mr. chairman , i yield myself such time as i may consume . 
mr. chairman , i call this the `` let u.s. veterans rebuild iraq and afghanistan '' amendment . 
once again , i rise in support of the veterans of our nation . 
we have a major , major , major operation in iraq and afghanistan . 
the bill on the floor today appropriates a sum of $ 81 billion , and we will be spending over $ 200 billion . 
it seems to me that we ought to guarantee jobs to veterans with companies that are awarded government contracts from this fund . 
our active duty are fighting , but those who volunteer to go and help in other ways should have the preference that their veterans ' service offers . 
we have all rallied to support our troops , but often after they come home , our veterans are not treated with the respect they deserve . 
i outlined yesterday the lack of respect that they will have and continue to have because of lack of adequate funding in the health care system . 
ptsd , post-traumatic stress disorder , for example , will not have the funding that is needed to treat what is expected to arise out of the current war . 
as i said yesterday , research funds are being cut , nurses ' positions are being cut . 
i tried yesterday to put an amendment on the floor that would supplement this supplemental with an additional $ 3 billion that the veterans groups think and have testified and have outlined is necessary . 
that $ 3 billion was not added in yesterday 's supplemental . 
so today i ask that we ensure that there are jobs for our nation 's veterans , whether they are new or old . 
let us give them the preference that they have in law at home with the preference for the contracts that are being awarded with such abandon in the middle east today . 
we know , if we do not serve our veterans with jobs or health care , what occurs . 
we know that up to half of the homeless on the streets today are veterans , mainly from vietnam , because we did not give them the honor , the respect , the health care , the jobs , the housing that they needed . 
and so they are on the street after having fought for this country . 
one way to make sure that this does not happen to anyone else is to include veterans in the rebuilding of iraq and afghanistan . 
many of them fought for freedom for those nations . 
let us get them involved in the effort to build the future . 
mr. chairman , i hope that the rules are not invoked here once again to stop a commonsense approach to helping our veterans in this nation . 
mr. chairman , i yield back the balance of my time . 
