C. W. Bill Young: “the amendment called up restores the funding for the Veterans' Administration military care facilities. And the…”

“the amendment called up restores the funding for the Veterans' Administration military care facilities. And the amendment No. 75 was actually filed by the gentleman from Arizona [Mr. Stump], the chairman of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, and the chairman of the Committee on Rules, the gentleman from New York [Mr. Solomon]. Amendment No. 80, which is one that I had filed at the same time, is identical, so I called up No. 75 and I am going to yield most of the time to the gentleman from California [Mr. Lewis] and the gentleman from Arizona [Mr. Stump]. I just briefly want to say that today we are dealing with the Contract With America. At the same time when we talk about veterans issues and veterans medical care, we are talking about America's contract with veterans. One hundred thirty years ago this month, just outside this Chamber, just prior to the end of the Civil War, President Lincoln made that commitment. And he said, ``Let us strive on to finish the work we are in,'' and he said, ``to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and for his orphan.'' Those words are engraved in the walls of the Department of Veterans Affairs headquarters downtown as a reaffirmation of that commitment to our veterans. In keeping with that commitment to America's veterans, we offer this amendment today.”