[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 4]
[House]
[Pages 5094-5100]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       30-SOMETHING WORKING GROUP

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 18, 2007, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Meek) is recognized 
for 60 minutes.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to address the House 
once again.
  As you know, the 30-Something Working Group, we come to the floor 
with great pride and information to not only share with the Members, 
but also the American people, and make sure that we, the 110th 
Congress, the people's House, carry out the wills and the desires of 
Americans as it relates to making sure that they are represented in a 
fair and equal way, and also in a bipartisan way. And that is something 
I take great pride in because I believe that, as the Congressional 
Record will reflect or has reflected in the major votes that have taken 
place on this floor, had a lot to do with the American people and the 
way they live, and the way students were paying high interest rates. 
And we know it is still going through the legislative process, but it 
has now passed off the floor of the House of Representatives. And also 
as it relates to the minimum wage and small business tax cuts. It has 
all moved through in the 110th Congress under the Democratic 
leadership, and in a bipartisan way, with a number of Republicans 
voting for those measures.
  We know the will and the desire was there to do so in the past, but 
the leadership was not there. So what we want to do, when I say ``we,'' 
Democratic majority, we want to make sure that we keep that even keel 
that we are on now, to encourage more bipartisanship, and to also 
encourage and push more leadership out of this House of 
Representatives. And I want to commend the Speaker and our Democratic 
leadership for allowing that to happen in the way that it has.
  Saying that, Mr. Speaker, I think it is important to continue to talk 
about what we were touching on just the other day. The 30-something 
Working Group has been on the floor all of this week. This will make 
the final evening that we will be addressing the Members, on not only 
Iraq, but also how our veterans are being handled by, need it be the 
Department of Veterans Affairs, need it be the Congress or the 
administration. And I read off last time, which I will do before this 
hour is over, about the lack of funding and the cuts that have been 
made from the Bush administration in the past. And I think it is 
important for us to reflect on that.
  I think it is also important for us to talk about, in the 
supplemental that passed this floor, how we put in billions of dollars 
to make sure that we are able to take up the slack. Case in point, Mr. 
Speaker, this is the most recent Newsweek that has been published, 
Newsweek magazine. It is dated March 5, 2007. I have a copy of it. It 
actually came to my office. I took the opportunity to read this 
article.
  You have Specialist Strock, who is on the front, Marissa. She is age 
21. As you can see, she lost both of her legs from the knee down in 
Iraq. And it is entitled, ``Failing Our Wounded.'' As you know it is a 
special investigation report, and I think it is important that Members 
pay very close attention to what Mr. Ryan and other Members who will be 
joining me shortly have to share with you on this issue on making sure 
that our veterans are taken care of.
  Now I know, as a Member of Congress, Mr. Speaker, and I also know 
just as someone who has been paying

[[Page 5095]]

