Floor Statements

Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the opportunity to speak on behalf of my bill, and I am grateful to you for moving this very important bipartisan bill through the House Financial Services Committee.

I also want to thank my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who supported this bill last year. Unfortunately, it got stuck in the Senate, so we have got to do it again this year, but I am thrilled to be here.

Mr. Chairman, the primary responsibility of every Member of Congress, whether you are on the left side or the right side of the aisle, no matter what State you are from, what part of the country you are from, the major responsibility, the primary responsibility is to support and defend our Constitution. To me, that means protecting our families and those American citizens abroad.

Now, our moms and dads in Maine, Mr. Chairman, and across this country, are increasingly alarmed by the frequency of terrorist attacks here at home; another attempted 2 days ago in New York City. Today, Mr. Chairman, there are 1,000 investigations dealing with terrorist activities across this land in all 50 States. That is why H.R. 1638 is so important. This bill will help keep our families safe and keep them free.

In doing so, we must make sure this issue is not a political issue. National security never should be a political issue. Mr. Chairman, the Iranian Government, as Mr. Hensarling just mentioned, is the chief state sponsor of terrorism and instability in this world.

These senior political leaders and their military leaders, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, they train, they arm, and they fund terrorist organizations around the world. They have become experts at using the internet and social media to radicalize, recruit, and direct terrorists around the globe, including here in the United States of America.

Mr. Chairman, the Iranian Government has American blood on its hands. Now, Mr. Chairman, there are approximately 70 to 80 top political and military leaders in Iran that control about one-third of their domestic economy. They use their power to corrupt the telecommunications industry, the construction industry, and other important ones in that land.

Reuters has conducted an investigation through publicly available information that found the Supreme Leader of Iran alone has accumulated tremendous personal wealth through a foundation claiming to help the poor. Now, while the corruption has grown in Iran, the average citizen there earns the equivalent of $15,000 per year.

Mr. Chairman, the citizens of Iran and the people of this world should know how much wealth has been accumulated by those that sponsor terrorism and what that money is being used for.

Companies across the globe that are looking to do business with Iran should understand what they might be getting into. So I disagree with my colleague from California, the ranking member, who says that this is going to possibly create confusion; that it will possibly cause businesses around the world to hesitate from investing in Iran.

Well, guess what, Mr. Chairman. That is a good idea.

My Iranian Leadership Asset Transparency Act is a straightforward, main, commonsense bill. It simply requires the Department of Treasury to collect, to maintain, and to post online the list of these 70 to 80 senior political and military leaders and the assets, their personal assets, how this money was acquired, and what it is being used for.

As Mr. Hensarling mentioned, it will require the Treasury Department to post this on their website in English as well as in Farsi, Arabic, and Azeri, the three languages that are mostly used in that country.

I might also add that my colleague on the other side of the aisle might be a little bit confused about this issue, but the information posted on this website will be that that is publicly available. There will be no information that should not be posted there that only Congress should have access to.

I have heard, Mr. Chairman, critics of this bill saying: Well, you know, it is not a good idea to expose the Iranian Government's corruption in funding of terrorism because, if you do so, well, the Iranian political and military leaders might not want to work with us.

Are you kidding?

These are the radicals who regularly chant ``Death to America.''

Hoping that these folks also abandon their support of terrorism by not shedding light on their corruption doesn't make any sense. Hope, Mr. Chairman, is not a national security strategy.

My bill makes sure that Congress gets its priorities straight. Protecting American families here at home and safeguarding our troops around the world who are fighting for our freedom is what we should be doing every way we can, and that is what this bill does.

Mr. Chairman, I would like to say that using one click of a computer from any corner of the globe to help expose illicit activities by the chief state sponsor of terrorism is a very, very good idea.

Let's stand up for all the peace-loving nations in the world. Let's stand up to help our families protect their kids. Let's stand up to protect our homeland. I ask everyone, Republicans and Democrats, please vote ``yes'' for H.R. 1638, the Iranian Leadership Asset Transparency Act.

Will the gentlewoman yield?

Mr. Chairman, to the gentlewoman from California and to the other side of the aisle, I do want to make sure I make a few things clear.

First of all, I am not sure if it was the gentlewoman or someone else saying: Why in the dickens would we divert resources away from fighting terrorism to post this information on the Treasury website? It costs too much.

Well, with all due respect, the CBO estimates it will cost $500,000 to do this for 2 years. The United States Treasury Department has a budget of $14 billion per year. That is number one.

Will the gentlewoman yield?

