[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 15]
[House]
[Pages 20622-20623]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      INFLUX OF WOUNDED STRAINS VA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Strickland) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. STRICKLAND. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to talk about a matter 
that is of very grave importance to the veterans of our country. I am 
referring to an article that was in The Washington Post this past 
Sunday. The article mentioned that thousands of U.S. troops are now 
returning to this country from Iraq and Afghanistan with physical 
injuries and mental health problems. They are encountering a VA benefit 
system that is already overburdened, and officials and veterans groups 
are concerned that the challenge could grow as this Nation remains at 
war.
  Currently, we have had well over 1,000 of our soldiers killed in 
Iraq, and we have had 6,000 to 7,000 of our soldiers seriously injured. 
Many of those soldiers have lost limbs, they have been blinded, they 
have sustained brain injuries and terrible disfigurements. Many of 
those injuries are occurring as the result of roadside bombs which 
explode as these soldiers are out on patrol.
  The disability benefits and health care system, as noted in The 
Washington Post article, this system that provides services for about 5 
million American veterans, has been overloaded for decades. We know 
that. The current backlog consists of more than 300,000 claims. That is 
300,000 of our veterans who are waiting to get their claims 
adjudicated.
  Mr. Speaker, because we have mobilized so many of our Reservists and 
National Guard persons to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan, nearly 150,000 
have become eligible for health care and VA benefits as of August 1, 
and that number is rising. But this is the alarming information that is 
contained in The Washington Post article.
  It says: ``At the same time, President Bush's budget for 2005 calls 
for cutting of the Department of Veterans Affairs staff that handles 
benefit claims, and some veterans report long waits for benefits and 
confusing claims decisions.''
  Think of that. At a time when we are at war, when more and more of 
our soldiers are being terribly injured and are in need of the VA 
health care system, when claims are backlogged amounting to 300,000, 
the President sends this Congress a budget that actually calls for cuts 
in the number of people who are responsible for processing these 
claims.
  The article that I am referring to makes reference to one particular 
soldier. ``I love the military. That was my life,'' says this soldier, 
``but I don't believe they are taking care of me now.''
  He is Staff Sergeant Gene Westbrook, 35, of Lawton, Oklahoma. He was 
paralyzed in a mortar attack near Baghdad this past April, but he has 
received no disability benefits because they say his paperwork is 
missing. Now he is trying to support himself, his wife and his three 
children on his regular military pay of $2,800 a month as he awaits a 
ruling that could provide him up to $6,500 a month in terms of VA 
disability benefits.
  Mr. Westbrook was deployed to Iraq in January where he served as a 
drill sergeant. He was sent to train Iraqi Army recruits. While on duty 
on April 28, south of Sadr City in Baghdad, he was hit by a mortar 
shell and the shrapnel severed his spine. He is now paralyzed from the 
chest down. He has limited movement in his right arm and he battles 
constant infections. His wife takes care of him full time.
  Sergeant Westbrook praises the Army for the medical care he has 
received, but is it not shameful that this veteran would be waiting for 
benefits,

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and that we would have a President who would cut the budget for those 
who are charged with processing these claims?

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