[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 11]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 15476]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               IN OPPOSITION TO H.R. 3230 AND H.J. RES 72

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, October 8, 2013

  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to both H.R. 
3230 and H.J. Res. 72, two bills which claim to fund our veterans and 
our National Guard and Reserve but are nothing but a political ploy and 
a piecemeal approach that do nothing to address many of the crucial 
services relied on by our military and veterans.
  Let me be clear. Every member of Congress fully supports our National 
Guard and Reserve and our veterans. Yet neither of the two bills we 
considered today actually accomplish this objective.
  Although H.R. 3230 does provide for the pay and allowances of 
military personnel in the reserve component who are in inactive status, 
it does not fund other essential programs and services to support our 
military, like equipment needed for readiness; military maintenance and 
procurement; and research and development for technological superiority 
of U.S. forces.
  H.J. Res. 72 also neglects to fund several critical programs for 
veterans, including the delivery of veterans' health care services, 
grants to state veterans homes, and funding for the VA's Office of 
Inspector General. In fact, this bill represents a $6.2 billion 
reduction in funding for the VA compared to the bipartisan MilCon/VA 
appropriations bill passed overwhelmingly earlier this year.
  So H.J. Res. 72 is not a vote to fund our veterans; it is a vote to 
cut veterans funding. In addition, it would leave their children and 
grandchildren behind without funding for programs like Head Start or 
medical research to cure the diseases that harm our veterans and every 
other citizen. Taken together, these two bills fail to equip and train 
our troops or build housing for their families.
  The fact is that we do have a way to solve this issue today. If we 
take up the Senate's clean continuing resolution, we can send it to the 
President for his signature tonight. The clean CR also provides $6 
billion more in funding for the VA and veteran's programs compared to 
the piecemeal bill offered today. That is why I call on my colleagues 
to bring up the clean CR so we can end this shut down and pave the way 
for full and immediate funding for our National Guard, our military 
reserves, and our veterans.

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