attention to the lack of dollars, especially as it relates to 
outpatient care of veterans, I think for Members like myself who have 
been in field hospitals in Iraq, that have gone to Germany and have 
visited the troops on more than two occasions, seeing the kind of care 
they get there. I have been to Walter Reed, I have been to Bethesda 
Hospital, but once you start getting out away from the general hospital 
treatment that our veterans are getting when they first are returning 
back to the United States, when you start getting into outpatient, even 
at Walter Reed, which a lot of this is being addressed, a lot of the 
bad stories are being addressed here in this Newsweek article, when you 
start getting out in the Midwest, when you start getting even down in 
my area in south Florida and you start getting a little up from 
Washington, D.C. into New York and out west, away from the eye of the 
four-star brass and all the folks that have an opportunity to go to 
Walter Reed and other places, you start really getting down to the 
nitty-gritty of what has been wrong with the planning, not only of the 
war, but the care of the men and women.
  Now, you have heard me time after time again, Mr. Speaker, and 
Members, talk about how Members of Congress come to the floor and 
chest-beat about how they support the troops. Sometimes the debate 
really goes beyond the reason for a Member to come to the floor. I 
mean, I have been in my office and watched Members talk and they say, 
well, I support troops 110 percent. And then you have another Member 
say, well, I support the troops more than you do. As a matter of fact, 
I have a tattoo on my arm saying that I support the troops. I am saying 
that just to say that we have to go beyond our words and we have to act 
as though we support the troops, the full troops.
  We have troops that have served, soldiers that have served, sailors 
that have served, airmen and -women that have served, Coast Guard 
members that have served, and on and on and on in World War II, I, you 
name it, Korea. You have Afghanistan; you have even some folks from 
there. You have folks from the first gulf war. You have Vietnam. All of 
these men and women that have allowed us to salute one flag, they are 
getting the real deal. They have been on a waiting list. And now we 
have put a mountain of new issues on the Department of Veteran 
Services, or some may call it the Veterans Administration. And I think 
that it is important for us to realize what is happening and what is 
happening in the real world.
  Members of Congress and others, people of influence can go to a local 
hospital and Congressman, oh, you are here? Don't wait in that waiting 
room, we will take care of you. Oh, you have a family member that is 
sick? Don't worry about it, the hospital administrator will meet you at 
the front door. But to the person that volunteered to defend this 
country, they don't have that prerogative. They don't have a Member of 
Congress to show up with them and they can get to the VA.
  A former friend of mine, still a friend, but he has moved on to a 
greater place now, Orange Hayes called me one day on my cell phone in 
Miami, he was at the Miami VA Hospital and he said, Kendrick, I'm not 
getting the kind of service that one deserves here in the VA. I am not 
highlighting my hospital, but one thing that I can say that he knew me, 
he knew my cell number, he knew he could call me. And what did I do? Of 
course I was there in a matter of two hours. And who was there? Well, 
let's put it this way: the head of the department dealing with his 
illness was there, the assistant administrator of the hospital was 
there, and the director of the nurses, RNs there at that hospital. He 
got what he needed. And he said, you know, in the best way he could, 
sat up in his bed and said, I'm so glad that you are my friend because 
now I have been able to get the kind of service that I need.
  Well, that should have happened anyway. And I think we have good 
people in the VA. I know we have good workers there; they are 
committed. We have good docs there; they are committed. But as it 
relates to the resources and the priorities in this Congress, the 
question is, are we committed?
  Now, this Congress is committed because we already talked about what 
we did in the supplemental budget. That is a budget that Members didn't 
even have an opportunity to work through the legislative process. That 
was left over from the 109th Congress Republican Congress that we 
decided to do the right thing and cut some projects that were 
nonpriorities and put over $3 billion in there to be able to assist in 
providing the kind of care for veterans. And we haven't even gotten 
started yet.
  Now, let's just talk about getting started. And we want to thank The 
Washington Post for what they have done in highlighting the issues at 
Walter Reed outpatient. I have been there before. I didn't see some of 
the things that they saw; but luckily we had some men and women that 
stood up and said, you know, things are not what they should be there. 
And I understand, Mr. Speaker, you know, a two-star general stepped 
down today who was over the hospital. But you know something? I know 
within the coming days, Mr. Speaker, we are going to get down to the 
bottom of what it is all about for the veterans when they come back and 
when they go home.
  When they come through Washington, D.C. and they land at Andrews Air 
Force base from Germany? When they land there, they are getting the 
care and all of the attention. But what happens when they go back to 
Sioux City, Iowa? What happens when they go back to Jacksonville, 
Florida? What happens when they show up at an airport in Wisconsin, are 
they still prioritized? Do they feel that we have their back because 
they had ours? And that is the resounding question.
  Now, I am excited because, unlike the 109th Congress, the 30-
Somethings would give our presentation and meet and talk about what 
should be happening. And if we had had an opportunity to lead, Mr. 
Speaker, and Members, and I know that Members who served in the 109th 
Congress and 108th Congress knew the 30-Something Working Group, if we 
were given the opportunity, if we asked the American people to have an 
opportunity to lead, things would be different. I am going to tell you 
the reason why it is different right now.
  I am happy that the Budget Committee had hearings on this in the 
House, not several weeks from now, but have already had hearings. 
Chairman John Murtha of the Defense Appropriation Committee has 
scheduled a hearing on Friday, which is tomorrow, Mr. Speaker. I want 
our veterans to know that this Democratic House of Representatives has 
been on the side of making sure that our veterans get what they need, 
even when they leave the battlefield, even when they go back home; and 
that we do have Members on the other side of the aisle that feel the 
same way. But we are willing to provide the leadership of making sure 
that your issues are heard and that they are resolved, not just heard.
  Having a town hall meeting talking about what can we do to make 
things better and not come into Washington and do something about it is 
not even worth anyone showing up at the town hall meeting or reading a 
letter and responding to it, though we are trying to do the best we 
can. This is actually taking place.

