Veterans Benefits Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2014

Floor Speech

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Mr. GALLEGO. Mr. Speaker, Ronald Reagan told a story many years ago about a little boy who encountered a pile of manure and was very excited because he thought there might be a pony in there somewhere. And the truth is that a lot of people across the country are looking for a pony.

So many people understand across the board that this isn't really about veterans or parks or the Washington, D.C., budget. It's a fight over ObamaCare and whether ObamaCare gets funded or not, a subject that has had some 40-something votes in the U.S. House of Representatives.

And I will also tell you that today, I've spent my day talking to people on the phone. I spoke to a veteran employed with the Federal Government in San Antonio who is a single dad and is worried about how he will pay his bills. A retired sergeant in Fort Stockton with the same story. Two people who were very interesting, one who told me straight up that he was a Tea Party member in San Antonio, Texas. He said, If you have a fight about ObamaCare, that should be separate and apart from keeping the doors of government open. And a woman in Ozona, Texas, who told me the same thing.

But perhaps the best statement that I have had came from an airman who serves in the 23rd District who wrote me this:

While I and many others appreciate the gratitude expressed in times like these, we have also become weary of the same. Whenever the actions of our national leaders have a negative impact on us, as government employees--which seems to have become the norm over the last years--we hear the same rhetoric. We don't want to hear how grateful and appreciative our leaders are. We want them to show their gratitude through deeds. Passing a fiscally sound budget.

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