Floor Statements

Mr. President, I rise today in support of H.R. 2646, as amended, the Veterans Health Care Facilities Capital Improvement Act of 2011. I urge our colleagues to support this bipartisan legislation, which would allow for new construction projects in five States and Puerto Rico and would extend several VA programs, including vital homeless programs.

Last year, Congress passed, and the President signed into law, Public Law 112-10, Department of Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, and provided an advanced appropriation of fiscal year 2012 funding for veterans' health care. Enacting H.R. 2646, as amended, would avoid interruptions in VA programs and would allow VA to use the full amount of funding provided through Public Law 112-10.

VA has worked tirelessly to get veterans off the streets and into housing. Their efforts are commendable, but there is still work to be done. H.R. 2646, as amended, contains critical extensions to many of VA's programs to end homelessness among veterans. This bill would allow VA to continue to operate the drop-in resource centers that help connect homeless veterans to services; provide grants to transitional housing programs for the most vulnerable homeless veterans, such as the frail elderly, terminally ill, women with children, and seriously mentally ill; and continue its street outreach and emergency care services for homeless veterans. These programs are on the front line of VA's services for homeless veterans.

One of the best ways to end veteran homelessness is to prevent it from happening. This bill would support VA's homelessness prevention and rapid rehousing programs by extending the Supportive Services for Veteran Families Program, a critical resource for stopping homelessness before it begins. H.R. 2646, as amended, also extends the Homeless Veterans' Reintegration Program, which helps homeless veterans find and maintain employment. Extending these programs will decrease the number of veterans who may become homeless in these tough economic times.

VA has a long list of construction projects that have yet to be funded. H.R. 2646, as amended, would allow VA to make critical upgrades to its facilities and infrastructure to ensure that we can provide care to veterans in a safe environment. For instance, this bill would allow VA to begin a $51 million project to seismically strengthen the nursing tower and community living center at the VA Puget Sound Healthcare System in Seattle, WA. Built in 1985, this building does not meet the current seismic code for Washington State. Located in an area of high seismic activity, it is vital that this building be upgraded so that the VA Puget Sound Healthcare System can continue to deliver world- class healthcare to veterans in a safe environment.

We must allow VA to continue work on projects such as seismic corrections in San Juan, PR; construction of new Polytrauma and Blind Rehabilitation Centers in Palo Alto, CA; medical center improvements and cemetery expansion in St. Louis, MO; and additional parking facilities and nurse education opportunities to ongoing projects in Fayetteville, AR and Orlando, FL, respectively. Additionally, it would authorize VA to lease space for outpatient clinics in Columbus, GA; Fort Wayne, IN; Mobile, AL; Salem, OR; San Jose, CA; South Bend, IN; and Springfield, MO.

This bill helps us honor the legacy of heroic veterans by dedicating VA medical facilities in their names. With the endorsement of every member of the Texas congressional delegation, the West Texas VA Health Center in Big Spring, TX, would be renamed in honor of George H. O'Brien, a hometown hero. With similar support from the Colorado Congressional delegation, the Telehealth Clinic in Craig, CO, would be renamed in honor of MAJ William Edward Adams.

Our Nation's veterans have sacrificed much in their service to this country, we must make sure they receive the care and benefits they earned.

Mr. President, I rise today to address the Department of Veterans Affairs' role in S. 633, the Small Business Contracting Fraud Prevention Act of 2011.

As introduced, S. 633 contains a provision that would require the Department of Veterans Affairs, through its Center for Veterans Enterprise, to verify the status of any small business seeking to be registered as a veteran-owned or service-disabled veteran-owned small business. S. 633 would also require the head of each Federal agency to confirm the status of any service-disabled veteran-owned small business before permitting that business to compete for Federal sole-source or set-aside contracts.

I agree that governmentwide verification of veteran-owned and service-disabled veteran-owned small business status is an important step towards fraud prevention. But we must ensure that enactment of S. 633 does not add to the backlog of veterans currently awaiting verification of their small businesses, and that veterans' businesses are not unfairly delayed in their ability to compete for contracts.

I am pleased that Senators Landrieu and Snowe have agreed to my amendment to S. 633. Under my amendment, the verification provisions in S. 633 would not take effect until the Department of Veterans Affairs first certifies it possesses the necessary resources and capacity to undertake the new requirements imposed by S. 633. This means that the Department gets to set the timeline for implementing the provisions so that implementation is done right.

Mr. President, I wish to announce that Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction will meet in open session on Thursday, September 8, 2011, at 10:30 a.m. in room 2123 of the Rayburn House Office Building, to consider proposed committee rules.

