Political Quotes

“I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, first of all, I would like to thank Chairman Dent for his hard work on the subcommittee. He has been a tremendous partner. I would like to thank Chairman Rogers and Ranking Member Lowey for their strong bipartisan leadership. And certainly, I would like to thank our staffs for their hard work. Today's omnibus reflects what the FY16 MILCON-VA bill should have looked like during full House consideration. Discretionary funding for VA programs in today's agreement is $71.4 billion, $6.4 billion above the FY15-enacted level. This agreement fully funds major construction within the VA budget. As you may recall, this was a significant issue in the House bill. There are a number of good things to highlight within the bill that will have a profound impact on the lives of our Nation's veterans. For example, we have the opportunity to completely eradicate hepatitis C for our Nation's veterans, and so we raised the amount for funding for treatment to $1.5 billion. Additionally, in order to combat veterans' homelessness, suicide, and PTSD, we have also included $7.5 billion for mental healthcare services. That being said, Mr. Speaker, it is high time that we return to regular order; and by regular order, I mean the process that starts with a realistic allocation, enabling the Appropriations Committee to meet our Nation's fiscal needs.…”