[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 11228]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           VETERANS 2006 CUTS

  (Mr. ROSS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, this past weekend our Nation came together and 
honored the thousands of veterans who have dedicated and sacrificed so 
much to protect our national security. I had the privilege and honor to 
join World War II veterans here on our Nation's Mall in Washington, 
D.C., for the dedication of the World War II Memorial, to honor them 
and their many contributions to our great democracy and, yes, to 
remember the 400,000 who died during World War II.
  At a time when a new generation of veterans is being created in Iraq 
and Afghanistan, there are some in Congress who want to cut funding for 
veterans. The administration's proposed budget for 2006 would cut $900 
million from the Veterans' Administration. A loss of $900 million would 
force the VA to disenroll 140,000 veterans and lay off about 10,750 
full-time employees, among many other things.
  It is all about priorities. We must keep our promises to our 
veterans.

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