                              {time}  1815

  This is the action that is taking place. We also have oversight 
committee on government reform subcommittee chairmen will conduct a 
field hearing at Walter Reed on Monday, this Monday, not next Monday, 
not some Monday in the future maybe we will get around to it. The 
Senate Armed Services Committee has planned a hearing for Tuesday. This 
is right now. This is right here right now in the moment, and again, I 
am so happy that these hearings are taking place.
  The House Armed Services Committee on planning and oversight is also 
planning a hearing, and I am pretty sure that is days, not weeks.
  So as we start to respond to what is already a major issue in our 
country, and we have outlined it as a major

[[Page 5096]]

issue, we know that within the budget that there has been a number of 
veterans affairs programs that have been cut, health care programs. We 
have had fist fights mentally, I do not want to say literally, mentally 
and through dialogue with colleagues on the other side of the aisle 
about making sure that we do what we are supposed to do for veterans.
  It is easy for someone to sit here in an air conditioned Chamber and 
pull out their voting card and say let us go to war, no problem; I am 
tough, I voted for it; you did not vote for it. Well, I am tougher than 
you. That is fine and that is good for Hollywood, but here in 
Washington D.C., it is important that we plan and that we make sure 
that the troops and the soldiers and the airmen and the sailors, we 
make sure they get what they need all the way around 360. You just 
cannot go a 180 and stop say, well, the veterans, the care is the hard 
part. You cannot stop there because that is not the responsible thing 
to do.
  I think it is important to point out for every one soldier that dies 
in Iraq, 16 are injured. We talk about the fallen, rightfully so, and 
we should. We should highlight that, but we have to look at the 
injured. Sixteen, so think about it when you are watching television 
and when you pick up the newspaper and you see 3,158 of our men and 
women that have paid the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq, think about the 16 
on top of every one that has been injured, and it is very, very 
important.
  The veterans deserve a lifetime guarantee from the American people, a 
promise of proper medical care and treatment forever. That is what we 
have to back up here in this Congress, and I know that the will and the 
desire is here on this side of the aisle to make sure that that 
happens.
  I think it is also important that we send legislation to the White 
House after we have these hearings to make sure that veterans know in 
the field that we have their back, that the men and women know that we 
have those individuals and also those individuals that are veterans 
who--already standing in line--that they get what they need.
  Many of our veterans hospitals, Mr. Speaker, and outpatient centers, 
in some parts of rural America you have these clinics that are only 
open twice a month, and because of cuts, you have some clinics that are 
open even half a day on that twice a month. We have buildings that are 
crumbling, and we have VA hospitals that are still in the World War II 
era. I mean, they have not received the kind of renovation that they 
need.
  There is a superinflux of veterans that are coming back from two wars 
that are ongoing now. Some people may not know it, but there are two 
different wars that are going on as I speak here on the House floor. We 
have to make sure that we are prepared to deal with those issues when 
they return back.
  Now, I know the Secretary of Defense has already been to Walter Reed, 
but I can only imagine what we are going to find out in the coming 
days. I know that a number of other committees will continue to start 
to look at the issue of how the men and women are served.
  Mr. Speaker, we spoke time after time again here on this floor, 
members of the 30-something Working Group, on the responsibility of 
oversight. I would be worried if we were on President's break last 
week, this week staff visited Walter Reed Hospital, and our staff from 
the House of Representatives continued to be deployed throughout the 
country of getting down to the nitty gritty on what is actually 
happening in our VA hospitals, what has been the result of cuts year 
after year. Meanwhile, we have in the President's budget here to make 
tax cuts permanent, Mr. Speaker, not sunsetting in 2010, but permanent 
for the super wealthy in this country.
  Meanwhile, we have veterans that are waiting to see the 
ophthalmologist or a cardiologist for weeks, some cases months, depends 
on where they are in the country.
  So I think it is important, especially as we start to go through the 
hearings for the 2008 Appropriations Act, I think it is important as we 
lead into the emergency supplemental, the 99-plus billion dollar 
supplemental for the war in Iraq, Afghanistan and other areas, that we 
think about what I am talking about right now.
  We have some men and women that are on their third, some fourth, 
deployment. We have hearings now in the House Armed Services Committee 
about increasing the size of the Army and the Marines. Right now, there 
is a request for three new Marine brigades. This is 9,000 more troops 
and to grow it into 20,000. The Army will take some of those soldiers, 
but as we continue to make our military bigger, to be ready to carry on 
future conflicts, because of the lack of planning in Iraq, we are in 
this situation.
  As we see other countries pull back their troops and start talking 
about deployment, the administration is saying that we need an 
escalation in troops.
  I think it is important for us to realize, especially when you have 
future generations reading the Congressional Record, wondering what 
went wrong and who were the leaders, to make sure we got back on track.
  Now, in November, the American people voted for a new direction. I am 
110 percent in the front seat of that new direction, Mr. Speaker. They 
did not want what they had in the last Congress, a rubber-stamp 
Congress, and you have not seen the rubber stamp here that we used to 
have sitting right here, Mr. Speaker.
  I mean, it was almost like a passenger in the left side of the car, 
steering wheel here, but it sat right here, to talk about the rubber 
stamp Republican Congress. I think the American people, and I am not 
talking about proud Democrats. I am talking about Independents, I am 
talking about Republicans, I am talking about folks who never voted 
before in their lives voted this time because they wanted a new 
direction.
  In this new direction comes a great deal of responsibility, and in 
that responsibility, you have to have courage and you have to be 
willing to lead. I say to my Republican colleagues on the other side, 
many of whom are my good friends, my very good friends, that when it 
comes down to leadership, you have to be alone sometimes. You have to 
be one of the five, you have to be one of the 17, you have to be one of 
the 25 that are saying I am voting on behalf of my constituents, in 
this case that I am talking about here, my veterans, and making sure 
that our men and women have what they need.
  There are a number of other issues that we can get into, but I think 
that it is important that we highlight the leadership when it is 
happening, not, oh, you know something, when you go home. Member, I 
want to make sure you go home and you tell your constituents there are 
hearings that are taking place. And you know who can take pride in 
that, Mr. Speaker? Not just on the majority side, Democrats say we are 
having hearings. Republicans can go back to their district and say we 
are having hearings. You know why we are having hearings? Because the 
leadership demands it here in this House. The Democratic leadership 
demands hearings on this issue to make sure that veterans know that we 
are not leaving them behind.
  I think what is also important here, Mr. Speaker, is the fact that in 
the last Congress, we had the chairman of the Veterans Affairs 
Committee who said, you know something, I am going to do what the 
veterans want me to do; I am not going to do what the Republican 
leadership wants me to do; I am going to do what is right. And guess 
what, he was stripped of his chairmanship. Not only stripped of his 
chairmanship, thrown off the committee. This is a man who went through 
whole process, whole seniority, serving on the committee and was thrown 
off the committee because he did the right thing on behalf of the men 
and women that wore the uniform. Not in this Congress.
  In this House of Representatives, in this Democratic House of 
Representatives, we look forward to leadership opportunities. This is 
an opportunity.
  In the supplemental budget, over $3 billion were given to veterans 
health care because we took the leadership opportunity to carry it out. 
We said we had the will and the desire. We have it.