Mr. President, I wish to announce that Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction will meet in open session on Tuesday, September 13, 2011, at 10:30 a.m., in room 216 of the Hart Senate Office Building, to conduct a hearing entitled ``The History and Drivers of Our Nation's Debt and Its Threats.''

Mr. President, if there is one thing in this long, difficult debate there is no question about, one thing all of us have long known, one simple truth we must get past if we are going to avoid default, it is that any bill to get us out of this crisis will need Democratic and Republican votes. There is no partisan solution--no other path, no magic trick at the eleventh hour. There is just compromise. After all the bluster, all the back and forth, and all the posturing, there is just the bill we have before us today. It is a bill that doesn't have everything that all of us want. It is not the bill that any one of us would have crafted, if we had our way. But it is a bill that can and should be passed to avoid an economic catastrophe that would leave families in every single one of our States reeling.

I understand that compromise has been hard to come by in these negotiations, no matter how hard we try. But with Senator Reid's bill, we have taken the Republicans at their word. We have come to the negotiating table and have put forward a plan that goes to great pains to meet every one of the criteria they have called for.

They said they wanted cuts that exceed the debt limit raise. This bill delivers that. They said they wanted no new tax revenues. This bill delivers that. They said they wanted to put in place a process to make even more cuts later. This bill delivers that. They have said they too want to avoid default. This bill is our way out.

I know my Republican colleagues don't want to see us default. I know while we don't see eye to eye on all issues, we all fight for the people of our States. So I know my Republican friends are hearing the same things from families in their home States that I am hearing from mine. I know their offices have been flooded with calls and e-mails from families trying to figure out what they would do if the support they depend on to stay in their homes or put food on their table is suddenly cut off. I know they are hearing from the same seniors and veterans and college students with the same message: Put America first. Get it done. Compromise.

I got a letter just like that from Anne Phillips, from Tacoma, WA, who, after 18 years working, was laid off during the recession. Anne told me about how she felt she was doing the responsible thing by getting up and dusting herself off and going back to college. But now, she said, she is worried sick because of the fact that the interest rates on her student loans, which she relies on to pay for her school, would shoot up if we defaulted. In her letter, Anne made clear who the real victims of this default would be. She said:

Ultimately people like me, my husband, my family, and all

the people I know, who are doing their best every day to make

a contribution to society will pay the expense.

I also heard from a woman named Brenda Starkey and her husband, retired Navy veterans from Republic, WA. They told me if we don't meet this challenge, they may not be able to afford Medicare payments or VA medical copayments, not to mention basic necessities such as food or electricity or water. Brenda wrote:

I was taught in school about Henry Clay and his great

compromise. I still believe this is the way our government is

supposed to work, with both sides giving some ground until a

common position is met. We deserve more from our government.

I also heard from Social Security recipients such as Alisa Terry from Bellingham, WA, who told me how important that monthly check is to her and just what it would mean if it didn't go out next month. She said, simply:

Social Security is my lifeline. It stands between me and

homelessness.

This isn't just about politics; it is about these people and millions more who may not even realize their well-being is on the line today. It is about average American families whose credit card interest rates would skyrocket. It is about homeowners whose mortgage payments will increase by over $1,000 a year. It is about rising food and utility and gas prices and what that would mean for our already cash-strapped families, and it is about retirement plans that would plummet.

These Americans are looking for real leadership and a real solution to this problem. They don't want more games or gimmicks or short-term patches. For anyone who believes a short-term extension is a good idea, I want everyone to envision what that would mean.

Imagine we are right back here on the brink doing the same thing in 5 short months, only now we are 5 or 6 months closer to an election and the battle lines are drawn deeper than they are today, and we are also smack in the middle of one of the most important economic times of the whole year for retailers and consumers, the holiday season. Imagine what the effect of this crisis and this standstill would feel like then. Imagine holiday shoppers worried that their credit card interest rates are going to shoot up or that next month's mortgage payment is going to

break the bank or retailers reluctant to stock their shelves or hire because they are worried about a major disruption in the economy or seniors on Social Security worried their check will not be mailed and their heating bill will go up, not to mention veterans or college students or our troops who would, once again, be put in the spiral of anxiety and insecurity at the holiday times.

They don't want to relive this. America doesn't want to go through this again, and they shouldn't have to--nobody should. That is exactly why we need to come together now.

As I said before, the bill in front of us this evening is not ideal. But it gets us to where we need to get to today to protect our families and small businesses across America from market uncertainty and the threat of default. This legislation does make deep and serious cuts to government spending. It does protect Medicare and Social Security benefits that we promised to our seniors and it puts the country on a more sustainable fiscal track and allows us to continue working to reduce the debt and deficit without the threat of economic calamity hanging over our heads again.

