mr. speaker , for 2 years , our nation 's respected veterans ' organizations , along with democrats in congress , have been predicting cuts in veterans ' health care services due to inadequate va health care budgets . 
in february , in fact , of 2004 , nearly a year and a half ago , republican chairman of the house committee on veterans ' affairs , the gentleman from new jersey ( mr. smith ) xz4003802 , and his democratic ranking member , the gentleman from illinois ( mr. evans ) xz4001260 , in a bipartisan letter predicted the administration request for va health care for this year would be $ 2.5 billion short . 
now , mr. speaker , what was the reaction of the house republican leadership ? 
did they stand up for veterans ' health care needs in funding ? 
no . 
they fired the gentleman from new jersey ( mr. smith ) xz4003802 from his job as chairman of the house committee on veterans ' affairs and even took him completely off the committee . 
that may be hard to believe , but it is true . 
the house republican leadership punished a member of congress , a member of its own party , for putting loyalty to veterans above loyalty to the house leadership during a time of war . 
it is not only true , it is sad . 
to make matters worse , the gentleman from new jersey ( mr. smith ) xz4003802 , house democrats , and veterans ' organizations were right in saying veterans ' health care services were underfunded and the house leadership was wrong . 
at every step of the way over the past 2 years , in the committee on the budget , in amendments there ; in the committee on appropriations , in amendments there ; in the 302 ( b ) allocation , the amount of money for veterans ' care in the committee on appropriations , in all of these places and on this house floor repeatedly the house leadership has fought against the money needed to adequately support our veterans ' health care needs during a time of our war on terrorism . 
even after it became public that the va has a $ 1 billion shortfall , a $ 1 billion-plus shortfall this year , even after that , the house leadership dragged its feet . 
they are still dragging their feet in trying to adequately fund veterans ' health care needs . 
it is time for republicans and democrats alike , today , to do the right thing and to instruct the conferees on the interior appropriations bill to support the same $ 1.5 billion emergency veterans ' health care funding that was approved by a bipartisan vote of 96 to 0 weeks ago in the senate . 
it is morally wrong for our nation to ask young troops to go into combat and then shortchange their health care when they return home as veterans . 
supporting veterans ' health care may be costly , but it is the right thing to do . 
standing up for veterans may have cost the gentleman from new jersey ( mr. smith ) xz4003802 his job as chairman of the house committee on veterans ' affairs , but it was the right thing to do . 
the right thing to do now is to send a message to this house leadership , that has opposed adequate funding for veterans ' health care for 2 years now , that supporting veterans is more important than misplaced partisan loyalty . 
