Healthy Foundations for Homeless Veterans Act

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise to express my support for H.R. 593, a bill to rename the outpatient clinic of the Department of Veterans Affairs in Hinesville, Georgia, as the John Gibson, Dan James, William Sapp, and Frankie Smiley VA Clinic.

I thank Representative Carter for introducing it and the Georgia delegation for its support.

These individuals, all hailing from Liberty County, Georgia, were killed in action during the Vietnam war. Four young men who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

Private First Class John Gibson, a marine, was killed by small arms fire in the Tet Offensive on February 7, 1968. He was 21 years old.

Specialist Dan James served in the Army's 25th Infantry Division and was killed on December 29, 1968. He was 20 years old.

Specialist William Sapp served in the Army's 4th Infantry Division. He was killed on June 7, 1968. He was 25 years old.

Marine Lance Corporal Frankie Smiley served in the 1st Marine Division. He was killed on August 25, 1968. He was 24 years old.

These are four names out of the 58,000 who died in the Vietnam war that we honor for their service and sacrifice. These four names will continue to be honored at the VA clinic in Liberty County as it carries on its mission to serve veterans.

The sacrifices of those who served in Vietnam and in other wars and conflicts is particularly salient as we just commemorated Veterans Day, and as we had the opportunity to reflect on the sacred obligation we owe to veterans.

Mr. Speaker, I support this legislation, and I urge my colleagues to do the same. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I do believe it is important to remember the service and sacrifice of servicemembers and veterans because we must keep close to mind our duty to repay that service and uphold the promises we have made to those who swore an oath to our country to protect and defend it. However, I fear that we have fallen short this year. While I do urge support for this naming bill, I am extremely disappointed that during National Veterans and Military Families Month and Warrior Care Month, and 2 days after Veterans Day, that this is the only veterans legislation the Republican majority has brought to the floor for us to consider.

These young men who lost their lives in the Vietnam war sacrificed everything they had for our country. If we really wanted to honor them and the millions of Americans who have risked their life and limb in service, we should be doing even more.

In this Congress so far, our committee has only originated three bills that have been signed into law. By comparison, in the last two Congresses, under Democratic leadership, we passed more than 70 bills to expand access to care and benefits that are now law. This inaction is unconscionable when there is such an acute need for assistance among veterans and survivors.

It is not for a lack of good ideas. There are several worthwhile bills that are ready to be voted on right now, bills that would change and improve the lives of veterans and their families across the country.

For example, H.R. 3848, the bipartisan Housing Our Military Veterans Effectively, or HOME, Act of 2023, sponsored by Republican Representative Chavez-DeRemer, would restore authorities that were essential to ensuring America's most vulnerable veterans found or stayed in housing during the pandemic.

For the period of the public health emergency, the Department of Veterans Affairs was able to provide food, clothing, bedding, hygiene items, shelter, transportation services, and communication devices to veterans experiencing homelessness. VA also had temporary authority to increase reimbursements to grant and per diem providers which ensured veterans in transitional housing received the care and services they needed. Unfortunately, these authorities and funding expired with the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency declaration in May 2023, and there has been since no congressional action to restore them.

To aid in this effort, Representative Nikema Williams introduced H.R. 491, the Return Home to Housing Act, and Representative Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick introduced H.R. 645, the Healthy Foundations for Homeless Veterans Act. These bills are both included in the HOME Act, which was reported out of our committee by voice vote on July 26, 2023. That is right, a bill with strong unanimous support has been languishing for months for no clear reason.

Earlier this year, Chairman Bost and I were standing in these exact spots, and he made a promise to me that we would pass this legislation. I understand from staff conversations that Chairman Bost has been imploring the Speaker to schedule that bill for a vote. I, too, sent a letter to the newly elected Speaker imploring him to bring this bill to the floor.

In the book of Matthew 25:35 it says: ``For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me . . . Then the righteous will answer him, `Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go visit you?' ''

Do we not take these words as a call to action? There are homeless veterans suffering as we speak. It is our responsibility to take care of the most vulnerable veterans. Every night a veteran spends on the street is a night this Congress could have acted to shelter them. You can feel the cold setting in here in Washington, D.C.

The HOME act would fill the basic needs of veterans experiencing homelessness to help get them on a path to stable housing. Whether it be emergency shelter to escape the cold, a warm meal, or clothes to wear and a ride to a job interview, this bill allows VA to help homeless veterans in the most fundamental ways.

