Homeless Veterans Assistance Act of 2004

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and concur in the Senate amendments to the bill (H.R. 3936) to amend title 38, United States Code, to authorize the principal office of the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims to be at any location in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area, rather than only in the District of Columbia, and expressing the sense of Congress that a dedicated Veterans Courthouse and Justice Center should be provided for that Court and those it serves and should be located, if feasible, at a site owned by the United States that is part of or proximate to the Pentagon Reservation, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in very strong support of H.R. 3936, the Veterans Health Programs Improvement Act of 2004. The bill, as amended, represents a compromise agreement between the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs and the Senate on these matters.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Evans), the committee's ranking member, for his work on this. I especially want to thank the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Simmons) for his admirable leadership as chairman of the Subcommittee on Health, where most of these measures originated. He has done a tremendous job as chairman. As a 37-year Army veteran, he has put veterans first and has done so in a way that is extraordinary.

Again, I want to thank him for his work and his meticulous attention to detail. It has made the difference. This bill, regrettably, went through a lot of difficulties and travail, and yet he persevered. And I want to thank our chairman of that subcommittee for his leadership. It has been extraordinary.

I also want to thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Rodriguez), the ranking member of that subcommittee. Again, these bills are bipartisan. We have worked together very closely, and it is a pleasure to bring this before the body today.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3936 contains more than 33 measures that would improve the management and the administration of veterans health care programs. I want to highlight just a few of those provisions that are contained in the bill.

The VA's homeless grant and per diem program is an economical, flexible, and innovative approach to housing and supportive services for thousands of homeless veterans. The compromise agreement would increase the

fiscal year 2005 authorization level for VA's grant and per diem program from $75 million to $99 million. The Department requested this increase because it has received far more requests for funding from meritorious potential grantees than it can support under existing funding limits.

Another important provision compromise would direct the Secretary to make payments to assist the 128 State-operated nursing homes in hiring and retaining nursing personnel. These homes provide long-term care to over 38,000 veterans annually in an excellent partnership with the VA, and this provision encourages their efforts to keep highly qualified staff caring for these veterans.

Mr. Speaker, today we are at war overseas. We know war can produce terrible physical injuries, and we must do everything possible for wounded servicemembers. This compromise agreement would authorize the VA to establish, in conjunction with the Department of Defense, a limited number of new centers for research, education, and clinical care to improve rehabilitative services for complex traumatic injuries, such as those being suffered by our brave soldiers and Marines in Iraq. These centers will be a Godsend for these wounded war veterans and for their families.

This bill provides VA authority to enter into a 75-year lease to acquire a medical facility on the new Fitzsimons Campus of the University of Colorado. It is anticipated this Federal-State health sciences campus would share many high-cost specialized services and provide expanded access for Air Force beneficiaries at the nearby Buckley Air Force Base.

I want to recognize and thank the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Beauprez) for his leadership on this important provision and the chairman of the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, who has also done yeoman's work on this as well.

Mr. Speaker, our compromise agreement would improve the process for disposing of unneeded VA properties and authorize the proceeds from property transfers to be deposited into a new VA capital asset fund.

The new fund would facilitate transfers, leases and adaptive uses of VA properties, including historic properties. This compromise agreement also includes authorization for naming five VA medical centers, including one in Illinois to be named for the distinguished House minority leader, Bob Michel. Having served with Bob and having great respect for him, I am grateful that this provision is in here, and I want to thank my colleagues for their support for it. It also names facilities in Texas and New York for two heroic Marines who gave their lives for freedom in Vietnam.

Mr. Speaker, the staff of the Committee on Veterans Affairs has worked hard in this Congress to examine ways to provide the best possible health care to those who have earned the honored title of ``veteran.'' I would like to recognize the staff of the Subcommittee on Health: John Bradley, staff director; Dolores Dunn and Kathleen Greve, professional staff members; Susan Edgerton, Democratic staff director; and VA detailee Rosalind Howard. I would also like to thank our full committee staff, Pat Ryan to my left, chief counsel and staff director; Kingston Smith, deputy chief counsel; Jeannie McNally, legislative coordinator; and Jim Holley, Democratic staff director.

I also thank the Senate committee staff director, Bill Tuerk, and Bill Cahill, III, professional staff member. I also thank Kim Lipsky, Alexandra Sardegna and Amanda Krohn of the Democratic professional staff for their contributions. This has been a true collaborative effort.

