Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2008

Mr. President, I rise today to speak on legislation I am introducing to address climate change.

Today, I am introducing legislation to address a major technological challenge that faces all of us. It is the challenge of how to solve the problem of the warming of our planet. This bill is called the Greenhouse Gas Emission Atmospheric Removal Act, or the GEAR Act.

Members of this body have discussed various proposals to regulate the output of greenhouse gases. Some advocate doing it through a cap and trade approach. Others have advocated a tax on carbon.

Such proposals are aimed at limiting future carbon output into the atmosphere. Many proposals have been introduced and debated using this approach of dealing with our carbon output. Overlooked in the debate are the greenhouse gases that are currently in the atmosphere.

The best science tells us that the greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere are the gases that are causing the warming of our planet. To what extent, we are not certain. So let us resolve to find a way to remove the excess greenhouse gases that are already in the atmosphere. Remove them, and permanently sequester them.

To accomplish this goal, we are, as a Nation, going to need to make a significant investment to develop the technology. The approach my legislation takes to address this is through a series of financial prizes where we set the technological goals and also define the outcomes we demand.

The first researchers to meet the criteria would receive not only Federal funds, but also international acclaim. The prizes would be determined by a Federal commission under the Department of Energy. The commission would be composed of climate scientists, physicists, chemists, engineers, business managers, and economists. The commission would be appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate.

The awards would go to those, both public and private, who would achieve milestones in developing and applying technology. Technology that could significantly help to slow or reverse the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The greenhouse gases would have to be permanently sequestered. Sequestered in a manner that would be without significant harmful effects.

This is how it would work. There would be four different levels of prizes. The first level award would go to the public or private entity that could first demonstrate a design for a successful technology that could remove and permanently sequester greenhouse gases. Second, there would be a prize for a lab scale demonstration project of the technology that accomplishes the same thing. Third, there would be an award for demonstrating the technology to remove and permanently sequester greenhouse gases that is operational at a larger, working model scale. Finally, there would be an award for whoever could demonstrate the technology to remove and permanently sequester greenhouse gases on a commercially viable scale.

There you have it--four different levels of development. First for designing the technology, then for a lab scale demonstration of the technology, then for a larger working model, and then finally, the proven use of the technology on a commercially viable scale. Once the technology is developed, the United States would share intellectual property rights to the technology with whoever invented it. This bill, as drafted, does not include a specific dollar amount for each prize. Instead, it authorizes such sums as may be necessary.

The commission will be directed to report to Congress 1 year after enactment of the law. The commission will recommend the levels of funding that would be necessary to achieve the goals of this act.

I believe prizes can be a unique tool in creating technological development. It only seems natural that if we get all the best scientific minds thinking about the same problem, we significantly enhance our chances of solving it.

Historically, prizes have been used to spur all types of technological development to solve big problems. In 1714, the British government offered the first prize of this type for a device capable of accurately measuring longitude. John Harrison, a clock maker, was awarded 20,000 pounds for designing an accurate and durable chronometer 59 years later. This transformed our ability to sail the seas.

In 1775, the French offered a 100,000-franc prize resulting in an artificial form of alkali being produced. In 1810, the first vacuum sealed food was produced by Nicolas Appert, after 15 years of experimentation, driven by a 12,000-franc prize offered by Napoleon. Today, vacuum sealing is still used throughout the world.

In 1909 the first flight across the English Channel was spurred by a prize offered by a newspaper. Charles Lindbergh was competing for the Orteig prize offered by the wealthy hotel owner Raymond Orteig, when he flew in the Spirit of St. Louis nonstop from New York to Paris in 1927. The achievement spawned a $300 billion aviation industry.

The British Spitfire, the fighter plane that won the Battle of Britain, was developed as a result of the Schneider trophy, a series of prizes for technological development.

More recent examples include the creation of the X Prize Foundation, which gives multimillion dollar awards to the first team to achieve specific goals. The X Prize Foundation began a revolution in private space flight with the $10 million Ansari X Prize.

