[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Pages 12095-12096]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  RECOGNITION OF THE DEMOCRATIC LEADER

  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Democratic leader is recognized.
  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I will use my leader time to make a 
relatively brief statement.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Democratic leader is recognized for 
that purpose.
  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, over the past 4 years, our nation has 
gained a renewed awareness of the bravery and sacrifice of America's 
service men and women.
  And through the exceptional valor they have routinely displayed, 
America has also gained a renewed sense of gratitude for the service of 
our veterans.
  So it was with a heightened sense of respect and appreciation that 
America commemorated the recent anniversary of D-Day and Memorial Day, 
and dedicated the long-overdue memorial to the generation that fought 
and won World War II.
  The veterans who came to Washington expecting to find one tribute 
cast in stone, encountered many living tributes, just as meaningful, 
and just as enduring.
  Americans of all ages, of all backgrounds, said ``thank you'' to the 
veterans who fought for them. Some gave gifts of American flags. Others 
asked for pictures.
  I recently heard a story about two World War II veterans who were 
eating dinner at a restaurant, when a young man they had never met 
thanked them, and struck up a conversation.
  He asked about their service, and told them that two of his relatives 
didn't make it home from Europe.
  When it came time for the two older men to pay the tab, they found 
that the young man had already paid it. He left a card that said, ``To 
two old guys who paid the price, but who are not going to pay today.''
  The memory of our veterans' achievements will live on long after 
them, and all Americans should feel proud that, in this way, we have 
kept faith with our veterans.
  But a shadow is cast over the tributes now paid to our veterans, and 
indeed, to our soldiers fighting in uniform today.
  There seems to be a gap between the thanks America offers its 
veterans in word, and the thanks our government shows veterans in deed.
  The waits at the VA hospital are too long.
  Veterans are paying record amounts out-of-pocket for VA health 
services.
  In recent days, we have learned that the White House is planning new 
cuts for FY06, even as the VA faces an influx of war veterans from 
Iraq.
  This year, as in every election year, Americans will ask themselves, 
am I better off than I was four years ago? Am I safer? Am I more 
financially secure? Do I have better access to prescription drugs and 
health care than before?
  In the coming months, America's 26 million veterans will be asking 
themselves those same questions. All America would do well to listen to 
their answers.
  Recently, I heard from a South Dakotan named Howard Anderson.
  Howard is 77 years old, a veteran of World War II. Howard is grateful 
to the doctors and nurses at the VA, but feels squeezed by the rising 
cost of prescription drugs.
  On average, he pays around $90 per month for medicine to treat his 
lung condition.
  The VA won't pay for his medications because he makes too much money 
even though he and his wife live on their Social Security. ``At the end 
of the month,'' he said, ``I couldn't write you a check for a dollar.''
  Not long ago, the VA sent Howard a letter notifying him that he owed 
another $300 for prescriptions.
  After the shock wore off, Howard went back through his receipts and 
found he was being double-charged.

[[Page 12096]]