Again, I thank all who have participated in shaping, crafting and making this an extremely valuable bill that will soon be on the desk of President Bush for his signature.

Mr. Speaker, I move that the House suspend the rules and concur in the Senate amendments to H.R. 3936.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 3936, the Veterans Health Programs Improvement Act of 2004.

H.R. 3936, as amended, represents a compromise agreement between the Committees on Veterans' Affairs of the House and Senate.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Illinois, Mr. Evans, Ranking Member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, who has helped to shape this particular legislation. Also, I want to thank the gentleman from Connecticut, Mr. Simmons, for his outstanding leadership as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Health, where most of these measures originated. Finally, I thank the gentleman from Texas, Mr. Rodriguez, the Ranking Member, who has worked in a bipartisan effort to help craft this and numerous other important veterans' health bills during his time in Congress.

Chairman Specter and Ranking Member Graham of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee also contributed to the legislation before the House today.

Mr. Speaker, VA's homeless grant and per diem program provides competitive grants to community and faith-based organizations that offer transitional housing or comprehensive service centers for homeless veterans. This program is an economical, flexible and innovative approach to housing and supportive services for homeless veterans in all 50 States and in the District. Over 6,000 beds are now available nationally to veterans through this vital community network. In 2003, 66 percent of the veterans discharged from these VA-funded programs went on to either independent living or residential-program housing. The compromise agreement will increase the fiscal year 2005 authorization level for this key program from $75 million to $99 million. The department requested this increase because it has received far more requests for funding from meritorious potential grantees than it can support under existing funding limits.

Another important provision in this compromise agreement would direct the Secretary to make payments to assist states in hiring and retaining nursing personnel at State-operated nursing homes for veterans. The 128 State veterans' homes collectively represent the largest institutional provider of long-term care to elderly veterans, now caring for over 38,000 veterans annually in 47 States. I am personally aware of staffing difficulties that the three New Jersey State veterans' homes in Vineland, Paramus and Menlo Park have faced over the past several years in their efforts to recruit and retain quality nursing staff to those homes. We need this new incentives program all across the country. It would allow State homes currently receiving per diem payments from VA with established employee-incentive programs to apply for assistance to retain and recruit their nurses. This provision encourages their efforts to keep highly-qualified staff caring for veterans.

Another provision affecting the State home programs would specify that per diem payments made by VA to States for the care of veterans in these homes may not be used to offset or reduce third party payments made to assist veterans, whether from private, State or other Federal sources.

There is well established history of partnership between the Federal and State governments providing care for veterans. This originated with the first Federal law in 1888, providing $100 per year in aid to States to help alleviate the burden of caring for sick and disabled soldiers. This partnership and the first annual payments preceded the advent of the Veterans Administration and the State Home program as we know them today--but Congressional intent has remained constant and clear. Since 1960, Congress has taken an active role in expanding the State home programs to include four levels of care, increased per diem payments and grant funding for construction of facilities. The Congress and its Veterans' Committees are adamant that this partnership and the mutual reliance by VA and the States should not be inadvertently affected by the rules of any other program which is not specifically targeted at caring for aged and infirmed veterans.

Mr. Speaker, 12 years ago, with Public Law 102-585, it was acknowledged that women who experienced sexual trauma while on active military duty may undergo a variety of psychological and physical health effects requiring special counseling. This law authorized VA to provide mental health counseling for these women veterans. Two years later, eligibility for VA sexual trauma counseling and treatment was broadened in Public Law 103-452 to include veterans of either gender who experience sexual trauma while serving on active duty. H.R. 3936 would make permanent VA's authority to provide sexual trauma counseling to veterans.

Mr. Speaker, the shortage of nurses throughout the United States is well documented and VA must position itself to take advantage of all opportunities available to deal with this shortage. H.R. 3936 would establish a pilot program to evaluate the use of proven private sector techniques, such as employer branding, interactive advertising, automated staffing systems and the use of outside recruitment agencies and online technologies to improve VA's program for recruiting nursing personnel.

Mr. Speaker, how well we know that we are at war overseas. We know war can produce

terrible physical injuries. In previous wars, many soldiers did not survive the very serious injuries of the kind being seen in Iraq and Afghanistan today. The means were not available for quick evacuation to sophisticated medical treatment. Today military medical treatment capabilities have greatly improved for complex traumatic injuries.

