John Spratt: “That is exactly the point. They claim they were actually allowing the veterans budget to increase. And in nominal terms…”

“That is exactly the point. They claim they were actually allowing the veterans budget to increase. And in nominal terms it does go up. But of course a dollar today will not buy the same thing as a dollar tomorrow, number one. Number two, in all events if you want some sort of benchmark to determine how much their cut was, we used the President's request. And what we were saying is that they were cutting the budget first $30 billion below the President's request, and then they modified that a bit and reduced it to $28.6 billion. But they left it in that position until we had our motion to instruct here on the House floor. Now, we all know how much regard those motions to instruct get when there is a conference, particularly a conference like the one going on now. We do not go to those conference meetings. We had a big photo-op at the beginning, where everybody got to make a passionate statement and pound the table. But it is the last time we will see the budget conference report making these critical decisions until it comes here on the House floor to be voted upon. That, of course, is a time when everybody can take assessment of it; and if it does not do right by veterans and education, then, by golly, if we are true to what we said in the motion to instruct, we should vote it down.”