[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 21]
[Senate]
[Pages 29689-29690]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            GETTING RESULTS

  Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, I rise to respond to what has become a 
regular drumbeat in this Chamber in terms of the distinguished 
Republican leader and those on the other side of the aisle talking 
about how we have not accomplished anything this year, how the budget 
has not gotten done. It is important to continually remember what we 
have been dealing with as the new majority coming into the Senate in 
January, laser focused on changing the direction and the priorities of 
the country, laser focused on getting things done for middle-class 
Americans who are counting on us, who feel squeezed on all sides and 
see prices increase on gasoline and health care and the cost of 
college, all those kinds of things that come down on Americans as they 
are working harder and harder every day, maybe facing the loss of a job 
or having lost a job, lower wages, and so on. Those are the folks we 
are fighting for every day and, I am proud to say, getting results.
  It is important to realize what has been happening since January. 
Despite all of the lamenting on the other side of the aisle about not 
getting things done, what we have seen are 52 Republican filibusters so 
far this year--unprecedented, the number of times we have had to vote 
to stop a filibuster. By the end of this week, it will be 53 or 54. It 
will continue right on, as there are efforts politically to stop what 
we are doing to change the direction of this country and focus on those 
things middle-class Americans care about every day and want to see 
fixed. In spite of that, we are, in fact, getting things done.
  One of the areas I am proudest of is our refocus in the budget on 
keeping our promises to veterans. We heard this morning that we need to 
pass a veterans budget. There is no question about it. There is no 
question about the fact that we not only need to, but we will. But we 
need to also remember that when we came in in January, last year's 
budget wasn't done yet. The previous majority didn't get the budget 
done at all in 2006. When we came in and were left, frankly, with a 
budget mess, we made sure that in the process of keeping the Government 
going, public services going for the balance of the year, we addressed 
veterans first and foremost by placing dollars into what is called a 
continuing resolution because we know our veterans have not been 
getting the resources they need, brave men and women coming home from 
Iraq and Afghanistan every day who have not been able to get the health 
care they need, too many caught in unfortunate bureaucracies.
  We heard about Walter Reed and those who are receiving military 
health care and then moving to the VA, and too many folks who are 
getting caught in that process and being hurt by the process. We have 
made veterans and keeping our promises to them and our military the 
highest priority. We addressed the issues that came up regarding Walter 
Reed and passed the Wounded Warrior provisions in the Department of 
Defense authorization that my senior colleague from Michigan, of whom 
we are so proud, Senator Carl Levin, helped lead. He led that, and we 
are making those changes.
  In the budget--and I am proud to be a member of the Budget Committee, 
which has made sure this has happened under our great leader from North 
Dakota, Senator Conrad--we have said for the first time we are going to 
fund veterans services at the level the veterans organizations say we 
need. We

[[Page 29690]]

are going to use the numbers they recommend. We have seen consistently 
under this administration an underfunding of those things which are 
needed by our veterans coming home, the top of which has been health 
care, mental health services, and rehabilitative services.
  We, since January, have made veterans health care the top priority. I 
am proud of the fact that we have added dollars. We have addressed the 
system problems. We have looked at what we need to be doing for 
families, both of Active military as well as our veterans. We don't 
have any concern at all about standing up and saying that we have been 
putting our veterans first, despite filibuster after filibuster after 
filibuster. Anyone watching will see more this week. It seems to be the 
nature of things today. But we have increased the dollars, the 
resources, the commitment--keeping our promises to veterans. We have 
done that in the budget for next year. We have done that in the funding 
available now. It is part of our overall vision and commitment.
  We are getting results for middle-class Americans. That is what we 
are all about, the folks who are sending their children, husbands, and 
wives to the war to fight for our country, coming home, expecting us to 
keep the promises the country has made as it relates to veterans. We 
take that extremely seriously. We are keeping those promises as part of 
our efforts to get results for the American people. We intend to do 
that in this budget we will pass, that will go to the President, that 
will be historic in that it is keeping the promises to our veterans 
that they expect us to keep.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. TESTER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Stabenow). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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