However, Mr. Speaker, this success creates new challenges for the caregivers who have patients with complex traumatic injuries. The compromise agreement will authorize VA to establish in cooperation with the Department of Defense a limited number of new centers for research, education and clinical activities to improve rehabilitative services for these veterans. I particularly want to thank Senator Bob Graham, Ranking Member of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, for his work in helping us reach agreement on this provision. These centers will be a godsend for these wounded war veterans and their families.

Mr. Speaker, the delivery of health care in this country and in the VA system has undergone a profound transformation over the last decade. Once a hospital based health care system, today's VA has made a significant shift from inpatient to outpatient services, with tremendous growth in the number of enrolled veterans. Yet, much of VA health care bricks-and-mortar infrastructure was designed and built decades ago--some parts of it over a century ago--in a bygone era of health care delivery when long stays in the hospital were the norm.

In 1999, a General Accounting Office report not surprisingly found that VA's cost of operating and maintaining its large inventory of old buildings was a huge and avoidable drain on resources. In the years since that GAO report, VA has undergone a major initiative referred to as the Capital Asset Realignment for Enhanced Services (CARES) initiative, to assess the best use of VA's capital assets for the veteran population to be served, and to use resources more effectively to improve health care delivery to these veterans.

While awaiting the CARES recommendations, little was done by the Department to upgrade VA's physical plants. This legislation is consistent with the CARES recommendations and would provide VA the needed authority to execute leases for 16 community-based outpatient clinics at a cost of approximately $24.4 million, in fiscal year 2005, in the States of California, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. Most of these leases will upgrade existing clinic locations. All of these leases were requested by the VA.

Mr. Speaker, this bill also provides VA authority to enter into a 75- year lease to acquire a medical facility on the Fitzsimons Campus of the University of Colorado in Aurora. It is anticipated that a new federal-state health sciences campus would share many high cost and specialized services, and also would provide expanded access to care for Air Force beneficiaries from nearby Buckley Air Force Base. I want to recognize and thank the gentleman from Colorado, Mr. Beauprez, for his leadership in developing this good Federal health policy to serve the people of Colorado.

Mr. Speaker, our compromise agreement would improve the process for disposing of unneeded VA properties and authorize the proceeds from these property transfers to be deposited into a new VA Capital Asset Fund. The new fund would defray VA's cost of transferring property including demolition, environmental restoration, historic preservation and establishment of new health facilities. This bill would authorize appropriations of $10 million in seed money to launch the fund to support these initiatives.

Mr. Speaker, the VA has one of the largest federal inventories of properties with significant historic value. In fact, 24 VA medical center campuses are already listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and even more are eligible for this designation. This compromise agreement would allow the Secretary to enter into new partnerships or agreements with entities dedicated to historic preservation, and to use the funds in the Capital Asset Fund to facilitate transfers, leases or adaptive uses of those historic properties that are no longer useful for VA health care. Thus, this compromise agreement would protect history and at the same time the way to new uses of structures that have served their purposes for veterans.

Mr. Speaker, this compromise agreement includes authorization to name VA facilities to honor two heroic Marines who gave this country the greatest measure of their personal devotion, giving their lives in combat to save others in Vietnam. Lance Corporals Thomas E. Creek of Texas and Thomas P. Noonan, Jr. of New York were each posthumously awarded the Nation's highest military decoration, the Congressional Medal of Honor, for their selfless deeds.

The late James J. Peters of New York, a war hero in Vietnam, and a leader of paralyzed veterans after his service, would also be honored by our naming a VA outpatient clinic in the Bronx in his memory.

Further, Mr. Speaker, a VA facility in Illinois will be named in honor of our distinguished former House Minority Leader, Bob Michel, and a facility in Texas will be named in honor of the public service of another former Member of this House, Charles Wilson.

Mr. Speaker, under current law, VA must comply with a variety of Federal, state and local laws and regulations relating to the collecting, handling and disposing of medical waste. Failure to adhere to these laws and regulations could place patients, VA employees and their communities in hazardous situations, as well as subject VA to civil or criminal penalties. This bill would provide a means for Congress to evaluate the effectiveness of VA's medical waste management policies and determine whether additional procedures are needed to reduce environmental and heath risks. The costs of waste disposal would be assessed as well. The bill would require VA to establish and maintain an inventory of medical waste management activities in VA facilities and report to Congress on its inventory, regulatory compliance, and violations of record, along with plans for management improvements.