On October 4, 2004, the Mojave Aerospace Ventures team, led by famed aircraft designer Bert Rutan and financed by Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen, captured the Ansari X prize for the historic space flight of Space Ship One to space and back, twice within 2 weeks. Space Ship One is now hanging in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

The U.S. Government also offers prizes through NASA's Centennial Challenges program. According to NASA, the awards are made based on actual achievements, not just proposals. The Centennial Challenges seek

novel solutions to NASA's mission challenges from non-traditional sources of innovation in our universities, in industry, and from the public.

Most recently, Sir Richard Branson and former Vice President Al Gore announced the Virgin Earth Challenge, a $25 million global science and technology prize. The prize was established to encourage a viable technology, which will result in the removal of at least 1 billion tons of atmospheric carbon dioxide per year for 10 years.

It is my hope and my goal that this legislation will foster the kind of solutions we need to address the concerns about climate change. What I am proposing is that we take a new look at climate change. With that new look, our solution will be based on removing excess greenhouse gases that are already in the atmosphere.

We must think anew, and we must act anew. That sentence, ``we must think anew and we must act anew,'' is engraved on a scenic overlook along Interstate 80 between Cheyenne and Laramie, WY. It is engraved on the pedestal that holds a large-size bust of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln was the one to have the vision for the Transcontinental Railroad. It is now time for us, as Americans, to think anew and act anew about the issue of climate change and controlling greenhouse gases.

Americans have always looked within ourselves for solutions. We have always had confidence in American ingenuity and American creativity to deal with the challenges of the future. Yes, we want to protect our environment, and yes, we want a strong economy. The way to have both is by thinking anew and acting anew.

It is time to use our untapped human potential and American spirit to develop the technological solutions we need. It is now time for the U.S. Senate and for Congress to find a solution to global climate change, not through limits but through imagination, innovation, and invention.

I look forward to working with each and every one of you on achieving this goal.

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. President, I rise today to introduce legislation--a companion bill will be introduced in the House by my colleague Representative Salazar--to ensure that the communities in northwestern Colorado most affected by the enormous recent increase in oil and gas drilling activities, especially those in Garfield and Rio Blanco Counties, immediately receive their fair share of the surplus funds from the Anvil Points cleanup fund. Our legislation will direct Colorado's share of those surplus funds to land, water and wildlife protection and conservation efforts, and for repair, maintenance and construction of roads and other infrastructure affected by oil and gas development in those counties.

Under the Transfer Act, Public Law 105-85, Colorado has not and will not receive any of the leasing revenues from oil and gas production on former Naval Oil Shale Reserve land until cleanup of the Anvil Points Superfund Site is complete. Normally these substantial revenues would be shared 50-50 between the State and Federal government under the Mineral Leasing Act. Today the trust fund set aside for the cleanup of Anvil Points is in surplus, and that surplus currently amounts to approximately $66.5 million. The Salazar-Salazar legislation amends the Transfer Act to immediately release Colorado's share of the surplus funds to Western Slope communities to mitigate development impacts in and around the former Naval Oil Shale Reserve in Garfield and Rio Blanco Counties.

The Anvil Points trust fund currently accrues approximately $1.5 million per month.

Under this legislation half of those incoming funds will go to Garfield and Rio Blanco Counties and half will go to the Federal Government. After the cleanup of the Anvil Points site is complete and the Secretary of the Interior certifies that the Federal Government has collected enough money to pay for the cleanup, the Anvil Points trust fund will cease to exist and oil and gas leasing revenues from the area will be divided 50-50 between the State of Colorado and the Federal Government.

The oil and gas industry provides Colorado with much-needed revenue that enables our State to flourish. We must ensure that some of those revenues go back to the communities from which they originated. Our bill will ensure that the oil and gas industry does not leave the counties of Garfield and Rio Blanco looking like a spoiled moonscape but instead allows the watersheds and wildlife there to prosper and continue to be a haven for sportsmen and recreationists from across Colorado.

