[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 6]
[House]
[Pages 7915-7916]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      VETERANS' NEEDS GOING UNMET

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Shuster). Pursuant to the order of the 
House of January 7, 2003, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, the good news is that we can afford 
to meet the funding needs of the Veterans Administration. We have the 
money. But the Republicans, in spite of the comments from my colleague 
from Texas, have other priorities. They are going to award the 
wealthiest 1 percent of Americans a tax cut. The top 1 percent of 
Americans are people who make an average of $968,000 a year. Half the 
tax cut goes to that 1 percent.
  The total cost of that tax cut for the top 1 percent, those making on 
the average $968,000 a year, the total cost of that tax cut is larger 
than the entire budget of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
  Most veterans are not millionaires, but their contributions to this 
country are immeasurable. If they do not qualify for the President's 
tax cut, then they must sacrifice. That is the way that people around 
here are thinking.
  We cannot begin to place a value on the sacrifices they have made. 
But apparently President Bush and House Republicans are putting a value 
than their contribution, and, under the budget my friend from Texas 
just mentioned, they think that veterans can stand to lose $28 billion 
in services. Republicans believe it is more important to focus on 
millionaires who qualify for tax cuts than on the men and women who 
served this country and qualified for veterans benefits.
  Tax cuts for millionaires; $28 billion in cuts for veterans benefits. 
It is outrageous. Veterans have been asked already to shoulder the 
burden of costs that the Bush administration has failed to provide. 
Last year funding provided under the continuing resolution represented 
a cut of $659 million from the amount needed simply to keep pace with 
veterans benefits in the 2002 budget. We all know that 2002 funding was 
inadequate. Undercutting it is devastating.
  Republicans have a new policy when it comes to veterans health care. 
It is called abandonment. Let me give you some examples.
  First, the President and House Republicans are cutting Veterans 
Administration outreach. The VA already has halted outreach typically 
done to alert veterans to the services they are eligible for. It is the 
Republicans' way to save money. If you do not tell veterans about the 
benefits, then you do not have to provide benefits and services they 
were promised in gratitude for serving our country.
  Second, President Bush proposed raising the prescription drug copay. 
Last year, veterans paid $2 per month per drug. Living on $1,100 or 
$1,200 per month for a retired veteran is not an easy thing, so that $2 
copay per drug per month was very important. Come January, the 
President raised that to $7 per drug per month for veterans. Now the 
President proposes raising it to $15 per drug per prescription per 
month for every veteran.
  Veterans live on fixed incomes and simply cannot afford the 250 
percent increase in the cost of their medications, and now the 
President wants to even

[[Page 7916]]

more than double it. Ignoring that burden, doubling their copay, is 
insulting to veterans, especially in a time of war.
  The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that 700,000 more 
veterans will receive VA care in 2003 than had been projected. They may 
be eligible for health care services, but $1.5 billion in cuts will 
undermine the VA's ability to deliver this care.
  The Republicans in this body should be ashamed of those budget cuts 
to veterans. But it is not just this body. In the other body, the 
leader of the other body earlier this month pledged to support veterans 
concerned about President Bush's health care proposal, but he also said 
veterans and others will have to make sacrifices.
  Here is what the leader of the other body said. ``It applies to me in 
terms of domestic priorities and it applies to groups like the veterans 
today as they lobby.''
  In other words, we are going to go to war, but we are saying to 
veterans, so we can pay for the Bush $726 billion tax cut, half of 
which goes to people making on the average $968,000, the leader of the 
other body, the Republican leader of the other body is saying what the 
Republican leaders in this body are saying, and that is that we need 
the tax cut more than we need the veterans benefits.
  Tax cuts for people making $968,000 a year; $28 billion in cuts in 
veterans services. What message does that send to our troops fighting 
in Iraq? Let us hope when it is their time to claim VA services that 
they have a different Congress, that they have a Congress that keeps 
its commitments to those who served this country. Let us hope that when 
it is their time, they are told ``thank you'' by a future Congress; not 
that it is your turn to sacrifice so we can pay for a tax cut, which is 
what the leaders in this Congress are telling them.

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