Democrats have compromised and compromised again and again, and this bill that is before us now is the fruit of those compromises. It is also the last and best hope of preventing us from defaulting in a few short days on the full faith and credit of our Nation for the first time in our history. There is no other choice. The markets are waiting and watching. Credit rating agencies are waiting and watching. Countries around the world are waiting and watching. But, most important, the American people are waiting and watching. I hope we pass this bill.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, as we celebrate the U.S. Navy's centennial of aviation, I would like to personally recognize the exceptional contributions of the men and women, past and present, who have served at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island.

From the base's commissioning day on September 21, 1942, to the present, it has been the mission-ready men and women of Naval Air Station Whidbey Island who have protected the skies of the Pacific Northwest and projected power throughout the world.

A long tradition of excellence began on Whidbey Island during World War II when it was named Ault Field, in memory of Commander William B. Ault who was missing in action following the Battle of the Coral Sea. During the war, Naval Air Station Whidbey Island's patrol planes flew long-range navigation training missions over the North Pacific to protect the Pacific Northwest from the real threat of attack that gripped Alaska and the region. During this period, the earliest squadrons of F4F Wildcats, PV-1 Venturas, F6F Hellcats and SDB Dauntless's, also etched their place in U.S. Navy's distinguished history.

Naval Air Station Whidbey Island continued their legacy of excellence throughout each subsequent conflict. Their patrol planes proved to be paramount to successful operations during the Korean War and their initial deployments to Southeast Asia in 1972. Today, Naval Air Station Whidbey Island remains the premier naval aviation installation in the Pacific Northwest.

Currently the proud home of the EA-6B Prowlers, EA-18G Growlers, P-3 Orions and the EP-3E Aries, I know Naval Air Station Whidbey Island will continue to protect not only the Pacific Northwest, but the whole United States, for the next 100 years.

In recognition of the past century's naval aviation achievements, I would truly like to thank the men and women both in and out of uniform and the veterans of Naval Air Station Whidbey Island for their service and sacrifice.

Mr. President, we are now 1 week away from the unthinkable prospect of the United States of America defaulting on its loans for the first time in our history and not making good on promises we have made to families, veterans, senior citizens across the country.

I am deeply disappointed we have gotten to this point. If we cannot come to an agreement by August 2, the consequences for our Nation and our economic recovery will be dire. A few weeks ago, the Bipartisan Policy Center put out a report that was actually authored by a former Bush Treasury official about what would happen if Congress failed to act and if the administration was forced to make desperate spending decisions in August. The scenarios were very grim.

Potentially at risk were the benefits and health care we owe our veterans, loans for struggling small businesses, food stamps for people who are struggling to buy groceries, Social Security checks for our seniors, unemployment benefits for millions of workers who are desperately looking for jobs today, and even Active-Duty pay for our military.

If the debt ceiling is not raised, we also face the very real and frightening possibility of our economy falling back into another deep recession, interest rates going up for our families and consumers, millions of workers losing their jobs, and small businesses being forced to close their doors. These risks are unacceptable. People are still recovering in this tough economy and they cannot afford to have the rug pulled out from under them.

Many families from my home State of Washington have reached out to my office throughout this debate, trying to figure out what they would do if the support they depend upon to stay in their homes, to put food on their tables is suddenly cut off. They have a pretty simple message: Get it done, compromise, and put American families first.

One letter came from Anne Phillips from Tacoma, WA, who after 18 years of work was laid off during the recession. Anne told me about how she felt she was doing the responsible thing by getting herself up, dusting herself off, going back to college. But now she is worried sick because of the fact that the interest rate she pays on her student loans, which she relies on to pay for school, would shoot up if we default.

In her letter, Anne made clear who the real victims of default would be. She said: ``Ultimately people like me, my husband, my family, and all the people I know who are doing their best every day to make the contribution to society will pay the expense.''

Anne is not alone in her concern. I have heard from veterans such as Kenneth Huff, a retired master sergeant from Olympia, WA. He spent 28 years serving our country. He told me how through a life in the military he learned the value of compromise and how he is tired of the way the peoples' work is not being done.

He wrote:

I agree. We can cut back on spending. I know we can do a

better job. But not on the backs of the very poor, the middle

class, veterans and our seniors who are on Social Security

and Medicare.

I have also heard from Social Security recipients such as Alisa Terry from Bellingham, WA, who told me how important that monthly check is to her and what it would mean if she did not get it next month. She says:

Social Security is my lifeline. It stands between me and homelessness.

