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[Page: S10880]  GPO's PDF
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   Mr. KERRY. Madam President, on Monday I was privileged to stand with thousands upon thousands of veterans and their families who traveled to Washington to visit the Vietnam Wall for its 20th anniversary, to reconnect with those with whom we had served, and above all to honor our fallen brothers and sisters.

   These veterans, some of whom traveled for days and all at their own expense, proved something I think every American knows deep down in their heart--something that cuts to the quick of what we as Americans stand for--that part of being an American means keeping faith with our citizens and those heroes who gave so much to our country. That responsibility extends to those of us who have the honor to serve here in the Chambers of Congress.

   Today, my friends, after another Veterans Day where words of praise for America's veterans were spoken, at a time when it is an increasingly real possibility that more Americans will be sent into harm's way for their Nation, we must keep faith--in deeds and not just words--with the veterans of our country. We must do the duty we were sent here to do, as they did their duty wearing the uniform of our country.

   Because of a 111 year-old law, when our soldiers have returned from combat wounded, debilitated by illness, missing limbs, confined to wheelchairs--disabled for life these veterans have been told that their retired pay would be reduced dollar-for-dollar for any VA disability benefits they received. Yesterday the House and Senate reached a compromise on the issue of concurrent receipt in the National Defense Authorization Act. The authorization act has been held up for weeks because the administration has threatened a veto if concurrent receipt language was included in this bill. The compromise that was reached yesterday begins to correct the injustice created by this archaic law but it does not go nearly far enough.

   The compromise language applies only to veterans injured during combat, combat-oriented training, or certain other hazardous activities, with a disability rating of 60 percent or greater, and those with a rating of at least 10 percent if they received a Purple Heart. This compromise leaves a bitter taste in the mouths of anyone who believes we have a faith to keep with our veterans. On October 10, the House passed overwhelmingly a motion to instruct their conferees to accept the far more comprehensive Senate-passed concurrent receipt language--which would have provided all disabled veterans the full amount of their disability benefits and their retirement pay. There is strong bipartisan support for full concurrent receipt in both Chambers of Congress, yet because of the considerable pressure from this administration we have been forced to accept a compromise that will leave hundreds of thousands of our veterans behind.

   I cannot believe that this administration is willing to tell a veteran who, through service to his country, has suffered an injury leaving him 50 percent disabled, that he is not entitled to both disability compensation and retirement pay earned for 20 years of service. Military retirees are the only category of federal employees who are required to relinquish a portion of their retirement pay when they receive VA

   disability benefits. Not only does this practice unjustly penalize our disabled career soldiers--it weakens our military by effectively encouraging injured servicemembers to leave the military early in their careers. We have been working for years to right this wrong. This change in law is a beginning, but much remains to be done.

   The issue of compensation for our disabled veterans is only one aspect of a much larger problem--we are failing to meet our promises to the people who have so courageously served our country. Nothing punctuates this fact more than the ongoing financial crisis facing the veterans health care system.

   We must address simple mathematics. From 1996 to the present, the number of veterans seeking health care from the VA has grown from 2.9 million to 4.5 million, while the VA's health care staff has decreased from 195,000 to 183,000--forcing many veterans to wait 6 months or longer for care. But this administration's continued refusal to fully fund our VA has done nothing to help them hire new staff, let alone offer better care to our Nation's veterans.

   The overall thrust of their approach to this funding crisis has been to push reforms aimed at reducing enrollment in the veterans health system rather than providing the funds necessary to ensure that every veteran gets the best health care we have to offer. Even VA Secretary Principi identified a $400 million shortfall in the fiscal year 2002 budget of the VA health care system. But the administration requested only $142 million to compensate for this shortfall, and plans to make up much of the remainder of the shortfall by imposing ``efficiencies'' on a system that's already reached a crashing point.

   In July Congress passed $417 million for veterans health care as part of the fiscal year 2002 emergency supplemental--to reduce waiting times for health care, keep clinics open, and establish new Community Based Out-patient Clinics. But in August the President blocked $275 million of the amount provided by Congress, announcing the administration would only spend the $142 million it requested for VA health care.

   This is not the way to keep faith with our veterans. They are aging and in need of medicine and health care, they are sitting in our waiting rooms, and struggling to pay hefty bills and still afford rent and food. Many are homeless--in fact, nearly one quarter of all homeless Americans are veterans. By any measure, we are not doing enough for those who have done so much for us.

   That is why I am asking the Congress to provide full funding for veterans medical care in the fiscal year 2003 VA/HUD Appropriations bill. The committee reported bills in the Senate and House both provide $25.3 billion for the VA health system, an increase of $3.3 billion over the fiscal year 2002 level, and $1.8 billion more than the administration's request for 2003.

   Because we are not doing enough for our veterans, I am asking the Senate to reject the President's proposed $1,500 health care deductible for Priority 7 veterans included in his fiscal year 2003 VA/HUD budget. So far the House and the Senate have rejected the President's request to include this deductible in the VA/HUD Appropriations bill.

   I am also asking this body to join me in urging the administration to rescind the VA memo dated July 18, 2002 that ordered the directors of every veterans health care network in the country to cease outreach activities such as health

   fairs, open houses, newsletters, and public service announcements.

   And I ask the Senate to call on the VA to rescind its new regulations which require the rationing of health care. These regulations--which give priority for health care to veterans with service-connected conditions, without taking into account the medical needs of patients--could add to the VA's red tape, making the already long waiting times at many VA facilities even longer.

   I believe it is also important the Senate join in supporting Senator Johnson's Veterans Health Care Funding Guarantee Act, which would assure adequate funding of these important priorities.

   Regrettably, this administration has launched an assault on Priority 7 veterans, those who lack a service-connected disability and whose income is higher than the current VA eligibility standard--$24,500 for a single person. Priority 7 veterans have grown from 2 percent of VA patients in 1995 to about 33 percent currently--a total of 1.6 million veterans. Although this increase coincides with the 1996 law that changed the VA's eligibility system, veterans have turned to the VA mainly because they have nowhere else to go for affordable prescription drugs. These are the same people who would benefit most from a Medicare prescription drug benefit--their incomes are too high for Medicaid, but too low to handle the health system's growing reliance on expensive prescription drugs.

[Page: S10881]  GPO's PDF

   We should remember the words of George Washington: ``The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation.'' Today, after one of the most meaningful days in our year, it is time for us to show our commitment to our veterans and, by doing so, show our soldiers that their service means something to this country and to this government--that we won't just send them into harms way and forget about them when they come home. We will remember their service and always keep faith.

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