Bernie Sanders: “This conference report, despite what some may have heard, is a major achievement for our Nation's veterans, for children…”

“This conference report, despite what some may have heard, is a major achievement for our Nation's veterans, for children without health insurance, for the middle class, and for millions of Americans struggling to make ends meet. None of these achievements would have been possible without the strong work of Senator Conrad, and I commend him as a member of the Budget Committee for all of his efforts. As my colleagues know, one of the major issues I have been working on has been to expand federally qualified health centers in this country, and on that subject I would just like to ask the chairman the following question: Does the conference report accompanying the budget resolution assume that $2.6 billion in Federal funding would be provided for federally qualified health centers in fiscal year 2008--$536 million more than the 2007 level adjusted for inflation and $575 million more than the President's request?”