Political Quotes

“veterans health care needs are critically important to the VA Committee. We will maintain a close watch on the impact of this year's budget development on veterans health care concerns. The administration's budget was a package flawed from the beginning. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the President's proposal did not balance. The administration also predicated a substantial portion of their veterans health care budget on an untested and risky legislative proposal allowing VA to retain and use third-party receipts. I want to make that clear--it was an administration proposal that recommended a switch from fully appropriated funding of veterans health care to the use of third-party receipts. I have always supported using third-party receipts as a supplement, not a substitute, for veterans health care funding. Our committee believed that reliance upon keeping insurance receipts as part of the budget this year was premature. However, the budget agreement ignored our concerns, so we're going to do what we can to make this proposal work. According to an analysis which came to light after the agreement was announced, there is a $2.2 billion difference between proposed discretionary spending, mainly in VA health care, and what had been proposed in the President's budget for veterans.”