Veterans' Authorities Extension Act of 2008

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6832) to authorize major medical facility projects and major medical facility leases for the Department of Veterans Affairs for fiscal year 2009, to extend certain authorities of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.

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

Mr. Speaker, this is a very important bill that we simply must pass this year because it extends authorities for a whole number of veterans programs. And I want to thank my ranking member, Mr. Buyer of Indiana, for his cooperation and support to get this bill on the floor today because, as I said, we have got to get this done before the end of this congressional session.

H.R. 6832 includes the text of several other pieces of legislation; for example, the text of H.R. 5856, the Department of Veterans Medical Facility Authorization and Lease Act of 2008, that we passed on this floor by a vote of 416-0 back in May. As the new fiscal year begins on October 1, it is essential that the VA have the legal authorities it needs to move forward in providing world-class facilities and better access for our veterans.

In addition to providing these authorizations, we extend a number of expiring authorities, including the authority to collect from insurance companies and third parties for the cost of certain health care. These provisions were slated to expire at the end of this month. It also extends the VA authority to receive data from the IRS and the Social Security Administration to verify income levels for veterans in certain programs.

We extend here also the authority of the VA to conduct recovery audits of fee basis and other medical service contracts when a veteran receives care at a non-VA facility, such as the bill we just passed with Mr. Moran.

We make permanent here the VA authority to treat veterans who participated in tests conducted by the Department of Defense at the Deseret Test Center from 1962 to 1973, which included the program known as Project Shipboard Hazard and Defense, or Project SHAD. This authority expired last year. We have to do more for those who have been subject to those tests, and we will look at legislation, especially by Mr. Thompson of California, in the near future.

We extend the reporting requirements for the Special Committee on PTSD, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, and the Committee on Care of Severely Chronically Mentally Ill Veterans. These committees are vitally important as we seek to provide the best care for our veterans in dealing with these mental health issues.

We repeal the sunset on inclusion of noninstitutional extended care services as part of the health care provided to our veterans, and extend the authority of the VA to provide nursing home care for certain veterans, which was also slated to expire at the end of this year.

We increase the number of veterans among our most severely disabled veterans who would be able to participate in the VA's Independent Living Program. Long-term care services are a vital component of our health care for veterans, and will only increase in importance in the years ahead.

H.R. 6832 also makes permanent the authority of the Advisory Committee on Minority Veterans and reporting requirements for the Women's Advisory Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I have often stressed the importance of the housing provisions in the original GI bill that was enacted in 1944. This act, of which over 8 million veterans took advantage of, probably created the prosperous and stable middle-class in our Nation. We recently passed an update of the GI bill that we called the 21st Century GI Bill, which brought education benefits up to the standards that this century requires, but we did not reform and improve the VA home loan program in that GI bill that would have in fact remained true to the spirit of the original GI bill. The housing crisis that is affecting all of our society in all areas of our country would be helped by broadening authority of the VA in this area.

Both my ranking member, Mr. Buyer, and I have introduced legislation to reform the home loan program, and H.R. 6832 brings both of our pieces of legislation together. We were able to provide temporary authority for the VA to make loans at levels that matched other Federal housing programs in an earlier bill this year, but that authority expires at the end of the year and VA will be forced once again to essentially limit its guarantee to a maximum loan amount of $417,000. What we do here is to extend that authority until 2011 to guarantee loan amounts up to $729,750 in certain parts of the country. We also extend the authority of the VA to make so-called hybrid adjustable rate and adjustable rate mortgages in their program, which also expires this year.

Finally, H.R. 6832 will make it easier for veterans to refinance their home loans with the VA. We authorize the VA to provide the same maximum loan guarantee for veterans, refinancing non-VA loans, as it currently provides for loans guaranteed by the VA. It will enable veterans to refinance the loan at up to 100 percent of the value of the underlying property. Currently, the VA is only able to finance up to 90 percent.

I know that I speak for Mr. Buyer in that we wish we could do more right at this moment to help our veterans weather this housing crisis, but this bill provides real help, and will make a real difference in the lives of thousands of veterans facing the housing crisis and our economic slowdown. It is extremely important that we pass H.R. 6832, and meet our responsibilities to our Nation's veterans.

I thank the minority side for its great cooperation on this.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to one of the most passionate advocates for veterans in our country, Ms. Brown of Florida.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to Mr. Rodriguez of Texas.

Mr. Speaker, I would add to what the gentleman from Texas said. You know better than anybody the problems with the facilities in San Juan, Puerto Rico. This does a seismic correction for one of the major buildings on the order of $225 million, and establishes an outpatient clinic in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. So we are taking some steps, we have a long way to go, for our citizens there in Puerto Rico.

I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislation days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 6832.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 6832, the Department of Veterans Affairs Construction and Extensions Act of 2008.

This legislation, which I am cosponsoring along with Chairman Filner is a bipartisan measure consisting of the construction bill the House of Representatives passed on May 21, 2008, as well as language from the bill I introduced on August 1, 2008, H.R. 6802, the Veterans Authorities Extension Act of 2008, and additional authorizations.

The provisions included from the Committee reported and House passed construction bill, H.R. 5856, would authorize major VA medical facility projects and leases for fiscal year 2009. Included in this legislation is an authorization of $66 million for construction of a fifth Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center in San Antonio, Texas. VA's four existing Polytrauma Centers are located in Richmond, Virginia; Tampa, Florida; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Palo Alto, California.

Mr. Speaker, this past February, I had the pleasure of visiting the Audie Murphy VA Medical Center in San Antonio for a briefing on

this new project, which will provide state-of-the-art care to our severely injured heroes. The VA Polytrauma Centers are designed to provide comprehensive inpatient rehabilitation services for individuals with complex, severe and disabling traumas. By creating a fifth Polytrauma Center in San Antonio, our commitment to veterans and servicemembers is reinforced by expanding access to the southwestern United States.