[[Page 5097]]

So I think it is important to speak in a bipartisan way, to be able to 
allow Members to go back to their districts, need it be Democrats and 
Republicans, and say we are having hearings. Matter of fact, the 
hearings that took place this week, there will be hearings tomorrow, 
there will be hearings on Monday, there will be hearings, I guarantee 
you, on a couple of days next week, and out of those hearings, action 
will take place. Not just hearings, say okay, let us just show, but 
action will take place. And as we figure out what is going on in other 
parts of the country, it is important.
  What I want to make sure I do is I have the Web site because I want 
Members and I want to make sure veterans know and report where these 
issues fall short. I want to make sure the Members have it so this is 
the [email protected], [email protected]. We 
also ask you to visit, which we will give you more information about 
what is happening here as it relates to hearings, and go to 
www.speaker.gov/30something/index.html. That is a lot there but on the 
top here, [email protected].
  We want to hear it, Mr. Speaker. We want to do something about it, 
and I think it is important that we have the opportunity to do that.
  One thing I want to also point out here, Mr. Speaker, and I would 
encourage the Members once again, is if you have it, it should be in 
all the Members' offices, the latest Newsweek article or Newsweek 
magazine which is March 5, 2007. It came to my office. I know it went 
to a number of other offices. This is compliments of Newsweek. I get 
one at home, too. ``Failing Our Wounded,'' a special investigation. In 
this publication here you will hear a lot and see a lot. Also, you can 
go on washingtonpost.com, and in case you missed it, there is an area 
there where you can read about some of the failures of not only Walter 
Reed, but veterans services that are in so bad a condition right now 
because of the lack of funding and because of the lack of leadership 
from Washington, D.C., in prioritizing the needs of our veterans.
  In the article, you have a number of hospital officials that knew of 
the neglect and also complained about it and voiced their opinion for 
years but have not been heard, and we know that we have a number of 
veteran organizations that have come to Washington, D.C., looking for 
justice. But guess what, I think they are coming this time knowing that 
they will have an opportunity to sit before a committee. I think they 
will come knowing that they will have a chance to see something happen 
this year and in the future budgets as long as you have Democratic 
control here in this House, and I think it is important and also with 
some of my friends on the other side joining us.
  We talked about oversight. We talked about accountability, but I also 
want to say, as of a week ago, 52 hearings as it relates to oversight 
of the Iraq War have taken place.

