Jon Tester: “I want to speak on the MILCON-VA bill. We have 1 minute. We are going to take a giant leap of faith that the majority is…”

“I want to speak on the MILCON-VA bill. We have 1 minute. We are going to take a giant leap of faith that the majority is going to do the right thing by our veterans and by this country. I will vote to proceed on this bill with the hope that Members of this body are finally ready to honor our commitment we made to the veterans of this country. As everyone knows, for most of the year, the Senate Appropriations Committee was crafting appropriations bills that fit under disastrous spending caps put forward by the majority's budget resolution. As a member of the VA appropriations subcommittee, I was especially concerned that because of the budget resolution, we were underfunding the VA by over $850 million. This shortchange to our veterans would have been a disgrace. Back in May when I introduced an amendment in the committee to provide an additional $857 million to the VA--$857 million the VA needs to do its job--every Republican on the Appropriations Committee voted against my amendment. I find it troubling that there are some so quick to send our troops into harm's way but neglect them when they return from war. That is exactly what happened, and we saw an appropriations bill that underfunded veterans health. The good news is that under the budget agreement we voted on this last week, that Senators in this body supported, we are going to fix the problem. It is now time to show the American people that we can govern responsibly by standing up for our veterans.…”