Mr. Chairman, the dangerous Iran nuclear deal that was put together a year and a half or 2 years ago has absolutely nothing to do with exposing the wealth that has cumulated through corruption by the top 70 to 80 Iranian political and military leaders and posting that for the world to see. I am sure the ranking member knows this has zero to do with the Iran nuclear deal.

Mr. Chairman, I did want to respond to the gentlewoman from California and to other folks who are on the other side of this bill.

First of all, I think it is very clear to the world that the Iranian Government has been cheating on the nuclear deal almost since day one. I think it was within months, Mr. Chairman, that they test-fired both medium-range and long-range ballistic missiles, in violation of an 8- year ban on developing those conventional weapons.

So I think it is kind of silly for us to be debating here about a government that sponsors terrorism and vows to wipe Israel off the face of the Earth and kill as many Americans as they can, as a leadership regime that is going to abide by this agreement when they have proven they are not.

Second of all, as I have mentioned several times, my bill has nothing to do with this agreement. But, then again, someone on the other side of the aisle, Mr. Chairman, also said: Well, we think American officials, American leaders, should be responsible for disclosing that.

Well, here is the difference: America does not sponsor terrorism. The Iranian Government does.

That is exactly what we are trying to get at, Mr. Chairman. I am trying to understand what folks who will not support this bill are going to say when they go back home at Christmastime, when they had an opportunity to shed sunlight on the top political and military leaders in Iran who are ripping off the Iranian people and who are sponsoring terrorism, why it is a bad idea to make sure this information is public to the world as well as to the Iranian people. I would like to understand what they are going to say when they go back home and talk to their constituents.

Mr. Chairman, I am grateful for this opportunity. This is a terrific bill. It does something very common sense: put pressure through sunlight, through transparency, on the chief sponsor of terrorism in the world--the Iranian regime.

Will the gentlewoman yield?

Mr. Chairman, can the gentlewoman repeat the question again? I didn't understand it.

Mr. Chairman, the missiles that I was referring to are very clear to the gentlewoman from California. They deal specifically with the Iran nuclear deal, which is a dangerous deal for this world and for this country. It has nothing to do with any issue dealing with North Korea.

What difference does that have to do with the----

Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California. Mr. Chairman, reclaiming

my time, I will tell Mr. Poliquin what difference it makes.

Here we are with threats from North Korea and the President of the United States unwilling to be involved with diplomacy, who, rather, would like to basically mimic and mock the leader of North Korea by calling him ``Little Rocket Man,'' and by telling the Secretary of State: Don't talk to him. It is no use to talk with him.

So here we have North Korea, who has already indicated that they have missiles that will reach us right here in the United States, anywhere in the United States, and Mr. Poliquin is telling me about his concern about missiles in Iran that are not a part of the nuclear deal.

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

Mr. Speaker, for generations, Maine families have enjoyed the great outdoors. That means hunting, fishing, camping, and hiking. That is part of who we are as a people. That is part of our way of life.

Part of that way of life is responsibly and lawfully owning firearms. We are comfortable with them. We have been for generations.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Hudson's bill, the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017, is a commonsense fix to a patchwork of State laws that will confuse, and do confuse, law-abiding Americans who have valid concealed carry permits issued by their own States when they want to travel to or through other States that have different concealed carry laws.

I want to make this very clear: H.R. 38 does not allow travel as long as the holder of a concealed carry license does not obey the laws of the States that he or she is traveling to. I read directly, Mr. Speaker, from the statute: ``This bill shall not be construed to supersede or limit the laws of any State.''

So the other side of the aisle just needs to make sure they get this exactly right, because they have not been correct on this fact.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Hudson's bill actually additionally strengthens existing regulations by requiring Federal Government agencies to promptly and accurately require a reporting to the FBI someone who is mentally ill, someone who has committed a serious crime, or someone who is in the country illegally and should not have a firearm.

This bill is a commonsense bill that will help law-abiding Americans enjoy their Second Amendment right, their outdoor sporting activities, and help keep our families safer.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman. He forgot pine trees, but that is okay.

Mr. Speaker, I am thrilled to stand up and support H.R. 1699, Preserving Access to Manufactured Housing Act, and I salute Congressman Andy Barr from Kentucky to bring this forward.

Maine, Mr. Speaker, has some of the highest homeownership rates in the country. We love our homes in Maine. I represent the rural part of our State, and in our State, Mr. Speaker, we have times of the year where the weather is pretty tough.