Mr. Speaker, the staff of the Veterans' Affairs Committee has worked hard in this Congress to examine ways of providing the best possible health care for those who have earned the honored title of ``veteran.'' I would like to recognize the staff of the Subcommittee on Health: John Bradley, Staff Director, Dolores Dunn and Kathleen Greve, professional staff members; Susan Edgerton, Democratic Staff Director, and VA detailee Rosalind Howard. I'd also like to thank our full Committee staff: Patrick Ryan, Chief Counsel and Staff Director; Kingston Smith, Deputy Chief Counsel; Jeannie McNally, our Legislative Coordinator; and Jim Holley, Democratic Staff Director.

Finally, I want to compliment the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee staff: Bill Tuerk, Staff Director and Chief Counsel; and Bill Cahill III, professional staff member. I also want to recognize Kim Lipsky, Alexandra Sardegna and Amanda Krohn, of the Democratic professional staff, for their contributions to this bill.

For the benefit of my colleagues, I include at this point in the record a joint explanatory statement describing the compromise agreement we have reached with the other body.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks and that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks, and include extraneous material on H.R. 3936, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, one final word on homeless veterans: these veterans who need services and a place to lay their heads have difficult problems. VA's programs and the hundreds of community and faith-based programs that serve in partnership with VA work miracles with many of them. The continuation and expansion of these programs with the goal of eradicating chronic homelessness in the veteran population has been one of my top goals as Chairman of this Committee. I intend to further address this program in the next Congress, so that those who once wore the nation's military uniform and who are now homeless. These veterans need a hand up to turn their lives around, and we should provide that hand.

I urge my colleagues to support this measure to enhance health care for veterans.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Simmons).

Mr. Speaker, for the benefit of my colleagues, I include at this point in the Record a joint explanatory statement describing the compromise agreement we have reached with the other body.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Stearns), the author of the law, the Millennium Health Care Act, which has made a tremendous difference on behalf of our seniors who are veterans who need long-term health care.

(Mr. STEARNS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Souder).

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3936, the Veterans Health Programs Improvement Act of 2004. I want to take this opportunity to thank the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) for his efforts, the ranking member, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Evans) also, as well as the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Simmons) of the Subcommittee on Health, and the House and Senate committee staffs for addressing some of the concerns raised in earlier pieces of this legislation. We now have a bill which I am pleased to lend my support to.

The bill includes provisions from a bill I introduced, H.R. 3849, the Military Sexual Trauma Counseling Act of 2004 to permanently extend VA's authority to provide counseling and treatment for the women and men who have experienced sexual trauma during their service in the military. Current authority for the program expires at the end of this year. Therefore, it is critical that we pass this legislation today.

Overwhelming demand has been demonstrated for this program. Thousands of veterans, in addition to Reservists and National Guardsmen, have taken

advantage of the resources available to them.

As the number of women serving in the military continue to grow, the need for the program is sadly more evident. Already we hear media reports that more than 100 troops returning from both Iraq and Afghanistan have stated that they were raped during their service.

Although it is unfortunate that we need this particular program, I am pleased we are now on the road to ensuring that we will have these services for current and future veterans.

Again, I would like to thank the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Simmons) for his leadership and cooperation in including the Military Sexual Trauma Program in this bill. I also thank the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Evans), the ranking member, for their support.

I am also supportive of the provisions to increase the funding levels available for the homeless grant and the per diem programs from $75 million to $99 million for 2005. We still have a very long way to go in meeting the Congress's goals to eliminating chronic homelessness by 2011, and this bill can help us get there.

This particular legislation also includes a provision that will require the Secretary of the VA to establish and maintain an inventory of the medical waste management activities in VA facilities, including inventory, regulatory violations and plans for management improvements. We believe the VA should be on the frontline of environmental protection policies, and these provisions help to make that happen.

There are provisions also from our Senate counterparts in this bill, including a requirement that the VA report annually through 2007 on veterans waiting more than 3 months for scheduled appointments in specialty care and the reasons for these delays.

This measure also requires the Secretary of the VA to establish a pilot program to study innovative recruitment tools to address the nursing shortage within the VA. We must be able to recruit and retain well-qualified nurses to care for our veterans. This pilot will help the VA Health Administration identify and adopt the best practices of private industries in hiring of well-qualified nurses.

Now the largest provider of long-term care to our Nation's veterans, the State veterans' home system plays a vital role in caring for the growing number of aging veterans.