These families and seniors deserve to have the certainty of a Federal Government that stands ready to pay its debt. They do not deserve to turn on the news every day and read about the political games House Republicans are playing with their lives and economic future. Democrats have been at the table. We have been ready and willing to compromise for months and months. We know we need to get this done. We have offered compromise after compromise. We have come to the middle and beyond. We have offered serious and deep cuts in Federal spending--very hard for some of us to do.

We have put it on the table and then we offered even more. But again and again, the House Republicans have said no. They refuse to compromise, and they refuse to come to the middle. Time and time again, they seem to be more interested in satisfying the most extreme elements of their base than on finding real solutions for the people of this country.

The House Republicans even sent us a bill they called cut, cap and balance that was not only widely understood to be a political gimmick but it had no chance of becoming law, and not only would it have been absolutely devastating for families and seniors across this country but it managed to waste precious time in Congress at a point when that resource is getting scarcer and scarcer.

So we are down to the wire. Political games need to end. They need to stop finding ways to say no and start figuring out what they can say yes to. The bill we introduced last night is a compromise. I do not believe it is perfect, but it gets us where we need to get to protect families and small businesses across America from market uncertainty, not just for a month or two. That is not what American families need. They need to know they have that economic certainty and that we will not be back in this ball game in just a few short months, going through the same process, with people worried about their Social Security checks and veterans worried again and with the markets uncertain.

The legislation that was introduced last night does make deep and serious cuts in government spending, savings that have either been discussed and agreed on in previous negotiations with Republicans or that Republicans have actually used in the budgets they recently passed themselves.

It does protect Medicare and Social Security that was promised to our seniors. It does not increase revenue, something many of us have argued time and time again needs to be a part of a balanced approach to a conclusion. But we understand compromise is important. So it does not increase revenue and that appears to be something my Republican colleagues have almost single-mindedly focused on in this process. So we have given in on that.

It puts our country on a more sustainable fiscal track, and it allows us to continue the important work to reduce the debt and deficit without the threat of economic calamity hanging over our heads such as the current House proposal does.

On this side, Democrats have bent over backward to get this done. We compromised. We compromised again and then again. The bill that was introduced last night on our side is the fruit of many compromises. We did this not because we think this is the ideal way to tackle this issue--Democrats do want a larger and a more balanced package that we believe will address our problems in a responsible way for years to come--but we put this forward because we know the American people want results, not rhetoric, and we know the consequences of inaction are far too high.

I call on our Republican colleagues to support this legislation, stop playing politics with the American economy, and work with us to solve this problem for the American people.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on July 26, 2011, at 9:30 a.m.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on July 26, 2011, at 10 a.m., in room SD-215 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, to conduct a hearing entitled ``Perspectives on Deficit Reduction: A Review of Key Issues.''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet, during the session of the Senate on July 26, 2011, at 2:30 p.m.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate, to conduct a hearing entitled ``Building the Ladder of Opportunity: What's Working to Make the American Dream a Reality for Middle Class Families'' on July 26, 2011, at 10 a.m., in room SD-430 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on July 26, 2011, at 10 a.m. to conduct a hearing entitled, ``Small Business Contracts: How Oversight Failures and Regulatory Loopholes Allow Large Businesses to Get and Keep Small Business Contracts.''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Select Committee on Intelligence be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on July 26, 2011, at 10 a.m.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Select Committee on Intelligence be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on July 26, 2011, at 2:30 p.m.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees, and Border Security, be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate, on July 26, 2011, at 10 a.m., in room SD-226 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, to conduct a hearing entitled ``The Economic Imperative for Enacting Immigration Reform.''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs' Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on July 26, 2011, at 2 p.m. to conduct a hearing entitled ``Examining the Federal Workers' Compensation Program for Injured Employees.''

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Madam President, our Nation is less than 2 weeks away from potentially facing what Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has called a ``calamitous outcome.''

Unless we act, the United States of America, for the first time in our history, may face the prospect of defaulting on our loans, and not making good on the promises we have made to millions of our citizens.

This outcome is unthinkable, and we should be doing everything we can to avoid it. That is why I am so disappointed that instead of working with us to tackle this issue seriously, the Republican-led House of Representatives has chosen to put politics ahead of everything else, and has sent us a bill they call cut, cap, and balance.

First of all, this is a colossal waste of time. The Republican House has sent us a bill that may appeal to their extreme base, but right now the American people are looking for results, not more rhetoric.

The Washington Post reports this bill as being ``a doomed plan.'' Even conservative columnist David Brooks said in his column yesterday that this bill has ``zero chance of becoming law.'' And that it is ``likely that Republicans will come to regret this missed opportunity.''

