Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall 332, I was away from the Capitol region attending the Civil Rights Freedom Riders' 50th Anniversary Celebration. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate General President William P. Hite for his selection as the 2011 recipient of the Military Officers Association of America's Distinguished Service Award.

This most recent recognition and honor are well deserved. As General President of the 350,000 members of the United Association of Plumbers, Pipe Fitters, Welders, Sprinkler Fitters, and HVAC Technicians, Bill has worked tirelessly to ensure members of our armed forces have access to the very best careers in his industry.

His organization provides one of the best services available to our veterans. The Veterans in Piping Program trains veterans for the finest careers in the industry. The United Association's Veterans in Piping partnership with the Marines at Camp Pendleton is considered by many to be the most successful military transition program in the country. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis described it as ``an awesome program'' and one that ``should be expanded throughout the United States.'' It differs from other programs in that it trains Marines prior to discharge--at no cost to the individual--in a certifiable skill, and then provides the network and connections to ensure job placement. Every graduate of the program has been successfully placed in the position of second year Apprentice or higher with the exception of a handful who have either re-enlisted or gone on to college.

General President Hite's service to our armed forces and veterans is accentuated by a distinguished career in public service. He was appointed by President George W. Bush to the Task Force on Rebuilding the Gulf Coast and to the Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations; and, by President Barack Obama to the President's Export Council. He has been called upon by the leaders of both of our political parties in recognition of his fidelity, objectivity, and candor. These characteristics have made him among the most respected labor leaders in the United States.

As we recognize General President Hite and the United Association today, I wish to point out that he is a third generation union member and the membership of the United Association voluntarily bears all of the costs of its veterans programs. The membership supports the men and women of our armed forces with a record of commitment that is second to none. I am particularly and personally proud of the work that San Diego based Local 230 has done to implement this successful and innovative program at Camp Pendleton.

Mr. Speaker, I recently reintroduced H.R. 1417, the Battlefield Excellence Through Superior Training Practices Act, or BEST Practices Act. This purpose of this bill is protect our troops and our missions overseas by improving combat trauma training courses administered by the Department of Defense (DoD). Currently, the DoD commonly employs the use of ``live tissue,'' or anesthetized animals, for the training of medics, corpsmen, and an increasing number of non- medical military personnel. This training is suboptimal due to the vast anatomical differences between the animals involved and humans. The BEST Practices Act requires the DoD to phase in the use of human-based methods, such as medical simulation, as a replacement for live tissue training.

It is clear that the DoD is behind the times on this issue. The same procedures taught in combat trauma training courses are taught in the civilian sector almost exclusively without live tissue training. Instead, these trauma centers and medical schools employ superior human-based methods such as high-fidelity medical simulation to teach our top surgeons and other physicians these crucial, life-saving procedures. Studies from civilian hospitals and medical schools demonstrate that simulation is a superior methodology and that physicians who train on simulators make fewer medical errors than those who train on live tissue. Furthermore, institutions that have transitioned to human-based methods have reported a long-term cost savings.

The BEST Practices Act requires the Department of Defense to phase out live tissue training by 2016, which adheres to the agency's own projections regarding available simulation technology. The length of this timeline is crucial--we must ensure that our troops receive the best training possible, but we must not endanger our troops by rushing the transition. That's why this legislation contains a clause requiring an annual report from DoD to Congress on the progress of the transition.

Please join me in supporting the BEST Practices Act--to ensure our military uses the best and most modern training methods available and that our troops are kept safe and able to succeed in their mission and in their lives.

Mr. Speaker, today I am proud to introduce H.R. 1263, to amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to provide surviving spouses with certain protections relating to mortgages and mortgage foreclosures.

Protecting our veterans and service members is important, but their families are an extension of our military families and affording them equal mortgage foreclosure protection is just as important.

The death of a servicemember while in service, can be hard for a spouse as they adjust to a new life without their loved one, this includes a single family income, which in many instances is not enough to provide for a family and make their mortgage payments. Extending these protections would allow grieving spouses 9 months to work on a resolution with their lender or sell their home, if necessary.

Servicemembers currently receive foreclosure protections for 9 months after the end of military service. These protections under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) are meant to allow a period of transition and adjustment after service. Unfortunately, this protection does not exist for spouses. That is why today I am introducing this legislation.

H.R. 1263 amends the SCRA by extending protection against mortgage foreclosure for 9 months to a surviving spouse of servicemember who died while in military service and their death is service connected and the individual is the successor of the servicemember's property. In conclusion, H.R. 1263 takes an important step toward protecting the families of our brave fallen heroes. I urge my colleagues to support

Mr. Speaker, in passing the Agent Orange related laws in 1984 and 1991, Congress made clear that it wanted to ensure that a fair and independent system was established to determine the relationship between herbicide exposure and the manifestation of certain diseases in our veterans.

