To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to submit to Congress a report on the use of cameras in medical facilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1510) to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to submit to Congress a report on the use of cameras in the medical centers of the Department of Veterans Affairs, as amended.

Madam 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 on H.R. 1510, as amended.

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

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1510, the Veterans' Camera Reporting Act, introduced by Representative McKinley of West Virginia.

This bill, as amended by the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, requires VA to submit a report to Congress analyzing the Department's use and maintenance of video cameras for the purposes of patient safety and law enforcement within all of its medical facilities.

Last Tuesday, a nursing assistant who was formerly employed at a VA hospital in West Virginia was sentenced to seven consecutive life sentences plus 20 years after she pleaded guilty to murdering seven veterans and assaulting an eighth veteran with intent to commit murder. She took insulin that she was not authorized to administer, and she injected it into veterans who did not need it, killing all eight of them.

Following the sentencing last week, the VA Office of the Inspector General issued a report identifying numerous deficiencies in patient care and failures in VA oversight at the facility where these murders occurred. Among other things, the OIG found that there were no cameras in the ward where these events occurred, nor in the medication room where the insulin was stored, and there were no locks or other mechanisms for monitoring access to medication carts where insulin was also kept.

There are no words to adequately express the horror and sorrow we feel about the heinous crimes committed against these veterans. We cannot imagine the pain the families have endured since evidence of these murders came to light nearly 3 years ago. We can only hope that last week's sentencing will help the victims' families begin to heal and to find a sense of closure.

In Congress, we have a responsibility to help ensure that VA never allows something like this to happen again. Now, as an initial step, we need to better understand how VA uses video cameras for monitoring patient safety and physical security within its medical facilities. To that end, H.R. 1510 will require VA to submit a report summarizing how cameras are used to monitor staff and patients, the units within which cameras are prioritized, and how cameras are used to monitor drug storage. The report also must include recommendations on improving the use of cameras at VA, including whether the Department needs additional resources to install cameras for patient safety and law enforcement purposes.

This bill will require VA's report to encompass all of its medical facilities nationwide. Drug diversion, assaults, harassment, suicides, and other patient safety incidents can occur at any VA medical facility, not just hospitals. VA operates more than 1,000 inpatient and outpatient facilities across the country. Congress needs a complete picture of the extent to which cameras are used across VA so that we can better assist the Department in addressing any shortfalls.

Madam Speaker, I urge all Members to join me in approving this important bill.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I have no further speakers. In closing, I ask all my colleagues to join me in passing H.R. 1510, which cleared the committee unanimously. I can see no reason why any Member would vote against this bill.

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

Madam President, I rise to pay tribute to Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch.

My State has much to be proud of in Attorney General Fitch as the first Republican to hold this office in almost 150 years and as Mississippi's first female attorney general ever.

Specifically today, I rise to honor her for her unwavering fight to defend Mississippi's pro-life laws. Attorney General Fitch is representing the State of Mississippi in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization at the U.S. Supreme Court this term. This case is the most anticipated abortion case to reach the Court since Casey v. Planned Parenthood in 1992, nearly 30 years ago.

In the Dobbs case, Attorney General Fitch is defending a challenge to Mississippi House bill 1510, the Gestational Age Act Enacted in 2018, this legislation bans most abortions after 15 weeks gestation. By consistently defending this law all the way up to the Supreme Court, Attorney General Fitch has set the stage for the Court to consider overturning Roe v. Wade and return the issue of abortion to the States.

The Dobbs case presents the strongest challenge to Roe in our lifetime. It is encouraging that the Supreme Court, with its first conservative majority in many years, will hear arguments on the merits of this Mississippi law. I am so proud that our female Mississippi Attorney General will be in the courtroom to defend our law in this case.

In arguing for the Court to reconsider Roe in the State's brief in the case, Attorney General Fitch said, ``There are those who would like to believe that Roe v. Wade settled the issue of abortion once and for all. But all it did was establish a special-rules regime for abortion jurisprudence that has left these cases out of step with other Court decisions and neutral principles of law applied by the Court. As a result, state legislatures, and the people they represent, have lacked clarity in passing laws to protect legitimate public interests, and artificial guideposts have stunted important public debate on how we, as a society, care for the dignity of women and their children.''

I wholeheartedly agree. The unlimited-abortion regime created by the Roe decision was wrong when it was handed down, and it is wrong now. It is bad for the unborn, and it is bad for women. I hope the Supreme Court recognizes that when it hears oral arguments in the Dobbs case on December 1.

I am confident Attorney General Fitch will make our State proud by steadfastly defending Mississippi's law to protect unborn. Mississippians are proud to have this champion for life representing our State in this landmark case. I am praying for General Fitch and for her staff as they prepare to continue the fight to defend life before the highest court in the land.

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

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1510, as amended, the Veterans' Camera Reporting, or the VCR, Act. The VCR Act would require VA to assess how cameras are used for patient safety and law enforcement purposes in VA medical center facilities. It would also require VA to report to Congress about how camera use could be improved to make VA safer and more responsive to veterans' needs.

I was proud to introduce this bill with Congressman David McKinley of West Virginia and others earlier this year. We drafted it in response to a series of incidents across the country where missing or malfunctioning cameras played a role in serious lapses. In some of those incidents, veterans' lives were lost. Those tragedies have no place in the VA healthcare system. The VCR Act will help make sure they will never happen again.

Most importantly, it will help ensure that veterans are safe seeking the care that they have earned. The VCR Act is a bipartisan bill. It is supported by the VA and the veterans service organizations, including The VFW and the Wounded Warrior Project. I am grateful for that support.

Madam Speaker, I encourage all of my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Veterans' Affairs be discharged and the Senate now proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 1510.

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

Madam Speaker, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall No. 145, ``nay'' on rollcall No. 146, ``nay'' on rollcall No. 147, and ``yea'' on rollcall No. 148.