The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“THE VA-HUD APPROPRIATIONS BILL AND THE DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION CONFERENCE REPORT” mentioning the Department of Interior was published in the Senate section on pages S14792-S14793 on Nov. 12, 2003.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
THE VA-HUD APPROPRIATIONS BILL AND THE DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION CONFERENCE
REPORT
Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, hardly a day goes by without an announcement of new casualties in Iraq, a news story about the family of a fallen service member, or the profile of a heroic soldier learning to cope with the aftermath of wounds suffered in Iraq. While the conflict is Iraq prompts quick approval of the defense spending bills, there is less appreciation for mounting costs to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
I was most distressed at last month's refusal by the White House to support the Senate's addition to the Iraq-Afghanistan emergency supplemental of $1.3 billion in funding for veterans' health care. Most Senators understand that military activities in Iraq are significantly increasing the burden on the VA, and supported the addition of $1.3 billion to the Iraq supplemental. Seeing that this amendment was poised for inclusion in the final bill, the White House sent notice to Congress that it would veto the entire package if money for the VA were included. Sadly, Congress gave in to administration pressure and removed this critical funding.
I am pleased that the Senate leadership finally saw fit to bring the VA-HUD appropriations bill to the Senate floor this week. This critical legislation, setting funding levels for fiscal year 2004, which actually began 6 weeks ago, is long overdue. This legislation provides
$62 billion for the Veterans Administration, $27 billion of which goes to the Veterans Health Administration, an increase of $3.9 billion over last year's spending level and $1.3 billion over the President's request. Because of budget constraints and the unwillingness of the administration to endorse additional funding for the VA, the Senate Appropriations Committee designated the additional $1.3 billion as emergency spending so as not to count against the annual spending caps. However, this also made the increase subject to the President's approval, and it risked meeting the same fate as other increases rejected by President Bush.
I am very pleased that during debate on the VA-HUD appropriations bill, the managers successfully offered an amendment to remove the emergency designation and incorporate the $1.3 billion into the bill, thereby greatly increasing the chances that this money will actually get to veterans this year. It seems that a majority of Senators have been listening to the few of us who have been decrying the state of VA funding for some time, and they are now coming to understand that even these modest increases do not make up for the continual shortfall experienced by the VA in recent years. It's long past time that this trend be reversed.
The Senate VA-HUD appropriations bill also supports the Rural Health Initiative, RHI, a successful examination of innovative methods of delivering health care to veterans in rural areas. The VA must become more adept at spreading its health care dollars further across rural America. I am encouraged that the RHI will help improve the VA's performance in this area.
After making significant progress on this legislation, I was discouraged that the Senate leadership decided to pull this VA-HUD bill off the floor prior to its completion in order to begin a 30-hour discussion of the status of judicial nominations. While I agree that judicial nominations are important, I was most disappointed that a largely partisan political debate took precedence over the completion of much needed funding for veterans. I urge the leadership to quickly bring us back to the people's business--the work we were sent here to accomplish.
I would like to mention another issue of concern to veterans that came before the Senate this week. For years I have been a primary promoter of concurrent receipt--the payment to disabled veterans of the full disability and retirement benefits to which they are entitled. For many years, disabled military retirees have been forced to choose between receiving their full retirement pay or their disability benefits. This injustice has finally been recognized by a majority of the Congress, in large part due to the unflagging commitment of Senator Harry Reid. In recent years, Congress has moved to partially restore these benefits. The fiscal year 2004 Defense authorization conference report contains legislation allowing combat disabled veterans with a disability greater than 10 percent to receive their full disability and retirement benefits. It also provides for a 10-year phase-in of full disability and retirement benefits for those with a noncombat related disability rating of over 50 percent.
While I am pleased to see this important improvement in benefit payments, I am concerned that some might view this as the end of the road for this issue. I intend to work closely with Senator Reid to continue to press the administration and the Congress to fully fund concurrent receipt for all disabled veterans. This is a basic principle of fairness that is not rectified by halfway measures.
I regret that, for a number of reasons, I was unable to support passage of the Defense authorization conference report, despite its progress on concurrent receipt. Unfortunately, the legislation included unacceptable environmental provisions. As a former Navy Officer and 30-
year reservist. I understand the need for the best possible military training. As the ranking member of the Environment and Public Works, EPW, Committee, I was quite concerned by a request from the Bush administration to exempt the Department of Defense, DoD, from five of our Nation's most important and effective environmental laws. After careful review by the EPW Committee, I was convinced that the waivers contained in current law are quite sufficient to provide flexibility for DoD if it needs greater leeway to conduct military readiness exercises.
In an effort to forge a reasonable compromise between DoD's request and sound environmental policy, Senator Lautenberg and I authorzed as amendment to the defense authorization bill that was supported by a majority of Senators. While this amendment carefully balanced the Defense Department's need for training with the Interior Department's mandate to protect endangered species, it was dropped in conference with the House of Representatives. In its place, the conferees added language providing DoD with broad authority to sidestep the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act, even dropping requirements that any waivers be related to military readiness. I cannot in good conscience support legislation that undermines such critical environmental legislation. Therefore, I had no choice but to vote against the defense authorization conference agreement in spite of its improvement on concurrent receipt.
Mr. President, we have a long way to go before our veterans health system is fully funded and before veterans receive the full compensation they deserve for their years of service to the Nation. I hope that the daily stories of herosim coming out of Iraq will compel more Members of Congress to stand with the veterans and not to rest until justice is done.
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