                              {time}  1830

  Unlike the 109th Congress, the 108th Congress, and Congresses before 
that one, there have been a number of hearings that have taken place 
under the Capitol dome.
  Why are these hearings important? Members are being educated on the 
issues. Why is education important? We can govern better. We can govern 
better on behalf of who? The American people.
  That did not happen at the beginning of this war. That did not happen 
when we had bills sweep through this House of Representatives, and 
Members were challenged: if you didn't vote for it, you with not for 
the troops.
  Well, the bottom line is that I think we are all, I haven't run into 
a Member of Congress who says I am against the troops, or an American 
who has said that I am against the troops, we are all for the troops. 
The real issue is, do we have enough leadership, or have we had 
leadership in the past to be able to make sure that we have our troops' 
backs like they have ours, in the care that they deserve for the rest 
of their lives?
  And when we talk about that, we have to talk about individuals going 
back to their families, Mr. Ryan, who have real issues. Some of those 
issues can be between the years of being in warfare for 3 years, 4 
years, and being asked to go back. We are talking about families, we 
are talking about communities, we are talking about something that 
needs special care and needs counseling and treatment. And so when we 
talk about those things, we have to do something about them.
  So that is why I am very, very pleased that these hearings are taking 
place, Mr. Speaker, because the leadership is there to make those 
hearings happen. There will be Democrats and Republicans a part of it. 
I am glad that staff was deployed from the Democratic Congress to 
Walter Reed Hospital and other hospitals here in the Washington area, 
outpatient centers, to make sure that we can get to the bottom of the 
problem and make sure that we start working towards a solution.
  And I want to say, Mr. Ryan, before I yield to you, that I commend 
the individuals that work in our veterans hospitals for blowing the 
whistle and talking to the press and talking to the staff about some of 
the issues that veterans had to face. I want to commend those veterans 
or those active duty and those individuals that are no longer on active 
duty, also our National Guardsmen and our Reservists that have been 
activated for sharing information. And we encourage you to continue to 
share information so that we can do better, because the willingness and 
the desire here is in this Democratic Congress to make sure that you 
get what you need and what you have coming to you.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I appreciate it, Mr. Meek. And I was watching you 
earlier talk about this, and I appreciate your concern and your passion 
on the issue. And I just can't help but thank Mr. Murtha and the 
Speaker for taking such quick action on this.
  This is the kind of thing that unfortunately has been going on for a 
long time, not only in this particular institution due to a lack of 
oversight, but also this is what has been going on in Iraq. The stories 
that we hear coming out of some of the oversight committees are 
absolutely atrocious to hear about the waste of money and some of the 
situations on the ground in Iraq.
  Then to hear the story about Walter Reed, it just seems to 
consistently be a lack of owning up to what the current situation is on 
the ground or in the hospitals or wherever the case may be. And that is 
why you have to have an open process. That is why you have got to have 
hearings. And if we would have maybe over the past couple of years had 
more oversight hearings on these situations, maybe we wouldn't be in 
the situation that we are in today.
  I want to share with you, Mr. Meek, and I apologize because I have to 
leave in a couple minutes but I wanted to come by and support you and 
add my two cents here, today in the Washington Post regarding the 
complaints at Walter Reed, and this is what is really damning here as 
far as the issue goes, on the front page of the Washington Post:
  ``Top officials at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, including the 
Army's Surgeon General, have heard complaints about outpatient neglect 
from family members, veterans groups, and Members of Congress for more 
than 3 years.
  ``A procession of Pentagon and Walter Reed officials expressed 
surprise last week about the living conditions and bureaucratic 
nightmares faced by wounded soldiers staying at the D.C. medical 
facility. But as far back as 2003, the commander of Walter Reed, 
General Kiley, was told that soldiers who were wounded in Iraq and 
Afghanistan were languishing and lost on the grounds, according to 
interviews.
  ``But according to interviews, Kiley, his successive commanders at 
Walter Reed, and various top noncommissioned officers in charge of 
soldiers' lives have heard a stream of complaints about outpatient 
treatment over the past several years. The complaints have surfaced at 
town hall meetings for staff and soldiers, at commanders' sensing 
sessions in which soldiers or officers are encouraged to speak freely, 
and in several Inspector

[[Page 5098]]

