On the recordOctober 1, 2015
I come to the floor to urge my colleagues to pass the 2016 Military Construction appropriations bill. This bill has a $4.2 billion increase over last year's level. We passed the MILCON-VA bill out of the full Appropriations Committee by a vote of 21 to 9, with Democratic Senators Leahy, Feinstein, Udall, Schatz, and Baldwin all supporting that bill and with 16 Republicans backing it. We now have record levels of funding to fix the backlog of disability claims at the VA. We took construction out of the hands of the VA and gave it to the Army Corps of Engineers so that we never have cost overruns like at the Denver hospital again. The bill also bans funding for Glenn Haggstrom, the bureaucrat responsible for spending $930 million over budget in Denver. The bill provides new protections for whistleblowers, especially for doctors and nurses not protected by the Whistleblower Protection Act. By voting no on this bill, Members will be voting against a $4.2 billion increase for our veterans. Thank you, Madam President. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina. Trans-Pacific Partnership Negotiations