But second of all, this bill is not just a waste of time, it's truly terrible policy. It would essentially enshrine into our Constitution the failed Republican policies that got us into this crisis in the first place.

It could bind our hands from responding to national emergencies that require quick and decisive action. Like another terrorist attack or Hurricane Katrina, payments for families who have lost their homes in tornadoes, or an infrastructure breach in states across the country like the Howard Hanson Dam in my home State of Washington.

It would force us to say ``no'' to families across the country who need some temporary support to help them get back on their feet, and at the same time help them contribute back to our economic strength.

This bill would have prevented us from taking any real actions after Wall Street brought us to the precipice of financial collapse in 2008, which would have led to thousands more job losses across the country at a time when we could afford it least.

And it would not allow Congress, as representatives of the American people, to make the investments we need to continue innovating, educating, and leading in the 21st century economy.

Republicans may be talking about the virtues of cutting, capping and balancing now, but their actions and votes speak much louder than these three words.

And the Republican budget this same House of Representatives just passed, a budget that slashes and burns away at the fabric of our society that cuts off millions of middle class and working families from the health care, nutrition, education, and housing support they need. Even this Republican budget would not meet the standards of cut, cap, and balance. And you know who else's budgets would not meet those standards? Ronald Reagan's and George W. Bush's.

It is truly unbelievable that they are playing these games with the clock ticking down to another financial crisis. We do not need a so- called cut, cap, and balance bill to put in place sensible policies that work for the American people.

My Republican colleagues may choose to ignore this fact these days, but we did some responsible cutting and balancing of our own here in America not too long ago and we did not need a constitutional amendment to do our jobs, either. Like many of them, I was here in 2000.

I remember that when President Clinton left office we were on a course to completely pay down the $5.6 trillion debt by 2012. I remember the projections of surpluses. I remember some of my colleagues actually being worried that the large surpluses in years ahead could be a problem. And I remember the efforts by many of us to safeguard that funding for our seniors, for our future, and to pay down the debt.

But I also remember what Republicans chose to do with that surplus. They could not wait to get their hands on the nation's credit card. And when they did, after President Bush took office, they spent lavishly.

Throughout the Bush years, and particularly in the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003, trillions of dollars in tax breaks went to the very wealthiest Americans.

There were capital gains tax roll-backs. Tax breaks designed to benefit corporate giants. And a new tax bracket that provided the very wealthiest Americans the lowest tax rates they have enjoyed since World War II.

These tax breaks were all unpaid for, all handed out to those who could most afford to pay, and all put on the Nation's credit card.

Our country was also led into two wars, and neither of them were paid for.

Now that the credit card bill has come due, now that all those tax cuts and spending need to be reckoned with, and just as our Nation is starting to recover from the Wall Street crisis that has devastated so many families, Republicans are playing political games with our future.

This is serious. If we cannot come to an agreement by August 2, the consequences will be dire.

A few weeks ago the Bipartisan Policy Center put out a report authored by a former Bush Treasury official about

what would happen if Congress failed to act and the administration was forced to make desperate spending decisions in August. And the scenarios were worse than grim.

Potentially at risk are: the benefits and health care we owe our veterans, loans for struggling small businesses, food stamps for those struggling to buy groceries, Social Security checks for our seniors, unemployment benefits for the millions of workers desperately seeking jobs, and even active duty pay for our military. These risks are unacceptable.

Senior citizens in this great country are worried that the Social Security checks they depend on, and that they have been promised, may not be coming in the mail in 2 weeks. And then they read the news and hear that Republicans are still ``playing games.''

Mothers and fathers are sitting around their kitchen table, trying to figure out what they would do if the food stamps they count on to feed their kids got cut off. And then they turn on the television, and see reports of the House of Representatives sending us a bill that cannot pass. This is an embarrassment. And the American people deserve better.

Democrats have come to the table again and again with reasonable proposals for coming to an agreement. We have come to the middle. We have offered up serious and deep cuts in Federal spending. But again and again, Republicans have said no.

So far, they have refused to make any deal that does not protect tax cuts and loopholes for oil companies, private jets, and millionaires and billionaires and as we see today, they seem to be more focused on offering up red meat to their base than actual solutions for the American people and more focused on negotiating tensions within their own party than on working with us to get results.

So, with 13 days to go, I urge House Republicans to get serious about this.

The so-called cut, cap, and balance bill is bad policy. It is the kind of silly politics that Americans are sick of, and it is a waste of time that we as a country simply cannot afford right now.

If all it took were slogans and gimmicks to solve this crisis, House Republicans would have this covered. But we know that is not the case. And the clock is ticking for families across America.

