John Drake: “this is day 37. That is 37 days so far that our veterans have not had the use of increased funding for their benefits…”

“this is day 37. That is 37 days so far that our veterans have not had the use of increased funding for their benefits and health care. That is $18.5 million a day not able to be used. In June this House passed this appropriation bill with a $6 billion increase in a bipartisan manner. On September 6, the Senate completed their bill. This work is done; yet the bill has not been sent to the President who has agreed to sign it. And why? Because the Democratic leadership has decided to use funding for our veterans as a smoke screen in an effort to pass billions in unrelated domestic spending. Our veterans are not pawns in a political game. They are heroes. These funding issues must be considered separately and on their own merits. America expects us to get the job done. America expects us to provide the best care to our veterans. Our veterans deserve no less. Please join me in calling upon the Democratic leadership to put our veterans first and send a clean veterans appropriation bill to the President.”