Steve Israel: “there is bad news and good news this Veterans Day. The bad news is the study by Harvard Medical School that there are 2…”

“there is bad news and good news this Veterans Day. The bad news is the study by Harvard Medical School that there are 2 million veterans who don't have health insurance and are not eligible for veterans care, 2 million veterans. What makes it worse is that President Bush is banning 273,000 veterans from receiving VA care because they are not income eligible. So he is balancing the budget on the backs of middle-class and working veterans. The good news is that this Democratic majority passed the largest increase in VA health care in the 77-year history of the VA. We are going to add 1,800 new claims processors to make the long lines a little shorter and the wait shorter as well. Now, we have to go even further. I'm urging my colleagues to sign a letter that I've sent to the President demanding that he reverse the policy of denying health care to 273,000 veterans and not means-test them. We didn't means-test when we asked them to fight our battles. We should not means-test them when they have to come home for health care.”