VETS Dogs Act

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

Obviously, nothing is more important than the safety of our veterans; and this bill, H.R. 2074, contains many provisions to help improve the safety and health care of our veterans.

Because of a report I requested as chair, the GAO presenter ``VA Health Care: Actions Needed to Prevent Sexual Assaults and Other Safety Incidents.'' That report found that veterans and employees were exposed to personal dangers, including sexual assaults, in the very facilities that should be protecting them.

And, Madam Speaker, I think we ought to be more outraged given the findings of that report. That report found that there were not just dozens of alleged sexual assaults that went unreported, not even scores of such assaults, but hundreds of them--hundreds of sexual assaults alleged but not reported by those who had the obligation and responsibility to report them.

How are our veterans protected when they can't even have a report of an alleged assault? What message does that give to people that the military & the VA care about what's going on here and what's going on with their safety? That's who we should be going after here, by the way. It's very clear who has the responsibility about reporting such assaults, and yet they were not reported in the hundreds of cases, and that was only, by the way, at some selected study places. Who knows what we would have found in the whole institution?

I don't know that the VA has ever reprimanded any of those people. I don't know that the VA has ever said to the Veterans Administration that this will not be tolerated, that not only are we going to report on them, but investigate them and bring people to justice. I don't know that any of that has happened. That's what this bill should be trying to focus on. What happens to those people who don't report them? What happens to the cover-ups? What happens to those who protect each other as people are assaulted?

I'm not sure that we have come to grips with this issue. This report was outrageous. This report was incredibly, incredibly tragic. And all I find is we are going to do some process changes in here--and I support those, and we'll vote for the bill. But we're sending a message here to the entire 250,000 working people of this VA that we're not really concerned about them, we're not reporting them, we're not getting to those people covering up, we're not getting at those people who protect each other, we're not getting at those who have violated the law by not reporting such incidents.

Let's go after them. Let's give our veterans some comfort that their safety is protected.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I yield such time as he may consume to the ranking member of our Health Subcommittee, someone who has served for 4 years as the chair and who has done so much good for our veterans throughout the Nation, the gentleman from Maine (Mr. Michaud).

I have no further requests for time and would be prepared to close once the chairman has no further speakers.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

As I said earlier, this is a bill that has a lot of good things in it, and I wish we had gone further.

I met with the GAO this morning. They said they could follow up reports such as this with an investigation of personnel actions, for example, and could report back to us in terms that don't violate any civil service protections that they would provide a third party kind of review of the personnel actions that may have resulted from their recommendations.

You don't have to answer now, but I would be prepared to work with the chair to request such an investigation, because what we have done here is, in response to the report that said reporting requirements were not met in hundreds of cases at some few selected sites that they examined, merely add new reporting requirements. They didn't follow the first ones, so what good are more reporting requirements going to do?

There have to be some actions on the part of the Veterans Administration that say to our employees, that say to our veterans that there shall be no sexual assaults on our sites. Yet what we're saying here is, oh, we'll add a few more reporting requirements. That doesn't send a message, because we already had the reporting requirements.

Let's try to find a way--and I'll work with the chair to do this--to send a message to our agency, not that we're going to pass another few rules, but that we're going to take this seriously, that we're going to demand that the employees who did not follow what is clearly stated in rules and law about reporting alleged cases of sexual assault be terminated. In my opinion, they ought to have been terminated. This is so serious, and it would have sent such a good message to those who might either perpetrate assault or to those who are victims of such assault.

They should have been terminated. I doubt that they were. I doubt that they were removed from their jobs. I would hope the VA might contradict me, but I doubt that there was anything more than a note saying they should do better in the future. I hope I'm wrong, but I will tell you that the history of personnel actions in response to acts such as these has not been one that gives confidence to me that we have sent the right message.

So I will work with the chair to do whatever we can to send the right message from this Congress and from the American people that these acts will not be tolerated.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2074) to amend title 38, United States Code, to require a comprehensive policy on reporting and tracking sexual assault incidents and other safety incidents that occur at medical facilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs, as amended.

