Liberated Text -> Congressional Record -> Nine Senators of Shame
The Senator from Michigan.
Ms. Stabenow: Mr. President, before my colleague and friend from Illinois leaves the floor, I want to thank him for his leadership on this very important issue, in fact, for so many people in our country. I also wish to thank Senator Enzi for indicating his desire to make this a priority within his committee.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to set aside the pending amendment.
The Presiding Officer: Without objection, it is so ordered.
Amendment No. 1937
Ms. Stabenow: Mr. President, I call up my amendment which is at the desk.
The Presiding Officer: The clerk will report.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from Michigan [Ms. Stabenow], for herself, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Thune, Mr. Akaka, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Dayton, Mr. Nelson of Florida, Mr. Lautenberg, Mr. Salazar, Mrs. Lincoln, Mr. Corzine, Mr. Baucus, Ms. Landrieu, Mr. Jeffords, Mr. Bayh, and Mr. Bingaman, proposes an amendment numbered 1937.
Ms. Stabenow: Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with.
The Presiding Officer: Without objection, it is so ordered.
The amendment is as follows:
(Purpose: To ensure that future funding for health care for former members of the Armed Forces takes into account changes in population and inflation)
At the appropriate place, insert the following:
Sec. __. (a) Funding for Veterans Health Care to Address Changes in Population and Inflation.--Chapter 3 of title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
Sec. 320. Funding for veterans health care to address changes in population and inflation
(a) By the enactment of this section, Congress and the President intend to ensure access to health care for all veterans. Upon the enactment of this section, funding for the programs, functions, and activities of the Veterans Health Administration specified in subsection (d) to accomplish this objective shall be provided through a combination of discretionary and mandatory funds. The discretionary amount should be equal to the fiscal year 2005 discretionary funding for such programs, functions, and activities, and should remain unchanged each fiscal year thereafter. The annual level of mandatory amount shall be adjusted according to the formula specified in subsection (c).
(b) On the first day of each fiscal year, the Secretary of the Treasury shall make available to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs the amount determined under subsection (c) with respect to that fiscal year. Each such amount is available, without fiscal year limitation, for the programs, functions, and activities of the Veterans Health Administration, as specified in subsection (d). There is hereby appropriated, out of any sums in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, amounts necessary to implement this section.
(c)(1) The amount applicable to fiscal year 2006 under this subsection is the amount equal to-- "(A) 130 percent of the amount obligated by the Department during fiscal year 2004 for the purposes specified in subsection (d), minus
(B) the amount appropriated for those purposes for fiscal year 2005.
(2) The amount applicable to any fiscal year after fiscal year 2006 under this subsection is the amount equal to the product of the following, minus the amount appropriated for the purposes specified for subsection (d) for fiscal year 2005:
(A) The sum of--
(i) the number of veterans enrolled in the Department health care system under section 1705 of this title as of July 1 preceding the beginning of such fiscal year; and
(ii) the number of persons eligible for health care under chapter 17 of this title who are not covered by clause (i) and who were provided hospital care or medical services under such chapter at any time during the fiscal year preceding such fiscal year.
(B) The per capita baseline amount, as increased from time to time pursuant to paragraph (3)(B).
(3)(A) For purposes of paragraph (2)(B), the term `per capita baseline amount' means the amount equal to--
(i) the amount obligated by the Department during fiscal year 2005 for the purposes specified in subsection (d), divided by
(ii) the number of veterans enrolled in the Department health care system under section 1705 of this title as of September 30, 2004.
(B) With respect to any fiscal year, the Secretary shall provide a percentage increase (rounded to the nearest dollar) in the per capita baseline amount equal to the percentage by which--
(i) the Consumer Price Index (all Urban Consumers, United States City Average, Hospital and related services, Seasonally Adjusted), published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the Department of Labor for the 12-month period ending on the June 30 preceding the beginning of the fiscal year for which the increase is made, exceeds
(ii) such Consumer Price Index for the 12-month period preceding the 12-month period described in clause (i).
(d)(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), the purposes for which amounts made available pursuant to subsection (b) shall be all programs, functions, and activities of the Veterans Health Administration.
(2) Amounts made available pursuant to subsection (b) are not available for--
(A) construction, acquisition, or alteration of medical facilities as provided in subchapter I of chapter 81 of this title (other than for such repairs as were provided for before the date of the enactment of this section through the Medical Care appropriation for the Department); or
(B) grants under subchapter III of chapter 81 of this title.".
(b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the beginning of such chapter is amended by adding at the end the following new item:
320. Funding for veterans health care to address changes in population and inflation.
Ms. Stabenow: Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Senators Murray, Kerry, Kennedy, Dayton, and Biden be added as cosponsors of my amendment.