Congress also was concerned that exposure to Agent Orange could not be determined by tracking troop movements.

As such, my bill, H.R. 812, the Agent Orange Equity Act of 2011, would expand the eligibility for presumptive conditions to combat veterans of the Vietnam War to include Blue Water veterans, those who received the Vietnam Service Medal and the Vietnam Campaign Medal, or served on Johnston Island during a specified period when undisputed evidence shows 250,000 gallons of Agent Orange leaked and contaminated the scarce water supply.

Before 2002, VA relied on veterans providing evidence of receipt of the Vietnam Service Medal to allow veterans to be presumptively service-connected for diseases identified as being related to Agent Orange exposure.

Against public outcry, VA unjustifiably reversed its own regulations.

H.R. 812 would reinstate this practice by requiring VA to go back to this fair way of determining service-connection and equitably adjudicating these claims.

These are benefits that these veterans have earned, yet the VA illogically refuses to acknowledge.

Time is running out for these Vietnam veterans and their families. I remain committed to restoring equity for our veterans as do so many of our colleagues. That is why in the 111th Congress, this exact same bill enjoyed the support of over 260 co-sponsors. I also point out that Vietnam Veterans of America also supports this bill.

I strongly urge my colleagues to support equity for our combat veterans of Vietnam exposed to this toxic and deadly cocktail of herbicides.

Mr. Speaker, I introduced H.R. 814, the ``Medicare VA Reimbursement Act of 2011.''

This legislation authorizes the establishment of a Medicare VA reimbursement program where HHS reimburses the VA for the provision of health care to Medicare eligible veterans for the treatment of non- service connected conditions at VA medical facilities.

Today, there are veterans who have earned VA health care benefits with their service to our country, as well as Medicare benefits by paying into the Social Security system during their working years. Even though these individuals have clearly earned both of these benefits, current law unfairly prohibits them from using their Medicare benefits at VA facilities even though they may feel more comfortable seeking care among their fellow veterans from VA providers who specialize in caring for veterans.

This is also inconsistent with the authorities granted to other federal entities such as the Indian Health Service (IHS) and the Department of Defense's (DOD) TRICARE for Life that are allowed to bill Medicare. IHS and DOD are able to augment their resources with Medicare collections and reinvest the extra funding back into their programs and services. H.R. 814 would provide equity in such billing practices among the federal entities. In other words, the VA would be able to access an important new source of revenues from Medicare which may be reinvested to further strengthen the VA's health care system.

In detail, this legislation requires the Secretaries of VA and HHS to establish a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) no later than 6 months after the date of the enactment of the Act. The MOU must establish such program elements as the frequency of reimbursement, the billing system, the data sharing agreement, and the payment rate. H.R. 814 also provides some guidelines on setting the payment rate so that the terms that contributed to the failure of the Medicare DOD Subvention Demonstration Project are not repeated again. For example, this legislation prohibits setting a reimbursement rate which is less than 100% of the amount that Medicare would pay a participating provider. It also prohibits annual caps on reimbursement and does not allow for a maintenance of effort requirement, which refers to the requirement that VA maintain a certain level of spending before they can be reimbursed from HHS.

Finally, H.R. 814 requires an annual report to Congress providing program data, as well as a triennial GAO report assessing the program impact.

I urge your support of this important legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to discuss H.R. 807, a bill which would allow collective bargaining over compensation related labor-management disputes. Examples of such disputes include locality pay, overtime pay, shift differential pay, and performance pay.

I would like to emphasize that my bill continues to protect the basic rates of pay so that VA employees cannot bargain over the federal pay scales. However, I have heard stories where a VA nurse's overtime pay is miscalculated but there is no recourse for addressing this inaccuracy.

H.R. 807 would also help VA with their recruitment and retention efforts since prospective employees would have the assurance that they will be treated fairly when it comes to the enforcement of pay laws and regulations.

I believe this bill is just the first step in protecting the employment rights of VA healthcare providers. It is the right thing to for those hard-working men and women who care for our veterans every day.

I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation.

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall 213, I was unable to vote. Had I been present, I would have voted ``nay.''

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall 214, I was unable to vote. Had I been present, I would have voted ``no.''

Amendment No. 29 Offered by Mr. Schiff

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall 215, I was unable to vote. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yes.''

Amendment No. 20 Offered by Mr. Sessions

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall 216, I was unable to vote. Had I been present, I would have voted ``no.''

Amendment No. 21 Offered by Mr. LaTourette

Mr. Speaker, I recently introduced important legislation to establish a women veterans bill of rights, H.R. 809.

