Continuing Appropriations and Other Matters Act, 2025

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro) for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R. 9494, a fundamentally flawed attempt by the Republican leadership to save face for their inability to govern and a bill which lacks $12 billion in critical funding for the Veterans Health Administration.

Leaving out this critical funding for veterans' healthcare is the latest in a cynical political game playing that we have seen in this Congress. It is blatant, and I know my stating this fact will cause some howling complaints on the other side, just as it did last night when the House approved almost $3 billion in funding for the Veterans Benefit Administration.

This was done with a lot of misinformation and mudslinging about how this is all the fault of the Biden-Harris administration rather than recognition that this is the bill coming due for the true cost of war and what we owe to veterans, which we finally started paying with the Honoring our PACT Act.

This is not a last-minute request, and it is certainly not grounded in mismanagement, despite my Republican colleagues making this accusation.

This $12 billion shortfall is a direct result of President Biden and the VA's rapid implementation of the Honoring our PACT Act, which I got signed into law in 2022.

The VA Secretary McDonough told Congress in July that the Veterans Health Administration will need the $12 billion to continue to provide world-class care and ensure it has the resources and staff to uphold that standard.

Therefore, why not include the needed funds in the CR? My colleagues think that I am somehow opposed to oversight on this issue, which is not true. I support oversight when it is well-intentioned, and we want to ensure we improve the budget process and not put veterans in a position that they become concerned about the availability of healthcare or benefits.

I agree with my colleagues' calls for more oversight, but let's be honest about that oversight because what is needed is significantly more oversight of the funding going from VHA direct care to for-profit healthcare, a part of the budget that has grown over 15 percent year after year, and this is unsustainable.

With these growing costs, I would think the Veterans' Affairs Committee would have held several oversight hearings to determine whether veterans are receiving the same quality of care by the for- profit providers and that taxpayers are getting the best value from these providers.

We have held no such hearings.

The VA has been transparent about both the VBA and VHA shortfalls. The VBA supplemental passed the House unanimously last night and is awaiting prompt action in the Senate.

The need for the VHA funding is fast approaching, so why add the uncertainty for veterans who receive their care at VA? Let's end the political games and get serious.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, have my colleagues across the aisle proposed a plan to leadership to address these additional funds needed by the VA? No. Of course not. My Republican colleagues would rather point fingers under the guise of accountability than legislate. In the process, my colleagues are shortchanging veterans.

Why do my colleagues insist on wasting time? We are wasting time voting today on a CR we know will not pass and will never become law, and we are wasting time by not doing our jobs and prioritizing funding for the VA.

Mr. Speaker, we have the opportunity to stand with veterans and fix this now.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source