[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 2]
[House]
[Pages 1764-1765]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




      FACING THE PROBLEM OF SHABBY TREATMENT OF AMERICA'S VETERANS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Strickland) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. STRICKLAND. Madam Speaker, tomorrow evening the President of our 
country will enter this Chamber to deliver to the American people a 
message concerning the state of our Union. I am sure he will talk about 
the strength of our military, and he will praise the brave young men 
and women who even tonight stand ready to defend our country against 
all enemies.
  One of the things I hope the President talks about tomorrow night, 
however, is the rather shabby treatment that this administration is 
directing toward our Nation's veterans, those who have fought the 
battles in years past, many of them now quite old and many quite sick.

                              {time}  1915

  Why do I call the treatment of our veterans today shabby? Could it be 
because for a veteran to receive an appointment at one of our health 
care clinics, it is not uncommon for them to have to wait 6 months just 
to see a doctor?
  In yesterday's Columbus Dispatch newspaper, Jonathan Riskind wrote a 
column about veterans' health care, and he started that column with 
this sentence: ``Warning,'' he wrote. ``Warning: The following tale 
should send chills through the hundreds of thousands of American 
soldiers poised to go to war, and it should outrage the rest of us.''
  What was he talking about? He was talking about the state of 
veterans' health care in America today.
  I would just like to point out, Madam Speaker, that approximately 1 
year ago the Veterans Administration sent out a memo to all of its 
health care providers across this country. That memo represents a major 
policy change. That memo represents a gag order, because in that memo 
all of the health care providers are directed that they can no longer 
market VA services to veterans. It is almost unbelievable that at a 
time when we are poised on the brink of war that this administration 
would say to those who provide health care to our veterans, you cannot 
talk about the services these veterans are legally entitled to receive. 
You cannot go to community health fairs. You cannot go to veterans' 
services organizations and sign up veterans for services. You cannot 
make public service announcements about the services that veterans

[[Page 1765]]

are legally entitled to receive. You cannot send out newsletters 
informing veterans what the Congress has provided for them.
  It is a shameful policy. It is a policy which I think is illegal. I 
think it is contrary to law. Under the law, before an agency of this 
government can make such a policy change, they must come to this 
Congress and give us an opportunity to evaluate that policy and to 
approve or disapprove. But this policy was instituted without any 
consultation with those of us in this Congress, and I think it ought to 
be reversed.
  Then, just literally a couple of weeks ago, the VA administration 
decided to create a new priority group within the veterans' groups. 
Priority 8, they call it. And then they hasten to say, veterans who are 
in priority 8 cannot sign up for the VA health care system.
  Now, these are men and women who have served our Nation honorably. 
They have paid the price, given the time, and we are saying to them, 
because you may make $26,000 or $30,000 a year, you make too much 
money, and so you can no longer participate in the VA health care 
system. It is a shameful decision, and it is one that I hope the 
President speaks to tomorrow night. I hope he tells us that he is 
reversing these shameful policies, that he will no longer put a gag 
rule on our VA health care providers, that he will no longer deny the 
ability to enroll in the VA health care service to Priority 8 veterans.
  Madam Speaker, I have spent the last several days visiting VFW halls, 
American Legion posts and other posts. The veterans of this country are 
becoming aware of what is being done to them, and I urge this Congress 
to take action to reverse these policies.

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