Improving health care for our veterans is one of my top priorities. They deserve the best the country has to offer. At a time when health care costs continue to rise, and our veterans population continues to age, Congress should provide sufficient resources to the VA in order to meet the needs of veterans and their families.

The Bush Administration's budget proposal for the Department of Veterans Affairs represents the largest increase in spending ever proposed in terms of total dollars, $6 billion over last year for a total of $58 billion. In the area of veterans' health care, the Administration has requested $22.7 billion, a record in terms of total dollars. Last month President Bush signed into law, H.R. 3447, now P.L. 107-135, which requires the VA to lower co-payments for near-poor veterans who live in high-cost areas of the country.

Despite large veterans budget increases, the Administration acknowledges that their proposal does not contain enough appropriated dollars to provide care for all of the veterans who are expected to seek care from the VA next year. To cover this shortfall, the Administration proposed the new $1,500 deductible that would be applied only to Category 7 veterans in order to increase collections and decrease the number of veterans seeking health care through the VA.

Last year, working in a bipartisan manner, Congress was able to significantly increase veterans' health care funding. We succeeded by presenting a detailed and bipartisan estimate of the legitimate needs of the VA health care system and we should do the same this year. I will continue to work closely with the VA on both the national and local levels to make sure the veterans I represent have timely and convenient access to the best quality health care. As a Member of the House Appropriations Committee, I will be working to avoid the need for the deductible proposed. Too many veterans rely on today's benefits to impose a $1500 deductible.