Veterans service organizations and advocates have called on Congress to pass legislation to continue the flexible funding and authorities for critical VA homelessness programs. These authorities resulted in a reduction in veteran homelessness by over 11 percent over the last 2 years during the pandemic. This was an amazing feat during one of the most difficult times in our recent history, and yet this House has not seen fit to bring this bill to the floor.

If the House fails to act or continues to delay action, I fear that veteran homelessness will undoubtedly increase and critical gains made during the pandemic will be lost. We are about to enter the winter months. Will this Congress allow veterans to remain on the streets or lacking access to basic necessities?

The other bill I have urged the Speaker to bring to the floor is H.R. 542, the Elizabeth Dole Home Care Act. This bill, introduced by Representatives Brownley and Bergman, was also reported out of committee with unanimous support in July. It would require VA to provide access to all home and community-based services, such as home health aides, home-based primary care, and respite care to all veterans and caregivers who need them. Currently, elderly and disabled veterans only have access if their VA medical centers have chosen to offer these services.

This legislation will enable veterans to remain at home, safely age in place, and avoid or delay admission to nursing homes and other costly institutional settings of care. It will also help connect veterans' caregivers to respite

care and other supportive services that help them care for veterans at home and improve VA's coordination with other Federal long-term care programs that promote aging at home.

Finally, the Elizabeth Dole Home Care Act will require VA to create a website where veterans and their families can more easily obtain information about VA's home- and community-based services programs and assess whether any of these programs may be right for them.

Nearly every veteran will, at some point, face the need for additional care at home or, if they can't get it, spend their last years in a nursing home setting. This legislation is an investment in care for millions of veterans and current servicemembers who need this help now or may in the future. We can afford to do this. We must do this.

Senator Elizabeth Dole, alongside all other major veterans service organizations, has spoken to several committee members and its chairman about the urgency of passing this bill this year. The health and well- being of thousands of veterans depends on it. I have heard that certain Republican Members object to the Dole act. I would ask those Members with concerns to speak to me or the bill's sponsors so that we can try to address those concerns. That would be the fair and honest thing to do, so that we can tell the advocates for this bill what the actual holdup is.

The Elizabeth Dole Home Care Act has the support of every major veterans service organization, including Disabled American Veterans, Paralyzed Veterans of America, Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion, Wounded Warrior Project, and the Military Officers Association of America. It is also supported by AARP, the National Association of Counties, the National PACE Association, and the Elizabeth Dole Foundation.

Democrats on the committee remain ready to help pass both of these bills and many others that have passed out of the committee with broad bipartisan support.

Weeks were spent waiting for the Republican Conference to select a new Speaker, and significant time has been wasted on partisan appropriations bills that have no chance of being signed by the President. We are here using precious floor time on poison pill amendments at worst or symbolic gestures at best, but none of these things will actually help veterans get the care and benefits they deserve.

Last year, we came together to pass the largest expansion of veterans benefits in a generation, my Honoring our PACT Act, but we cannot and should not stop there.

Every bill brought to the House floor represents a choice and makes a statement about priorities. From my experience, whenever I had a veterans bill that was ready or timely, Speaker Emerita Pelosi made way for it because for her veterans issues are sacred. They are not fodder for negotiation or collateral. I hope our current Speaker comes to that same understanding. There is always time for veterans legislation.

We ask servicemembers to leave their families to protect our country, and we have a responsibility to honor our pact with them, that we will take care of them when they come home. That includes our most vulnerable veterans, such as homeless, elderly, and disabled veterans.

We must get these bills passed and honor our commitment to veterans. Mr. Speaker, I support H.R. 593. I ask my colleagues to do the same, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Brownley), my friend, and the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Health.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all of my colleagues to join me in supporting this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 8371, as amended, the Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act.

This omnibus package of veterans' legislation isn't perfect; such packages rarely are. However, it achieves progress on many of the goals we set out to accomplish at the beginning of the 118th Congress.

The backbone of this bill is legislation that was originally introduced by my colleague, Julia Brownley, the ranking member of the House Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Health.

Representative Brownley has worked tirelessly for nearly 3 years to pass the Elizabeth Dole Home Care Act, H.R. 542. This bill will enable veterans to remain at home, safely age in place, and avoid or delay admission to nursing homes and other costly institutional settings of care by expanding veterans' access to home- and community-based services such as home health aides.

