Bob Filner: “Tonight, Mr. Chairman, we have talked about the lack of accountability of this administration, the poor wisdom of…”

“Tonight, Mr. Chairman, we have talked about the lack of accountability of this administration, the poor wisdom of unilateral action, and the lack of a plan on the part of this administration, but I want to spend the few minutes that is allotted to me on priorities. Looking at this chart, we have requested $87 billion this evening for Iraq for a total of $201 billion. What we spend on veterans benefits this year is less than $62 billion; on food and nutrition 46; on education 34; on the environment 30; on housing 30. Where are our priorities? We are spending an obscene amount of money on an unwise action. But what about the troops that are coming home after they have been in Iraq? Are we going to provide for them? We have not provided sufficient money for their health care as veterans. We have not provided money for what we call concurrent receipt. My amendment says that there shall be full funding for those military retirees, for their pension and for their disability if they are so disabled. It provides the money for full funding of concurrent receipt. Why must we do this? Why must we work for our veterans? Why must we make sure that when our young men and women come home, they are provided for? In our budget resolution of this House, we make sure that over 150,000 veterans are still waiting 6 months for their first appointment.”