House Proceeding 04-06-06 on Apr 6th, 2006 :: 4:01:08 to 4:05:42
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4:00:03 to 4:01:08( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: James P. Moran

4:00:56 to 4:01:08( Edit History Discussion )

James P. Moran: the gentleman from iowa. mr. nussle: at this time i'd yield three minutes to a distinguished member of the committee, mr. bradley. the chairman: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr.

4:01:08 to 4:01:21( Edit History Discussion )

Jeb Bradley: bradley: thank you very much, mr. speaker. let me start out by thanking you, mr. chairman, for the leadership you've exhibited for so long and wish you well in your future endeavors. i'd like

4:01:08 to 4:05:42( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Jeb Bradley

4:01:21 to 4:01:37( Edit History Discussion )

Jeb Bradley: to return the discussion to the veterans' discretionary portion of the budget and thank both mr. nussle and mr. spratt for their bipartisan support of my amendment which increased the overall

4:01:37 to 4:01:48( Edit History Discussion )

Jeb Bradley: budget authority by $800 million in this year's budget so we could make sure to spend an extremely strong message that as a committee on a bipartisan basis we do not support the proposed drug co-payment

4:01:48 to 4:02:02( Edit History Discussion )

Jeb Bradley: fee increase or the proposed enrollment fees. to go wack back to some of the numbers over the years because they are very illustrative of the significant increases that veterans' health

4:02:02 to 4:02:22( Edit History Discussion )

Jeb Bradley: care has experienced over the years, last year's appropriated dollar level was $33.6 billion. this year under the budget authority that chairman nussle established with my amendment, we move

4:02:22 to 4:02:31( Edit History Discussion )

Jeb Bradley: that up to $36.9 billion, which by my calculation is a 9.8% increase in one year's spending alone. this is a significant increase. well, beyond just the veterans' health care portion of the budget,

4:02:31 to 4:02:46( Edit History Discussion )

Jeb Bradley: let's talk about some of the other things that have happened over the last several years. in the veterans' health care portion of the budget this year we recognize that our troops are coming

4:02:46 to 4:02:56( Edit History Discussion )

Jeb Bradley: home from iraq, many of whom have posttralm atic stress disorders so 10% of -- posttraumatic stress disorders so 10% of the money the v.a. does to health care is related to this significant

4:02:56 to 4:03:09( Edit History Discussion )

Jeb Bradley: issue affecting so many of our nation's veterans. the health care facilities which we've all visited as members of congress are among the best in our country, and that's because over the

4:03:09 to 4:03:22( Edit History Discussion )

Jeb Bradley: last several years we've almost doubled the amount of discretionary money going into the veterans' health care system. not only have we nearly doubled the amount of money but we have doubled the

4:03:22 to 4:03:39( Edit History Discussion )

Jeb Bradley: number of veterans being treated by the v.a. center from roughly 2.5 million about a decade ago to five million today, that's increased by one million veterans in the last four years alone.

4:03:39 to 4:03:54( Edit History Discussion )

Jeb Bradley: and this year as i noted, we are moving from $33.6 billion to $36.9 billion, an increase of almost 10%, and does so without increasing the drug co-payment fee or the enrollment fee. but

4:03:54 to 4:04:18( Edit History Discussion )

Jeb Bradley: beyond just the discretionary portion of the veterans administration budget, we've done an awful lot of other things over the last several nears that are indeed note worthy. we have more than

4:04:18 to 4:04:34( Edit History Discussion )

Jeb Bradley: doubled the g.i. education benefit veterans are entitled to since 1995. . we have increased the death benefit to $100,000. and increased the sgli benefit to $400,000. since 2001, the v.a. home loan

4:04:34 to 4:04:50( Edit History Discussion )

Jeb Bradley: guaranteed program has increased by 67%. we have dramatically expanded the number of national cemeteries and their capacity. we have increased back to the appropriate level of 55% benefits

4:04:50 to 4:05:04( Edit History Discussion )

Jeb Bradley: for surviving spouses. it had been 35%. and over the next five years -- and actually phased in by april of 2008 it will go back to the promise level of 55%. and lastly, the whole issue of

4:05:04 to 4:05:16( Edit History Discussion )

Jeb Bradley: concurrent receipts, that being when a military officer, somebody who has served our country for 20 years has a disability as a result of their military service, they were the only federal employees

4:05:16 to 4:05:28( Edit History Discussion )

Jeb Bradley: unable to collect both their disability, which they've received as a result of that military service and their retirement pay which they have earned, we have over the next 10 years, we'll

4:05:28 to 4:05:42( Edit History Discussion )

Jeb Bradley: phase in that benefit for those that have a disability of 55%. the chairman: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. bradley: i thank the chair. the chairman: the gentleman from south carolina.

4:05:42 to 4:05:55( Edit History Discussion )

Artur Davis: mr. spratt: mr. chairman, i yield two minutes to the gentleman from alabama, mr. davis. the chairman: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. davis: thank you, mr. chairman. people turn

4:05:42 to 4:08:48( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Artur Davis