[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 14523]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              WRONG PRIORITIES AT VETERANS ADMINISTRATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of 
January 4, 2005, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, despite the Bush administration finally 
admitting that veterans' health care is underfunded by $1 billion, 
yesterday we learned that the VA's main priority has absolutely nothing 
to do with veterans. Instead, the number one priority surrounds a 
picture of VA Secretary Jim Nicholson. On May 27, an under secretary at 
the VA sent a memo out to all veterans' facilities around the Nation 
voicing concern that a large number of them did not have the most 
current picture of Secretary Nicholson hanging in their facilities. In 
the memo, the under secretary writes, ``We are asking that you give 
this your highest priority. We will continue to ask for daily updates 
on the status of the picture until we are assured that all of our 
facilities have a current picture displayed.''
  Are they kidding, Mr. Speaker? At a time when the Department of 
Veterans Affairs is forcing drastic veterans' cuts, do they really want 
their officials out at their facilities concentrating on the best place 
to display a picture of the VA Secretary?
  Here is the response from an official at one of the VA's facilities, 
and again I am quoting: ``And here we're trying to figure out where our 
next patient meal is coming from and what furniture to sell to buy 
drugs next year.''
  Mr. Speaker, while Washington Republicans are willing to support our 
troops while they are at war, they are unwilling to properly support 
them when they return from the battlefield as veterans.
  Last week, the Bush administration finally released budget 
information that showed veterans' health care is underfunded over the 
next year by $1 billion. Many of my Democratic colleagues have long 
suspected this funding shortfall, but the Bush administration did not 
come clean with the information until just last week. When Congress 
learned of the shortfall, House Republicans still refused to support an 
amendment to the Labor-HHS bill last week that would have restored the 
$1 billion needed for veterans' health care, including the health care 
of some 86,000 veterans who have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan.
  Mr. Speaker, while House Republicans refuse to fund veterans' health 
care, the Veterans' Administration says its top priority is to make 
sure veterans' facilities have the most current picture of Secretary 
Nicholson on the wall. Talk about misguided priorities, Mr. Speaker. 
Rather than worrying about a picture of Secretary Nicholson, should the 
VA not be focusing on how it is going to continue to provide promised 
services to our Nation's veterans? At a time when thousands of soldiers 
are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan as new veterans, you would 
think House Republicans would be willing to stand behind their promise 
to provide necessary health care to these new veterans.
  Mr. Speaker, it is sad that Washington Republicans are unwilling to 
give America's veterans the support they deserve. America's veterans 
should be outraged by the treatment they are now receiving from the 
Bush administration and the House Republican leadership.

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