Yesterday, I along with Congressmen Mark Udall and John Salazar also introduced legislation that repeals the eleventh-hour money grab by the Federal Government in last year's omnibus appropriations bill that would reduce from 50 percent to 48 percent the share of total royalties paid to Colorado and other States. The core underlying principle of the Mineral Leasing Act--that our Nation and our States share equal claim of our precious mineral resources--should be maintained. Our bill restores each State's share to its full, coequal 50 percent of mineral leasing revenues.

Together these bills restore Colorado's share of oil and gas leasing revenue to its full 50 percent. With respect to the excess funds now held by the Federal Government for the cleanup of Anvil Points, our legislation will direct Colorado's share of those surplus dollars to land and water conservation, wildlife protection, and roads and other infrastructure affected by oil and gas development in the local communities most affected by these activities.

Madam Speaker, due to illness that required hospitalization, I missed the following votes. I would have voted as follows:

Rollcall vote 567--S. 2403--A bill to designate the new Federal Courthouse, located in the 700 block of East Broad Street, Richmond, Virginia, as the ``Spottswood W. Robinson III and Robert R. Merhige, Jr. Federal Courthouse''--``yes.''

Rollcall vote 568--S. 2837--A bill to designate the United States courthouse located at 225 Cadman Plaza East, Brooklyn, New York, as the ``Theodore Roosevelt United States Courthouse''--``yes.''

Rollcall vote 569--S. 2135--Child Soldiers Accountability Act-- ``yes.''

Rollcall vote 570--H. Con. Res. 344--Recognizing that we are facing a lobal food crisis--``yes.''

Rollcall vote 571--H. Res. 937--Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the emergency communications services provided by the American Red Cross are vital resources for military servicemembers and their families--``yes.''

Rollcall vote 572--H. Res. 1069--Condemning the use of television programming by Hamas to indoctrinate hatred, violence, and anti- Semitism toward Israel in young Palestinian children--``yes.''

Rollcall vote 573--H. Res. 1307--Commemorating the Kingdom of Bhutan's participation in the 2008 Smithsonian Folklife Festival and commending the people and the Government of the Kingdom of Bhutan for their commitment to holding elections and broadening political participation--``yes.''

Rollcall vote 574--H.R. 6168--Lance Corporal Drew W. Weaver Post Office Building--``yes,''

Rollcall vote 575--H.R. 6630--To prohibit the Secretary of Transportation from granting authority to a motor carrier domiciled in Mexico to operate beyond United States municipalities and commercial zones on the United States-Mexico border unless expressly authorized by Congress--``yes.''

Rollcall vote 576--H. Res. 1419--On Ordering the Previous Question Providing for consideration of H.R. 3667, Missisquoi and Trout Rivers Wild and Scenic River Study Act of 2008--``yes.''.

Rollcall vote 577--H. Res. 1419--On Agreeing to the Resolution Providing for consideration of H.R. 3667, Missisquoi and Trout Rivers Wild and Scenic River Study Act of 2008--``yes.''

Rollcall vote 578--H.R. 1527, The Rural Veterans Access to Care Act-- ``yes.''

Rollcall vote 579--S. 2617, The Veterans Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2008--``yes.''

Rollcall vote 580--H.R. 3667, On Motion that the Committee Rise-- ``yes.''

Rollcall vote 581--Grijalva of Arizona Amendment to H.R. 3667-- ``yes.''

Rollcall vote 582--H.R. 3667--Table Appeal of the Ruling of the Chair--``yes.''

Rollcall vote 583--H.R. 3667--On passage of the Missisquoi and Trout Rivers Wild and Scenic River Study Act of 2008--``yes.''

Rollcall vote 584--H.R. 4081, The Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act of 2007--``yes.''

Rollcall vote 589--H. Res. 1200, Honoring the dedication and outstanding work of military support groups across the country for their steadfast support of the members of our Armed Forces and their families--``yes.''

Rollcall vote 590--H. Con. Res. 390, Honoring the 28th Infantry Division for serving and protecting the United States--``yes.''

Rollcall vote 591--H.R. 6889, To extend the authority of the Secretary of Education to purchase guaranteed student loans for an additional year, and for other purposes--``yes.''

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