[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 25]
[House]
[Pages 34000-34001]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           FUND OUR VETERANS

  (Mrs. DRAKE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. DRAKE. Madam Speaker, this is day 73. That is 73 days since the 
start of the new fiscal year. Our veterans still do not have access to 
the increased funding provided in a bill that passed the House and 
Senate months ago and the President is waiting to sign.
  This bill includes increased funding to improve access to medical 
services for all veterans, new initiatives for mental health and PTSD, 
increased funds for improved medical facilities, and increased funding 
to assist homeless veterans, to name a few.

[[Page 34001]]

  The Democrats have refused to move the bill forward while our 
veterans have been operating on an extended shoestring budget since 
October 1, and 2 days from now the current budget will expire.
  If the Democrats are acting in good faith and in the best interest of 
our Nation's veterans, why have they continued to delay this bill, and 
why do they now intend to use our veterans to pass an end-of-the-year 
omnibus spending package?
  The veterans bill could be passed and sent to the President and 
signed today. I am calling on the Speaker to move the bill forward, and 
I call on all Americans to contact their Representatives to tell the 
Democratic leadership to send a clean veterans appropriations bill to 
the President now.

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