MILCON-VA Appropriations

Floor Speech

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Mr. BOOZMAN. Mr. President, yesterday Congress passed yet another short-term continuing resolution. While this avoids a shutdown, it is far from ideal. Certainly a shutdown is not good governing. I think all of us can agree on that much. I wish to remind my colleagues, though--particularly those on the other side of the aisle--that continuing resolutions are hardly better. While the American people demand that we get our financial house in order, Washington continues to pass stopgap after stopgap funding bills. Instead of tackling this challenge head-on, these short-term extensions continue current funding levels and prevent us from stopping waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer dollars. Just like a shutdown, this, too, is no way to govern. There is another option. We don't have to choose between a continuing resolution and a shutdown. The third choice is the right choice, and that choice is for this Chamber to follow regular order and pass all 12 appropriations bills.

We have done our work at the Appropriations Committee. For the first time in 6 years, every spending bill has cleared committee--all 12--and most of them passed with strong bipartisan support. I commend the Appropriations Chairman Cochran and Leader McConnell for their leadership to make that happen.

The full Senate has the responsibility to consider each of these bills as well. Leader McConnell is committed to this approach. Our caucus is behind it 100 percent. The minority, on the other hand, is actively working against it. Committee passage of these 12 bills was no easy task. Both sides made compromises. These bills were the product of a great deal of give-and-take.

We worked very hard for months to ensure that these bills reflect the spending and policy priorities that are right for our Nation. These bills should not simply be left for dead. The President is encouraging the Senate Democrats to obstruct the appropriations process because he wants more domestic spending for agencies like the EPA and IRS. This is not the direction our country needs to go. I hope my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will reconsider this failed strategy.

The funding bills show the American people that we share their priorities. For instance, the bill before us takes care of our Active Military and our veterans when they return home. Clearly this is an area of bipartisan agreement. Yet talk of a filibuster remains.

Here is what the minority is considering filibustering: increases in funding for veterans services, military housing and family support, hospital and health facilities construction, just to name a few vital things in this bill. The bill increases funding in areas where our veterans need it most--health care, benefit claims processing, and medical research. It also includes funding for projects to ensure military readiness and improve the quality of life for military families. In light of the numerous scandals that have plagued the VA, it includes some strong policy reforms such as protection for whistleblowers.

These are funding and policy priorities for both sides of the aisle. That is why this bill passed out of the Appropriations Committee with strong bipartisan support. That is why it should move forward without resistance on the Senate floor. Yet the minority is threatening a filibuster for reasons that have nothing to do with this bill. This is all about protecting the President's agenda.

President Obama wants spending increases across the board. He has issued a blanket veto threat for any appropriations bill that does not meet his demands. Basically, the President's view is that if such agencies don't get more money, then neither should our veterans or military families. It is my hope my colleagues on the other side of the aisle recognize this is out of line with our Nation's priorities.

The right thing to do is reject the President's call to obstruct so we can continue to work together for the good of the country. Determining how we allocate taxpayer dollars is our responsibility, not the President's. Continuing resolutions have been all too common, while they should be a rare exception. We need to reestablish our priority of regular order and pass the individual funding bills that are needed to keep the government open. We can start that today and by moving the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations bill forward.

I yield the floor.

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