Forever GI Bill Housing Payment Fulfillment Act of 2018

Mr. Speaker, I missed some votes on Wednesday, December 19, all votes on Thursday, December 20, and some votes today. Had I been present, I would have voted as follows:

Roll Call Vote Number 440 (Passage of H.R. 7327, the SECURE Technology Act): YES;

Roll Call Vote Number 441 (Passage of H.R. 7279, the Water Infrastructure Improvement Act): YES;

Roll Call Vote Number 442 (Passage of H.R. 6227, the National Quantum Initiative Act): YES;

Roll Call Vote Number 443 (Passage of H.R. 6652): YES;

Roll Call Vote 444 (Passage of S. 1520, the Modernizing Recreational Fisheries Management Act of 2018): YES;

Roll Call Vote Number 445 (Passage of S. 3530, the Museum and Library Services Act of 2018): YES;

Roll Call Vote Number 446 (Agreeing to H. Res. 1180): NO;

Roll Call Vote Number 447 (Agreeing to H. Res. 1181): YES;

Roll Call Vote Number 448 (Concurring in the Senate Amendment to the House Amendment to S. 756, the First Step Act of 2018): YES;

Roll Call Vote Number 449 (Passage of H.R. 7328, the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Advancing Innovation Act of 2018): YES;

Roll Call Vote Number 450 (Concurring in the Senate Amendment to H.R. 5075, the Ashanti Alert Act of 2018): YES;

Roll Call Vote Number 451 (Passage of H.R. 7093, the Clean Up the Code Act of 2018): YES;

Roll Call Vote Number 452 (Passage of S. 2896, the Justice Against Corruption on K Street Act of 2018 or JACK Act): YES;

Roll Call Vote Number 453 (Passage of S. 2961, the Victims of Child Abuse Act Reauthorization Act of 2018): YES;

Roll Call Vote Number 454 (Passage of S. 2679, the Veterans Small Business Enhancement Act): YES;

Roll Call Vote Number 455 (Passage of H.R. 7227, the Taxpayer First Act of 2018): YES;

Roll Call Vote Number 456 (Concurring in the Senate Amendment to H.R. 4227, the Vehicular Terrorism Prevention Act of 2019): YES;

Roll Call Vote Number 457 (Passage of S. 2652, the Stephen Michael Gleason Congressional Gold Medal Act): YES;

Roll Call Vote Number 458 (Passage of S. 2765, the RBIC Advisers Relief Act of 2018): YES;

Roll Call Vote Number 459 (Concurring in the Senate Amendment to H.R. 5509, the Innovations in Mentoring, Training, and Apprenticeships Act):

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 3777) to require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a tiger team dedicated to addressing the difficulties encountered by the Department of Veterans Affairs in carrying out section 3313 of title 38, United States Code, after the enactment of sections 107 and 501 of the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2017.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous material during consideration of S. 3777.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of S. 3777, Forever GI Bill Housing Payment Fulfillment Act of 2018.

Mr. Speaker, the Forever GI Bill is one of several landmark bills that this Congress has enacted to help our Nation's veterans; however, the implementation of this law has been bumpy, to say the least, and there have been veterans who have been underpaid due to the Department of Veterans Affairs' inability to modify their ancient IT systems to properly implement the law.

While I am encouraged by Secretary Wilkie's decision to reset implementation of the IT modifications, we owe it to our veterans to conduct proper oversight of this process. That is why I am proud to support this legislation introduced by my good friends Senator Boozman of Arkansas and Mr. Andy Barr of Kentucky on the House side.

This bill would require the VA to create a ``tiger team'' that would produce a plan to ensure all GI bill users who were underpaid as a result of the IT systems not being in place are made whole. The bill would also require periodic updates on the VA's progress on providing these underpayments to veterans.

Mr. Speaker, this bill will ensure the VA does the right thing and pays student veterans what they are owed under the law. I encourage my colleagues to support S. 3777, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage all Members to support S. 3777, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. President, today I have introduced the Retirement Parity for Student Loans Act. This legislation would permit employers to make matching contributions to workers under 401(k) and similar types of retirement plans as if worker student loan payments were salary reduction contributions to the retirement plan. This legislation will help those workers who cannot afford to both save for retirement and pay off their student loan debt by providing them with employer contributions to build their retirement savings. This legislation is a common sense fix to our Nation's rules for employer-sponsored retirement plans and I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of S. 3777, the Forever GI Bill Housing Payment Fulfillment Act of 2018. This bill from Senators Boozman and Schatz will help keep the VA accountable as it moves forward to fix the issues it has run into in fully implementing the Forever GI Bill.

As we continue our oversight over VA's implementation of the Forever GI Bill, I am glad this bill provides us with more tools to do so.

I have no further speakers.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote in support of S. 3777, the Forever GI Bill Housing Payment Fulfillment Act of 2018, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 3777, introduced earlier today.

I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.