Sanford Bishop: “The amendment that I am offering should be supported by every Member of this House. Very simply, it would restore the…”

“The amendment that I am offering should be supported by every Member of this House. Very simply, it would restore the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs funding bill to the full amount requested by the administration and to the full amount deemed necessary by the affected agencies. Last night, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, one of the largest veterans service organizations in the United States, put out a letter calling this year's MILCON-VA bill ``bad for veterans.'' They oppose the bill. The Independent Budget group, which consists of the AMVETS, the Disabled American Veterans, the Paralyzed Veterans of America, and Veterans of Foreign Wars, expressed serious concerns with this bill. The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America also expressed their serious concerns with this bill. In their letter, they called on Congress to provide the entire $1.5 billion that was cut from the budget request for the VA, which this House should do immediately. Without this necessary funding, much-needed investments in veterans health care will be shortchanged, and important services will be compromised. I understand that House rules make it difficult to add money to a spending bill's allocation, but I sincerely hope that we don't hide behind that as an excuse. We should be doing the right thing on behalf of our Nation's veterans. We have the power to do it.…”