WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, today delivered the following remarks on the floor of the Senate regarding the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriation Act:

“For six years now the United States Senate has abdicated its responsibility to appropriate. We have left the prioritization of spending to faceless bureaucrats in faceless buildings in Washington, D.C. The needs of our veterans and our soldiers and our country have gone unheeded while we in here have argued about things that were superfluous and actually unpassable.

“I came into this chamber today and listened to the distinguished senator from Nevada, the Minority Leader, make the statement that he ‘can't understand why the Leader would bring forward a can’t-pass piece of legislation and not go to something more important.’

“I want the senator from Nevada to go out to Walter Reed Hospital or go to the (VA) hospital in Atlanta or the hospital in Maine or the hospital in Arkansas and tell those soldiers who have sacrificed and risked their lives for us that their needs for health care are not more important. Or tell Jim Webb, who was a member of this Senate who passed the G.I. Bill expansion a few years ago, that the educational benefits for dependents and children and wives and others are not that important. Tell the people of the United States of America, those who have protected us, those who have sacrificed, those who have risked are not more important. There is nothing more important than our veterans and our military.

“There's nothing more important than our constitutional responsibility as senators than to appropriate the money of the American people. We are abdicating our responsibility. It is professional and political malpractice and it is time it stopped. I get sick and tired of the political bantering back and forth when things come before us that must be done.

“As chairman of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, last Thursday night in this Senate we passed unanimously -- and it has now passed the House -- a total reform of VA Construction and we fixed the Denver hospital problem that's been going on for several years in the VA. The Denver hospital has had a 428.3 percent cost overrun. That is unconscionable and that is wrong but we finally are fixing it.

“And with this bill, if the distinguished Minority Leader will let us take up this important bill rather than something that's ‘not as important,’ we're going to fix VA construction forever because what this does it says the VA no longer is in charge of construction of hospital and clinics. The Army Corps of Engineers is. It is about time we had construction management by people who know what they're doing. Doctors are good at fixing people but they’re not very good at bricks and mortar. We need the bricks-and-mortar people doing that.

“Secondly, this bill brings about mandatory funding for veterans benefits through 2017. We had a threat of a government shutdown yesterday, and fortunately we avoided it, but we’ve had the same threat in the past and we could face it again. Veterans’ health care should never be shut down. We need to continue to forward-fund medical benefits so our veterans know, whether or not we’re foolish and shut down the government, that their health care is going to be met.

“Let me tell you this, Mr. President: You know in your great state in the Dakotas, the senator from Arkansas knows, Senator Collins knows from Maine, the biggest complaint we get is about the lack of timely response in determining disability claims in the VA, right? We have veterans waiting 478 days to get a disability claim on an injury they suffered fighting a war for us. Four-hundred seventy-eight days is almost two years. That’s terribly wrong. This bill fixes that. It provides money for the personnel necessary to expedite disability claims so veterans get a timely judgement.

“Now you tell me, Senator from Nevada, what's more important -- taking care of these guys who have taken care of us or just debating on the Senate floor a bunch of hot air that makes no difference to the American people? It is time we fished and cut bait. It is time we did what we were elected to do; it’s time we set the priorities and it is time we honored our commitment to those who have honored their commitment to us -- the veterans of the United States of America.

“So as chairman of the most bipartisan committee in the United States Senate, the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, which the presiding officer is a member of that committee, we don't have Democratic spats and Republicans spats. We talk about our veterans. Most everything we pass out is unanimous. We do so because we all agree that Republican or Democrat, black or white, rich or poor, whatever the case might be, we would not be where we are today nor would we be what we are today if it weren't for those who sacrificed, risked their lives and in some cases died for the people of the United States of America while serving in the military.

“I don't know what the senator from Nevada thinks is more important, but for me, these guys right here are the most important thing in the world. And to vote against proceeding to debate this important appropriations bill is professional malpractice and wrong. I hope my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will make a commitment to those who served us and vote to proceed on the MilCon/VA appropriations bill, and I yield back the balance of time.”

Watch Senator Isakson’s full remarks on the Senate floor here.

###

The Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs is chaired by U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., in the 114th Congress.

Isakson is a veteran himself – having served in the Georgia Air National Guard from 1966-1972 – and has been a member of the Senate VA Committee since he joined the Senate in 2005. Isakson’s home state of Georgia is home to more than a dozen military installations representing each branch of the military as well as more than 750,000 veterans.