mr. speaker , let me conclude on this side by making four simple points . 
first of all , one of the previous speakers tried to suggest that , in fact , the gentleman from new jersey ( mr. smith ) xz4003802 had not been fired by the majority party caucus because he had been too willing to speak his own mind about the needs that he saw for veterans ' health care . 
i would simply say that i am perfectly happy to believe that if the house is ready to believe that my grandmother is an astronaut and that the cubs are going to win the pennant this year . 
the fact is that we know what the facts are , or were , i should say , with respect to the removal of the gentleman from new jersey from office . 
he simply did not follow the party line and paid a price . 
so did the veterans . 
and now this bill is trying to help meet those costs . 
secondly , the gentleman from new york indicated that there had been a variety of estimates about what would be needed for veterans health care funding this year . 
the fact is that the democratic estimates that we offered were consistent , and the bipartisan estimates that were offered by the gentleman from new jersey ( mr. smith ) xz4003802 and the gentleman from illinois ( mr. evans ) xz4001260 were consistently that we needed $ 2.5 billion in this account over the budget request . 
the house earlier enacted a $ 1 billion increase . 
this $ 1.5 billion in this motion now brings us to the $ 2.5 billion that we have been saying all along was needed and that the gentleman from new jersey and the gentleman from illinois were saying all along was needed . 
thirdly , i would simply say that the administration 's denial of the truth on this matter follows a pattern . 
we saw earlier over the past year and a half when the veterans ' administration was discouraging outreach , because if veterans knew what they were entitled to , it would cost more money , and that would impact the budget . 
so we have already seen that effort to not fully explain to the american veterans what they were entitled to . 
in that sense , it is very similar to the action of the administration in threatening to fire the government official who tried to tell congress what the true cost of the prescription drugs under medicare proposal was that the administration proposed last year . 
lastly , i would simply say one of the previous speakers raised the question as to why we were providing this money as an emergency . 
it is very simple : because it is an emergency for each and every veteran who otherwise will not be adequately served . 
we have a war going on . 
it would be nice if during that war we had a sense of shared sacrifice that was conveyed to each and every citizen of this country . 
but we really do not . 
we have a narrow band of people , those in the uniformed services of the united states , who are being asked to sacrifice virtually everything while 90 percent of american society is making no sacrifice about the war . 
they are getting tax cuts . 
they are able to be comfortable in their homes . 
it is only a precious few military families who are bearing the entire burden of that war . 
it is human nature , i guess , for americans , when our soldiers go off to war , to cheer and to have the bands playing , but it would be nice if we had that same enthusiasm for veterans when johnny comes marching home again . 
unfortunately , we have not demonstrated that because of the shortfalls that we have seen in the veterans ' health care budget . 
i would hope that we would adopt an understanding that if we ask someone to put his very life at risk , to put his family 's future at risk and go to war to defend an action of the president of the united states , i would hope that we would recognize that we have a concurrent and permanent obligation to each and every one of those soldiers to meet the full cost of meeting their health care needs , their education needs , and their economic readjustment needs when they return to this country . 
that is the very least that we ought to do . 
this amendment tries to measure up to that standard . 
i would urge a unanimous `` yes '' vote . 
