[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 11026]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



          HOUSE NEEDS TO ENSURE VETERANS GET WHAT THEY DESERVE

  (Mr. RODRIGUEZ asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. RODRIGUEZ. Madam Speaker, today I rise because we have a major 
bill before us, H.R. 1291, that will talk about the Montgomery GI bill; 
but I want to take this opportunity to discuss the process.
  Madam Speaker, I am concerned that as people learn about the 
political process and how it is supposed to operate, here is a bill on 
the House floor today that is very important, yet it never saw the 
light in terms of subcommittee. It never had the opportunity of being 
heard in full committee. It never had the opportunity so that we could 
provide some amendments.
  In fact, I presumed that when the leadership heard we had some 
amendments to try to improve the bill, they chose to bring it on the 
House floor without the process that this body has allowed through the 
ages to allow an opportunity for us to be able to influence. It is 
unfortunate. It is a good bill; yet we need to understand that we need 
to improve this bill.
  Madam Speaker, tuition rates throughout this country have risen. The 
studies show that even the fees in a lot of universities are higher. We 
need to make sure that our veterans get what they deserve, not only a 
process but a service.

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