Democrats are going to keep working to solve this crisis. We are ready to compromise. And we need a partner at the table that is just as serious about this as we and the American people are.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, I come to the floor this afternoon to oppose the amendment offered by the Senator from Oklahoma which would undo decades of policies on how we treat veterans who are suffering from diseases associated with Agent Orange exposure. That violates the promise we have made to a generation of veterans. The legacy of Agent Orange exposure among Vietnam veterans is one of tragedy, roadblocks, neglect, pain, and then more roadblocks. It is the legacy of our military spraying millions of gallons of poisonous herbicide indiscriminately, without any consequences or without any repercussions.

At the time of the Vietnam war--and for far too long after it--the U.S. Government neglected to track Agent Orange exposures. Then, in the decades following the war, our government stonewalled veterans who developed horrible ailments of all kinds from those exposures.

To further compound the problem, for decades our government also failed to fund any research on Agent Orange and any other toxins that Vietnam veterans were exposed to. Those mistakes, those decades of neglect, have a cost. It is a cost to the veterans and their loved ones, a cost to the government that sent them to war, and a cost to all of us as Americans. It is a cost that, even in difficult budget times, even with our backs against the wall, we cannot walk away from.

I am not here to question any Senator's commitment to our veterans, but what I am here to do is to question the standard by which this amendment says they should be treated. This amendment that was offered says we should change the standard by which we have judged Agent Orange cases for two decades.

Currently, Vietnam veterans are presumed to be service-connected when the VA Secretary determines that a positive association exists between exposure to Agent Orange and a certain disease. One of the reasons Congress chose that mechanism is because it was impossible for these veterans to prove their exposure to Agent Orange caused their cancers or other diseases. These veterans were exposed decades ago. They don't know where exactly they were exposed or how much they inhaled. However, under the amendment of the Senator from Oklahoma, Vietnam veterans would be asked to now prove the impossible. They would be asked to prove they would never have gotten cancer or heart disease or any other disease or condition if not for Agent Orange.

Vietnam veterans who have diabetes or prostate cancer or lung cancer or blood-borne diseases would be denied care and benefits under this amendment. Not only would this be a new hurdle Vietnam veterans could never overcome, it would change the rules midstream. It would literally treat Vietnam veterans whose diseases have already been presumptively service-connected different than those whose diseases have not yet been positively associated with Agent Orange exposure.

I will not deny that compensation for exposure is a difficult issue and one that we continually have to look at. We have grappled with this issue in relation to Vietnam veterans and exposure to Agent Orange. Today we continue to deal with this issue as Iraq and Afghanistan veterans come home with illnesses potentially associated with their exposure to toxins released from burn pits or other environmental exposure.

Ultimately, we have to look at the facts with reason and compassion and weigh the years of our military's failure to track these exposures, the inevitable existence of uncertainty, and the word of our veterans. That is exactly what we have to do.

On the one hand, we have thousands of veterans who have come forward and believe their cancers and ailments were caused by an exposure to a known killer. We have studies that show veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange are more likely to have heart disease, cancer, or other conditions. We have the Institute of Medicine that has recommended giving veterans the benefit of the doubt, and we have the Secretary of Veterans Affairs who has decided that we must move forward to provide compensation to presumptively service-connected veterans exposed to Agent Orange for cancer and heart disease.

On the other hand, we may have a compelling fiscal case, but the Senator from Oklahoma hasn't presented one shred of evidence that Agent Orange does not cause heart disease, cancer, or any other condition. What has been presented is an amendment that asks veterans to wait, wait, wait until there is more scientific evidence.

Well, these veterans have been waiting for 40 years. How much longer should they wait?

The Secretary of Veterans Affairs decided that the time for waiting was over. I ask that we respect and support this decision, and that we also remember that even in the midst of this whirlwind debt and deficit debate, we have made a promise to veterans, one that doesn't go away.

Vietnam veterans have paid enough for that war. They should not end up paying for our debt. It is us who owe them a debt.

I yield the floor.

So my colleagues know, there is a reason we have made this type of compensation like Agent Orange presumptive. It is because our military did a miserable job of tracking these exposures, and it is because no veteran will ever be able to go to a map and tell you with certainty where they were exposed. No veteran will tell you what and how much of this poison Agent Orange they inhaled. So we have to look at the facts with reason and compassion, and in this case on the one hand we have the knowledge that we sprayed a known killer throughout the area where a number of these veterans were serving.

We have had thousands of veterans who have come forward and believe their cancers and ailments were caused by that exposure. We have studies that show veterans exposed to Agent Orange are more likely to have heart disease, cancer, and other conditions. We have the Institute of Medicine which has recommended giving these veterans the benefit of the doubt, and we have the Secretary of Veterans Affairs who has decided we need to move forward to provide compensation.

