SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED FOURTH CONGRESS NOTE: Under Committee Rules, Mr. Livingston, as Chairman of the Full Committee, and Mr. Obey, as Ranking FRANK M. CUSHING, PAUL E. THOMSON, TIMOTHY L. PETERSON, and VALERIE L. BALDWIN, Staff Assistants PART 8 TESTIMONY OF MEMBERS OF CONGRESS AND OTHER 24-698 o Printed for the use of the Committee on Appropriations U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON: 1996 For sale by the U.S. Government Printing Office Superintendent of Documents, Congressional Sales Office, Washington, DC 20402 COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS BOB LIVINGSTON, Louisiana, Chairman JOSEPH M. MCDADE, Pennsylvania JOHN EDWARD PORTER, Illinois JIM KOLBE, Arizona BARBARA F. VUCANOVICH, Nevada JIM LIGHTFOOT, Iowa RON PACKARD, California CHARLES H. TAYLOR, North Carolina ERNEST J. ISTOOK, JR., Oklahoma JOE KNOLLENBERG, Michigan JAY DICKEY, Arkansas JACK KINGSTON, Georgia FRANK RIGGS, California MIKE PARKER, Mississippi RODNEY P. FRELINGHUYSEN, New Jersey GEORGE R. NETHERCUTT, JR., Washington MARK W. NEUMANN, Wisconsin DAVID R. OBEY, Wisconsin JOHN P. MURTHA, Pennsylvania VIC FAZIO, California W. G. (BILL) HEFNER, North Carolina RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois ALAN B. MOLLOHAN, West Virginia MARCY KAPTUR, Ohio DAVID E. SKAGGS, Colorado NANCY PELOSI, California PETER J. VISCLOSKY, Indiana THOMAS M. FOGLIETTA, Pennsylvania ESTEBAN EDWARD TORRES, California JAMES W. DYER, Clerk and Staff Director (II) DEPARTMENTS OF VETERANS AFFAIRS AND HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, AND INDEPENDENT AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS FOR 1997 TESTIMONY OF MEMBERS OF CONGRESS AND OTHER INTERESTED INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS WEDNESDAY, MAY 8, 1996. RENOVATION AND RECONSTRUCTION OF THE ALVIN C. YORK VETERANS MEDICAL CENTER, MURFREESBORO, TENNESSEE WITNESS HON. BART GORDON, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF TENNESSEE Mr. LEWIS. It is my pleasure to call the meeting to order and welcome our colleague, Bart Gordon, for any testimony you might have dealing with the VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies Subcommittee. Bart, welcome. We'll take all of your testimony and it will be included in the record, and you can move on from there. Mr. GORDON. Thank you. I have submitted my formal testimony already, so I will try to be brief. First of all, in almost 12 years, this is the first time that I have come before this committee on a matter concerning the VA. I come, I think, somewhat informed-and very personally. This concerns the Alvin C. York hospital in my home town of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, where my father was a groundskeeper for 27 years, and whereas, as a fresh man in high school, I started going out there as a volunteer, and I have been doing that with some regularity. It started off as a psychiatric hospital and has since that time become also a medical hospital, particularly for the rural areas around there. Just quickly, anecdotical, I was there a couple of weeks ago and I went to the waiting room. When I'm out, it's probably like you are. You hear some complaints about the VA, not so much-you know, a lot of it is funding, or they have to see a different doctor every time they go. I mean, it's the standard sort of thing. So I just went through the waiting room and asked people what their thoughts were and what their concerns were. There wasn't a single complaint there. I think a lot of it is beyond this hospital. (1) |