Steve Israel: “I must say I am hearing some conflicting priorities on the floor today. We have heard that the appropriations process is…”

“I must say I am hearing some conflicting priorities on the floor today. We have heard that the appropriations process is not moving fast enough, despite the fact that under the leadership of Chairman Obey in the House, we passed every single one of our appropriations bills, I believe in record time. We are hearing that the appropriations process isn't moving fast enough on the one hand, and now we have a motion to instruct the conferees to actually slow it down, to take pieces out of this bill, to stop it. You can't have it both ways. We are trying to get things done. We are trying to move our priorities forward. Now, I understand that some of my friends don't want to deal with the labor, health and human services aspects of this bill, and they are concerned with the President's argument that we have plenty of money to fund Iraq but can't afford veterans health care here at home and educational priorities here at home and low-income heating for the elderly here at home. I understand those arguments, but let me suggest to my colleagues that they read a study that was just released yesterday by Harvard Medical School. That study shows there is, in fact, a critical connection between the VA pieces of this bill and the health and human services aspects of this bill. The two should be considered together. That study found that, today, there are 2 million veterans who have no health insurance. And they aren't eligible for VA benefits.”