Tim Ryan: “But the one issue I wanted to just touch base on for a few minutes, and I know it is getting late and our time is…”

“But the one issue I wanted to just touch base on for a few minutes, and I know it is getting late and our time is limited, about the mandatory funding. We have an opportunity to make sure that our veterans are funded every single year through the mandatory funding provisions that we want to implement. Right now it is discretionary funding, it is up to the whims of Congress on whether or not our veterans should get their health care. The request from the Secretary of the VA is completely underfunding the needs. Everyone keeps saying, ``Well, we're spending more on veterans now than we ever have. We are spending more. We have increased by X percent over the last few years.'' And the one point that continues to get ignored is that we have thousands of more veterans entering into the system.”