This legislation will also help connect veterans' caregivers to respite care and other support services that help them care for veterans at home. Further, it will help improve VA's coordination with other Federal long-term care programs that promote aging at home.

I am very thankful to my colleague Julia Brownley for her important work, but I know she worked very closely with Senator Elizabeth Dole, and Senator Dole has risen to an amazing stature in our country. I am so proud that she is also here in this Chamber with us today as the chairman mentioned. I hope someone will get her a blanket because it is so dang cold in this Chamber that I don't want her to freeze up there.

This legislation is an investment in care for millions of veterans and current servicemembers who need this help now and in the future.

Despite the great need for this bill, it has been an uphill battle to get it passed. This Chamber had an opportunity almost a year ago to pass the Elizabeth Dole Home Care Act as a stand-alone bill. Unfortunately, House Republicans decided to bring a version to the floor they knew the Senate wouldn't pass.

Why would they do that you may ask? Well, because they decided to hold the Elizabeth Dole Home Care Act and other bipartisan policy priorities hostage, attempting to use them as leverage to achieve their goal of outsourcing more VA care to for-profit healthcare providers. The Democratic Caucus stood firmly against these efforts.

It can be difficult and isolating to stand on policy principles, but I will always do so when the future of veterans' healthcare is on the line, and it is. The system is already straining, and if we don't take real and serious action, it will break.

House Republicans attempted nearly for a year to use H.R. 8371 to advance harmful provisions that would have undermined healthcare directly provided by VA, driving veterans to for-profit, lower-quality care from contracted providers. We want VA to remain a strong provider of care instead of diminishing it to nothing more than an insurance company where profits are prioritized over outcomes for veterans.

Madam Speaker, if we have learned anything during the 118th Congress, it is that anything meaningful that we have accomplished has been done on a bipartisan basis with Democratic votes.

It should never have taken this long to get here, but last week, we successfully negotiated a compromise on the most objectionable provision of H.R. 8371, which will preserve VA healthcare for current and future generations of veterans.

Unfortunately, in the year it took to get to this point, House Republicans also held hostage critical legislation to help homeless veterans. In December 2023, my colleagues in the majority knowingly and intentionally took a flawed version of the HOME Act, which includes two Democratic-led bills to the House floor to use these provisions as leverage in negotiations for this package. They used homeless veterans as political pawns in the same way that they did with elderly and disabled veterans and their caregivers.

Meanwhile, VA and its community partners continued doing the hard work to help veterans experiencing homelessness. On Veterans Day, the VA announced that veteran homelessness dropped to its lowest level on record, and that VA had helped place nearly 48,000 veterans into permanent housing in 2024.

While I celebrate VA's success in addressing this issue, there are still nearly 300,000 veterans who interact with VA's homelessness programs each year. We must continue investing resources into these programs and into our communities to ensure that every veteran has a stable place to call home. We hope the next administration will continue this work and adhere to the models that have proven effective like Housing First.

Therefore, the second pillar of this legislation supports our shared goal of ending veteran homelessness. H.R. 8371 includes provisions from Congresswoman Williams' H.R. 491, the Return Home to Housing Act and Congresswoman Cherfilus-McCormick's H.R. 645, the Healthy Foundations for Homeless Veterans Act. These provisions will provide direct investments in communities across the country as they move veterans from the streets into stable housing.

During the pandemic, VA used authorities contained in Representative Williams' bill to enhance the services that traditional housing providers could offer to veterans through an increased per diem reimbursement rate. It used the flexible authorities in Representative Cherfilus-McCormick's bill to save lives by bringing veterans out of unsafe living conditions into stable, permanent housing and meeting their basic needs of food, shelter, and clothing.

It also ensured homeless veterans had the transportation needed to get to and from medical appointments and job interviews.

These long overdue reauthorizations will ensure VA and its community partners can continue to address the veteran homelessness crisis in this country with the urgency and focus it deserves.

There is still more work to do to get every veteran into housing, and I look forward to working with my colleagues in Congress to provide VA, HUD, and communities across the country the support they need to end veteran homelessness.

Madam Speaker, I will also acknowledge several Democratic Members who have contributed to the drafting of this package. Representatives Mike Levin, Don Davis, Elissa Slotkin, Frank Mrvan, Dean Phillips, Morgan McGarvey, Chris Pappas, and Lauren Underwood all have provisions in their own bills included in this package. Many of them are or have been members of our committee, and their commitment to serving veterans continues with our work here today.

