[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 20]
[House]
[Pages 27366-27367]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        SUPPORTING THE VETERANS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Oregon (Mr. DeFazio) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, next week is November 11. And often, I 
believe, in this Chamber we pay lip service to our veterans; and we 
fail to deliver on solid votes and programs that would better 
demonstrate our recognition of their sacrifice and service. And this 
year, unfortunately with the budget and the appropriations passed, is 
no exception.
  I was astonished earlier today when a colleague from the Republican 
majority stood up to pretend to document how great things are for our 
veterans, all these new services and things we are providing. I am 
hearing a very different assessment from my veterans and their 
dependents. And facts are stubborn things.
  Here are some real facts, unlike what we heard earlier today: 150,000 
veterans are waiting 6 months or longer for appointments; 14,000 
veterans have been waiting 15 months or longer for their ``expedited'' 
disability claims; 560,000 disabled veterans are subject to the 
disabled veterans tax, something we have tried to rectify.
  We have 373 cosponsors. There are only 435 people here. If 373 people 
want something, we should be able to do it, should we not? That is a 
super, super, super majority. But guess what. The Republican 
leadership, under urging from the President and Secretary Rumsfeld and 
threats of veto from the President, are refusing to bring up a repeal 
of the disabled veterans tax.
  We can have tax breaks for people who do not work for a living, the 
investor class. We can have tax breaks for whole hosts of people and 
things. But we cannot have tax relief for disabled veterans. Is that 
not extraordinary? President Bush refused to spend $275 million in 
emergency money for veterans health care provided by Congress in the 
fiscal year 2002 supplemental appropriations bill. But of course he 
wants to do everything he can to recognize the service of our veterans 
and our young men and women.
  January 8 of this year, the Bush administration cut off VA health 
care for 164,000 veterans. They put them in a new category called 
Category 8. They are wealthy veterans just like the wealthy people they 
are giving tax breaks to. Well, not quite. The wealthy people the Bush 
administration is raining tax breaks on earn over $311,000 a year. But 
these vets are wealthy. They do not deserve that veterans health care, 
according to the Bush administration. They earn $25,000 a year. They 
should pay for their own health care.
  The President's budget also proposed doubling the prescription drug 
copayment from $7 to $15 for veterans, the ones who are still able to 
qualify, and a $250 enrollment fee on another category, Category 7 and 
8. These could be people with low incomes, distinguished service, but 
under the Bush administration, we just cannot quite afford to give them 
the service we promised when they enlisted.
  Now we either believe in the all-volunteer military or we do not. And 
we are either going to recognize the sacrifice and service of veterans 
or we will not. And if we do not, probably the next generation is not 
going to want to enlist for what is a very tough and today very bloody 
and dangerous job because they are not quite sure of the promise that 
we will take care of them and we will take care of their families and 
their dependents.
  A few other problems. Rather than funding the VA, the Bush 
administration sent a memo to regional VA facilities that forbid 
Veterans Administration employees from proactively informing veterans 
about the services available to them in order to reduce the number of 
veterans using VA facilities.

                              {time}  2100

  That is supportive. Is that not great?
  In March, House Republicans voted in favor of their budget resolution 
that cut $14 billion, ``B'' billion dollars, from mandatory veterans 
benefits over 10 years, including veterans pensions, education and 
other benefits. That was an hour after we voted to support the troops 
in Iraq.
  Maybe it would have been a better message if we just had not bothered 
with the words, but had duly voted for the money. But, no, the 
Republican majority, pushed by President Bush, could not vote for that 
money, and that budget passed by one vote.
  The House Republican budget resolution also cut $14 billion from 
veterans health care and other discretionary veterans programs. The 
Republican budget also included the President's proposal to impose a 
$250 enrollment fee on our veterans for the free health care that they 
were promised.
  The Republican budget also included the President's proposal to 
double the prescription drug copayment from $7 to $15. The President 
had already raised it from $2 to $7, but, hey, we need money. We have 
got to send a lot of money over to Iraq, and we cannot ask them to pay 
any of it back, so we have to

[[Page 27367]]

double the prescription drug benefit fee for our veterans.
  Now, the House VA-HUD appropriations bill funded VA at the level 
requested by the President, which was $1.8 billion below the House 
Republicans' own budget, and it was $3.3 billion below the level 
requested by national veterans organizations in their independent 
budget proposal.
  Let us really celebrate Veterans' Day, and give them the services 
they earned and need, and pay for them.

                          ____________________