This bill will authorize VA to make payments to assist State veterans' homes in hiring and retaining nurses, to help care for our aging veterans, and adds a clarification that per diem payments made by the VA to State veterans' homes are not to be used to offset or reduce third-party payments, such as Medicaid, made to assist veterans.

There are a high number of veterans returning home that have injuries from the war in both Iraq and Afghanistan. This measure authorizes the establishment of four cooperative centers for research, education and clinical activities to improve the rehabilitation services available to veterans suffering from complex multi-trauma associated with combat injuries. These centers build on the Veterans Health Administration's nationally recognized care for special populations such as post- traumatic stress disorders, spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries, as well as visual impairment, and will prove to be most valuable in providing future combat injury rehabilitation.

While the CARES process was under way, the VA health care system has managed within infrastructure that is in sore need of repair and upgrade. This bill establishes a VA Capital Asset Fund that will help strengthen our funding flow to assist the VA in developing and improving its properties. These funds will allow the VA to improve properties for disposal as well as future disposal and for minor construction. These funds also will allow the VA to use funds for improving properties.

The Secretary of Veterans Affairs will be given the flexibility in using funds to develop advance planning for major construction projects previously authorized and additional authority to transfer unneeded real property and retain the proceeds from the transfer. The bill authorizes $10 million to be appropriated to the Capital Asset Fund where it can be used for these purposes.

Mr. Speaker, 16 major new leases are authorized in this bill, including leases throughout this country. Because many of the VA important historic buildings are poorly maintained or falling apart, I am pleased that the Committee on Veterans' Affairs concluded that the VA should use funds to preserve historic properties. It is the committee's intent for VA to provide a series of reports to address its large inventory of these registered assets.

This legislation will extend the VA authority to provide care to the veterans participating in long-term care pilot programs which were previously authorized until December, 2005.

This is a bill that we all should be very proud of.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Evans), ranking member of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Filner), a member of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs and an activist in pushing forward on issues regarding veterans.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Solis).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Let me say that this particular piece of legislation is extremely important. I know, as has been mentioned, the importance of the number of veterans that are still estimated to be homeless, some 299,000 veterans out there that sleep under the bridges, and I know that our efforts in this area will help begin to continue to decrease the number of those homeless veterans that are out there.

According to the VA, 45 percent of the homeless veterans also suffer from mental health disorders. We know the importance of coming forth on post-traumatic stress disorder and how critical that is. And I also want to just emphasize how key and how important it is for the sexual trauma situations where we have improved in increasing the number of women in the military, and as we do that, we need to make sure that we have a good safe place for a work environment where they can feel comfortable in addition to the services that are needed.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to add my strong support to H.R. 3936, the Veterans Health Programs Improvement Act of 2004.

I want to acknowledge what some of my colleagues have already said. I want to acknowledge the committee leadership for its commitment to our veterans under the direction of our very able and very courageous chairman, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith). The gentleman from New Jersey has been a remarkable leader over the last 2 years. He has been a courageous leader. He has stood up in this body and leadership councils for our veterans, and I look forward to his continued leadership as our chairman in the 109th Congress.

I also recognize the work of the ranking member, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Evans), who also serves with me as co-chairmen of the U.S. Vietnam Caucus. He has made extraordinary contributions to our veterans in this legislation and in other bills we have taken up before this body.

Finally, I want to express very special words of gratitude to my colleague and ranking member on the Subcommittee on Health, the gentleman from San Antonio, Texas (Mr. Rodriguez).

Let me just share with the body two anecdotes. One, I traveled to San Antonio to chair a field hearing with the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Rodriguez), and we studied how the Department of Defense in that community and how the Veterans' Administration interact to provide health services not only for active troops but for our veterans. What was immediately apparent to me was the warmth with which his local constituents treated him because of his long interest in veterans, an interest that extends back at least 8 years as a member of this body.

But then I invited the gentleman from Texas up to the lovely, warm, pleasant weather of Connecticut, where we spent some time at Newington, Connecticut, at a VA facility. Not only did we have a hearing at that facility but then the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Rodriguez) went to the State Veterans Home at Rocky Hill and spent many hours looking at that facility to see how the VA and the Connecticut State Department of Veteran Affairs interacted once again to provide these services. This shows a very genuine interest on his part in veterans not only in his own State but in Connecticut and elsewhere throughout the country.

