Cord Byrd: “I commend Chairman Conrad Burns and the ranking member, Senator Byron Dorgan, on their work on this legislation. I am…”

“I commend Chairman Conrad Burns and the ranking member, Senator Byron Dorgan, on their work on this legislation. I am pleased that this conference report includes the full $1.5 billion proposed by the Senate to make up the current 2005 fiscal year shortfall in funding for veterans health care. The Interior bill may seem a strange vehicle for this funding, but it was the first vehicle available once the administration confirmed the funding crisis in VA health care, and I thank the managers for preserving this provision in their conference report. It is critically important that the President sign this conference report into law quickly so that this money can be used to replenish the coffers of the VA and make sure that there is no interruption in the VA's ability to provide medical services to our Nation's veterans. Make no mistake about it, this money is needed now--now. We know the VA anticipates an even greater shortfall in fiscal year 2006, and the Senate Appropriations Committee has addressed that problem in the 2006 Military Construction and VA appropriations bill by providing $1.977 billion in emergency funding for VA health care in 2006. The $1.5 billion that is provided in this conference report is specifically intended to address the current--the current--2005 crisis in VA health care funding. The precise amount of the current shortfall remains somewhat murky.…”