Milcon Appropriations

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, there is no question that we need to make smart decisions to tighten our belts and reduce our Nation's debt and deficit. American families have done it around their kitchen table, and we owe it to them to get our fiscal house in order.

But there is also one group of Americans we owe an even greater promise to, a group we can never allow to become pawns or fall through the cracks, or be forgotten altogether in these budgets debates, and that is our men and women in uniform and the veterans who have protected our Nation for decades. That is why I am here today on the floor, in the midst of the whirlwind of debt and deficit rhetoric, to remind us all of the critical nature of the bill that is on the floor this week; to remind us all that no matter what fiscal crisis we face, no matter how divided we may be over approaches to cutting our debt and deficit, no matter how heated the rhetoric gets here in Washington, DC, we have to keep our commitments to our veterans and servicemembers, and we have to move this bill forward and we have to provide for those who wore or who are wearing the uniform with the peace of mind that we are keeping our promise to them.

A couple of years ago we took a proactive step to make sure the nonstop wrangling over appropriations bills here in Congress didn't interfere with the health care our veterans have earned. Thanks to the work of Senator Akaka and many others, the VA spending for health care is now appropriated a year in advance, protecting it from an imperfect budget process that is so often affected by politics.

But I remember when we passed advanced appropriations, we were very clear. Our foresight was not going to be an excuse to sit on our hands when VA funding was up for consideration. We were not going to allow a precautionary measure to get in the way of passing timely increases in veterans' health care, and so this bill is the test.

Can we put politics aside for the good of our Nation's veterans and servicemembers? Can we show them that, despite our differences, we will work as diligently toward getting them the benefits and care they have earned as they have worked for our Nation? Well, I hope we can.

I say that because the investments in this bill are a lot more than numbers on a page. They are life-changing programs for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. It is support for suicide hotlines that are seeing more callers than ever before. It is providing roofs over the heads of our servicemembers and their families. It is timely investments in the very biggest priorities of our Nation's heroes.

Today I want to talk about a few of the investments that are included in the bill we are considering today and how they translate into the lives of our servicemembers, our veterans and, critically, their families.

There is an influx of young veterans coming into the VA system right now that we have not seen in a very long time. In fact, the VA estimates that the number of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans in its health care system will reach well over 1/2 million at some point next year. That is an over 100-percent increase since 2008. This is a big challenge and one we have no choice but to step up to meet if we are going to avoid some of the same mistakes we saw with the Vietnam generation.

That is why this bill includes nearly $3 billion to meet the health care needs of veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, which is a nearly $600 million increase over last year.

But it is more than just the sheer number of new veterans that will be coming home to the VA in the near future. It is the extent of their wounds, both visible and invisible, that will require an untold resource from our Nation.

Through the wonders of modern medicine, servicemembers who would have been lost in previous conflicts are coming home to live productive and fulfilling lives. But they will need a lifetime of care from the VA. That is why part of this bill includes significant investments for research in a number of areas, including traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, polytrauma injuries, and sensory loss.

It includes funding that will go to maintaining world-class prosthetics such as the one that was worn by SGT Leroy Petry, whom I saw at the White House last week shake the hand of a grateful President Obama as he was awarded the Medal of Honor.

It is also funding that comes at a critical time as amputations have sharply increased among soldiers in Afghanistan, many of whom are getting out of protective MRAP and Humvees to engage Afghan citizens and at the same time putting themselves at far greater risk of severe IED injuries. According to a recent Washington Post article, twice as many U.S. soldiers wounded in battle last year required limb amputations than in either of the two previous years.

This funding also comes as mental health concerns continue to rise, and suicides among active-duty troops and veterans from these wars have risen to a level now on par with combat deaths. In April, the VA's suicide hotline took 14,000 suicide calls, more than they had taken in any month in the previous 4 years. This bill makes sure we are putting someone on the other end of that call. This bill funds efforts to give veterans access to mental health professionals, and ensures we are not leaving our veterans to go it alone.

But this will do much more than help our newest generation of veterans. For generations we have faced the problems of homelessness among our Nation's veterans without making any real headway. Recently, through the success of programs such as HUD-VASH and the Grant and Per Diem Program, we are seeing real progress toward putting homeless veterans into safe and secure housing, and the bold goals laid out by the Obama administration to end veterans' homelessness once and for all. This bill includes nearly $1 billion in direct assistance to homeless veterans, and this bill helps those who have taken on the monumental but deeply personal task of providing care to an injured veteran in their family, those people who have left behind their own careers and personal lives, and even their own health care and benefits to care for those who can't take care of themselves.

It includes major investments to meet the unique needs of one of the fastest growing groups of veterans, women veterans who, through health care and construction upgrades that improve privacy, will benefit from VA facilities that are more conducive to their needs.

This bill also includes major investments to fund military construction projects worldwide, including readiness centers, barracks, hospitals, clinics, and schools. It also supports family housing construction projects that ensure military families have a satisfactory roof over their heads. And that, by the way, will create thousands of good-paying jobs.

As we all know, the strength of our military is rooted in the strength of the families who support them. Investments such as these are what allow our servicemembers to go abroad knowing that their loved ones are being looked after by the Nation they are protecting.

After nearly a decade at war, the consequences of sending our servicemembers into combat and the sacred obligation we have to care for those injured in service have become clear. But so have the shortcomings and the challenges we have to meet.

Last week, I chaired a hearing on the gaps to mental health care that still exist at the VA, and the stories we heard were deeply frustrating. I heard the stories of two separate veterans who attempted suicide but were still left to wait for weeks, and even months, for appointments at the VA. We have to fix the VA in a way that meets that obligation so they are more flexible and responsive to the needs of today's veterans, and we have to do it in a cost-effective way by making sure we are getting the most value out of every dollar that a bill such as this one provides. Next week in our committee I will be examining the long-term costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to our newest generation of veterans, because I believe we need to address this problem openly and honestly.

Like generations of servicemembers and veterans before them, today's heroes have done everything that has been asked of them. They have been separated from their families through repeat deployments; they have sacrificed life and limb in combat; and they have done all this selflessly and with honor to our country. We cannot allow our commitment to them to lapse or to get caught up in politics. That is why we need to pass this bill.

We must also come to a budget agreement that avoids default and the consequences that would have on our veterans.

We have to keep our promise, no matter what.

Madam President, I yield the floor.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source