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

I rise in strong support of H.R. 2074, as amended, the Veterans Sexual Assault Prevention and Health Care Enhancement Act. The bill before us is, in fact, a bipartisan product of many months worth of oversight on behalf of our Health Subcommittee. It's derived from numerous proposals championed by Members from both sides of the aisle to improve the care and the services provided to our veterans by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Of special note is a provision introduced by our Health Subcommittee chairwoman, Ms. Ann Marie Buerkle, and myself. This provision would address the findings of a Government Accountability Office report detailing the high prevalence of sexual assault incidents at VA medical facilities and the very serious failures in accountability on the part of VA leadership.

As I've said before, just one assault, just one assault of this nature, one sexual predator or one veteran's rights being violated within the VA is one too many.

I am grateful to my good friend, the ranking member, Mr. Filner, and the Health Subcommittee Chairwoman, Ann Marie Buerkle and Ranking Member Mike Michaud for the leadership that they have shown in bringing this legislation forward to strengthen the VA health care system for our veteran heroes.

I now yield such time as she may consume to my good friend and colleague from New York, Chairwoman Buerkle, to further discuss the provisions of H.R. 2074, as amended.

Madam Speaker, I associate myself with the comments of my colleague. It is egregious that there have been so many sexual assaults that have, in fact, gone unreported by the VA. I would encourage my good friend and his colleagues to work with us and provide amendments in any way that they see important to help bills like this strengthen the reporting requirements and to help us in an oversight and investigative response of this Congress, which is trying to do more on the oversight and investigative side. The last Congress did very little, and even those under Republican administrations did very little.

We're trying to reengage the oversight and investigation side, and I think that it is very important that we work together; and I do commend my good friend for his outrage on this particular report that came out, and I will work with him in any way possible.

With that, I yield such time as he may consume to my good friend from the Staten Island area of New York, the 13th Congressional District, Congressman Grimm.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from the 31st District of Texas (Mr. Carter).

I have no further requests for time.

Madam Speaker, I commit to working with the ranking member on the further reporting of these incidents. I would add that this particular piece of legislation does, in fact, incorporate every single recommendation that the GAO gave to this committee in their report.

General Leave

I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks.

I encourage all Members to support this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, in 1985, Army Ranger Light Kevin Stone's life changed when the Army vehicle he was in tumbled over a mountain edge and down 144 feet. Stone broke his neck and suffered severe brain trauma to the point of losing every memory prior to the six months before the accident.

A true miracle, Stone now lives an independent life thanks to his service dog, Mambo. But sadly, rules at some Vets Hospitals welcome seeing eye dogs while preventing service dogs like Mambo from coming in.

The working best friends of our wounded vets must be allowed with them at all times in order to do their jobs--including during VA visits. That's why I'm proud to cosponsor Judge Carter's effort, H.R. 1154, legislation which will close the working-dog loophole and welcome all dogs into VA care centers.

The VA considers service dogs like Mambo needed prostheses, like legs or arms. And Stone compares Mambo to a crucial tool--a wheelchair.

Current policy allows each VA center to set dog guidelines. That means, Stone is given care at some facilities if Mambo is with him.

We can fix this problem by passing the Veterans for Equal Treatment of Service Dogs Act, or the VETS Dogs Act.

This will ensure working service dogs can accompany their owner to every single VA facility, just like seeing eye dogs are allowed to do. This will be a permanent solution for our wounded veterans.

Kevin Stone credits his service dogs--Mambo, and Mambo's predecessor, Jonah--with allowing him to successfully represent his country around the world. He's no longer in camouflage, but another type of uniform: Kevin Stone used his service dog to compete on the U.S. Paralympic team. He won bronze in Athens and he's set American records in Beijing. With Mambo at his side, Stone continues to represent the U.S. Olympic Committee on the U.S. Paralympic Committee's Military Program as a coach and mentor.

