JOINT RESOLUTION MEMORIALIZING THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS AND THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS TO ENSURE FUNDING FOR VETERANS' HEALTH CARE

your Memorialists, the Members of the One Hundred and Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Maine now assembled in the Second Regular Session, most respectfully present and petition the President of the United States, the United States Congress and the United States Department of Veterans Affairs as follows:

WHEREAS,  the United States Department of Veterans Affairs provides medical care for all veterans of the United States Armed Forces; and

WHEREAS,  the funding for this health care is passed each year by the United States Congress as part of the discretionary budget; and

WHEREAS,  this health care is seriously underfunded; and

WHEREAS,  this serious and now chronic shortfall affects the veterans’ access to quality medical care services; and

WHEREAS,  the United States Department of Veterans Affairs and our Nation have a duty to serve our veterans and have entered into a contract, absolute and irrevocable, to provide them with proper health care; now, therefore, be it

That We, your Memorialists, respectfully urge and request that full funding for health care for veterans of the United States Armed Forces be passed and that all parties involved do their utmost to see that those who served their Nation are given the health care they deserve; and be it further

That suitable copies of this resolution, duly authenticated by the Secretary of State, be transmitted to the Honorable George W. Bush, President of the United States, to the President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, to the Honorable James B. Peake, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and to each Member of the Maine Congressional Delegation.