Nursing Home Quality and Transparency Act

Mr. Speaker, I would like to associate myself with the remarks made by my Texas colleague, Mr. Rodriguez.

Mr. Speaker, the Military Personnel Citizenship Processing Act creates an Office of the

FBI Liaison within U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). This office will monitor the progress of naturalization applications filed by veterans and military personnel.

It will also monitor the progress of naturalization applications filed by spouses of active duty soldiers stationed abroad. And the Liaison Office will track the naturalization process for the soldiers and their spouses and children who are eligible for citizenship under the provisions that grant posthumous citizenship to military personnel who die in service to the country.

The intent behind the establishment of this Liaison Office is to address the delays that often occur in the processing of the necessary background checks for these categories of applicants.

The haste under which this bill was added to the suspension calendar precludes any meaningful assessment of the need for such an office. However, I do not object to measures that facilitate the processing of naturalization applications of those who have honorably served our country or their spouses and children.

This bill also requires USCIS to make a decision on these applications within 6 months of filing or, in circumstances in which that is not possible, to provide the reasons why. This is not an onerous burden since USCIS will still have the flexibility needed to be sure that all required security checks and eligibility criteria are met before granting citizenship.

In this Congress, we have already passed legislation to ease the processing of naturalization applications for our soldiers. The Kendall Frederick Citizenship Assistance Act became law on June 26th of this year. That law permits soldiers to use the fingerprints they provided at the time of enlistment for their background checks.

That law also requires the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Director of the FBI to take steps to ensure that soldiers' naturalization applications are adjudicated within 180 days after the background checks have been completed. This bill furthers those goals.

The bill provides, but does not require, an earlier target date of 6 months after the filing of the application. But in cases in which that time frame cannot be met--even with the new FBI liaison office created under this bill--USCIS will need to explain why.

I have no objection to these measures, which are intended to ensure the timely adjudication of naturalization applications filed by those who have served our Nation, and urge my colleagues to support the bill.

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

Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the Senate bill (S. 2840) to establish a liaison with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to expedite naturalization applications filed by members of the Armed Forces and to establish a deadline for processing such applications.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, foreign-born soldiers serving in our Armed Forces are eligible for expedited U.S. citizenship, yet they often face delays in the processing of the FBI background check required for naturalization.

S. 2840 would address this backlog by creating an Office of the FBI Liaison within the Department of Homeland Security. This office will help expedite the processing of naturalization applications filed by soldiers, veterans, and spouses and children of active duty soldiers.

The bill requires DHS to adjudicate these naturalization applications within six months, or to inform the applicants of the reasons for the delay and provide them with an estimated date of completion.

It promotes accountability by having the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) report annually to Congress on how many of these naturalization applications that remain pending a year after filing due to delays in background checks.

Approximately 45,000 lawful permanent residents are currently serving in our Armed Forces. More than 13,000 non-citizen military have applied for U.S. citizenship since 2002.

S. 2480 is a good measure that will help ensure that our soldiers and veterans do not face unreasonable hurdles to U.S. citizenship.

I urge my colleagues to support the bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas, Mr. Ciro Rodriguez, as much time as he may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlelady from California, Zoe Lofgren, as much time as she may need.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, Mr. Smith.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in Senate bill 2840, the Military Personnel Citizenship Processing Act, sponsored by Senator Chuck Schumer of New York. I was a sponsor on the House side. Senate bill 2840 would address the growing backlog of citizenship applications of those men and women that are serving our country and happen to be foreign born.

This bill addresses some of the holdups with the FBI backgrounds, not only for the soldiers, sailors and airmen, but also ensuring that dialogue occurs also with the Department of Defense and the military in the applications.

It creates an office of FBI liaison with DHS and monitors the communication gaps that exist between them at the present time. This bill further requires that the agencies send notice out to the military applicants explaining the delay and estimating the date of completion for any application pending over 6 months.

This bill works in harmony with the recently passed Kendell Frederick Act. While the Kendell Frederick Act will ensure prompt processing of biometric data and timely adjudication after the FBI background checks are completed, S. 2840 will ensure that the background checks themselves are done expeditiously.

Taken together, this bill will be a one-two punch that's required and needed in order for our military servicemen to be able to move forward and become citizens.

Some 7,500 military applications are presently pending with citizenship and immigration services. These men and women represent the best of America, and they unquestionably deserve and are owed the full rights of every citizen in this country.

The provisions on this bill allow it to hopefully expedite this to occur.

I would certainly like to commend Congressman Rodriguez and Senator Schumer. This is a measure that I support.

Mr. Speaker, I would just like to note there is another measure that we have marked up in the Judiciary Committee that would broadly assist our American soldiers and their families. I hope that in the same spirit of collaboration we see this evening, we will be able to achieve that wonderful advance for the fathers, mothers, wives, spouses, and sons and daughters of our brave American soldiers.