Alan B. Mollohan: “Mr. Chairman, I want to briefly discuss the amendments that the chairman proposes to merge here. I want to begin by…”

“Mr. Chairman, I want to briefly discuss the amendments that the chairman proposes to merge here. I want to begin by expressing my agreement with the premise of these amendments that the Veterans Medical Research account and the State Grants Account for extended care facilities are both underfunded. Two of the amendments in this unanimous consent request, those of the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Gutierrez) and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ney), would together increase the VA Medical Research Account by $30 million. As I said before, VA research has been widely praised for its quality and medical advances. Indeed, this Congress has clearly demonstrated its interest in medical research, specifically in the National Institutes of Health, which received a $2.2 billion increase last year, an increase of over 14 percent. We should be doing the same for VA medical research. And although these amendments do not get us to that point, they are a good start. In addition, the amendment of the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Tancredo) would increase the State Grant Account for the construction of extended care facilities by $30 million, for a total of $90 million, the same level as was enacted for Fiscal Year 2000. The need for extended care facilities is great, and this increase will help meet that need.”