Not all wounded vets compete with their service dogs, but they do everyday things like other Americans: when they get on the bus, get their groceries, get their mail and go to the doctor's office, their service dogs are there.

Colleagues, you may not know a veteran personally injured in Iraq or Afghanistan, but go to a VA in your district, and you'll meet hundreds of our nation's heroes who gave so much, but had so much taken away.

If service dogs allow our wounded vets to lead happy and independent lives, then we have a duty to ensure government regulations help, not hinder, the relationship between dog and owner.

Join us as we work to better the lives of our vets and as our veterans are empowered to overcome challenges. Because retired Army Ranger Light Fighter Kevin Stone isn't playing a game when he tells Mambo to ``fetch''.

Thank you, Chairman Miller.

I rise today in strong support of H.R. 2074, which includes the text of H.R. 198, the Veterans Dog Training Therapy Act. That's a bill that I introduced along with our lead cosponsor, House Veterans' Affairs Health Subcommittee Ranking Member Michaud. A special thank you to the ranking member. As a marine combat veteran, it's a unique honor for me to see this bill considered today by the full House.

Over the past 9 months, I've had the honor to meet with our Nation's veterans who are now faced with the challenges of coping with PTSD and physical disabilities resulting from their service in Iraq and Afghanistan. Their stories are not for the weak of heart, and they're truly moving, with these personal accounts of their recovery, both physical and mental, and the important role therapy and service dogs played that inspired this legislation.

The Veterans Dog Training Therapy Act would require the Department of Veterans Affairs to conduct a pilot program in VA medical centers assessing the effectiveness of addressing post-deployment mental health and PTSD through the therapeutic medium of training service dogs for veterans with disabilities. These trained service dogs are then given to physically disabled veterans to help them with their daily activities.

Simply put, this program treats veterans suffering from PTSD while at the same time aiding those suffering from physical disabilities. Since it was introduced, this legislation has gained the bipartisan support of 96 cosponsors. With veteran suicide rates at all-time highs and more and more servicemen and -women being diagnosed with PTSD, this bill meets a crucial need for additional treatment methods. I believe that by caring for our Nation's veterans, while at the same time providing assistance dogs to those with physical disabilities, we create a win- win scenario for everyone. This is a goal we can all be proud to accomplish.

Just as an added bonus, we provide these wonderful animals with a loving and safe environment. And that's why I strongly urge all of my colleagues to join me in support of H.R. 2074.

I thank Ranking Member, Filner for yielding.

As my colleagues have stated, our veterans' safety should be one of our

top priorities, and the Veterans Sexual Assault Prevention and Health Care Enhancement Act does just that.

I would like to thank Chairman Miller and Ranking Member Bob Filner, the chair of the subcommittee, as well as all of my colleagues on the House Veterans Affairs' Committee, for working in such a bipartisan manner to get this very important health care bill to the floor.

Within H.R. 2074, I would like to highlight two important provisions, and you heard the chairwoman explain the bill very eloquently.

The first provision I would like to highlight is section 2, which was offered by the chair of the Subcommittee on Health, Ms. Buerkle. The provision will correct the troubling findings in a GAO report. The report essentially found that veterans and employees were exposed to personal dangers, including sexual assault. This is simply unacceptable, and I want to thank the subcommittee chair for offering this bill to us.

The second provision I would like to highlight is in section 3, my provision of the bill. Section 3 would provide much needed flexibility in the way the State veterans' homes get reimbursed for the care they provide to veterans who need that care for a service-connected condition or a service-connected condition of 70 percent or greater. This will ensure that these veterans are not put out on the streets.

The Subcommittee on Health has been working on this bill for well over 2 years, and now I am finally pleased to see that this bill is moving forward. Hopefully, my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will support this very important piece of legislation as we have to do all that we can to help our veterans and their families. This bill is one that takes a different approach to dealing with our veterans and their problems.