[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 15]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 20978-20979]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



   PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 2684, DEPARTMENTS OF VETERANS 
  AFFAIRS AND HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, AND INDEPENDENT AGENCIES 
                        APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2000

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. DEBBIE STABENOW

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, August 5, 1999

  Ms. STABENOW. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening to oppose the rule for 
H.R. 2684, a bill making appropriations for the VA-HUD and Independent 
Agencies for Fiscal Year 2000, which does not allow a vote on the 
Edwards/Stabenow/Evans amendment.
  Mr. Speaker, this amendment would have added $730 million to Veterans 
Health Care. The VA estimates that the adoption of our amendment would 
have allowed an additional 140,000 veterans to receive the health care 
they need. Instead, this budget continues the under funding of critical 
medical care for those who have served our country in the armed 
services.

[[Page 20979]]

  Today, there are 20,000 fewer VA medical staff then there were just 5 
years ago. What does this mean for our veterans? Due to these staffing 
shortages, a veteran in Tennessee with multiple sclerosis was forced to 
wait 4 months to be seen by a doctor. Others have been forced to travel 
over 300 miles just to receive x-rays. And there are more examples of 
the problems facing the Veterans Health Care System. In my own state of 
Michigan, a disabled Korean veteran experiencing fainting spells and no 
appetite was not able to receive treatment at either a VA inpatient or 
outpatient facility. In less than a week this man collapsed and was 
pronounced dead of septic shock and pneumonia. These were qualified 
facilities that did not have the staff to help this man.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to share with you a letter that I received 
in my office that I feel accurately explains the situation our veterans 
are facing today. Julianna Smith, the wife of Vietnam veteran John 
Smith of Milan, MI, told me she continued to have problems getting 
adequate medical care for her husband who is disabled and requires 24 
hour care. She was very upset about the effects that further cuts to 
the VA medical system would have on her and her husband. She wrote,

       My husband fought a war overseas, and was then shunned and 
     spit upon by fellow Americans once he returned stateside. He 
     paid his taxes to the government just like everyone else, and 
     he gave part of his life to that same government that now 
     wants nothing to do with him.

  Mr. Speaker, our veterans deserve better. They kept their promises to 
us. It's time for our country to keep our promises to them. I urge my 
colleagues to vote no on this rule, and provide the health care our 
nation's heros deserve.

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