Among other things, these provisions will increase outreach to veterans about their eligibility for benefits, mandate training for VA employees on reporting wrongdoing to the inspector general, and remove statutory restrictions on the qualifications of senior leaders within the Veterans Health Administration.

Madam Speaker, that does not mean this bill is perfect, and I will stress my objection, once again, to the backward practice of the majority to offset discretionary spending along with mandatory spending in every bill. This means taxpayers will be paying for these programs twice and many remaining legislative priorities from the VSOs who are with us here today are at risk of being left undone next Congress when we must unnecessarily waste our limited offsets in order to advance this legislation.

Also missing from this package is a strong piece of bipartisan, bicameral, good-government legislation that would have installed much- needed guardrails on VA's electronic health record modernization project.

It is no secret that the Oracle-driven modernization effort has struggled at VA. The program is woefully behind schedule and is only operational at 6 of 172 medical centers. I am not convinced the system is fully functional. The EHR Program RESET Act would have required minimum operational criteria to be met before Oracle could be deployed to any further facilities, which would have prevented many of the current problems.

Further, this key legislation would have improved coordination with the Department of Defense and instituted major contracting and acquisition reforms over VA's IT modernization efforts that are long overdue.

Unfortunately, RESET was stripped from the package, which is not surprising given the army of lobbyists that Oracle unleashed to kill it.

That said, I thank the Veterans Service Organization community and other stakeholders whose tireless efforts and refusal to compromise their values proved critical in finally getting our Republican majority back to the negotiating table to reach a compromise on H.R. 8371 last week.

As we saw with the passage of the PACT Act, we know good things can be accomplished when VSOs are unified and committed to doing the right thing. I am glad that House Democrats also held firm to our values in negotiations and fought to preserve VA healthcare for current and future generations of veterans.

This package has taken more than a year to get to the finish line, but I am pleased that we as a caucus will be able to support passage on this compromise today.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Brownley), my good friend and the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Health.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Davis), a member of the House Armed Services Committee and the House Committee on Agriculture and a veteran himself.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close.

I have said as much as I can about this important piece of legislation. What I will finally say is I am very glad that we got here, and I thank the chairman. We spent all this time, and we have reached a compromise. That is what we have to do in Congress, put our veterans and the people first. I think the American people want to see more of this sort of thing happening.

Madam Speaker, I am very pleased that we could get this done before the Thanksgiving weekend.

I urge all of my colleagues to support H.R. 8371, the Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my distinguished colleagues, the Honorable Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick and the Honorable Gwen Moore for their comments.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to give special consideration to the contributions and bravery of Black soldiers and veterans.

Veterans in this country deserve far more than we have thus far been willing to give them and, certainly, Black veterans are more than eligible for the kind of dignity and respect too long denied to them, both in and out of the armed services.

Let us never forget that, in several instances, the enemies of America were treated better than Black soldiers fighting for America. I remember my grandfather today, Charles Henry Jackson, who was working three jobs for a man in South Carolina who, after having been disrespected, told the man he could keep his jobs; although our family needed the money, needed the work so that we could feed the family.

The young man then went on to turn my grandfather into the Army recruiting office and had him enlisted, drafted into World War II.

Having fought in World War II and being honorably discharged he recounted the story for me when he came back from New York City, down on the train in first class, down to Union Station, not far from here. By the time they were heading down south to the Jim Crow era of the south, he had to go to the second class coach cars in the back of the train so that Nazi POW prisoners could sit in first class, right here in Washington, D.C., right here in America.

Let us never forget the kind of bigotry and hatred the Black soldiers had to endure simply because of the color of their skin.

It would be a tragedy of the worst kind for us to no longer remember the intrinsic, systemic evils that prevented African Americans from receiving equity in healthcare and the distribution of benefits, once again, simply because of the color of their skin.

There have always been gross inequities in how Black veterans have been treated and, regrettably, this has always been the case.

A recent internal document from the Department of Veterans Affairs obtained by NPR revealed that Black veterans are less likely to get approved for benefits associated with conditions like PTSD.

According to NPR, an internal report developed by the Veterans Administration found that Black veterans who filed claims for PTSD were rejected, on average, 12 percent more often than their White counterparts. Thankfully, the VA's equity task force has been alerted to this problem and is dedicated to making improvements.

This is not the first time Black veterans have been treated with indifference and disrespect. Black soldiers were never allowed to have full and unfettered access to the benefits enshrined to them in the GI bill.

