Spending bill with local angle is stalled
By Larry Meyer
Argus Observer
Friday, November 16, 2007 10:41 AM PST
ONTARIO — Oregon U.S. Congressman Greg Walden, R-Hood River, expressed frustration last weekend with the slow pace of a Department of Veterans Affairs funding bill through Congress — a measure that, among other things, will provide money for the new Oregon Army National Guard Readiness Center (armory) in Ontario.
However, Walden’s press secretary, Andrew Whelan said he was confident the legislation will be approved.
“It will get passed,” Whelan said Tuesday. “It will get signed by the president.”
The United States House of Representatives passed its version of the measure — H.R. 4014, co-sponsored by Walden — in June, Whelan said. The bill contains funding for military construction and the V.A.
“The Senate passed their version in September,” he said. There were very few differences between the House and Senate bills, he said, but the speaker of the House apparently did not appoint any congressmen to a conference committee with the Senate to reconcile the two bills to a single piece of legislation.
Democratic House leaders instead combined the bill with another spending measure, which was passed in the House, but died in the Senate because of its rules against combining two unrelated pieces of legislation, Whelan said.
“Every day Congress fails to send a V.A. bill to the president, the veterans health care system is shortchanged by approximately $18.5 million in additional resources,” Walden said, in a statement released last weekend.
“There is overwhelming support in both chambers for a stand-alone VA bill that supports our veterans. This bill funds important projects across our district, like Oregon National Guard Readiness Center in Ontario, renovations at the outpatient clinic in La Grande and the design for an Armed Forces Reserve Center in Klamath Falls and a Readiness Center in The Dalles,” Walden said.
H.R. 4014 provides $11 million for the National Guard Center in Ontario and furnishes $37.2 billion for V.A. hospitals and clinics, including increased funding for research and $4.1 billion to renovate existing facilities.
