Continuing Appropriations

Floor Speech

Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Madam President, yesterday the Veterans Affairs Administration announced it would furlough 7,000 Veterans Benefits Administration employees, and as a result activities and services in the following areas would be suspended: The education call center, personal interviews and hearings at regional offices, education and vocational counseling, outreach programs including at military facilities, the VetSuccess Program on campuses.

But this announcement is only the beginning of the contraction in the services and activities of the VA. In fact, VA also announced that at the end of the month it will run out of funding for compensation, pension, educational and vocational rehabilitation, and employment benefits.

What does that mean for America? What are the consequences of the VA saying this shutdown means we are shutting our doors to processing and paying the claims of men and women who have served this country, who have been disabled as a consequence of that service, who have earned educational benefits so they can come back and continue to contribute to this country? What that means to America is we are in effect defaulting and failing on a core obligation this country has to men and women who serve and sacrifice. America is failing to keep faith with its veterans, and America is failing on one of its most essential obligations.

We ought to be ashamed and embarrassed that 7,000 men and women, who want nothing more than to help their fellow veterans--in fact, half of those 7,000 men and women at the VA are themselves veterans--have been told: Go home. In fact, at the end of the month the benefits, pensions, and educational benefits that are received by veterans will have to be suspended because the VA is running out of money. Right now it is in effect continuing on the leftover money, which will last only through the end of this month.

I spoke this morning to a veteran named Jordan Massa, a native of Bridgeport, who served for 6 years in the U.S. Army as an infantryman, including two tours in Iraq. Jordan Massa was injured in an IED explosion, a roadside bomb, that left him severely disabled with ear and back wounds as well as posttraumatic stress. Jordan Massa waited for 2 years after he applied for the benefits he needs and deserves, until October 1--just days ago--when he heard the good news that he would be receiving the disability benefits to which he is entitled--not as an act of charity or beneficence; he is entitled to those disability benefits. Now Jordan Massa is on the verge of being denied the benefits he needs and deserves because of this shutdown. A Connecticut native, awarded the Purple Heart, he has been a student at Tunxis, and has sought to help other veterans as a counselor--giving back to this country even after his service in uniform.

I spoke also to Aaron Jones, who works at the South Park Inn Shelter, which serves homeless veterans in Hartford. That shelter is full.

There are thousands of homeless veterans in Connecticut and millions across the country who also are a mark of shame and embarrassment for this country. The greatest Nation in the history of the world is failing to provide for men and women who have worn the uniform and now are homeless.

He is telling me the government shutdown has created an additional obstacle to those veterans who want to leave that shelter to find permanent housing. Some are there for emergency, about 7; some are there in transitional housing, about 10; and they want to resume productive and constructive lives. This shutdown has created an additional obstacle to their doing so. In fact, for Aaron himself, who is a veteran and served in the National Guard, a tour in Bosnia, a tour in Iraq, this shutdown is a horrendous obstacle.

At this moment as I speak on the floor there is a House hearing. The House Committee on Veterans' Affairs has, as its principal witness, the head of the VA, General Shinseki, who has served this Nation with distinction and dedication and has sought valiantly to reduce the backlog in disability claims and to provide benefits more efficiently and effectively to our veterans.

Rather than using General Shinseki as a political punching bag, the House should simply have a vote. They should vote on a simple, straightforward, no-strings-attached funding resolution that would enable those 7,000 VA employees to come back to work and serve the people they love. It would provide for other essential services, whether at NIH serving cancer victims or the other agencies that work with the VA to help serve our veterans, such as the Department of Labor and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The piecemeal approach the House is taking, a ``cause du jour'' approach to governing, is simply inadequate and irresponsible. The bill they have sent to us, while it deals with the VA, would not provide for those other agencies that are essential to the VA's work, whether in training or housing or processing claims.

This Nation should by embarrassed and ashamed. This legislature ought to be embarrassed and ashamed that it is failing to keep faith with Jordan Massa, with the folks who live at the South Park Inn Shelter, and countless other veterans in Connecticut and across this country who are entitled to benefits, pensions, and processing of their disability claims so they can receive what they deserve and need. If the House votes it will pass a simple, straightforward funding resolution, if the House is permitted to simply say yea or nay to that very straightforward, simple measure, this Nation will keep faith with Jordan Massa, with Aaron Jones, and with the countless millions of other veterans who at the end of this month will lose the benefits and pensions they are entitled to receive as a result of their service and sacrifice to this Nation.

I ask the Speaker of the House to simply allow a vote. Let the House vote so we can open government, pay our debts, and then reach a budget that is comprehensive and responsible and meets the needs of those veterans and many other Americans who are harmed and handicapped, enduring hardship as a result of the failure of that body. It is a small minority in one branch of the legislature, one branch of our government that is failing our Nation.

I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

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