  It had happened before, but he didn't have the patience to battle 
through the bureaucracy to make it right again, so he just paid the 
bill. This time, he just couldn't afford it.
  The VA ultimately admitted it was making a mistake. But Howard is 
beginning to get the sense that tight budgets have forced the VA to 
become more aggressive about denying care or sending the bill to the 
veteran.
  ``They say these benefits are there for you,'' he says, ``but when 
you go to get them, they don't give them to you.''
  Let me say that the problems with the VA health system are not the 
fault of the doctors and nurses and the other men and women who work at 
VA hospitals and clinics.
  They are among the most talented, most dedicated health professionals 
in this country. But they can only do so much with the resources they 
are given.
  And from the first days of this Administration, the White House has 
systematically tried to reduce veterans benefits, cut funding to the 
VA, and shortchange the health care of America's veterans.
  Over the past four years, the budget for veterans' health has risen 
far less than the rate of health care inflation, forcing VA hospitals 
to meet rising demand with shrinking resources.
  The White House's 2005 budget deepens this trend by including only a 
1.9 percent funding increase, barely one-sixth of the rate at which 
health care costs are increasing nationwide.
  Overall, the White House budget falls over $4.1 billion short of 
veterans' needs, according to the Independent Budget created by leading 
nonpartisan veterans groups.
  Not only would the White House's budget strain VA hospital budgets to 
the breaking point, it would drive nearly 800,000 veterans out of the 
VA health system.
  Eight-hundred thousand Americans who were promised health care in 
exchange for their service to their country will be denied and kicked 
off the rolls for no reason other than the Administration's refusal to 
adequately fund veterans' health.
  This would be on top of a recent decision by President Bush to deny 
our obligations to 200,000 Priority 8 veterans and keep them from 
enrolling in the VA health care system.
  Those veterans who remain in the system have been forced to pay more, 
much more. Over the course of the last three years, the amount veterans 
have paid toward their own care has increased a staggering 340 percent, 
or $561 million.
  And if the White House gets its way, veterans would need to pick up 
over a half-billion dollars more of their care in 2005, if the budget 
proposals as we have now witnessed them go through.
  Some within this administration seem to believe that our 
responsibility to our soldiers is when they come home, but we couldn't 
disagree more.
  If it were not for the efforts of many in Congress, the story would 
be much worse. Since President Bush took office, we have led the charge 
to add a total of almost $2 billion in funding for veterans health care 
beyond what the President proposed.
  Moreover, in each of the last 3 years, Democrats have blocked Bush 
administration attempts to increase copayments and enrollment fees even 
higher. Is this the same President who ran for election with a pledge 
to veterans that ``help is on the way''?
  In the next few days, some of us will offer an amendment to make a 
simple promise to our veterans: If you wore the uniform of our Nation, 
if you fought under our flag, your health care needs will be met for 
life. The full funding of veterans health care would be made mandatory 
under the law.
  For too long, the VA budget has been subject to the give-and-take of 
budget politics. It is time we set things straight.
  Funding for the VA should no longer be set by political convenience, 
back-room deals, or zero sum game of budget politics. One thing, and 
one thing alone, should govern the care of our veterans: the needs of 
care for those veterans.
  Senate Democrats have also been fighting, and we will continue to 
fight, for full concurrent receipt of all disabled veterans under the 
remarkable leadership of my colleague, the distinguished assistant 
Democratic leader from Nevada.
  The Bush administration has repeatedly threatened to veto concurrent 
receipt, and last year the White House called together leading veterans 
organizations to propose a compromise: We will give you full concurrent 
receipt but only if you agree to end disability benefits for two-thirds 
of all veterans.
  Veterans organizations and their allies in Congress rejected the 
inadequate proposal. Instead, thanks in large part to Senator Reid, 
Democrats were able to pass a provision to allow veterans rated 50-
percent disabled or more to receive full concurrent receipt.
  We have made progress on concurrent receipt since the last election, 
but it has been in spite of the administration, not because of it. What 
we have achieved so far is just a downpayment on what disabled veterans 
have been promised and what they deserve. How could we do otherwise? 
How could we let our country move forward and leave behind the men and 
women whose bravery has won our freedom and prosperity?
  The debt we owe our veterans is unending. But just because we could 
never hope to repay fully our obligations to our veterans does not 
excuse us from trying. Today we are further away from doing right by 
our veterans than ever before.
  America's veterans are not better off than they were 4 years ago. 
When he signed the GI Bill of Rights in 1944, President Roosevelt noted 
that ``the members of our Armed Forces have been compelled to make 
greater . . . sacrifices than the rest of us, and they are entitled to 
definite action to take care of their special problems.''
  The current White House has allowed ``definite action'' to give way 
to little more than indefinite praise. Veterans deserve better. The 
soldiers fighting this very day, at this very moment, deserve better.
  I think back to that young man 2 weeks ago who looked upon two men to 
whom he owed his freedom and way of life, and he knew enough to say 
thank you.
  Then I think of Howard Anderson who did pay the price but is being 
denied help by the Government because it refuses to fully fund veterans 
health. Howard Anderson and all veterans are owed a debt.
  We should acknowledge that debt every day, not just in stone 
monuments or in lofty speeches or bright parades. It should be repaid 
in a real and concrete commitment to care for veterans in the days when 
veterans need it the most.
  These men and women risked their lives to defend our own. They stood 
up for us, and now we must stand up for them, not just with words but 
with action.
  I yield the floor.

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