On the other hand, you have an amendment today--while it makes a compelling case for saving money, it hasn't presented any evidence at all that Agent Orange did not cause the conditions faced by these Vietnam veterans coming forward. An amendment that asks our veterans to wait longer? That is something they have already done too much of. They have been waiting and getting sicker. They have been dying for 40 years or more. We should not ask them to wait longer.

I thank the Chair. I urge my colleagues to vote to table this amendment. And if the Senator wants to finish his remarks, I will move to table when he is finished.

Madam President, I move to table the amendment. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Madam President, there is no question that we need to make smart decisions to tighten our belts and reduce our Nation's debt and deficit. American families have done it around their kitchen table, and we owe it to them to get our fiscal house in order.

But there is also one group of Americans we owe an even greater promise to, a group we can never allow to become pawns or fall through the cracks, or be forgotten altogether in these budgets debates, and that is our men and women in uniform and the veterans who have protected our Nation for decades. That is why I am here today on the floor, in the midst of the whirlwind of debt and deficit rhetoric, to remind us all of the critical nature of the bill that is on the floor this week; to remind us all that no matter what fiscal crisis we face, no matter how divided we may be over approaches to cutting our debt and deficit, no matter how heated the rhetoric gets here in Washington, DC, we have to keep our commitments to our veterans and servicemembers, and we have to move this bill forward and we have to provide for those who wore or who are wearing the uniform with the peace of mind that we are keeping our promise to them.

A couple of years ago we took a proactive step to make sure the nonstop wrangling over appropriations bills here in Congress didn't interfere with the health care our veterans have earned. Thanks to the work of Senator Akaka and many others, the VA spending for health care is now appropriated a year in advance, protecting it from an imperfect budget process that is so often affected by politics.

But I remember when we passed advanced appropriations, we were very clear. Our foresight was not going to be an excuse to sit on our hands when VA funding was up for consideration. We were not going to allow a precautionary measure to get in the way of passing timely increases in veterans' health care, and so this bill is the test.

Can we put politics aside for the good of our Nation's veterans and servicemembers? Can we show them that, despite our differences, we will work as diligently toward getting them the benefits and care they have earned as they have worked for our Nation? Well, I hope we can.

I say that because the investments in this bill are a lot more than numbers on a page. They are life-changing programs for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. It is support for suicide hotlines that are seeing more callers than ever before. It is providing roofs over the heads of our servicemembers and their families. It is timely investments in the very biggest priorities of our Nation's heroes.

Today I want to talk about a few of the investments that are included in the bill we are considering today and how they translate into the lives of our servicemembers, our veterans and, critically, their families.

There is an influx of young veterans coming into the VA system right now that we have not seen in a very long time. In fact, the VA estimates that the number of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans in its health care system will reach well over \1/2\ million at some point next year. That is an over 100-percent increase since 2008. This is a big challenge and one we have no choice but to step up to meet if we are going to avoid some of the same mistakes we saw with the Vietnam generation.

That is why this bill includes nearly $3 billion to meet the health care needs of veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, which is a nearly $600 million increase over last year.

But it is more than just the sheer number of new veterans that will be coming home to the VA in the near future. It is the extent of their wounds,

both visible and invisible, that will require an untold resource from our Nation.

Through the wonders of modern medicine, servicemembers who would have been lost in previous conflicts are coming home to live productive and fulfilling lives. But they will need a lifetime of care from the VA. That is why part of this bill includes significant investments for research in a number of areas, including traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, polytrauma injuries, and sensory loss.

It includes funding that will go to maintaining world-class prosthetics such as the one that was worn by SGT Leroy Petry, whom I saw at the White House last week shake the hand of a grateful President Obama as he was awarded the Medal of Honor.

It is also funding that comes at a critical time as amputations have sharply increased among soldiers in Afghanistan, many of whom are getting out of protective MRAP and Humvees to engage Afghan citizens and at the same time putting themselves at far greater risk of severe IED injuries. According to a recent Washington Post article, twice as many U.S. soldiers wounded in battle last year required limb amputations than in either of the two previous years.

This funding also comes as mental health concerns continue to rise, and suicides among active-duty troops and veterans from these wars have risen to a level now on par with combat deaths. In April, the VA's suicide hotline took 14,000 suicide calls, more than they had taken in any month in the previous 4 years. This bill makes sure we are putting someone on the other end of that call. This bill funds efforts to give veterans access to mental health professionals, and ensures we are not leaving our veterans to go it alone.

