and in june, veterans secretary ric some checking -- ric shinseki came to new orleans for the groundbreaking of that new va hospital. in education we have made strides as well. schools in new orleans were falling behind long before katrina. but in the years since the storm, a lot of public schools opened themselves up to innovation and to reform. as a result, we are accessing rising achievement, and new orleans is becoming a model of innovation for the nation. this is yet another sign that you are not just rebuilding -- you're rebuilding stronger than before. just this friday, my administration announced the final agreement on $1.8 billion for orleans parish schools. this is money that had been locked up for years. now it is freed up so folks here could determine how best to restore the school system. and in a city that has known too much violence, that has seen too many and people lost to drugs and criminal activity, we have got a justice department committed to working with new orleans to fight the scourge of violent crime and to weed out corruption in the police force and to ensure the cr

that is why i have charged secretary shinseki with building a 21st century va. [applause] and that includes one of the largest percentage increases to the va budget in the past 30 years. [applause] we are going to cut this deficit that we have got, and i have proposed upper -- a freeze on discretionary domestic spending. but what i have not frozen is the spending we need to keep our military strong, our country safe, and our veterans secure. so we're going to keep on making historic commitments to our veterans. [applause] for about 200,000 vietnam vets who may have been exposed to agent orange and who now suffer from three chronic diseases, we are making easier for you to get the health care and benefits you need. [applause] for our gulf war veterans, we have declared that nine infectious diseases are now presumed to be related to your service in desert storm. [applause] for our disabled veterans, we have eliminated co pays for those of you who are catastrophically disabled. [applause] we have kept our promise on concurrent receipt that proposing -- by proposing

in june, veteran secretary shinseki came to the groundbreaking for that hospital. in education, we have made strides as well. as you know, schools in new orleans were falling behind long before katrina. but in the years since the storm, a lot of public schools have opened themselves up to innovation and reform. we're seeing rising achievement and new orleans is becoming a model of innovation for the nation. this is yet another sign that you are not just rebuilding. you are rebuilding stronger than before. just this friday, my administration announced a final agreement on $1.8 billion for borland's -- orleans parish schools. [cheers and applause] this is money that had been locked up for years, but now it is freed up so folks here can determine how best to restore the school system. in a city that has known too much violence, and seemed to many young people lost to drugs and criminal activity -- seen too many people lost to drugs and criminal activity, we have a justice department that is determined to weed out corruption, fight a violent crime, and ensure the crimi