Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016
Floor Speech
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Mr. BISHOP of Georgia. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, first of all, I would like to thank Chairman Dent for his hard work on the subcommittee. He has been a tremendous partner. I would like to thank Chairman Rogers and Ranking Member Lowey for their strong bipartisan leadership. And certainly, I would like to thank our staffs for their hard work.
Today's omnibus reflects what the FY16 MILCON-VA bill should have looked like during full House consideration. Discretionary funding for VA programs in today's agreement is $71.4 billion, $6.4 billion above the FY15-enacted level. This agreement fully funds major construction within the VA budget. As you may recall, this was a significant issue in the House bill.
There are a number of good things to highlight within the bill that will have a profound impact on the lives of our Nation's veterans. For example, we have the opportunity to completely eradicate hepatitis C for our Nation's veterans, and so we raised the amount for funding for treatment to $1.5 billion. Additionally, in order to combat veterans' homelessness, suicide, and PTSD, we have also included $7.5 billion for mental healthcare services.
That being said, Mr. Speaker, it is high time that we return to regular order; and by regular order, I mean the process that starts with a realistic allocation, enabling the Appropriations Committee to meet our Nation's fiscal needs. I believe that if the Appropriations Committee were given a fair chance, we could have completed our work months ago.
Mr. Speaker, the process has much room for improvement. Governing through the use of omnibus is not a wise practice, so I believe that we must work to return to regular order, utilizing the entire legislative process to determine how our government invests in the American people. Truly, regular order is better for the committee, for the Members, and for this august institution in which we serve.
Nevertheless, while the omnibus is not perfect, far from it, we cannot let the perfect be the enemy of the good. This is a good bill, and I urge my colleagues to pass it.
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