Hal Rogers: “I thank the chairman for yielding the time. Madam Chair, I rise in support of this bill. Earlier this week, we…”

“I thank the chairman for yielding the time. Madam Chair, I rise in support of this bill. Earlier this week, we celebrated Memorial Day--a day to commemorate those warfighters who made the ultimate sacrifice in the name of our great Nation. I can think of no better bill to take up this week in honor of those heroes. {time} 1650 We know the risks our troops take to fight for our freedom, and it's the duty of Congress to care for them accordingly. This bipartisan legislation ensures that our troops and veterans have the vital resources they need and deserve to fight successfully, have a sufficient quality of life, and stay healthy. This bill is funded at the same level as last year, $71.7 billion in discretionary funding for construction efforts here and abroad, and for veterans health, job training, and disability and education benefits programs. Included in this total is $1.65 billion for military family housing, ensuring quality housing for more than 1.2 million military families. Also included is funding for the improvements of existing military medical facilities and the continued construction of new ones to ensure rapid and quality care for our wounded troops. As a result of savings from the planned drawdowns in construction and declining BRAC costs, as well as rescissions of excess prior-year funds and other efficiencies, we were able to increase spending on veterans health discretionary funding by more than $2 billion while holding the line on overall spending.…”