Political Quotes

“reserving the right to object, I appreciate my colleagues' work on this legislation. I am pretty sure I have never opposed a bill that Senator Isakson was involved in. If you are looking for thoroughness in legislation, he is the epitome of it, but on this bill, many of us have been recently made aware of the potential cost growth and budget-sharing and operational pressures that would happen at the VA. They are having a lot of problems anyway, but the VA's analysis shows that the cost could be nearly five times what Congress assumed it was when the House of Representatives passed it--and they did pass it by those strong numbers. A recent letter from the Congressional Budget Office estimated an increased cost from their first estimate of about $1.3 billion. So there is clearly more work to do just on figuring out the spending and the administration of this and the deficit impact this bill will have, while we still want to make sure the veterans who are having the problems get the solutions they need. There will be a report out in June that is going to maybe narrow down the risks. I am not that excited about any studies, but another concern I have heard from veterans is the pay-for. There will be an increase in the interest rate for housing for some veterans who are trying to buy a house. That isn't enough money to cover the renewed estimates of how much this is.…”