mr. chairman , the gentleman 's budget allows our country to meet our most important values , a strong defense , a strong economy , while reducing our nation 's deficit . 
let me , if i might , focus on another area of concern that the prior speaker just talked about and that is commitment to our nation 's veterans . 
we do value our veterans ' service . 
and if you look at this chart that i have here that talks about overall spending in the va , mr. chairman , you will see a strong commitment to honoring the commitment of our nation 's veterans . 
the second chart that i have specifically talks to veterans medical care which has increased from 1995 to 2005 , over a 10-year period , nearly 85 percent . 
and in the last 5 years , medical spending has increased by 68 percent . 
that is a commitment to our nation 's veterans . 
let me talk about some other specific areas of improvement that we have made . 
we have allowed guard and reserve units to enroll in medical benefits . 
we have increased the gi benefit . 
we have funded finally for the first time concurrent receipts so that the practice of disallowing veterans who had disabilities as a result of their service from collecting both their retirement pay and disability pay is finally being addressed with a $ 22 billion commitment over the next 10 years . 
we have reduced the wait times at our va hospitals , and the va continues to give our nation 's veterans excellent care . 
let me touch on , mr. chairman , what we have done under the gentleman 's leadership this year in the veterans line items of the budget . 
the discretionary baseline under the president 's submission was $ 30.8 billion . 
under the gentleman 's mark and allowing me to work together with him and propose an amendment , we increase that by $ 877 million , which means in these tough fiscal times that our nation is experiencing a 2.8 percent increase for veterans health care numbers . 
yes , there is a reconciliation number ; but when we started with the president 's submission , it was $ 424 million . 
the reconciliation , mr. chairman , under the gentleman 's mark is $ 155 million . 
i believe that we can find that reconciliation number without enrollment fees , without drug co-pays because we will have the flexibility to look for waste , fraud , and abuse in the veterans numbers and be able to reduce and meet a goal in that fashion . 
let me repeat : we do not have to establish either drug co-pays or enrollment fees . 
we can achieve this reconciliation in other ways . 
mr. chairman , in summary , i congratulate the gentleman again for a fiscally prudent budget that meets our nation 's needs , and i look forward to continuing to work with him to honor the commitment to our nation 's veterans . 
