Bob Filner: “as we speak, the Republicans are celebrating over at the White House their big tax break plan. These same folks who are…”

“as we speak, the Republicans are celebrating over at the White House their big tax break plan. These same folks who are celebrating gave great speeches on Memorial Day last week saying how much they supported our veterans. Yet they voted for a tax break plan and they voted for a budget which is an insult to our Nation's veterans. This budget barely keeps pace with inflation from past years. We will have veterans waiting years to adjudicate their claims and 10,000 cases a week are being added to the backlog. Veterans will have to wait months and months for doctors' appointments. We are doing nothing to find a cure for Persian Gulf War illness. We are doing nothing to advance our treatment of mental illness. We are doing nothing for the homeless veterans that are on our streets. Yes, they are celebrating their tax breaks, they passed a budget, but they are dishonoring our veterans. They ought to be ashamed of themselves for such a celebration and we ought to change the appropriations to reflect our real commitment and our real appreciation of our Nation's veterans.”