[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 4794]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 VETERANS ADMINISTRATION MISMANAGEMENT

  (Mrs. BLACKBURN asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor today with a heavy 
heart and a new set of questions for the bureaucracy here in 
Washington, DC. I am here because it appears that our veterans, who 
have been wounded and are in dire need of medical care, have received 
shamefully substandard care by the Veterans Administration, the agency 
charged with treating the veterans who have sacrificed their body and 
soul for our country, and they have fallen short of their mission.
  Reports from our government audits, and, recently, the report here in 
Newsweek really shines the light on the travesty that is a bureaucratic 
boondoggle at the VA. Many men and women who were casualties of war, 
they are looking for help, they are either being given the bureaucratic 
run around or substandard care or housed in decrepit facilities, if 
they are lucky.
  I have repeatedly voted to increase the VA funding. They have 
received a lot of money. They have got plenty of it, and I think it is 
disgraceful that our military, many severely injured, have received 
anything less than stellar health care from this agency. The executive 
branch, starting with the administration, has fallen short.

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