H.R. 6832 also will provide the extension of a number of important authorizations. These include: Repeal of the sunset on inclusion of non-institutional extended care services; Extension of recovery audit authority; Permanent authority for provision of hospital care, medical services, and nursing home care to veterans who participated in certain chemical and biological testing; Extension of expiring collections authorities; Extension of nursing home care; Extension of authority to carry out income verification; Extension of certain home loan guaranty programs; Extension of requirement to submit an annual report on the Special Committee on PTSD; Permanent requirement for the biannual report on the Women's Advisory Committee; and Permanent authority for VA's Advisory Committee on Minority Veterans (which was previously passed this last July in H.R. 674).

The bill will also increase the number of veterans participating in the VA's Independent Living Program, and will enhance the refinancing of home loans by veterans.

I would like to thank Chairman Filner, as well as Health Subcommittee Chairman Michael Michaud of Maine and Ranking Member Jeff Miller of Florida, for their efforts to bring this legislation through the Committee and on to the House floor for consideration. I would also like to commend the Committee staff for their hard work and bipartisan efforts throughout this Congress.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 6832, the Department of Veterans Affairs Construction and Extensions Act of 2008.

General Leave

Mr. Speaker, I support H.R. 6832, the Department of Veterans Affairs Construction and Extensions Act of 2008. I again thank Chairman Filner and Ranking Member Buyer for bringing this bill forward today. And I also want to thank the leaders of the Subcommittee on Health, the gentleman from Maine (Mr. Michaud) and the ranking member, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Miller) for their bipartisan efforts in crafting this important legislation.

The construction authorization provisions in title I of this bill are identical to previously passed legislation here in the House, the construction authorization bill H.R. 5856, and they would authorize major VA medical facility projects and leases for the fiscal year 2009. This legislation is similar to what we have done in the past on an annual basis. The Veterans' Affairs Committee report for that bill H.R. 5856 with further explanation of the legislation background and intent of these construction authorizations.

Collectively, the provisions authorize approximately $2.2 billion over the next 5 years to improve access to health care for our Nation's veterans. The extension portion of this bill, the extension authorities in title III include a number of important authorizations. Ranking Member Buyer introduced a bill to extend the expiring authorities, H.R. 6802, on August 1 of this year, and this bill incorporates those extensions and others.

Among those that are significant and important are: Repeal of sunset on inclusion of non-institutional extended care services; permanent authority for provision of hospital care, medical services, and nursing home care to veterans who participated in certain chemical and biological testing; extension of nursing home care; and, extension of certain home loan guaranty programs.

The bill, in title III, would also increase the number of veterans participating in the independent living program and enhance refinancing of home loans by veterans.

Mr. Speaker, with House action on this construction authorization and the extension of authorities, as well as the veterans' COLA we just passed a few moments ago in the form of Senate bill 2617, the House will have taken what many consider the must-pass bills for the 2008 session for the 110th Congress. Our hope is that our Senate colleagues will take up H.R. 6832 promptly, so that we may complete the actions on these legislative items that are of great importance to veterans.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 6832.

I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I support this legislation.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, providing for our nation's veterans--the brave men and women who risk their lives to ensure our freedom--has always been a top priority for me in my service to the people of the sixth district of Florida. I am pleased that we are here today to pass legislation that will authorize much-needed funding for improvements to new and existing VA facilities throughout our country.

Included in this legislation is funding for a new Bed Tower at the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Gainesville, Florida. For years I have been working on securing funding for an addition to the Malcom Randall VA Hospital in my district, which will help to correct some of the patient privacy deficiencies this hospital has been experiencing over the years.

This facility will address the acute needs of our local veterans by providing them with state-of-the-art, private patient rooms, and the convenience of high quality VA medical care. The funding authorized by this legislation will go toward a five-story, 245,000 square foot facility consisting of four floors of new patient beds and one floor of supporting medical services. This new Bed Tower will have 228 new beds, and will also house a 10-bed ER, Chest Pain Unit, and ENT, Ophthalmology, Urology, and Hematology Clinics.

The Malcom Randall VA Hospital is one of the busiest and efficient VA facilities in the country, and the veterans in my district will benefit greatly from this new Bed Tower. I thank my colleague, Mr. Filner, for introducing this important legislation, and I look forward to the completion of this new Bed Tower in Gainesville.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this specific legislation.

Let me just indicate that the language that is on there regarding Project 112 efforts, those are studies that were supposedly conducted during the 1960s and 1970s on our own soldiers. There was a variety of studies that were conducted where, basically, we used nerve gas and other things with our own soldiers to see how they would react, and we have prioritized in terms of trying to provide the services and health care needs of these soldiers and to ID them. This allows extension of that language that is needed for us to continue to do the right thing when it comes to our veterans now that suffered under those studies.

Let me also say that this is a comprehensive piece of legislation that begins to fund a variety of different programs throughout the country, and including, Mr. Speaker, in your beloved area of Puerto Rico, which you know a large number of soldiers that served our country reside in and will have an opportunity to get extended health care needs there through the clinics.

In addition, I am proud to announce that we have four major polytrauma centers in this country, and the fifth one is located in San Antonio. This allows the opportunity for funding of that particular polytrauma center that will allow services to be extended to those soldiers coming both from Afghanistan and Iraq that are seriously injured.

So, once again, I want to take this opportunity to thank the leadership for their efforts, and I thank Mr. Filner for the dedicated work he has providing these resources to our veterans throughout the country.