[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 19]
[House]
[Pages 26285-26286]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            VETERANS FUNDING

  (Mrs. DRAKE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. DRAKE. Mr. Speaker, I have joined several of our colleagues in a 
letter requesting that the Senate majority leader end the partisan 
wrangling and move forward with the veterans appropriations bill.
  Our veterans have always been willing to man the front lines in the 
defense of this Nation and deserve to be honored for their service. 
From 2001 through 2006, this House increased funding for our veterans 
from $48 billion to $70 billion. This year the House came together in a 
bipartisan manner to increase funding for our veterans by an additional 
$6 billion.
  This is why I am so disturbed to read in Roll Call that Democratic 
leaders have made ``a decision to delay sending the veterans bill to 
the President so they can use it as leverage to pass other spending 
bills.''
  In my mind, veterans and especially those waiting for services at VA 
facilities or working to secure their VA benefits are not bargaining 
chips. They are heroes. And we should not allow partisanship to 
interfere with our commitment to protecting their best interests.

[[Page 26286]]



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