California's 14^th Congressional District is unique not only as home to thousands of our nation's veterans, but also as the location of one of our nation's premier medical facilities, the Department of Veteran Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System. Since coming to Congress, Rep. Eshoo has consistently fought to provide veterans with the benefits they've earned serving our nation, and has worked to ensure the staff and facilities at VA Palo Alto receive the resources they need to provide for our region's veterans, as well as our young men and women returning from service overseas.

The VA Palo Alto Health Care System is a major tertiary care referral center, providing primary, secondary and tertiary care within a large geographical region encompassing a 10 county, 13,500 square mile area, serving approximately 350,000 veterans. The VA Palo Alto hospital is one of only four traumatic brain injury units operated by the VA in the United States and receives referrals from the entire West Coast and as far away as Texas. At any one time there are from 6-12 patients who are undergoing extensive rehabilitation for traumatic brain injury, or TBI, a wound that occurs in more than 60% of veterans who incur impact injuries in Iraq. These servicemen and women come to the VA after receiving their acute care at Walter Reed, Bethesda or other DoD medical facilities. At the VA Palo Alto hospital, they spend hard months in rehabilitation, fighting daily to get their lives back.

Soldiers and Marines often arrive at the VA Palo Alto hospital unable to walk, talk or even perform basic bodily functions. The dedicated team of therapists, doctors, nurses and other caregivers, in conjunction with the amazing attitudes of the men and women themselves, do perform daily miracles.

To assist these brave men and women in their recovery, Rep. Eshoo led the effort in Congress in 2004 to urge the Fisher House Foundation to build a Fisher House at VA Palo Alto. The Fisher House Foundation is a unique public-private partnerships which builds homes at VA medical facilities for families of veterans and active-duty personnel being served at the facility. Thanks to Rep. Eshoo's efforts, the generosity of local donors, and the excellent work of the Fisher House Foundation, the nation's largest Fisher House opened at VA Palo Alto in April 2006.

The Fisher House at VA Palo Alto will serve all veterans' families who have someone they love going through long-term rehabilitation programs, including traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury and vision rehabilitation.

To ensure these brave veterans receive the medical care they need, Rep. Eshoo voted four times in 2005 to provide the $1.2 billion in veterans' health care funding needed by the VA to treat soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. These efforts were opposed every single time by the Administration and the Republican majority in the House. Finally, in June 2005, the Bush Administration publicly admitted that it had vastly underestimated the number of service personnel returning from Iraq and Afghanistan seeking medical treatment from the VA, and warned that the health care programs would be short at least $2.6 billion next year unless Congress approved additional funds.

Following this announcement, on July 28, 2005, Rep. Eshoo voted for the Conference Report for H.R. 2361, the FY2006 Interior Appropriations Bill, which passed the House by a vote of 410-10. The Conference Report included $1.5 billion in additional funding for Veterans' health care programs in 2005.

The Administration's initial opposition to Veterans' health care funding caused a serious delay in getting services to the people who need them. The delays have caused some VA medical facilities to defer scheduling appointments for veterans, others to postpone filling vacancies of medical and nursing staff, and others to close operating rooms or not replacing basic medical equipment, such as hospital beds. Right now there are more than 50,000 veterans waiting in line for medical appointments, with more than 100,000 veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan seeking health care.

This is entirely unacceptable. Rep. Eshoo continues to fight in Congress for adequate investment in veterans' health care and benefits to meet the needs of our troops as they return home from Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as those who have served before them.