We are going to miss that genuine interest in our veterans. I thank the gentleman for his service to the subcommittee, to the committee and to our Nation's veterans.

Our chairman has summarized many of the provisions of this bill. What I would like to do is just point out a couple of features that I think are particularly important.

First and foremost, America has a tradition of caring for her veterans dating back to the Plymouth Colony where the Pilgrims enacted laws to assist sick and disabled soldiers. In 1811, our young country established the first domiciliary and medical facility for veterans that was authorized by the national government and today the Veterans' Administration has stewardship over the fourth largest real estate inventory in the Federal Government, over 20,000 buildings and tens of thousands of acres of land.

One of the provisions of this bill allows the Secretary of the Veterans' Administration to get his arms around

this huge inventory through the CARES project, a master plan for realigning the VA's inventory of capital assets in response to GAO findings and our committee oversight that some of these facilities were underutilized and that some dollars could be saved.

In addition, what this legislation does is provide language for the reuse of historic properties. On the one hand, properties that can be adopted to new uses but, secondly, properties that are truly historic and ought to be preserved and protected, for example, the Eisenhower Recovery Room at the Fitzsimmons Hospital in Colorado. We are engaged in a major effort to build a state-of-the-art facility at Fitzsimmons. It will be co-located with the State university hospital system, but that historic room in Fitzsimmons will be preserved and protected into the future.

Furthermore, the hiring and retraining of nursing staff in VA and State veterans homes, this legislation provides provisions that will address that challenge, the challenge of the almost 100,000 vacant nursing positions and a growing need for health care workers nationwide. It allows the VA to look outside for recruiting and advertising these positions and using interactive and online technologies to improve their exposure in today's recruiting market.

It also allows the State veterans homes to apply for a new grant program to serve as an incentive to attract nurses to State homes for their employment there with a 50-50 split between the VA and the State homes.

I have spent a long time at the Connecticut State home at Rocky Hill. This is a successor to the first State home built in America which was built just after the Civil War. They provide a wonderful service, but if they could work interactively with the VA in Connecticut, they could enhance that service, both in providing more nurses and also in providing better services for our veterans. That is what this legislation attempts to do.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3936 was carefully crafted to give the VA the flexibility and authority it needs to manage its capital assets. At the same time, it holds VA accountable for protecting the public interest of the United States as stewards of the valuable inventory of structures and lands held in trust by the VA. Finally, it provides the VA with the resources needed to enhance nurses and other professionals within the system so that they can better provide the services that we need. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4248) to amend title 38, United States Code, to extend the authority of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to make grants to expand or modify existing comprehensive service programs for homeless veterans, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume, and I rise in strong support of H.R. 4248, as amended, the Homeless Veterans Assistance Act of 2004.

I point out to my colleagues that this legislation builds on the historic law signed by President Bush, the Homeless Veterans Assistance Act of 2001. I also want to point out to my colleagues and remind them that as we wrote those provisions and held several hearings to ascertain the need, the best practices, the policies that are more likely to work to try to mitigate the problem of homelessness, all of us, on both sides of the aisle, were utterly struck by the large number of veterans who were indeed homeless. The number that seemed to be most accurate at the time was something on the order of 275,000 homeless veterans on any given night.

Many of these men, some are women, but most are men, had post- traumatic stress disorder or some problem with alcohol or drugs or both or all three. We decided working with the VA, working with the NGOs, with the VSOs, Veterans Service Organizations, and others, to devise legislation that would comprehensively try to mitigate and hopefully end this terrible problem of homelessness among our veterans.

The good news is that the number, and it is still unconscionably high, has dropped precipitously over the last several years since enactment of the law. Secretary of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, Tony Principi, testified at the beginning of this year that he believes that the number has dropped to about 200,000. Still too high, but far less than the 275,000, again, on the streets on any given night.

The legislation we have before us is a bipartisan piece of legislation, and I want to thank my good friend, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Evans), who has played a key role in working with us on this. I also want to thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Rodriguez), who has also played a very important role, and the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Simmons), the chairman of our Subcommittee on Health, and all of the Members who have tried to contribute to make this an important piece of legislation.

Let me point out to my colleagues specifically on the legislation that the VA's Homeless Grant and Per Diem program is authorized to provide competitive grants to community-based, including faith-based, organizations that offer transitional housing or service centers for homeless veterans. This program has proven to be the most economical, flexible, and innovative method to provide time-limited or transitional housing with supportive services for homeless veterans in all 50 States and the District of Columbia. Over 6,000 transitional housing beds are now available to veterans through the grant and per diem program.