General's reports detailing building conditions, safety issues, and 
other matters.''
  That is what hurts, Mr. Meek, is the fact that people knew about 
this. And one of the most prestigious obligations that we have as 
Members of the United States Congress, as Members of the House of 
Representatives, being the most closely, directly elected officials for 
the people of this country to represent them in their Federal 
Government is that we have oversight responsibilities. And to neglect 
those duties, as the 109th Congress did, on Iraq, on contracting, on 
intelligence, on all of these things, blistering accounts that we are 
learning about, this is what hurts, that these kinds of situations 
could have been prevented, and if not prevented, immediately fixed.
  And when you think about this, just ask, just ask us, is this 
Congress, whether Republican led or Democratically led, going to say 
``no'' to our soldiers? That is not going to happen. But the fact that 
this administration refuses, talk about a culture which we talked about 
in the 109th Congress, a culture and a complete culture of an 
unwillingness to accept the fact that things can go wrong. We are all 
human beings. Things go wrong; mistakes are made. The key is to fix 
them. The key is to not make the same mistakes twice, or in this case, 
many, many, many times over. And the fact that a few soldiers had to go 
through this is a shame. But when the problem isn't fixed, when the 
problem continues and we have hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of 
soldiers go through this same situation, Mr. Meek, when it could have 
been fixed I think is a tragedy.
  So I want to commend you for bringing this up and sharing this with 
the House of Representatives and the American people. And I want to 
commend you for your service on the Armed Services Committee in these 
difficult times and a lot of the tough decisions that you have to make 
on that committee.
  So I yield back to my friend, and I apologize for having to cut out 
on you early; but you are doing all right on your own.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Ryan, I appreciate you coming down, sir. You 
are one of the most dedicated members of the 30-something Working 
Group. And I know now that you are an appropriator that you have many 
more responsibilities. And I want you to continue to do those great 
things that you do on the Appropriations Committee, and I want to thank 
you for your service on the Armed Services Committee in the last two 
Congresses. But this is a very, very serious issue, Members; and I am 
glad that you did find time enough to come down here.
  Mr. Speaker, I think it is important that we look at some of the 
issues that we are facing here, not only on this article, or articles, 
out of The Washington Post, not only what Americans are going to be 
reading in Newsweek and other publications that are going to uncover or 
shed light on the obvious that so many veterans have been talking about 
for so many years. One thing for myself, being in the political 
minority in the last two Congresses and the frustration of not having 
the opportunity to schedule a hearing, Mr. Ryan said something and I 
want to just be able to shed light on it, because we have a lot of new 
Members and I want to make sure they understand.
  Of course, when you are in the minority you can't call the hearing. 
It is what it is, like so many people say on the street. You are in the 
minority, that is it. You can try to do what you can do, but you are 
not going to call a hearing. And the fact that we have hearings that 
have been called and hearings that have already taken place and staff 
that has been deployed to tackle this issue already allows the American 
people to witness change, to witness a new direction. If I said it 
three times in my talk here this evening, I will say it again. In 
politics and what gives people the will and the desire to go vote in 
the first place is to witness change when they feel that it needs to 
happen.
  We talked about a new direction, Democrats did, in the last election. 
And to actually talk about it and then do it is extraordinary, 
especially here in Washington, D.C. to be able to go back to your 
district and say we are going to do something about this lack of 
service, outpatient service, lack of priority, cut in funding.
  I spoke earlier, and I am going to highlight what has happened and 
then I am going to say what we have done in the first action of being 
able to direct appropriations in the area that it should go in versus 
special interest giveaways, versus you have to be plugged in or 
connected to get certain things out of this Congress just on behalf of 
those that have served.
  I just want to run down this line here, and I have a chart here. As 
you know, we have a lot of charts in the 30-something Working Group 
because we want to make sure that Members know exactly what they need 
to know, when they need to know it, so that their constituents and my 
constituents, I can't go home and say, I didn't know that, no one said 
anything about it. These bills are moving around, some of them are 500 
pages. I didn't know what was there. So as we look at what is happening 
or what has happened, we have to reflect on the past to have a better 
future. And that is the good thing about what we are doing here.
  Bush and Republican budget funding for veterans: January 2003, the 
Bush administration cuts off veterans health care for 164,000 veterans, 
68 Federal Reg 2670, 2671, January 17 of 2003.
  The reason why I read that probably means nothing to the lay person, 
but for those of you that know where to find this information, it is 
gold. As a matter of fact, it is platinum. Third-party validators is 
what we do here on the 30-something Working Group. And on the 
Democratic side, we believe in third-party validators. The Washington 
Post is a third-party validator of what we have been talking about in 
the minority. Now we are glad we are in the majority to do something 
about it.
  Third-party validator is a Newsweek cover: ``Special Investigation on 
Failing Our Wounded,'' that we have been talking about and 12 years in 
being in the minority. Now we are in the majority, we are doing 
something about it, what I talked about and what am going to highlight 
again.
  March 2003, Republican budget cuts off $14 billion from veterans 
health care. It passed the Congress with 199 Democrats voting against 
it. 199 Democrats. That is House Concurrent Resolution 95, vote number 
82, and that took place on March 21 of 2003.
  I think it is important also, on March 2004, Republican budget that 
short-changed veterans health care cut by $1.5 billion.
  I think you are getting the message here, Members, of what we are 
talking about here. And I can go on and on and on about what has not 
happened and what we have fought for; but I want you to look right down 
here at the bottom, because this is proof in the pudding and this is 
the new direction, Mr. Speaker and Members, that we speak so much about 
here on this floor, and it gives me great pride. I mean, I feel almost 
fulfilled spiritually, leave alone professionally as a Member of 
Congress, to be a member of a majority that is about action and about a 
new direction.

