Rep. Corrine Brown: “the topic of my discussion will be the rescission cuts. There have been many targeted, including children and the…”

“the topic of my discussion will be the rescission cuts. There have been many targeted, including children and the elderly, but worst of all have been the veterans, and I rise today in behalf of the veterans throughout this Nation. There is a national disgrace in this country that must be addressed now. We all know that American men and women in the prime of their lives willingly go to remote parts of the world to defend their country. Sometimes they do not return. Sometimes they return wounded. Sometimes they return with wounds that do not surface until years later. War is never without human cost, and for this reason we have a longstanding contract with our brave warriors that goes something like this: ``If you will stand in harm's way for me, I will care for you later.'' On February 24, a day of disgrace, the House Appropriations Committee with Republican leadership voted to rescind $206 million in fiscal year 1995 from the VA appropriations. During the full committee markup on March 2, the Republicans voted to support those cuts. This rescission money was intended to fund six VA ambulatory care projects totaling $200 million. It is a national disgrace that veterans' programs are a part of this rescission list, a list that was quickly and thoughtlessly compiled. These canceled projects prevent us from expanding our outpatient service, a national trend in health care delivery and making our health care system more efficient and cost-effective.”