Political Quotes

“While I wholeheartedly support the intent of the PACT Act and intend to vote for it, I am opposed to the precedent that the funding mechanism in this bill sets. Later, I will be offering a motion to commit that would prohibit creation of the cost of war toxic exposure fund. Democrats are using the fund to move almost $400 billion of existing VA healthcare spending from the discretionary to the mandatory side of the ledger for purposes completely unrelated to veterans. We should not use this bill to create more entitlement spending. That is dangerous, and it is a very dangerous budget ploy. It will put more spending on autopilot. It will limit our ability to do our job, constitutionally, of oversight of the second-largest bureaucracy in the world that serves millions of veterans and survivors. It will hurt taxpayers who are already suffering everywhere, from the gas pump to the grocery store. My motion to commit is simple, and I hope my colleagues will support it. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to include the text of the amendment in the Record immediately prior to the vote on the motion to commit. The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Kilmer). Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Illinois? There was no objection.”