The Presiding Officer: Without objection, it is so ordered.
Ms. Stabenow: Mr. President, I rise to thank both the chairman and ranking member, Senator Inouye, for their leadership on this legislation. I am very supportive of the Defense appropriations bill. And I appreciate all of the hard work and leadership they have brought to this point in this important legislation.
I come to the floor this evening to fix a broken promise to our veterans, a promise our country made to the men and women who serve our country in the armed services. They put their lives on the line to protect us, as we know, and in exchange we have a sacred obligation to extend to them the honors and benefits and the health care benefits they have earned through their service.
I have met with men and women from Michigan and across the country who are recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, as many of my colleagues have. Some have suffered minor injuries that will not have a dramatic impact on the rest of their lives. Others though, because of their injuries, will need years of rehabilitation and face considerable obstacles as they return to their civilian lives.
We owe these men and women our continued support so that they can recover from their injuries and lead productive lives.
Today's soldiers are tomorrow's veterans--and America has made a promise to these brave men and women to provide them the care they deserve. They deserve the respect and support of a grateful nation when they return home.
We also owe it to the men and women who have fought in America's prior conflicts to maintain a place for them in the VA system so they can receive the care they need, as well. We need to keep our promise to our veterans, young and old.
Together we can do better for our men and women who have served our country. We must consider the ongoing costs of medical care for America's veterans as part of the continuing cost of our national defense. The long-term legacy of the wars we fight today is the care of the men and women who have worn the uniform and are willing to pay the ultimate price for their nation.
Senator Johnson, Senator Thune, and I are offering an amendment today to provide full funding for VA health care to ensure the VA has the resources necessary to provide quality health care in a timely manner to our Nation's disabled veterans. The Stabenow-Johnson-Thune amendment provides guaranteed funding for America's veterans from two sources.
First, the legislation provides an annual discretionary amount that will be locked in for future years at the 2005 funding level. Second, in the future, the VA receives a sum of mandatory funding that is adjusted year to year based on changes in demand from the VA health system and the rate of health care inflation.
This funding mechanism will ensure that the VA has the resources it needs to provide a steady and reliable stream of resources to care for America's veterans. It will also ensure that Congress will continue to be responsible for the oversight of the VA health system as it does with other Federal programs funded directly from the U.S. Treasury.
This amendment will bring funding for veterans health care into line with almost 90 percent of Federal health care spending which is mandatory rather than discretionary. One of our greatest accomplishments as a nation is that every American knows when they enter their golden years, when they reach 65 or if they are disabled, they receive the health care they need. Medicare is a universal and comprehensive system that benefits a person for their life's work. Our veterans deserve the same. We can do better for them by ensuring that their service is repaid with reliable health care benefits.
I thank the cosponsors of this amendment for their support: Senators Johnson, Thune, Akaka, Dayton, Nelson, Lautenberg, Salazar, Lincoln, Corzine, Baucus, Landrieu, Jeffords, Bayh, Bingaman, Murray, Kerry, Kennedy, and Biden.
In July, I offered this amendment to the 2006 Defense authorization bill. Unfortunately, the Defense authorization bill was pulled from the Senate at that time. While we are working out whether this will be included in this particular bill, it is important to offer my amendment again at this time. The amendment has been endorsed by the Partnership for Veterans Health Care Budget Reform, a group of major veterans service organizations that has been working to provide a reliable stream of health care for America's veterans over the last 2 years. It includes the American Legion, the AMVETS, the Blinded Veterans Association, Disabled American Veterans, Jewish War Veterans of the United States, Paralyzed Veterans of America, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars, all of them together asking us to get this right for our veterans.
The problem we face today is that resources for veterans health care are falling behind demand. We have more veterans being created, more men and women coming home from the wars. Yet the funding is falling behind. Shortly after coming into office, the President created the task force to improve health care delivery for our Nation's veterans. The task force found historically there has been a gap between the demand for VA care and the resources to meet the needs of our veterans. The task force also found that:
The current mismatch is far greater . . . and its impact potentially far more detrimental both to the VA's ability to furnish high quality care and to the support that the system needs from those it serves.
The task force released its report in May of 2003, well before we understood the impact of the men and women fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan and the impact that would have on our VA system.
If the mismatch between demand and resources was bad in May of 2003, imagine what it is today. Over 360,000 brave soldiers have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan, and over 86,000 have sought health care from the VA. There are an additional 740,000 military personnel who served in Iraq and Afghanistan who are still in the service. This next generation of veterans will be eligible for VA health care and will place additional demands on a system that is already strained. These are promises we need to keep.