There are now 1.8 million women veterans, and the number of these women turning to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for treatment and services is increasing every day. In fact, current VA estimates project that the percentage of women among the total number of veterans enrolled in the VA health care system will have risen to 10 percent by 2018, up from 7.7 percent now.

Mr. Speaker, men have long been the dominant stakeholder within VA, but it is past time that VA recognizes women veterans as an equally important stakeholder.

During hearings and roundtables over the past Congresses, the Committee on Veterans' Affairs has asked women veterans to come forward with their own stories about their experiences with VA. From their accounts, it is clear that while VA has made some strides in caring for women, significant gaps remain.

The veterans testifying before the Committee have told us of an unwelcoming culture within some VA facilities that makes women veterans feel alienated, disrespected, and reluctant to pursue the benefits and services that they have earned with their sacrifices.

VA must recognize and be equipped to treat the unique medical concerns that women veterans have. They must respect privacy concerns and eliminate cultural insensitivity that may otherwise bar women from accessing VA health care and they must ensure that women and male veterans are always treated equally in their ability to secure quality VA benefits and services.

This legislation would take us closer to achieving that long overdue standard.

H.R. 809 would require VA to display in all of their facilities, 24 fundamental principles governing their treatment of women veterans. Veterans who may have felt isolated and unwelcome in VA facilities before will be able to read these principles and understand VA's responsibility to them.

The principles lay out women veterans' right to state-of-the-art medical technologies and procedures for treating their unique medical concerns, VA's responsibility to provide vigorous outreach to inform women of the VA benefits and services they are entitled to, and other important guidelines for what women veterans can and should expect of

Mr. Speaker, in September 2010, Operation Iraqi Freedom was renamed Operation New Dawn.

To this effect, I introduced, H.R. 804, legislation that would ensure that military service in Operation New Dawn continues to be considered service in a theater of operations, for purposes of eligibility for veterans' hospital and nursing home care and medical services through the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Our nation's brave men and women have fought together hand in hand in the war against terror, and many of them are experiencing multiple and extended deployments in support of Iraq and Afghanistan.

When they return home, we must make certain that veterans would not be denied access to certain programs because of the way the law is currently written.

I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation.

Mr. Speaker, there are not many of us who have not heard of the horrific battleground stories experienced by our young men and women who have served in Operation New Dawn and Operation Enduring Freedom. These stories reveal a gruesome and difficult war in which servicemembers often sustain long lasting emotional and physical injuries. Of these injuries, none is more deafening than the amputations undergone by servicemembers as a direct result of the widespread use of roadside bombs otherwise known as improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

This class of injury, which has spiked significantly since the onset of the Operation New Dawn, requires special consideration within the Department of Veterans Affairs. After returning home, these individuals must embark upon extensive rehabilitation and special treatment to receive a shot at living a normal life, and this is why I have introduced H.R. 805.

H.R. 805 instructs the VA to actively inform veterans and educate employees at each VA prosthetics and orthotics clinic of the Injured and Amputee Veterans' Bill of Rights. In addition, this bill requires the VA to monitor and resolve complaints from injured and amputee veterans alleging mistreatment.

I believe that this bill will do much to protect the rights of our injured and amputee veterans, as well as bolster the consistency of prosthetic and orthotic care throughout the VA health system.

I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation.

Mr. Speaker, research tells us that veterans are over represented in the homeless population. VA is the largest single provider of homeless services reaching about 25 percent of that population.

VA operates a wide variety of homeless veterans programs designed to provide outreach, supportive services, health care as well as counseling and treatment for mental health and substance use disorders. They rely heavily on their partnerships with the community and faith based organizations to provide these services.

Many of VA's homeless population:

Have had a serious psychiatric problem defined as psychosis, mood disorder or PTSD.

Were dependent on alcohol and/or drugs.

Were dually diagnosed with serious psychiatric and substance abuse problems.

Have suffered from a serious medical problem.

The number of homeless women veterans is rising.

Prior to becoming homeless, a large number of veterans at risk have struggled with PTSD or have addictions acquired during, or worsened by, their military service. These conditions can interrupt their ability to keep a job, establish savings, and in some cases, maintain family harmony.

Veterans' family, social, and professional networks may have been broken due to extensive mobility while in service or lengthy periods away from their hometowns and their civilian jobs. These problems are directly traceable to their experience in military service or to their return to civilian society without having had appropriate transitional supports.

VA reports that approximately 1,500 homeless veterans are from Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation New Dawn. This is a growing population. It took roughly a decade for the lives of Vietnam veterans to unravel to the point that they started showing up among the homeless.

