Berkley Presses House Veterans Committee on Full Funding for Southern Nevada VA Medical Center

Committee Expected to Pass Legislation This Year Providing OK for Full $406 million

(Washington, DC -- June 22, 2006) Congresswoman Shelley Berkley (D-NV) today said she is confident that the House Veterans Affairs Committee will pass legislation later this year that will reauthorize the full amount in federal funding needed to construct southern Nevada’s first full-service VA medical complex, which is set to break ground later this year.

"Nevada veterans have been promised these facilities, but unfortunately the President failed to include funding for this critical project in this year’s budget. That is why I have secured a commitment from my colleagues on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee that the $406 million needed for the medical complex will be endorsed in legislation later this year,” said Berkley, who serves on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee.

"Right now, the project has the approval of Congress, but that authority will technically expire come September. I have already worked to secure more than $250 million for this project and I will not allow the President to break his promise to Nevada’s veterans,” said Berkley. “They have been given the word of the VA Secretary that this project will be funded, but I understand why there are doubts because no money was included by the White House in its spending blueprint. There is no question we need this hospital, outpatient clinic and long-term care facility and it is my job to hold the feet of the Republicans to the fire until the job gets done,” Berkley said.

Berkley noted that by the time the new VA medical center is opened, it will have taken nearly a decade to replace the Valley’s only permanent VA facility, the A.D. Guy Clinic, which was closed in 2002.

"Southern Nevada has been without a permanent VA healthcare facility since 2002 and our veterans are forced to rely on temporary clinics for their healthcare needs. Anyone who questions the need for this project is welcome to come to southern Nevada and to see with their own two eyes what our veterans have to endure in order to receive benefits they earned through their military service,” said Berkley.

Berkley has successfully secured more than $250 million in funding for the VA medical center to date, and authored legislation that transferred to the VA nearly 150 acres of federal land to house the complex.

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