In some cases, Black veterans could not take advantage of the GI bill simply because they were not granted an honorable discharge. In other cases, even when Black veterans properly qualified for the full range of benefits, they were denied them because of segregation and anti- integration policies.

In fact, one Congressman I researched in particular, Congressman John Rankin, a southern Dixiecrat, did everything in his power to exclude Black veterans from receiving the unemployment benefits enshrined in the bill. We were thick on words and thin on deeds.

When those benefits could not be legally denied in the legislation itself, local postmasters conspired in an effort not to deliver the forms Black veterans needed to fill out in order to receive their unemployment benefits.

In 1947, only 2 of the more than 3,200 VA guaranteed home loans in 13 Mississippi counties went to Black veterans. This was not just a southern problem. In New York and in the northern New Jersey suburbs, fewer than 100 of the 67,000 mortgages insured by the GI Bill supported the home purchases of African-American veterans. That is 100 out of 67,000. It means that less than .15 percent of the loans in that area went to Black veterans.

The list goes on and on. The kind of inequalities, inequities and indignities that Black soldiers and Black veterans have had to endure amount to a cacophony of slights, the full list of which I do not have the time to fully mention.

Yet, Black people have fought in every major war that this country has ever had because we are a brave and an honorable people. And when we fought, nobody was doing us a favor.

I will call the roll: from the Revolutionary War, to the Battle of 1812, to the Civil War, to the Spanish American War, to World War I, World War II, the Korean war, the Vietnam war, the war in Iraq, and the war in Afghanistan, Black people have always been willing to serve.

Today, we honor Black veterans because of their bravery and what they had to endure, and because of what they accomplished in spite of it all. We honor their sacrifices and their service. We honor their dignity and determination.

Without Black veterans, there could be no Colin Powell. Without Black veterans, there could be no Lloyd Austin. Without a long history of brave Black veterans, there is no such thing as a Black Commander in Chief.

The Governor of Florida can act like Black history isn't important to America, but there would be no American history without Blacks in our history.

Our thoughts are with Black veterans today because history remembers the men and women who put their shoulders to the wheel of progress and push until one dies and another world is born.

We will never forget the contribution of Black veterans because they did what racism said could never be done. They proved to the world that Black people are as brave and innovative as anyone else. They proved to the world that when the game is fair, and the rules are public, and the playing field is even, Black people can do anything.

I must tell you, Mr. Speaker, that I am proud to be a part of a caucus and a party that does more than just send thoughts and prayers to our veterans.

During the last Congress, under the leadership of the Honorable Nancy Pelosi, and the Honorable Steny Hoyer, and the Honorable Jim Clyburn, and our current leader, the honorable Hakeem Jeffries, Democrats in the House of Representatives led the way to passing the Honoring our PACT Act. This important law expands VA healthcare benefits for veterans exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange, and other toxic substances.

I am grateful to be a part of a party and an institution that continues to find ways to honor its commitments to our veterans. It should not have taken us this long to decide that if we expose the brave men and women of our armed services to toxic conditions, the least we could do is make sure they have access to all of the healthcare they need to recover.

From the Vietnam war to all of our post-9/11 conflicts, our soldiers have been exposed to all kinds of horrific substances and, yet we could not find the political will to dedicate specific resources to this particular aspect of modern war.

The devastating effects of dangerous toxins have been an albatross around the necks of our brave men and women for far too long.

But as the old saying goes, better late than never. Several members of the Congressional Black Caucus, who were part of the 117th Congress, were instrumental in the passing of this restorative law, and that is how I view the PACT Act.

This law widens the path that leads to greater restoration for the men and women we ask to risk their lives in defense of this country. This law deepens the validity of the promise we made as a country to these honorable soldiers. Call me a dreamer, but I just may happen to believe that when we ask people to do extraordinary things, it is altogether fitting that your response and our response collectively should be to

make sure that they are treated equally and in an extraordinary manner.

We can simply never do enough for our veterans. We love our soldiers, but we turn our backs far too often on our veterans. It is with the best of intentions that we call on the Veterans Administration to make sure that Black veterans are not excluded from the important care and restoration they need afforded to them in the PACT Act.

We call on the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Denis McDonough, to personally commit his attention and time to making sure that none of the past injustices and disparities reveal themselves in the practical application of this law.

