[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 15669]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                VA FUNDING HONORS COMMITMENT TO VETERANS

  (Mr. ALTMIRE asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ALTMIRE. Mr. Speaker, after years of neglect, this House is 
finally going to take up a VA funding bill that honors our commitment 
to our Nation's veterans. In contrast to the chronic underfunding that 
the VA has seen in recent years, this bill that we are going to talk 
about today has the largest increase in VA health care spending in the 
77-year history of the program.
  And for the first time, this bill exceeds the recommended funding 
level of the service organizations, the American Legion and the VFW.
  Democrats continue to demonstrate our commitment that no group should 
stand ahead of our Nation's veterans when it comes time to make Federal 
funding decisions. This bill will help us clear up the 400,000-case 
backlog at the VA. It is going to help us avoid issues like what 
happened at Walter Reed, and it will give our veterans the care that 
they earned and the care that they deserve.

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