Bob Filner

This legislation proposes the establishment and posting of a 'Bill of Rights' for recipients of VA healthcare who require O&P services.

We WILL NOT balance the budget on the backs of veterans.

At the end of the day, we must provide veterans the benefits they have rightfully earned.

Budgets represent a choice, and provide a window into the priorities of the VA.

I will commit to you that I will work with my colleagues to ensure you get it.

I applaud you on that. The House passed a bill that I had put forward a year or two ago called a Women Veterans' Bill of Rights.

I think we are on the verge of revolutionizing the way we process claims.

Let us give the Vietnam vets some peace. Let us give them a real welcome home. Let us grant those Agent Orange claims.

To say we are leaving veterans twisting in the wind is just not true.

I disagree with you on one thing, Mr. Chairman, when you said the administration is somehow cynically holding veterans hostage.

We risk losing the most able staff among us, the loss of the ability, the institutional knowledge, and the effect of the quality of the laws we pass

Congress should enact that proposal and then halt the sequestration scheduled to take place on January 2, 2013.

The Administration continues to believe that balanced deficit reduction, not across-the-board sequestration, is the way to put the Nation on the path to fiscal stability.

Every dollar that is misspent or wasted is a dollar that cannot be used to provide benefits or services to veterans in need.

[Congress] would be derelict in our duty if we failed to guarantee that those who sacrificed so much for this country are able to receive benefits and services that keep pace with their needs and inflation.

I urge support of the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time. General Leave

I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time. General Leave

The bill before us, H.R. 1025, as noted sponsored by Congressman Walz of Minnesota, would ensure that deserving men and women of our National Guard and Reserve receive the honor and distinction of being called veterans. It seems a simple…

I have no further requests for time, I would urge support of the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time. General Leave

I endorse the arguments just made by the chairman of the subcommittee. I have no requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time. General Leave

I have no further requests for time and would be prepared to close once the chairman has no further speakers.

I wish you would remind the chair that he asked me a yes or no. I just asked him a yes or no, and he's playing games with words. I guess it's his time, but I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Thank you. Let me just correct again my friend, the chairman. I didn't call Chairman Murray a hypocrite. I called those of the Republican Party who have taken a pledge of no taxation and voting for taxes here, hypocrites. Let's be clear…

No, I don't support it because it has the same funding thing. And I don't support the hypocrisy of the Republican Party, which says it's against a 5 percent surtax on millionaires but will tax veterans who are trying to buy their first…

The gentlelady from North Carolina did not answer my question. I guess she either doesn't know what's in the bill, or she's violating her pledge. I'll leave it at that. Once again, we need jobs for veterans in this country. There is no…