In addition, each reservist and National Guard member who has served in Iraq is eligible for 2 years of free health care at the VA. The administration has in its own way admitted they do not have sufficient resources to provide adequate care for our veterans. While they would not until recently admit there were shortfalls, they have for years attempted to ration care and cut services at the expense of our veterans. We can do better than that.
In 2003, the VA banned the enrollment of new priority 8 veterans. For the past 3 years, I fought attempts by the administration to charge middle-income veterans a $250 enrollment fee to join the VA health care system and a 100-percent increase in prescription drug copays. This year, the administration also proposed slashing Federal support for the State veterans homes from $140 million to $12 million. The head of the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans and the D.J. Jacobetti Home For Veterans in Marquette tells me these cuts would be devastating.
The fiscal year 2005 and 2006 VA health care budgets are a case study in why Congress should guarantee reliable and adequate resources through direct spending.
Last March, the President submitted an inadequate fiscal year 2005 budget request for VA health care to Congress that fell $3.2 billion short of the recommendation of the independent budget, an annual estimate of critical veterans health care needs by the coalition of leading veterans organizations.
In fact, in February 2004, Anthony Principi, then the Secretary of VA, testified before Congress that the request the President submitted to Congress fell $1.2 billion short of the amount he had recommended. It then fell to Congress to again increase the amount provided to the VA for health care. The Final amount Congress provided to the VA for health care was $1.2 billion over the President's request, but it was still not enough to meet their immediate needs.
In April of this year I cosponsored an amendment with Senator Murray to the fiscal year 2005 supplemental appropriations bill for Iraq and Afghanistan to provide $1.9 billion for veterans medical care, especially for those soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. During the debate on the amendment we were again told that the President's budget was sufficient but, in fact, on April 5, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson sent a letter to the Senate that said:
I can assure you that the VA does not need supplemental funds for FY2005 to continue to provide timely, quality service that is always our goal.
I was proud to cosponsor an amendment in June, however, to provide an additional $1.5 billion for veterans health care because they finally admitted there was a gap in funding for this year. Finally, they admitted, in fact, the veterans health care system was not adequately funded this year. I was pleased we were able to add dollars under an emergency spending measure, to be able to fill the gap this year.
As it turned out, we received more bad news from the administration on July 14, when the administration requested another $300 million for this year and a whopping $1.7 billion for next year. The total shortfall for this year and next was nearly $3 billion, 3 billion short of where we should be in adequately funding health care for our veterans.
At the end of July, I was pleased to support the conference report for the Interior appropriations which included the $1.5 billion this year that the Senate has twice unanimously supported. Further, in September, I supported the Senate's Military Construction and Veterans Affairs appropriations bill which provided a total of $33 billion for veterans health care. This is $1.1 billion more than the administration requested and $2.5 billion more than the House version of the legislation for veterans health care.
I tell this to make two points: First, it is clear that the demand for veterans health care is increasing, and a good portion of this increase can be attributed to men and women seeking care after they are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. The second is to show despite the best intentions of the VA and Congress, the VA does not have a reliable and dependable stream of funding to provide for veterans health care needs. We should not have to pass an emergency funding bill to give our veterans the health care they need and deserve.
In 1993, there were about 2.5 million Americans in the VA health care system. Today there are more than 7 million veterans enrolled in the system, over half of which receive care on a regular basis. Despite the increase in patients, the VA has received on average a 5-percent increase in appropriations over the last 8 years. My amendment will fix this problem and ensure that each year we provide the funding necessary to care for our veterans in a timely manner that is separate from the uncertainty and the ups and downs of the congressional calendar.
At last count, at least 86,000 men and women have returned from Iraq and have sought health care from the VA. We can safely assume that this number will reach hundreds of thousands. This bill provides the resources our troops need to prepare and defend our country in Iraq. We must not forget about them when they return home and put on a veteran's cap. We must ensure that we keep our promises to them when they come home as veterans. Let's stop this up-and-down roller coaster of emergency spending measures, of budgets that do not match with need year to year. We owe our veterans better than that. Together, we can do better than that.
I urge the support of my colleagues for this very important amendment.
The Presiding Officer: The Senator from Alaska is recognized.
Mr. Stevens: Mr. President, I regret to do this, but as we have examined this amendment of the Senator, we find this requires this spending to become a part of the mandatory process of expenditures. It requires funds to come out of the Treasury to implement this section, and in effect it becomes a matter that we believe is subject to a point of order under section 302(f) of the Congressional Budget Act that provides spending in excess of the subcommittee's 302(b) allocation under the fiscal year 2006 concurrent resolution of the budget. I make that point of order.
Ms. Stabenow: I move to waive the applicable sections of the Congressional Budget Act for the purpose of considering my amendment, and I ask for the yeas and nays.
The Presiding Officer: Is there a sufficient second?
There is a sufficient second.
The yeas and nays were ordered.