                              {time}  1845

  When you look at this, January 31, 2007, that was just a month ago, 
we had to pass a concurrent resolution or a continuing resolution 
because the work was not done from the 109th Congress that should have 
been done prior to this time. We had to come in and clean it up. But 
guess what, in the cleanup we found some waste and special interest, 
giveaways, and we came up with $3.6 billion in health care funding to 
replace some of the cuts that the Republican majority made in the last 
Congress. I almost feel like an attorney in a closing argument. I can 
rest my case on that.
  Now, Members can come down here and spend hours upon hours upon hours 
talking about I love the veterans, oh, I love the troops, oh, my 
goodness, I get teary-eyed every time I see a veteran or pass a post. 
But $3.6 billion is action, and I want to make sure the Members who 
voted against that continuing resolution know that you

[[Page 5099]]

missed out on an opportunity to do something great, $3.6 billion for 
veterans health care.
  Now, guess what, Member, if we didn't put that $3.6 billion and had 
an opportunity to do something about what did not happen in the past on 
behalf of veterans, could I speak here on the floor of the House of 
Representatives representing to the Members of this House of 
Representatives that we did the right thing back on January 31 of this 
year?
  Sometimes we know of the glory but we have to tell the story, and the 
story is having the will and having courage, willing to do something on 
behalf of those who have sent us here, in this case, since we are 
talking about the veterans tonight, those that have allowed us to be in 
the Capitol, saluting one flag and secure, those that allow my children 
to live in a free society, those that have had friends that have paid 
the ultimate sacrifice, those that it takes longer than 2 hours in the 
morning for them to get out the door because of the price they paid.
  Members, this has to be bipartisan, and so when we look at what has 
happened under a partisan venue, we have to be excited about $3.6 
billion and counting in the future. We have to be excited about the 
oversight hearings that I have talked about that Mr. Murtha is going to 
have as chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee on 
Appropriations. We talked about the Armed Services Committee, oversight 
committee, going and having hearings.
  We talked about the Budget Committee that has already had a hearing. 
We are talking about the Senate doing the same thing on that side. We 
are talking about deployment of staff into veterans hospitals finding 
out the damage, what has happened because of the lack of funding that 
has been cut off over the years. That is substantial; that is 
substantial.
  I would urge the Members on both sides of the aisle to go home and 
tell your constituents that we are on the job, that we are going to 
make it happen on behalf of their uncle, on behalf of their aunt, on 
behalf of their mother that may be deployed right now. But when she 
gets back, we are going to have her back. That is what is important, 
not lip service, but action.
  Now, as a Member of Congress it gives me no pride to talk about the 
failures of the Bush administration or the past Congress, or even this 
Congress. We are not even 3 months into a new Congress. We have had 52 
hearings dealing with Iraq plus, and I have to make sure that staff 
gives me the new numbers when we get back here next week, and counting, 
to give the American people the accountability that they deserve, those 
that are in harm's way, that they deserve.
  You let some tell you here in the House of Representatives, oh, 
Democrats are weak on defense. We are for the veterans, don't you know?
  Well, you know something, the thing about the story is the fact that 
it has bumps in it. The thing about the Congressional Record is the 
fact that it tells the truth, and the truth will set you free like we 
have heard so many times in places of worship. But it will set you free 
when it comes down to the track record.
  We have the Republican side that says the tax-and-spend Democrats. 
Okay, what does the record reflect? The record reflects great 
accountability.
  Guess what, the only party in the history of this country that has 
ever balanced the budget was the Democratic Congress without one 
Republican vote, the only party.
  They talk about budget reduction and all that, but the bottom line is 
you can't hold, you can't have one arm on special interest and another 
arm on responsibility and make sure it all gets out because you know 
what, in past Congresses, special interest has always won. So as we 
start to look at this issue, we learn more about what is going on in 
our outpatient services, and we learn more about the lack of service 
that our veterans are receiving, not just the new ones, but the ones 
that have been there and suffered for years, and have suffered even 
more of the cuts of the Republican leadership in the White House and 
here in Congress.
  The story, goodness, a Republican chairman of a committee of the 
Veterans' Affairs Committee did the right thing at one point and said, 
I am going to do this on behalf of veterans here in the United States 
