Providing for Consideration of H.R. Sanctioning Tyrannical and Oppressive People Within the Chinese Communist Party Act; Providing for Consideration of H.R. Keeping Violent Offenders Off Our Streets Act; Providing for Consideration of H.R. Fix Our Forests Act; Providing for Consideration of H. Res. Ensuring Accountability for Key Officials in the Biden-Harris Administration Responsible for Decisionmaking and Execution Failures Throughout the Withdrawal From Afghanistan; and for Other Purposes

Floor Speech

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Mr. DeLUZIO. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me time.

This country has a sacred obligation to America's veterans, to my fellow veterans. It is a promise that after we complete our service in uniform to this great Nation, our government will, in turn, deliver the care and benefits that we have earned.

For too long, this promise has been broken for so many of my fellow veterans, and finally, we are making some progress.

The Honoring our PACT Act and the Cost of War Toxic Exposure Fund have helped my fellow toxic-exposed veterans and their survivors get the healthcare and benefits they have long earned but only recently were offered.

More veterans than ever are now receiving life-changing benefits. Over the last 2 years, VA has approved more than 1.2 million PACT Act claims, and the Veterans Health Administration is expected to serve 127 million appointments by the end of this year. That is 7 million more than 2023.

This growth in the number of claims and appointments has outpaced VA's initial estimates, causing the funding shortfall that the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) alluded to.

I say it is about time that more of my fellow veterans receive the care they have earned. It is our sacred obligation here in this Chamber and this Congress to ensure our veterans are taken care of, and that includes paying for the cost of war.

We have got to make sure the VA is fully staffed, it is modernized, and it is able to meet the needs of my fellow veterans.

While there is no funding shortfall for this fiscal year, next year we expect the Veterans Health Administration to cross that red line around March of 2025. That is exactly why the now-failed Republican 6- month CR proposal last week would have been a disaster.

Since the current proposed CR goes until December, we have time to address this $12 billion shortfall, so we are submitting this amendment to appropriate $12 billion for the VA Cost of War Toxic Exposure Fund.

Caring for veterans is part of the cost of war, and patriotic Americans expect us to pay for it.

We cannot have veterans miss out on the hard-earned benefits they earned through their service, and we cannot send Americans off to war and then pinch pennies when the bill comes due, especially when billionaires and huge corporations don't pay their fair share in taxes in this country.

House Democrats are committed to getting veterans the healthcare and the benefits that we are owed. That was the PACT Act's commitment, and we intend to keep that promise.

I urge my colleagues to defeat the previous question so we can keep this country's obligation.

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