1-1     By:  Solis of Bexar (Senate Sponsor - Truan)         H.C.R. No. 141
 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House May 10, 1999;
 1-3     May 10, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on Veteran
 1-4     Affairs and Military Installations; May 13, 1999, reported
 1-5     favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 4, Nays 0; May 13, 1999,
 1-6     sent to printer.)
 1-7                         HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
 1-8           WHEREAS, Military veterans who have served their country
 1-9     honorably and who were promised and earned health care and
1-10     compensation and pension benefits from the federal government
1-11     through the Department of Veterans Affairs are now in need of these
1-12     benefits due to advancing age; and
1-13           WHEREAS, The proposed budget for the Department of Veterans
1-14     Affairs Veterans Health Administration has for the fourth
1-15     consecutive year proposed a straight-line budget for veterans
1-16     health care that falls short of the needed funds to counter soaring
1-17     medical care inflation and other costs associated with the aging
1-18     veterans population; and
1-19           WHEREAS, The proposed budget calls for the elimination of
1-20     nearly 8,000 full-time employees from veterans health care, which
1-21     further threatens veterans health care service by placing a greater
1-22     strain on patient services and further endangers the quality of
1-23     care for the sick and disabled veterans of this nation; and
1-24           WHEREAS, The processing of claims for service-connected
1-25     compensation and pension benefits by the Department of Veterans
1-26     Affairs Veterans Benefits Administration has also suffered from
1-27     inadequate budgets resulting in backlogs in claims processing
1-28     ranging in the hundreds of thousands; and
1-29           WHEREAS, The substantial backlog of service-connected
1-30     compensation and pension claims by the Veterans Benefits
1-31     Administration has been a serious and persistent problem resulting
1-32     in extended waits for veterans and their families to receive
1-33     decisions concerning application for needed benefits; and
1-34           WHEREAS, It is necessary to enact legislation to provide
1-35     funding necessary to properly deliver earned health care and
1-36     compensation and pension benefits to the aging veterans population
1-37     of our nation; now, therefore, be it
1-38           RESOLVED, That the 76th Legislature of the State of Texas
1-39     hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to
1-40     maintain its commitment to the veterans of America and their
1-41     families by providing sufficient funding to the Department of
1-42     Veterans Affairs to address the above concerns; and, be it further
1-43           RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
1-44     copies of this resolution to the president of the United States,
1-45     the president of the senate and speaker of the house of
1-46     representatives of the United States Congress, and all members of
1-47     the Texas delegation to the congress with the request that this
1-48     resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a
1-49     memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.
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