecting. I will 
just let my colleagues know I will keep working on this because it is 
the right thing to do.

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