Concern has been expressed by many that such an early showing of more recent veterans in the homeless population does not bode well. It is also believed that the intense repeated deployments leave newer veterans particularly vulnerable.

We know the Department of Veterans Affairs has many programs to address currently homeless veterans, and they do a great job. However, the most important piece to ending homelessness among the Nation's veteran population is to prevent it in the first place.

It is unacceptable that even one of our veterans sleep on the streets or in shelters after risking their lives on behalf of this country.

My legislation, H.R. 806, will go a long way in strengthening our efforts to ultimately end homelessness.

This bill increases funding to successful programs for homeless veterans; requires each VA medical center that provides supporting housing services to provide housing counselors; requires housing counselors to conduct landlord research; strengthens permanent housing programs, and pays special interest to the needs of homeless women veterans and homeless veterans with children.

The time to act is now. We cannot afford to let history repeat itself.

I urge your support of this important legislation.

Mr. Kucinich, I thank you for your courage in bringing this debate to the floor. It's like the 600-pound elephant in the Nation. This war has gone on and on--and we never discuss it.

I want to applaud the courage of Mr. Jones from North Carolina. He has taken more than a lot of grief from his own party, and he has stood up to that with courage that is admirable.

I want to look at this debate, my colleagues, from the point of view of former chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, a position in which I was honored to serve.

Mr. Kucinich, I think you underestimate the cost of this war. I've never seen you so conservative.

I had a hearing last year before the Veterans' Affairs Committee in which Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stigleitz testified. He said these wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will be $5 trillion to $7 trillion wars over their whole course. Let us not forget--and that's not calculated in your costs. Mr. Kucinich--the veterans, those who have served in this war with great courage, with great professionalism. Treating these veterans costs hundreds of billions of dollars more, and we're not considering that when we talk about ending this war.

We've been told that there have been about 45,000 casualties in these two wars in the last 10 years. Then why have almost 1 million people shown up at the Veterans Administration hospitals for war-related injuries? One million. This is not a rounding error. This is a deliberate attempt to misguide us on the cost of this war. This war is costing, in addition to what the budget says, hundreds of billions more for treating our veterans. We must calculate that into the cost of this war.

When you guys say, ``deficit and debt,'' we are going to say, ``Afghanistan.''

In recent weeks, we have heard much from our Republican colleagues about out-of-control Federal spending. They want to cut $100 billion from our budget.

If my friends are serious about cutting the budget, they should vote for H. Con. Res. 28.

Since 2001, our Nation has wasted $1.121 trillion on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We are spending $5.4 billion a month in Iraq and $5.7 billion a month in Afghanistan. This is a waste of our national resources and taxpayer funding!

For FY2012, the President has requested $113.4 billion to continue the war in Afghanistan.

Between 2008 through 2011, overall government spending went up 9 percent annually. But this is nothing compared to the 25 percent annual increase in spending in Afghanistan.

Furthermore, spending on the Afghanistan war is rising at an accelerating rate. Over just three years (2010, 2011, and 2012), we will spend 45 percent more on the war in Afghanistan than we did in the preceding 8 years!

There is no better example of out-of-control Federal spending.

If Congress is really serious about being fiscally responsible and about cutting the Federal budget by three figures, then cutting spending on the out-of-control, hundred billion dollar a

year war in Afghanistan must be a serious consideration.

Today, we have an opportunity to do just that! A Yes vote will cut the 2012 budget by at least $113.4 billion.

If you are serious about reducing the deficit, then vote ``yes'' on H. Con. Res. 28!

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to proclaim that organized labor is often the sole force fighting for the rights of not just union members, but all workers.

This was seen this past fall when union workers at the airport stood up for the rights of all concession, parking and restaurant workers by bringing forward a worker retention policy at the San Diego Regional Airport Authority.

Up until then, workers had no job protections in the event of new contractors taking over business at the airport. If a shop or restaurant lost its lease, every employee working there could lose their job.

Led by Airport Authority chairman Robert Gleason, the agency brought workers into the search for a solution. Workers were not only given a voice in the process, but their opinions and concerns were valued as expert testimony on the importance of the Airport Authority providing a sense of job security for workers with as many as 35 years of experience.

Even when delays in the process occurred, it was due to Airport Authority commissioners believing that they could accomplish even more through their policy.

By a final vote of 7-to-1, the Airport Authority eventually passed a worker retention policy that will protect airport workers. The vote proved that all parties can win when the voices of workers are taken into consideration.

It gives me a great honor Mr. Speaker, that in light of their passage of a worker retention policy, I join with the Executive Board of the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council in honoring the San Diego Regional Airport Authority and Airport Workers with the 2010-2011, ``Sol Price Spirit of Cooperation Award.''