By:  Van de Putte                                                 S.R. No. 9  



SENATE RESOLUTION
	WHEREAS, Military veterans who have served their country 
honorably and who were promised and have earned health care and 
benefits from the federal government through the Department of 
Veterans Affairs are now in need of these benefits; and
	WHEREAS, The funding of the health care programs of the 
Veterans Health Administration of the Department of Veterans 
Affairs has failed to reflect the admission of newly eligible 
veterans in the wake of the Veterans' Health Care Eligibility 
Reform Act of 1996 and has fallen short of the amount needed to 
counter soaring medical care inflation, resulting in a funding 
shortfall of at least $10 billion; and
	WHEREAS, The current discretionary method of funding the 
health care programs of the Veterans Health Administration is 
uncertain and is subject annually to the whims and competing 
priorities of congress, to the detriment of the veterans being 
served; and
	WHEREAS, The Vietnam Veterans of America organization 
supports the adoption of a new funding mechanism for the health 
care programs of the Veterans Health Administration that is 
indexed to medical inflation and the per capita use of the 
administration's health care system; and
	WHEREAS, The substantial delay in adjudicating veterans' 
claims for service-connected disability compensation is the 
cause of much anguish and anger among veterans and is the result 
of a lack of funding of the Veterans Benefits Administration of 
the Department of Veterans Affairs, which has led to an 
insufficient number of adjudicators and the inadequate training 
and supervision of adjudicators; and
	WHEREAS, While the vast majority of Department of Veterans 
Affairs employees are dedicated to serving veterans, it is 
necessary to ensure that employee accountability standards be 
strengthened at senior and junior levels; and
	WHEREAS, While more than five million veterans use the 
Veterans Health Administration of the Department of Veterans 
Affairs for their health care needs, tens of thousands more are 
eligible for benefits of which they are unaware due to inadequate 
outreach efforts by the department; now, therefore, be it
	RESOLVED, That the Senate of the State of Texas, 79th 
Legislature, 3rd Called Session, hereby respectfully urge the 
Congress of the United States to address problems in the 
Department of Veterans Affairs related to the provision of health 
care and benefits, the adjudication of claims, accountability, 
and outreach and to enact legislation that creates an 
appropriation formula that ensures predictable and adequate 
funding of the health care programs of the Veterans Health 
Administration; and, be it further
	RESOLVED, That the secretary of the senate forward 
official copies of this Resolution to the secretary of veterans 
affairs, the president of the United States, the president of the 
senate and speaker of the house of representatives of the United 
States Congress, and all members of the Texas delegation to the 
congress with the request that this Resolution be officially 
entered in the Congressional Record as a memorial to the Congress 
of the United States of America.




_______________________________ 
    President of the Senate
 
     I hereby certify that the 
above Resolution was adopted by 
the Senate on May 15, 2006.



_______________________________ 
    Secretary of the Senate