Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2026

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Chairman, I thank the ranking member for yielding me time.

Mr. Chair, I rise today in opposition to H.R. 3944, the fiscal year 2026 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. Unfortunately, I must ask my colleagues to oppose this fundamentally flawed legislation as well. This is not a position I take lightly, and I lament that we have gotten to this point.

As ranking member of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, I have a sacred duty to care for our Nation's veterans, regardless of their race, religion, creed, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, or politics. To fulfill this solemn promise, I am committed to doing all we can to ensure that we have a well-functioning Department of Veterans Affairs.

We must also ensure the VA has adequate funding to do the job we ask it to do. As such, any time veterans legislation is on the floor, I ask two main questions. One is: Does this bill improve access and delivery of care and benefits for veterans, their dependents, and their survivors? Two is: Does it provide appropriate resources to VA to get the job done?

Unfortunately, despite its price tag, this bill fails on both accounts.

Mr. Chair, at best, I could say this bill is premature. VA has not yet seen fit to provide Congress with full and complete justification for its budget request. We have no clear idea how VA intends to spend the money we would be appropriating through the Department.

At worst, I would say the Republican majority has rushed forward with a bill that is completely divorced from our current reality, one in which VA Secretary Collins is planning to callously fire 80,000 VA employees without regard to the impact on delivery of healthcare and other services.

My Republican colleagues have thoughtlessly rubberstamped a budget proposal that accelerates privatization of veterans' healthcare; threatens progress on ending veteran homelessness; erodes access to disability benefits; guts VA IT modernization, unless someone happens to be one of the President's tech friends; and needlessly drags VA into MAGA Republicans' culture war.

This bill contains numerous dangerous policy riders that hinder VA's ability to serve all veterans. Especially harmful are provisions that deny women veterans the full range of necessary medical care, including necessary reproductive healthcare which includes abortion care and counseling.

On top of that, this bill abandons the premise that all veterans deserve the same level of care they have earned, by cruelly and heartlessly subjecting LGBTQ+ veterans to the bigotry that characterizes this administration. The unpatriotic attack against transgender servicemembers continues in this bill as an unsparing attack against transgender veterans.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Chair, if that wasn't bad enough, this bill continues the harmful Kennedy amendment rider. This shortsighted, dangerous provision prevents VA from protecting beneficiaries and those around them from potential harm, beneficiaries with debilitating mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, Alzheimer's, dementia, and bipolar disorder.

Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to vote against this appropriations bill.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source