S.Amdt. 2799

SA 2799. Mr. THUNE (for himself and Mr. Rounds) submitted an
amendment intended to be proposed to amendment SA 2763 proposed by Mr.
Kirk (for himself, Mr. Tester, and Ms. Mikulski) to the bill H.R. 2029,
making appropriations for military construction, the Department of
Veterans Affairs, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending
September 30, 2016, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on
the table; as follows:

At the end of title II, add the following:
Sec. 2__. (a) The Secretary of Veterans Affairs may not
carry out any action described in subsection (b) at a medical
facility of the Department of Veterans Affairs located in
Veterans Integrated Service Network 23 as part of a planned
realignment of services from the Department until the
Secretary has submitted to the appropriate committees of
Congress a report that includes the following:
(1) A national realignment strategy for the Veterans Health
Administration that includes a detailed description of
realignment plans within each Veterans Integrated Service
Network.
(2) An explanation of the process by which such realignment
plans were developed and coordinated within each Veterans
Integrated Service Network.
(3) An analysis of the cost versus the benefit of each
realignment included in such realignment plans, including the
cost of replacing services furnished directly by the
Department of Veterans Affairs with services provided under a
contract with a non-Department entity.
(4) An analysis of how each realignment will impact health
care within each Veterans Integrated Service Network for the
following veterans:
(A) Veterans who are members of Indian tribes.
(B) Veterans who live in rural or highly rural areas.
(5) An analysis of how each realignment will impact access
to and enrollment in posttraumatic stress disorder programs
and residential rehabilitation treatment programs of the
Department and the capacity of such programs to provide
services within each Veterans Integrated Service Network and
nationally.
(b) The actions described in this subsection are the
following:
(1) The closure of a medical facility of the Department.
(2) The use of any funds of the Department to prepare any
environment impact statement that is related to the closure
of a medical facility of the Department.
(3) Any action that--
(A) diminishes the ability of veterans to receive health
care from the Department, or diminishes the quality of such
health care; and
(B) is related to the closure of a medical facility of the
Department.
(c) In this section--
(1) the term ``appropriate committees of Congress'' means--
(A) the Committee on Appropriations and the Committee on
Veterans' Affairs of the Senate; and
(B) the Committee on Appropriations and the Committee on
Veterans' Affairs of the House of Representatives; and
(2) the term ``Indian tribe'' has the meaning given that
term in section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and
Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450b).
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