“Today’s announcement by the VA is appalling, but not surprising. Caring for the veterans who have sacrificed for our freedom is the duty of a grateful nation. These brave men and women made a solemn promise to protect our nation. Unfortunately, this Administration has been unwilling to fulfill that promise.
Now is the time to come together and provide the needed dollars so that our veterans have the quality, accessible care they need and deserve. I will work with anyone and everyone to keep this commitment to our veterans and our soldiers.
This shortfall results from either deliberate misdirection or gross incompetence by this Administration and the Department of Veterans Affairs. Just two months ago they vehemently argued against the need for more money, raising loud, consistent objections to my efforts on the Budget and the Emergency Supplemental. Two months later, they’re one billion dollars short. That’s outrageous.
These are questions that must be dealt with, but the most important question is how we’re going to fix this shortfall now.
Today I introduced legislation to provide emergency supplemental funding for the VA. It is identical to the amendment that I offered to the Emergency Supplemental in April to provide $1.98 billion to fully fund our veterans’ health care needs.
I urge the Administration to submit a supplemental request and fulfill the promise to our nation’s veterans.
Caring for our veterans is not a Republican or Democratic issue, it’s an American issue. As we head into the 4th of July recess, I call on Congress and the Administration to work with me to do the most patriotic thing we can – fulfill our promise to care for America’s veterans.”
English 
Spanish