I must say to all my colleagues, my Democratic colleagues, and my fellow members of the Congressional Black Caucus who were members of the 117th Congress, on behalf of all of the veterans, and particularly of all the Black veterans, who make their home in the First Congressional District of the State of Illinois, I extend to you my most sincere gratitude for your hard work in making this law a reality.

Millions of people will be positively affected by what you have accomplished. Millions of people find relief and some measure of restoration because of what you have done in the 117th Congress. Millions of veterans will be able to sleep a little sounder at night from the care that they receive because of what you did in the passing of this law. Future veterans will owe much of the improvements we will make in taking care of them to all of you.

Well done, good and faithful servants. You have honored this country by caring about the people of this country and nothing is greater than that.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak on the VET-TEC Authorization Act of 2023, as amended. In 2020, when our country experienced record unemployment, VET-TEC was a bright spot of veteran employment.

To date, nearly 5,000 veterans have found employment from the program at a salary of over $65,000 a year.

Today, veterans are employed at record-high levels. The Biden economy has brought veteran unemployment to the lowest level ever on record. Let me say that again. The Biden economy has brought veteran unemployment to the lowest level ever on record.

The legislation before us adds 5 more years to the VET-TEC program, providing VA an additional $337 million to get more veterans hired in the high-technology field.

This program was created by Speaker McCarthy in the Forever GI Bill, and I respect the fact that it is a big priority for the Speaker and my friend Chairman Bost. While I support the legislation, I wish to share my concern about moving a bill with such a large cost

when we have so many provisions awaiting action by this Congress. The $413 million price tag of this bill dwarfs the costs of many of the bills we must pass to address veteran homelessness.

This is an expensive bill in a fiscally uncertain time. While we all appreciate veteran employment programs, veteran unemployment is the lowest ever on record. A VET-TEC extension is nice to have, but with veterans experiencing homelessness and food insecurity, there is action on those programs that we must have.

As ranking member of this committee, I have the responsibility of weighing priorities and choosing between worthy policies that help veterans. I know the chairman and his colleagues on our committee share my goal of ending veteran homelessness.

When we considered this legislation in our committee, I offered an amendment to this legislation to make permanent some basic authorities which lowered veteran homelessness by 11 percent during a public health emergency. This amendment cost only $6 million in mandatory spending.

Last year, the chairman himself made it clear: ``No veteran should be without a place to call home. I am glad that the most recent estimate showed fewer veterans living in homeless shelters last year. That is why we must continue our work to ensure that the rubber is meeting the road and every veteran has access to safe, stable housing and the help they need to thrive.''

Chairman Bost is correct. The work must continue. We must continue the ongoing work, which has already helped so many veterans and can help so many more.

The reason given for not moving this bill was that it implicates the Toxic Exposure Fund, or TEF. I understand the chairman is concerned about how the Congressional Budget Office scores bills with TEF implications. I am concerned too, and I have spoken extensively on this.

However, there has yet to be a solution proposed for the TEF that does not undermine its purpose, which is to protect funding for toxic- exposed veterans and acknowledge this as a cost of war.

In light of this, I am asking that we come together and work on mutual priorities so that we can responsibly and equitably pass legislation using the limited offsets available to us.

I think the chairman believes, as do I, that providing basic needs for homeless veterans deserves to be on that priority list.

Therefore, I ask my colleague, the chairman, if he will commit to bringing Representative Cherfilus-McCormick's bill, H.R. 645, to the floor without delay,

Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of a colloquy, I yield to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Bost), and ask if he will commit to this.

Mr. Speaker, I am reclaiming my time.

Mr. Speaker, I was waiting for the answer.

Mr. Speaker, I reclaim my time.

Mr. BOST: Mr. Speaker, I am committed to addressing the veterans homelessness.

Mr. Speaker, I am reclaiming my time.

I simply ask the gentleman whether he will work with us to bring Mrs. Cherfilus-McCormick's bill to the floor. That is the question that I will yield for an answer.

Will the gentleman work with us?

I yield to the gentleman from Illinois.

Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time.

I am grateful that I hear some kernel that they will work with us in a bipartisan way. What does worry me is the gentleman mentioned over the next few months. I can maybe tolerate the next few months in terms of can we come to an agreement by the fall when the temperatures start to fall, but even the hot summers, in some parts of the country, would require us to work much more expeditiously.

These pandemic authorities that expanded our ability to help veterans who are homeless expired on May 11. For the last 11 days, VA and its community partners have operated with fewer authorities and less funding to help homeless veterans.