But this will do much more than help our newest generation of veterans. For generations we have faced the problems of homelessness among our Nation's veterans without making any real headway. Recently, through the success of programs such as HUD-VASH and the Grant and Per Diem Program, we are seeing real progress toward putting homeless veterans into safe and secure housing, and the bold goals laid out by the Obama administration to end veterans' homelessness once and for all. This bill includes nearly $1 billion in direct assistance to homeless veterans, and this bill helps those who have taken on the monumental but deeply personal task of providing care to an injured veteran in their family, those people who have left behind their own careers and personal lives, and even their own health care and benefits to care for those who can't take care of themselves.

It includes major investments to meet the unique needs of one of the fastest growing groups of veterans, women veterans who, through health care and construction upgrades that improve privacy, will benefit from VA facilities that are more conducive to their needs.

This bill also includes major investments to fund military construction projects worldwide, including readiness centers, barracks, hospitals, clinics, and schools. It also supports family housing construction projects that ensure military families have a satisfactory roof over their heads. And that, by the way, will create thousands of good-paying jobs.

As we all know, the strength of our military is rooted in the strength of the families who support them. Investments such as these are what allow our servicemembers to go abroad knowing that their loved ones are being looked after by the Nation they are protecting.

After nearly a decade at war, the consequences of sending our servicemembers into combat and the sacred obligation we have to care for those injured in service have become clear. But so have the shortcomings and the challenges we have to meet.

Last week, I chaired a hearing on the gaps to mental health care that still exist at the VA, and the stories we heard were deeply frustrating. I heard the stories of two separate veterans who attempted suicide but were still left to wait for weeks, and even months, for appointments at the VA. We have to fix the VA in a way that meets that obligation so they are more flexible and responsive to the needs of today's veterans, and we have to do it in a cost-effective way by making sure we are getting the most value out of every dollar that a bill such as this one provides. Next week in our committee I will be examining the long-term costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to our newest generation of veterans, because I believe we need to address this problem openly and honestly.

Like generations of servicemembers and veterans before them, today's heroes have done everything that has been asked of them. They have been separated from their families through repeat deployments; they have sacrificed life and limb in combat; and they have done all this selflessly and with honor to our country. We cannot allow our commitment to them to lapse or to get caught up in politics. That is why we need to pass this bill.

We must also come to a budget agreement that avoids default and the consequences that would have on our veterans.

We have to keep our promise, no matter what.

Madam President, I yield the floor.

Mr. President, it is with great privilege that today I honor and express my thanks to Dr. Ines Triay, Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management at the Department of Energy for her service to our country.

The Environmental Management Program at DOE has consistently been a priority for me during my tenure in the Senate, as Washington State is home to the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. As a part of the Manhattan Project, Hanford produced plutonium from 1944 until 1987, and the efforts of Hanford workers and the Tri-Cities community helped end World War II.

Today, under the leadership of Dr. Triay, Hanford workers are involved in an environmental cleanup project of enormous scale necessitated by the processes required to transform raw uranium into plutonium for bombs. These processes generated billions of gallons of liquid waste and millions of tons of solid waste which must now be cleaned up, removed, or remediated. Dr. Triay and her staff have worked closely with both the Richland Operations Office and the Office of River Protection to ensure cleanup efforts at Hanford continue to move forward in a meaningful and timely fashion.

Ines has devoted her career to the safe and timely cleanup of radioactive waste and facilities from our Nation's Cold War nuclear weapon production and research sites. Ines, a Cuban-born

immigrant who earned her Ph.D. in chemistry, has worked at DOE for 24 years, rising from her position as a scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory to Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management, a Presidentially nominated, Senate-confirmed position. During her tenure as Assistant Secretary, she has led the largest, most diverse, and technically complex environmental cleanup program in the world.

One of Ines' greatest successes came after Congress invested $6 billion in the Environmental Management Program. Ines led the effort to accelerate important cleanup projects to reduce the Environmental Management footprint across the country. The success of this investment has been, by all measures, incredible--Ines and her team were able to reduce the footprint of the entire Environmental Management complex by 50 percent.

For the past several years, I have worked closely with Ines and I have seen firsthand her commitment to making sure the federal government meets its obligations to protect the health of our communities at Hanford and around the country. Her professionalism, passion and knowledge has contributed significantly to the successes of the Environmental Management Program in recent years, and I will miss working with her and her staff on a daily basis.

On behalf of all Washingtonians, and on behalf of our country, I thank Ines for her dedication to the mission of the Environmental Management Program, for her passion and expertise, and for her commitment to the safety and well-being of the people working at Hanford and at Environmental Management sites around the country. Ines will be difficult to replace. I congratulate Dr. Triay on all of her successes as Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management and wish her the best of luck moving forward.