National Cemeteries Expansion Act of 2009

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 174) to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a national cemetery for veterans in the southern Colorado region.

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

Mr. Speaker, while I am pleased to be here today to bring H.R. 174, I think it's probably too light to say sponsored by our former colleague on the committee, Mr. Salazar, to the floor today. This bill will establish a national veterans cemetery in El Paso County, Colorado.

Just for background note, Mr. Salazar, who has moved on to another committee, has been a tireless advocate of our veterans, and this was a piece of legislation that I watched him advocate for with great passion because of the need. Southern Colorado, including El Paso County and the city of Colorado Springs, has the second highest concentration of veterans living in the entire United States.

Currently, those veterans in southern Colorado and their families who wish to either visit a veterans cemetery or have their loved ones interred must travel into the Denver metropolitan area to Fort Logan National Cemetery in often treacherous weather conditions. Not only is this an undue burden, but the Fort Logan National Cemetery is quickly running out of spaces.

To alleviate this problem, H.R. 174 directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a national cemetery for veterans in El Paso County, Colorado.

H.R. 174 reflects a fitting tribute to those Americans who have served our Nation with honor. The veterans' national cemeteries of the United States demonstrate the desire of a grateful Nation to appropriately commemorate those who served in our Armed Forces.

Since 1862, more than 3 million burials have occurred in VA national cemeteries. The National Cemetery Administration of the Department of Veterans Affairs manages 130 national cemeteries nationwide for our veterans. Of the 130 cemeteries, 60 of them are no longer accepting in- ground interments, which results in millions of veterans and survivors being unserved and turned away from our national cemeteries.

While the State Cemetery Grants Program has met with success, the need to build new national cemeteries with a strategic vision is really still quite urgent. This is why Mr. Salazar introduced this bill and a related bill, the National Cemeteries Expansion Act of 2009, H.R. 3544, which would require the VA to reexamine its entire national cemetery establishment policy standard of 170,000 veterans in a 75-mile radius. This policy clearly has outlived its usefulness and should be revised immediately.

I want to thank Chairman Filner and Ranking Member Buyer for pushing this bill forward. As we lose more of our Greatest Generation of veterans and face the unfortunate prospect of additional fatalities, we need to make certain that veterans are provided a dignified, accessible, and well-maintained final resting place. H.R. 174 helps to ensure that this happens for the many veterans and survivors of the region of southern Colorado.

Also, I would like to add that in the past this bill enjoyed the support of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Disabled American Veterans, and the Paralyzed Veterans of America.

Finally, I again want to applaud the leadership of Mr. Salazar on this bill, the bipartisan manner of the VA Committee understanding how important this is. Mr. Lamborn, from Colorado Springs, has been intricate in making this happen.

I can tell you this is one of the most moving and passionate discussions we have in the VA. The commitment to making sure national cemeteries are accessible to our veterans is a key priority.

I urge the passage of H.R. 174.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 174.

Mr. Speaker, I, too, want to thank Mr. Boozman for his eloquent words and his passion on this issue. This is truly an issue that unites every Member of this House and every member of this country, the care and the dignity that we lay our veterans to rest.

I want to thank Mr. Salazar and Mr. Lamborn again for their unwavering commitment to getting this done.

I urge my colleagues to unanimously support H.R. 174.

I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of our time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of my bill, H.R. 174, directing the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a national cemetery south of Colorado Springs, to serve the veterans and families of southern Colorado.

Mr. Speaker, Coloradans take great pride in serving our nation.

As a veteran myself, I am proud to represent a district that is home to 70,000 of Colorado's almost 427,000 veterans.

Generations of Coloradans have stood in the service of our nation with pride.

In sharing that pride, our nation must also show its gratitude when our veterans pass away.

During this difficult time, it eases a family's burden when seeing their loved one interred at a veteran's cemetery and to witness their sacrifices being remembered by the nation they served.

However, we are faced with a situation where current standards place many VA cemeteries closer to large metropolitan areas.

In my home state alone, there are 150,000 veterans in the 29 designated southern Colorado counties that are waiting for an accessible veteran's cemetery.

Such policies punish our veterans for choosing to be buried in the small towns where they chose to live and raise their families.

It is wrong to force families to travel many hours and hundreds of miles to visit the final resting place of their loved ones.

As it stands, veterans and their families living in southern Colorado have the option of either making the difficult journey north to Ft. Logan in Denver or east to Ft. Lyons in Las Animas.

With these facilities, families have found themselves forced to travel extreme distances over rough terrain in unpredictable weather.

Since 1862, more than three million burials have been made in VA national cemeteries.

National cemeteries are the testimony of a grateful nation to appropriately commemorate the Americans who have served our nation in the armed forces.

Of the 120 cemeteries the VA National Cemetery Administration manages, 58 of them are no longer accepting interments. In anticipation of this, a cemetery in southern Colorado would extend the life of Ft. Logan and Ft. Lyon.

Families would no longer have to travel to these distant locations and instead could bury their loved ones closer to home.

In doing so, space that would otherwise be used at Ft. Logan and Ft. Lyon would remain available for families closer to Denver and Las Animas.

On May 2, 2008 the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Disability and Memorial Affairs held a field hearing in Colorado Springs, Colorado to review the need for a cemetery in southern Colorado.

The hearing was presided over by Chairman John Hall, Representative Doug Lamborn and myself.

Veterans Advocates, VSO's and widows with Gold Star Wives gave testimony in support of the legislation and reinforced the need for such a cemetery.

After hearing testimony and having experienced the difficult driving conditions and an abrupt snow storm, particularly over Monument Hill, then Under Secretary Tuerk committed to bringing a national veterans cemetery to the southern Colorado region.

The cemetery is supported by national VSO's, local veteran's advocates and most importantly the veterans and their families living in Colorado.

With such overwhelming support by the Colorado delegation and Congress, the VA would be acting on the intent of Congress in establishing a cemetery in southern Colorado.

I encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support our rural veterans and support this bill.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 174, which would direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to construct a new national cemetery in southern Colorado. Providing our veterans with a place of honor and repose is one of the most sacred missions of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, and we have given this mission our unstinting support over the years.

The National Cemetery Administration's record of high satisfaction among the families of its beneficiaries is the envy of the Federal Government and is a reflection of sound administration and strong congressional support, free of political influence. The Department of Veterans Affairs has a well-established and proven method that uses distance and demographics to select new cemetery sites.

While I believe that the VA process has its flaws and could use revision, it is the established process. Congress has long deferred to this process, which is essentially free from political pressure. Since 1999, Congress has authorized 12 new national cemeteries, all of which went through this process. A recent program evaluation of this policy revealed that there are some weaknesses in this policy and made several recommendations on how to better serve veterans and their families.

One such recommendation was to reduce the population threshold so that each cemetery would serve a population to as little as 120,000 veterans. The current population level is 170,000 veterans. VA is continuing to review the evaluation.

It is because of this process that Mr. Stearns of Florida offered an amendment that was accepted for H.R. 1660, which is the predecessor of H.R. 174 from the 110th Congress. The amendment was intended to ensure that any new cemetery authorized by this bill would not displace cemetery projects in areas previously identified as priorities. This language preserves the integrity of the cemetery planning process.

I thank the original sponsors of the bill, Mr. Salazar and Mr. Lamborn, for including this language in this year's bill, and I am very pleased to support it.

Having no further speakers, again, I just want to echo what Mr. Walz said earlier, that this is one of the most important functions that the Veterans' Affairs Committee does and has done it very, very well through the years. This is a very bipartisan bill.

I urge all of our Members to support this very, very important bill as it goes forward.

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

General Leave