Jay Rockefeller: “I will address two subjects, primarily veterans and the highway technical corrections bill. But in this morning's…”

“I will address two subjects, primarily veterans and the highway technical corrections bill. But in this morning's Congressional Daily, the majority leader, when referring to the question of the matter of the treatment of disabled veterans who have been addicted to smoking and have become disabled because of that, said, ``Where was Rockefeller when we passed this bill?'' And that is a quote. The majority leader has publicly questioned my record on the issue of veterans' smoking-related disability rights, and I really thought I had a duty to set the record straight. The Clinton administration has met with me on several occasions on the veterans smoking issue. I told the Director of OMB and I told the Secretary of Veterans' Affairs at least a year ago that I would vigorously oppose their proposal to deny veterans' disability rights. I have maintained that exact position all along. When the Senate considered this year's Republican budget resolution in March, I offered an amendment to strike the budget language which would have transferred the smoking disability rights issue to the Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee and assumed denial of smoking-related disability rights--assumed denial of those rights.”