In 2003, 66 percent of the veterans discharged from these programs were discharged to either independent housing or residential program housing, and 43 percent of all treatment episodes were documented as successful. This successful rate is the highest combined level of success ever achieved and ever recorded and remarkable, given the serious psychiatric disorders or substance abuse problems that often challenge recovery for homelessness.

The current authority for the grant and per diem program expires on September 30, 2005. In testimony before the Subcommittee on Health earlier this year, however, the administration stated that the total amount of grants made under this program was expected to exceed the current $75 million authorization in fiscal year 2005. To meet this growing demand for services for homeless veterans, the President's budget proposal requested an increase in the authorized level from $75 million to $100 million for the 4 years. Section 2 of H.R. 4248, as amended, would increase the authorization to $99 million for 2005. It will be up to the next Congress to extend the authorization beyond its September 30 expiration date.

Mr. Speaker, in 2003, the VA reported that more than 31,000 males and 27,000 female veterans responded to relevant screenings indicating unwanted sexual experiences that occurred during their military service time. Under current law, the authority to provide sexual trauma counseling for eligible veterans expires on December 31 of this year. H.R. 4248, as amended, would recognize the continuing need for these programs within the VA by permanently authorizing the counseling and treatment authority.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank all the Members again who have worked on this.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I first want to thank the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) for his leadership and advocacy on behalf of veterans. No one has worked harder for veterans than he has. I appreciate his commitment not only on this bill but across the board in working to improve veterans health care and the benefits for veterans in the United States. I also want to specifically thank John Bradley on the gentleman from New Jersey's committee staff for his willingness to work with my staff on matters of concern to veterans in my district.

The bill before us contains many important provisions related to veterans health care and facilities management. Particularly, section 414 is of specific interest to veterans in my district, and I appreciate the inclusion of this language to force additional reporting to Congress as far as informing us of changes or closure of veterans hospitals.

In May of this year, Secretary Principi issued his decision on the CARES Commission recommendations for veterans health care. Among the slated changes was a mission change for the Fort Wayne veterans hospital located in my district. The decision called for closure of the hospital's inpatient beds and a transfer of those patients to either a community hospital in the local area or the Indianapolis veterans hospital. Fort Wayne is the largest veterans hospital and city in the United States affected by this bill. It is the second largest city in Indiana. The northern Indiana hospital covers an area larger than 2 million people who live 2 to 4 hours from Indianapolis and have no desire to go to Indianapolis, especially for continuing outpatient care; or for some inpatient care; or far away from their doctors where they have to get motels, where their spouses have to come, far away from their families, where their children will not visit them. They have no interest in this process.

Fort Wayne is one of the top military recruiting areas in the United States. In addition, our Guard and Reserve units are regularly serving on the front lines. Currently, I have a Reserve unit of over 200 men and women in Afghanistan for a year. I just had an Air Guard unit return to Fort Wayne from the Middle East. I have another large Reserve unit that just returned from a year down in Guantanamo. This spring, I had an Army Guard unit of 700 return from 14 months in Iraq. None of this was considered in the CARES Commission report.

In Congress, we are asked to repeatedly support, which I support as well, actions in Afghanistan, actions in Iraq and other parts of the world. But we cannot ask men and women in our Guard and Reserve to repeatedly be called up and then not have health care in the districts that they live in.

The CARES Commission assumed retirement communities, and where the military bases were, were where the future demand was going to be. But if we are going to use the Guard and Reserve in the way we are using them, we are going to provide them health care because if they are on the frontline in combat, they are going to be treated like other military personnel. And if they get called up a second time and third time around, the health care system is going to be revolutionized in the United States, and these people do not retire in Florida. They do not live there. They do not go where the bases are. They live in the communities they work in, in the Guard and the Reserve. And we have to factor this in as we look at the health care system.

Obviously, population shifts have occurred. Obviously, modernization is needed in our veterans hospitals. Obviously, outpatient services are the growing category in all kinds of health care, and we do not need more input. But what I fear when we look at the obvious trends that are occurring is, this is a back-door way to actually reduce benefits for many veterans and people in the Guard and Reserve in areas where they have been loyal patriotic Americans risking and dying, as many have in my district already in these wars, and they do not deserve to have their health care diminished dramatically.