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Pelosi: Shortfall in Veterans’ Health Care a Direct Result of Majority’s Failed Budget Policies and Misplaced Priorities

June 30, 2005

Pelosi: Shortfall in Veterans’ Health Care a Direct Result of Majority's Failed Budget Policies and Misplaced Priorities

Thursday, June 30, 2005

Contact: Brendan Daly/Jennifer Crider, 202-226-7616

Washington, D.C. â€" House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi spoke on the House floor tonight in favor of spending $1.5 billion for veterans’ health care to cover a shortfall in the Republican budget. She urged her colleagues to vote against a procedural motion known as a previous question, which would allow the House to consider a proposal by Congressman Chet Edwards of Texas for $1.5 billion for veterans, the amount approved by the Senate. Unfortunately, the House voted along party lines to approve the previous question, thereby preventing the Edwards bill from being considered. Below are Pelosi’s remarks:

â€Å"Mr. Speaker, as we approach this Fourth of July, we remember the sacrifice, the vision, of our Founding Fathers â€" the courage, the imagination, the intellect, and the values they presented in the Declaration of Independence. And since then, our country has always been about shared sacrifice â€" in times of war, and in times of peace. That is, up until now.

â€Å"As Americans, we make a simple yet sacred promise to our veterans: ‘You take care of us, and we take care of you.’ How we repay the service of our veterans speaks volumes about the character of our country. Unfortunately under the Majority's leadership, the Congress is failing to keep faith with the veterans who have defended our freedom with their very lives.

â€Å"Veterans in this country deserve some answers. Why does the Majority leadership in Congress find billions of dollars of tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, but does not find enough money for the veterans who risked their lives for our nation? Why are Veterans Affairs initiatives consistently under funded and shortchanged, forcing thousands of veterans to wait months for health care? Why did the Bush Administration suddenly discover a shortfall, when we have been talking about this for months? Democrats and veterans’ organizations have been saying that the VA has been under funded for more than two years now.

â€Å"The answer is simple: this shortfall is the direct result of the failed budget policies and misplaced priorities of the Bush Administration and this Congress. Republicans here have either been in denial about the plight of our veterans, or it simply hasn’t been a priority for them.

â€Å"This did not have to happen. Veterans across our country did not have to hear that the government had under funded their health care. Our veterans did not give only part of their patriotism and bravery in defending our nation.

â€Å"Let today be the day that we begin to enact the GI Bill of Rights. We can begin by responding to the call from the Senate and fully fund by $1.5 billion the needs for veterans’ health care. Senator Larry Craig, the Chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, said: ‘In a unanimous vote, the appropriators in the Senate voted to authorize the Senate to quickly take up the $1.5 billion emergency supplemental if the House approves such a measure.’

â€Å"So a vote ‘no’ on the previous question says ‘yes’ to bringing up the resolution by Chet Edwards, which would immediately take it up to the Senate. They would pass it, and then send it to the President’s desk. Instead, the Majority are advocating a different position, which is to once again shortchange America’s veterans.

â€Å"On the battlefield, the military pledges to leave no soldier behind. As a nation, let our pledge be that when they return home we leave no veteran behind.

â€Å"We can support our veterans with a ‘no’ vote on the previous question, and ‘yes’ on the Chet Edwards resolution and a ‘yes’ for our veterans. That would be the appropriate observation for the Fourth of July. I support the President’s call for flying the flag on the Fourth of July. Let’s fly the flag and fully fund veterans’ benefits.”