[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 21]
[House]
[Page 29780]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        MILCON-VA APPROPRIATIONS

  (Mrs. SCHMIDT asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. SCHMIDT. Madam Speaker, I rise today to protest the majority's 
decision to tie the funding of our veterans to the Labor, Health and 
Human Services appropriation bill.
  The facts of this case are simple. The House had passed a bill on 
June 15, followed by the Senate on September 6, that supports our 
veterans and the pay raises and the funding that they need. The 
differences in these bills are miniscule. The Senate has appointed 
their conferees. Our House has yet to do the same. What's the hold-up? 
Politics. Rather than bringing the MilCon-VA conference report to the 
floor as a stand-alone measure, a measure that will be supported by 
both parties, supported by the President and signed into law, the other 
side has decided to tie it to a controversial bill that the President 
has said time and time again he will veto.
  Madam Speaker, our veterans have risked their lives for us without 
regard to political affiliation. We have to stop the politics. We have 
to work for our veterans.
  I ask that we use this time in a bipartisan fashion and pass the 
MilCon-VA bill as a stand-alone bill.

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