[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 CONFERENCE REPORT

  (Ms. FOXX asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. FOXX. Madam Speaker, we celebrate Veterans Day on November 11. 
Every day in this country should be Veterans Day, that is, we should 
highlight veterans and thank them for their service to our country.
  Yet, it's been over 140 days since the House passed the MilCon-VA 
appropriations bill and 8 weeks since the Senate passed it. The bill 
has strong bipartisan support and the President is ready to sign it. 
Yet Democrats have delayed bringing this bill to the floor.
  The Democrats finally announced they're bringing it to the floor this 
week, but instead of voting on a stand-alone bill which would ensure 
quick passage and provide funding for our troops and veterans, they're 
using it as a political tool by attaching it to the Labor-HHS bill.
  The American people hate this kind of political posturing. They know 
that when bills are combined like that, that it's a political and 
cynical ploy. That's the only way the Democrats can get their pork-
barrel spending passed is by attaching it to the military bill.
  By using it as a political tool instead of an urgent spending 
priority, the Democratic leadership illustrates where their priorities 
are, and they aren't with our troops and veterans.

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