[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 126 (Wednesday, July 23, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Page S4584]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                             Appropriations

  Mr. OSSOFF. Mr. President, as the Senate turns now to debate the 
bipartisan appropriations bill to resource military construction and 
the VA that Senator Boozman and I have assembled, along with all of our 
colleagues on the Appropriations Committee, I would like to highlight 
what is included in this legislation.
  This bill represents bipartisan support for our military 
servicemembers and veterans and their families. It enhances our 
military readiness and the quality of life for servicemembers while 
funding the delivery of care and benefits for our Nation's veterans.
  Military construction funds are included for infrastructure that 
supports our servicemembers' quality of life at home and abroad and for 
the construction of facilities vital to our national security.
  In the State of Georgia, for example, this bill includes resources to 
build a brandnew elementary school at Fort Benning, where there is 
currently a wait-list of more than 200 families trying to get into 
school on the base; resources to construct a new barracks at Fort 
Stewart, where housing has desperately needed upgrades following 
alarming reports of mold and pest infestation; resources to bring the 
F-35A flight simulators to Moody Air Force Base in Valdosta and 
accelerate the arrival of those aircraft to South Georgia; resources to 
replace the control tower at Robins Air Force Base, where our 
servicemembers are currently working in a tower with a leaking roof, no 
air-conditioning, and a broken elevator; resources for major upgrades 
at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, where they are continuing to prepare 
for the arrival of Columbia-class submarines.
  Across the country, family housing for servicemembers operated by 
private companies has long been a disaster, as evidenced by my 
investigation of conditions for families living on post at Fort Gordon.
  That is why this bill rejects the administration's proposed cuts to 
oversight of privatized family housing and provides additional 
resources for construction of new family housing. These are young men 
and women, as you well know through your service, Mr. President--many 
of them 19, 21, 23 years old--who signed up to serve not for money or 
for glory but out of their love for our country. Their entire families 
make sacrifices on behalf of our Nation, and they should not have to 
sacrifice safe, clean housing, and high-quality schools.
  For years, the Department has neglected quality of life, health, and 
safety for enlisted servicemembers, and that neglect extends to those 
servicemembers' families. But this bill provides necessary and overdue 
investments in military quality of life.
  Now to the VA. Let's be clear that these programs, services, and 
benefits are not a giveaway; they are the Nation's obligation to those 
who have put their lives and health on the line and made tremendous 
sacrifices and family sacrifices in defense of the United States.
  For the VA, this bill provides resources to support healthcare for 
more than 9.2 million veterans and disability benefits to nearly 7 
million veterans, survivors, and their families.
  Instead of continuing senseless mass firings of VA personnel, this 
bill provides funding so that the VA can recruit and hire to fill long-
term clinical vacancies that are contributing to long wait times for 
care in Georgia and across the country.
  Asserting our constitutional power of the purse, this bill mandates 
specific funding levels for rural health, women's health, caregivers, 
research, and veteran homelessness prevention programs, in some cases, 
including required spending levels for those programs for the first 
time in legislative history.
  It also provides funding for the VA to address the claims backlog 
related to toxic exposures and the implementation of the PACT Act, to 
continue providing education benefits to veterans, and to help secure 
VA home loans. All of these critical resources will better ensure that 
our Nation's veterans receive the care and benefits they have earned 
through their service.
  This bill also provides necessary funding for the American Battle 
Monuments Commission, the U.S. Court of Veterans Appeals, and the Armed 
Forces Retirement Homes, as well as Arlington National Cemetery.
  As ranking member of the subcommittee, I was pleased to work closely 
with Chairman Boozman to build a strong bipartisan bill that reflects 
input from colleagues on both sides of the aisle, not just on the 
Appropriations Committee but across the entire Senate. And I thank 
Senator Boozman for his collaboration and for his bipartisan work in 
good faith, and I extend that gratitude to Senators Collins and Murray.
  Every Senator, in both parties, has had the opportunity to advocate 
for their State's interests and priorities, and Chairman Boozman and I 
have worked together to address, to the best of our ability, every 
Senator's needs and concerns.
  Now, this bill earned bipartisan support in the Appropriations 
Committee because it equips the VA to make good on America's sacred 
promise that our servicemembers and veterans will have the resources 
and support they have earned through their service to our country. I 
encourage colleagues to come and speak with me directly about any 
questions or concerns with this legislation so that we can set up votes 
and get this bill passed in the Senate as swiftly as possible and 
ultimately enacted into law.
  This is a bipartisan bill that was built through thoughtful 
deliberation, hard work, and compromise. That is how the appropriations 
process should work, not on the basis of party line but in the spirit 
of bipartisan collaboration and the national interest.
  So let's deliver for the American people, the people of Georgia, our 
servicemembers, military families, and veterans, with the resources 
they need, on time, responsibly, and on a bipartisan basis.
  I urge a ``yes'' vote to proceed to the bill.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mrs. MOODY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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