VA's ability to quickly bring a veteran in off the streets and get them the services they need to put them on their way to stable, permanent housing has been greatly diminished.

Prior to the pandemic, we were maintaining the status quo. The number of veterans experiencing homelessness had remained basically stagnant year after year for quite some time. For every veteran housed, another veteran would fall into homelessness.

During the pandemic we approached the homelessness crisis head on and with the urgency it has long deserved. It is incredible to me that we were able to reduce homelessness during COVID-19 by 11 percent. During the darkest days of that pandemic, VA actually reduced homelessness by 11 percent. It permanently housed over 40,000 veterans last year alone. We know these authorities accelerated VA's progress in ending veteran homelessness, and we can't lose that momentum.

I am pleased to hear the chairman wants to work together to extend these authorities and get homeless veterans into housing.

Mr. Speaker, I just say let's prioritize H.R. 645 in the coming days, not the coming months, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Khanna), my friend and colleague from my home State who serves on the Armed Services Committee and the Oversight Committee.

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

I commend General Bergman for the section of the VET-TEC bill which includes addressing this issue related to burials and the cost that the veteran's family has to bear, but I find it peculiar that the majority would take pains to include this legislation, which I have no quarrel with and support, but could not deal with and chose not to deal with the expiring authorities to deal with our homeless veterans.

Americans care deeply about the homeless veterans in our country and are offended that we would have anybody who wore the uniform of the United States be homeless.

There are elements of this bill that came up in markup. They brought the bill to the floor, the VET-TEC bill, which includes many elements, but they specifically chose to leave out addressing the expiring authorities that we have used to bring down homelessness by 11 percent. I am afraid we are going to lose momentum.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I realize the chairman and all of us in the veteran space have had our differences with the way the Congressional Budget Office scores the TEF. However, I would assert that we cannot use that as an excuse for why we don't address veteran homelessness.

Mr. Speaker, the expansion of VET-TEC as a program is to the tune of nearly one-half billion dollars--$413 million--at a time when my colleagues on the other side are looking to make draconian cuts to the nondefense side of the ledger, which veterans do fall within. They are expanding a program that addresses veteran employment at a time when veteran unemployment is at its lowest.

What I want to compare is the $6 million to the nearly one-half billion dollars that the Republicans want to expand this program by. I, too, stand behind veteran employment programs and effective ones at that. However, should we be expanding it and authorizing for 5 years this program, VET-TEC, when we are allowing a $6 million program to care for homeless veterans, to get them off the streets, to expire?

It is a rather rich situation that my colleagues want to expand spending and spend more on a program whose urgency is really in question because the Biden economy, as I explained, has brought veteran unemployment to its lowest levels ever. They want to expand spending in that program by an enormous amount, yet they want to eliminate $6 million in authorizations to take care of our homeless veterans. This makes no sense at all to me.

I support the chairman's bill, but I hope he will work with us to solve this problem in a matter of days and not months.

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

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include any extraneous material on the subject of this Special Order hour.

Mr. Speaker, it is with great honor that I rise today to coanchor the CBC Special Order hour along with my distinguished colleague from Illinois (Mr. Jackson).

For the next 60 minutes, members of the CBC have an opportunity to speak directly to the American people on Black veterans and their contributions to America, an issue of great importance to the Congressional Black Caucus, Congress, the constituents we represent, and all Americans.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Nevada (Mr. Horsford), the honorable chairman of the CBC.

Mr. Speaker, I yield now to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters).

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters) for her remarks.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Wisconsin (Ms. Moore).

Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Moore for her remarks.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne).

Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor our Nation's brave Black servicemembers. I rise not only for our veterans who served our Nation with honor and integrity, but also for those who gave the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our country.

Black soldiers have fought and given their lives in every American conflict since the Revolutionary War fighting for democracy at home and abroad, while being treated like second-class citizens on American soil.

In 1944, this very body passed the GI Bill to provide free education, unemployment pay, and home loans for millions of veterans returning from World War II. These benefits helped to expand our American middle class after the war, but Black veterans were excluded from these benefits due to our Nation's original sin.

This exclusion helped to widen the already existing wealth gap between White and Black Americans, the same gap that we feel and see today. The wide disparity in the bill's implementation increased wealth, education, and civil rights gaps. The inequitable implementation of the GI bill shut the door for 1.2 million Black people, veterans who bravely served the country during World War II in segregated ranks.