of America; and those that are abroad at foreign bases and their 
families, we are going to do the right thing for him, and he was 
stripped of his chairmanship. I challenge any Member to come down here 
and challenge me on that fact. They won't, because it actually 
happened.
  I guarantee you, the present chairman of our Veterans' Affairs right 
now will not be stripped for working on behalf of veterans. That will 
not happen. I say that with great confidence.
  So I am excited. I mean, we just broke for the week. I am just glad 
to be here tonight to just witness, like we say in the Baptist Church, 
a change in a new direction.
  I am so glad that the Record will reflect, not just American people 
but Democrats, that when the American people voted for a new direction, 
it actually happened. We are moving in a new direction.
  Every time I see the votes on the board right above our heads here, 
we have bipartisan votes, it makes me feel even better about what we 
are doing, because that means that you are doing the right thing. This 
is a partisan arena here in Washington D.C. By the rules it is 
partisan. By the fact that you cannot even call a committee hearing, it 
is partisan. It has been that way for a very, very long time.
  When you start to see Members breaking ranks with partisanship to 
say, I need to vote for this very good thing for my constituents, that 
is powerful, because it hasn't happened before; and I am not talking 
about procedural votes to the Members. We know Members are going to 
vote on the issues.
  As we start to do good things on behalf of our veterans, we look 
forward to that bipartisan spirit. We look forward to it, and we know 
that there will be votes that we have to be bipartisan on. But I can 
tell you one thing: When it comes down to our veterans, we have to be 
together on this. National security, we have to be together on this. We 
have to be together on a number of issues, health care, what have you, 
because the country is looking for us to be leaders.
  I am so glad that we have a Speaker that is a leader. I am so glad 
that we have Members that are serving in leadership positions on 
oversight committees that are leaders and really don't mind being 
talked about and misunderstood from time to time, because the outcome 
measures will reflect, out of the appropriations committees, Ways and 
Means, you name it, the Budget Committee, the priority of American 
people.
  They are not just Democratic ideas. These are ideas that are American 
and that are right. We can't point at another country and say, look, 
wow, they don't even have good uniforms, when we are not following, we 
are not doing, we are not leading by example, just put it that way.
  So I wanted to point this out, and I am glad that I had this 
information handy here to be able to share with the Members and allow 
them to have a chance to reflect on some of the issues of the week and 
also issues that will be coming up next week.
  The last point, and I think this is very, very important, at Walter 
Reed today a major general stepped down. But you know something, it 
goes higher than that; it goes higher than that. A two-star general 
stepped down today from Walter Reed, stepped down, resigned. It goes 
higher than that. This reminds me of other issues that because of a 
lack of oversight have taken place in our Federal Government, and the 
first person to go is the person almost to the bottom of the totem 
pole. This goes higher than that.
  I am excited that the Secretary of Defense did go out there, but I am 
going to tell you something. As we start to peel back the issues on 
this issue of failing our wounded, because of a lack of funding, more 
and more individuals, more and more e-mails that will be uncovered of 
who knew what

[[Page 5100]]

when, who did not act, and it may lead very well back to the White 
House, may very well lead back to the past Congress, it may very well 
lead back to a high-level bureaucrat that looked the other way, because 
it was okay to look the other way.
  This is not a witch hunt; this is about making sure that our veterans 
understand that we are moving in a new direction. If the administration 
is not willing to be a part of that new direction and wants to hold on 
to their original thoughts, then we are just going to have to show them 
that direction; and that is going to take courage, it is going to take 
leadership, and I know that the majority Members of this House have 
that courage and leadership.
  Again, before I close, I want to commend the workers at Walter Reed. 
I want to commend those that came forward. I want to commend those 
individuals that have been working for 15, 20 years, taking care of our 
wounded, taking care of our men and women in said communities, and we 
look forward to continuing to support them in that effort, and help is 
on its way. As a matter of fact, help is already there.
  You can e-mail us, Members, at [email protected], and 
our Web site is www.speaker.gov/30something.
  I want to thank Mr. Ryan for being a part of this hour. I want to 
thank the Speaker and the Democratic leadership for allowing the 30-
something Working Group to come to the floor one more time. It was an 
honor to address the House of Representatives.

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