Senate Proceeding on Nov 5th, 2009 :: 9:52:35 to 9:57:55
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9:52:34 to 9:52:55( Edit History Discussion )

Pat Roberts: record as if read, and i will i would now like to yield to senator roberts for his remarks. mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from kansas. mr. roberts: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from kansas.

9:52:35 to 9:57:55( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Pat Roberts

9:52:56 to 9:53:17( Edit History Discussion )

Pat Roberts: mr. roberts: mr. president, suddenly i find myself aember of the powerful appropriations committee, but it comes under a dark cloud indeed. the distinguished chairman, who does such a great job in behalf of our veterans and military construction, has pointed out the terrible tragedy that has happened at fort hood, and so i

9:53:18 to 9:53:39( Edit History Discussion )

Pat Roberts: am here standing in, if you will, for senator does such a good job in partnership with my colleague -- and my friend and my neighbor -- who i respect a great deal. so i appreciate the opportunity to speak on the bill before us, and as kay departs -- pardon me,

9:53:40 to 9:54:00( Edit History Discussion )

Pat Roberts: senator hutchison departs, as early as she possibly n to get to texas to assist in the challenge of this great tragedy we wish her well and our prayers are with her and all the people at fort hood a all the people in texas. as the distinguished chairman has stated, a lot of time and energy has gone into putting

9:54:01 to 9:54:21( Edit History Discussion )

Pat Roberts: this legislation together, and senator hutchison wanted to thank chairman johnson, his staff who are working hard to address the needs of our service members and veterans. mr. president, i am going to repeat just a couple of things that are in the full statement by the distinguished senator but ask permission at this point that her full statement be inserted in the record.

9:54:22 to 9:54:43( Edit History Discussion )

Pat Roberts: the presiding officer: without objection. mr. roberts: as chairman johnson has pointed out, the military construction, v affairs, and related agencies apopriations bill includes for fiscal year 2010 $76.7 billion in discretionary spending, $23.2 billion for military construction, $53.2 billion for

9:54:44 to 9:55:04( Edit History Discussion )

Pat Roberts: veterans, $5.8 billion in mandatory spending for veterans' benefits and $1.4 billion for military construction projects to assist our troops in afghanistan and their fight against terrorism. a lot of the figures that senator hutchison has here have been repeated by the distinguished chair won't go into those.

9:55:05 to 9:55:25( Edit History Discussion )

Pat Roberts: but senator hutchison wanted to indicate and wanted to highlight that she was vy pleased that the bill provides full funding for the base realignment closure. the funds are essential to bring our troops home, predominantly from europe and korea, and basing them in the united states. by ful fully funding brac, we can

9:55:26 to 9:55:46( Edit History Discussion )

Pat Roberts: to stay on goal to achieve this goal by september of 2011. and she wou also like to highlight -- the distinguished senator would like to highlight the legislation contains the necessary funds for the defense department, especially designed to help our service members who are forced to relocate in this harsh economic housing

9:55:47 to 9:56:07( Edit History Discussion )

Pat Roberts: environment. i might add that we see this at ft. leavenworth and ft. reilly in kansas. the homeowners assistance fund, airman johnson has been absolutely instrumental in making this program a success. the legislation contains about $1.4 billion in emergency funding for the war in afghanistan.

9:56:08 to 9:56:28( Edit History Discussion )

Pat Roberts: senator hutchison, myself, almost every senator knows the policy of this conflict have been passionately debated. -- on the senate floor in recent days, but i amure that we can all agree that independent of our views on the war or the strategy of that national security threat, we must provide the infrastructure needs of our

9:56:29 to 9:56:50( Edit History Discussion )

Pat Roberts: sailors, soldiers, airmen, and marines. and by the way, they celebrated their birthday today. this bill does just that. in addition, i would point out that the distinguished ranking member wanted to express her strong commitment to make sure that our nato allies -- our nato allies -- fund their fair share of these joint pjects.

9:56:51 to 9:57:11( Edit History Discussion )

Pat Roberts: the chairman has already gone over the figures for the department of veterans affairs. although senator hutchison did want to point out that it includes funding to enhance outreach and services for mental health care, combat homelessness, further meet the needs of women veterans, and

9:57:12 to 9:57:32( Edit History Discussion )

Pat Roberts: expand to health care in rural arks something the chairman knows all like to think i know something about and something that i know that senator hutchison knows about a great deal. finally, we included $48.2 billion in advanced appropriations for veterans' medical care for fiscal year 2011. this funding will allow the v.a.

9:57:33 to 9:57:53( Edit History Discussion )

Pat Roberts: to better plan the budget for our veterans' health care. mr. president, congress has shown its resolve time and again to care for our nation's vetera and provide the infrastructure for our men and women in uniform. we all owe them our debt of gratitude and will do our part to take care of them. so i ask my colleagues to support this bill. we have no objection on this

9:57:54 to 9:57:55( Edit History Discussion )

Pat Roberts: side.