Washington -- U.S. Representative Barbara Cubin (R-WY) joined Republican Members of Congress this week in sending a letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi urging her to strike an agreement with the Senate and secure critical funds for our nations’ veterans.

“Few issues are more important than adequate funding for our nation’s veterans,” the letter reads. “The leadership in the House cannot allow this critically important funding to fall victim to the usual partisan wrangling which occurs all too often in Washington.”

Representative Cubin sent the letter in conjunction with 43 other Republican Members of Congress, demanding that a prompt agreement on the conference report for the FY2008 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act be reached with the Senate.  Recent news reports suggest that House Democrat leadership has been intentionally blocking veterans funding legislation from consideration on the House floor.

“If these reports are true, then Democrats are using the widely supported veterans funding bill as leverage against the President, who has threatened to veto several other pending appropriations bills because of their massive spending increases,” Cubin said. "The United States has made promises to our veterans in the form of benefits and healthcare, promises that should not be held hostage to the Democrats' social agenda."

Representative Cubin supported the legislation when it passed in the House overwhelmingly, by a vote of 409 to 2, in June. The bill builds on the tremendous funding increases seen under the Republican Majority by appropriating $87.7 billion dollars for the Veterans Administration.

“I have made my views clear to House Democrats,” Cubin said. “They must honor the commitment they made when they took over the House, and that is to continue the trend of significant increases in veterans funding begun by the Republican Congress. Anything short of this in unacceptable.”