Military Construction, VA

Mr. Chairman. As you all know, this bill has a strong reputation for finding bipartisan common ground as members work together to fund the construction of military facilities and strive to improve the quality of life and care afforded to our veterans and military families. Once again, Chairman Culberson has continued this tradition. The bill before us provides funding levels that I think most members on both sides of the aisle agree are appropriate, while avoiding contentious legislative riders that complicate passage.

Thank you Mr. Speaker. I would like to also thank the subcommittee chairman and ranking member for their work on this bill.

This is the first of the twelve spending bills that the House will consider for FY 2015. I am pleased that we are beginning the process with a bill, as reported out of committee, that includes reasonable spending levels and is devoid of controversial riders. I hope this is a sign of what is to follow.

Highlights of 2015 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act

2014 Enacted: $73.299 billion

President's Request: $71.897 billion

Committee Mark: $71.499 billion

MILITARY CONSTRUCTION: $6.557 billion, a decrease of $3.3 billion million below 2014 and equal to the budget request, is provided for Military Construction programs.

Mr. Chairman, we have done a lot to ease the burden of military service, for example, the Congress passed the 9/11 GI bill, the Hiring Heroes Act, and the Caregivers Act, all with strong bipartisan majorities.

However, we are still struggling in the claims process area but we are making progress. The last update I saw there were a total of 672,000 claims and of that 389,000 are considered backlogged. So Mr. Secretary we still have a ton of work to do on this.

Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-NY), Ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, today issued the following statement on President Obama's FY 2015 budget request:

"The FY2015 budget and appropriations process offers Congress its best opportunity in years to reject the politics of brinkmanship and crisis management, and instead fulfill our responsibility to invest in our future, create and protect jobs, and support services on which American families rely.