Pete Domenici: “essentially the Domenici amendment says this program, which has never been voted on by Congress, which has been put into…”

“essentially the Domenici amendment says this program, which has never been voted on by Congress, which has been put into regulation by order of the counsel for the Veterans Administration, which will cost ultimately $40 billion, we are saying let us wait 1 year and have the GAO, the Veterans Administration, and the OMB study it and report to us and to the President. The President has denied this program's efficacy, because of concern about the kinds of benefits and whether they are relevant to service in the military, 2 years in a row. We ought to take a little bit of time before we get involved in a $10-billion-a year program. I will give you one example. A veteran who smoked 3 years before he went into the service, 4 years in the service, and 40 years thereafter his surviving spouse might very well collect a widow's benefit and other benefits under this particular program.”