[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 4935]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         HONORING OUR COMMITMENT TO VETERANS WITH SHORT CHANGE

  (Mr. STEARNS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, on May 18, 2006, then-Senator Barack Obama 
gave a speech where he mentioned that a number of our veterans had been 
apparently ``shortchanged.'' He went on to say:

       When a young man and woman goes off and serves the country 
     in the military, they should be treated with the utmost 
     dignity and respect when they come home.

  Unfortunately, the President's budget proposal seeks to further 
increase the cost for health care for our military retirees and all of 
our veterans. On October 1, 2011, TRICARE Prime annual enrollment fees 
were increased dramatically for new family enrollments and dramatically 
for new individual enrollments. In fiscal year 2013, the administration 
proposes additional fees and cost-sharing increases, a new annual 
enrollment fee for TRICARE for Life, increases in pharmacy copayments, 
and a catastrophic cap of $3,000 per family.
  Mr. Speaker, when our President promised our servicemembers change, 
I'm sure they didn't expect it would be ``shortchanged.''

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