[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 14771]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




          MISGUIDED PRIORITIES AT THE VETERANS ADMINISTRATION

  (Ms. BERKLEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. BERKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I was appalled to learn that a VA 
Undersecretary stated that the highest priority of the VA was to 
display a picture of the VA Secretary in every VA facility.
  I was appalled, because that very day I also learned that the VA 
Secretary admitted that there was a $1 billion shortfall in the 
veterans health care budget and that the administration knew this in 
April but presented their budget to Congress anyway, knowing that it 
was shamefully inaccurate and inadequate to meet the health care needs 
of our veterans. They lied to Congress.
  As a member of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, I saw firsthand 
the administration mock the veterans service organizations when they 
testified that the VA needed an additional $1.2 billion to provide 
health care to our veterans. They defended their numbers, knowing that 
they were $1 billion short.
  One VA official said, upon learning that the highest priority was 
putting the VA Secretary's photo in every VA facility, ``And here we 
are trying to figure out where our next patient meal is coming from and 
what furniture to sell to buy drugs next year.''
  Talk about misguided priorities.

                          ____________________