Tim Walz: “In their letter from June 28, they wrote: ``Specifically, we call on you to reach an agreement on an emergency…”

“In their letter from June 28, they wrote: ``Specifically, we call on you to reach an agreement on an emergency appropriation and authorization bill that would address urgent resource shortfalls endangering VA's medical care programs--including Choice, community care and medical services. Further, in order to prevent these problems from recurring in the future, we call on you to equally invest in modernizing and expanding VA's capacity to meet rising demand for care. . . .'' Choice means choosing to go to the VA hospital and choice means choosing to use community care. Both are equal opportunities for our veterans to get the care they need. The current bill before us does not meet the requirements asked for by our veterans service organizations. In fact, in order to keep the Veterans Choice Program going, House leadership and the Budget Committee have refused to see this as an emergency and are requiring $2 billion in offsets to pay for the bill. While the actual offsets being offered are noncontroversial and are the ones the committee has used in the past, the fact that the leadership is requiring offsets from VA programs to pay for private care is wrong--all of this to appease a small vocal minority who simply sees any spending as unnecessary.…”