The willingness on the part of African-American soldiers to serve and sacrifice their lives for a country that treated them as second-class citizens is beyond remarkable. It wasn't until President Truman's executive order 9981 that the Armed Services were forced to desegregate, but by this time the damage had already been done.

In the South, the GI bill exacerbated rather than narrowed the economic educational attainment of Black veterans. After World War II, Black veterans who wanted to attend college in the South were restricted in their choices of about 100 public and private institutions. Only 6 percent of African-American veterans of World War II earned college degrees, compared to 19 percent of White veterans.

For over 200 years, Black soldiers have endured individual and institutional racism while fighting for their country. It is time to honor every Black veteran and soldier who paid the ultimate sacrifice while fighting for a more perfect union at home. May their memory be a blessing, and may this Congress rectify injustices committed on this very floor.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Jackson).

Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to the time remaining.

Mr. Speaker, I rise, again, today to be the voice of Black men and women who have selflessly dedicated their lives to the country, but now find themselves on the street.

These veterans represent the heart and soul of our Nation, serving a country that did not always serve them, and yet we are failing to help them again. Homelessness is felt acutely by Black veterans. Black individuals made up around 12 percent of Active-Duty military personnel in 2018 but were 33 percent of the homeless veteran population.

Throughout the pandemic, the VA reduced veteran homelessness by 11 percent and permanently housed over 40,000 veterans. This decrease can be directly attributed to the flexibilities that were found because of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency, but now with the PHE having ended, many veterans may soon find themselves out on the street.

Unfortunately, Republicans decided to vote against my proposal, H.R. 645, the Healthy Foundations for Homeless Veterans Act, which would have helped put roofs over veterans' heads. It is shameful.

Our brave veterans willingly stepped into the line of fire and accepted the looming shadow of danger all to safeguard our cherished liberties. To honor that sacrifice, it is our duty as a Nation and as Members of Congress to ensure they return home to a Nation that provides opportunities for them and their families.

We must equip our VA with the necessary tools to directly engage with and provide care for Black veterans grappling with housing insecurity. This isn't a partisan issue.

For each day that we, as Congress, fail to authorize and address veterans' homelessness, we condemn another veteran to a night of needless suffering on the street. The time to act is now. For every night delayed is a night too long for those who have worn our Nation's uniform.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues from across the aisle to work with House Democrats so we may serve those who served us. A Nation's greatness is not measured by its military might or its economic power but by how it treats its most vulnerable citizens, especially those who have served our country so bravely.

My Democratic colleagues and I will not leave our veterans behind on this very soil they volunteered to protect and defend. As a member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee and ranking member of the Subcommittee for Modernization, I ask all of us to think about this Memorial Day not in the same reference, but to pledge ourselves to do more for our veterans and to ensure that they are not living in homelessness or housing insecurities and that they are having access to their benefits.

Mr. Speaker, I rise, again, today to pay tribute to the brave men and women who have dedicated their lives to serving our great Nation. As a member of the House Veterans' Affair Committee, I pledge to fight for our veterans from all walks of life. Their stories of courage, resilience, and commitment demonstrate a legacy of service and sacrifice.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, post-9/11 veterans are becoming more and more diverse than previous generations. Today, women represent a remarkable 17 percent, while African Americans make up 15.3 percent of our current veteran population. We recognize the trailblazers who have not only served our Nation, but also enriched the diversity of our Armed Forces.

I am fortunate to count among my constituents many such heroes. One of Florida's 20th Congressional District heroes is Ms. Shenetria Moore, a resident of West Palm Beach. A United States Army veteran, Ms. Moore is a beacon of self-discipline and leads a life guided by her deeply- held principles.

Ms. Moore graduated with a diploma from the prestigious Academy of Health Science at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, and was later honored with an Army accommodation award by her commanding officer.

Once retired from Active Duty, she continued to serve by launching a nonprofit, Sha's Community Initiative, Inc., which provides mentorship and scholarships for young Black men. Ms. Moore's service-oriented philosophy has its roots in her family military experience.

Today, as a proud veteran and a dedicated community advocate, she continues to serve with the same excellence she displayed while she was in uniform. I thank Ms. Moore for her service to this great Nation and to Florida's 20th Congressional District.

Mr. Speaker, I would also like to recognize my father-in-law, Corlie McCormick, Sr., who is no longer with us, who served as a Vietnam vet.

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