If you are building a home that is not manufactured in a warehouse, sometimes you literally cannot build that home because of the weather, the snow, and the cold, and what have you. But there is nothing more important, Mr. Speaker, nothing more important than making sure moms and dads across America and across Maine have an option, have as many options as possible to house their kids, to take care of their kids, and make sure they are safe. Manufactured housing, in many parts of the country, is the only affordable option.

Now, H.R. 1699 makes a small, technical change such that folks who want to get into a home and want to take part in the great American Dream of homeownership have the opportunity to get a loan to do this.

Government, Mr. Speaker, is supposed to help our families, not get in the way. Here is an example of us being able to remove an unnecessary restriction that hurts our families and prevents them from having an opportunity to get in their first home.

We need more options, not less, Mr. Speaker. Let's help our families and not get in the way. I salute Mr. Barr for this great bill. I am fully in support of this. Let's help our families get into manufactured homes if this is what they want and this is what they can afford.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to speak on this very important bill.

Mr. Speaker, Maine is vacationland. We have a population in Maine of only 1.3 million people, but every year we have about 40 million visitors to our great State.

We have thousands of sparkling, clean lakes and ponds, hundreds of miles of swift-running rivers, and we have 3,600 miles of stunningly beautiful coastline. I have never, ever, met anybody who has vacationed in Maine who did not leave without a smile. It is just a great place to live and bring up kids.

Now, the tourist industry employs about 150,000 people directly in the State of Maine, and it is critical that we have a pristine environment in Maine to further this industry.

Mr. Speaker, during the past 40 years, sadly, most of our paper mills, our textile mills, and our shoe factories in the great State of Maine have closed and, in many cases, they have left behind contaminated brownfields contaminated with heavy metals and chemicals.

Now, those of us who have been blessed with children know how critically important their health is. My mother is 89 and had a great career as a nurse, and we grew up in our house with taking care of others. I raised my son as a single parent, taking care of my son. I understand how much easier it is to stay healthy and be healthy if you are in a clean environment.

Mr. Speaker, that is why H.R. 3017 is so important. It makes sure that we provide funding to clean up polluted contaminated brownfields industrial sites.

Mr. Speaker, since 1994, hundreds of brownfields across this great country have been cleaned up. When they are cleaned up, they are often repurposed into athletic fields, schools, and hospitals. This, at the same time, strengthens our local communities because they are put back, in many cases, on the property tax rolls, if they are a private sector development.

In the town of Millinocket, right smack in the middle of my district, Miller's Department Store is an old building, decaying and full of mold, and it is being benefited from a grant from this brownfields program.

The T.W. Dick property in Gardiner, in central Maine, used to be a steel fabricator. It is now contaminated with heavy metals and is experiencing a new life because of this program.

Mr. Speaker, cleaning up our environment to help our kids stay safe and healthy should not ever be a partisan issue. This is as bipartisan as you could possibly find. That is why, Mr. Speaker, I am encouraging Republicans and Democrats alike to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 3017. Let's do something common sense, provide the funding to clean up these brownfields sites and repurpose this land for the betterment of our families.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Harper for the opportunity to speak on this very important issue.

Mr. Speaker, I congratulate Jackie Speier, a Democrat from California, and Barbara Comstock, a Republican from Virginia, for providing leadership on this issue. I am delighted to join them.

Mr. Speaker, there can be absolutely zero tolerance for sexual harassment, bullying, and intimidation in the workplace. I don't care if you are a professional athlete, in the media business, in the entertainment business, or certainly in the people's House here in Congress, there can be zero tolerance for this sort of behavior.

It is about time, Mr. Speaker, that the legislative branch join the executive branch in making sure there is mandatory training to try to prevent this from happening and end it right now. I salute Congresswoman Speier and Congresswoman Comstock for their leadership.

Mr. Speaker, my only child is a millennial. The last thing I want to worry about is my son going to work and being intimidated or harassed such that he can't do his work.

My mother, who is now 89, had a terrific career in the healthcare business. She was a nurse. She could not have had a career in nursing had she showed up at hospitals and nursing homes being scared about a work environment.

Finding and preventing sexual harassment, intimidation, and bullying wherever it is is a no-brainer for Members of Congress. I am asking, Mr. Speaker, everybody in this Chamber, whether Republican or Democrat--and, yes, on the other side of the dome in the Senate, also-- to please, let's pass this resolution, starting in the House. It is a first step to change the internal rules to eliminate this anywhere on Capitol Hill.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding me time.

Mr. Speaker, I am very grateful that the House will be voting on this commonsense piece of legislation tonight. I am very proud to represent the Houlton Band of the Maliseet Indians in Houlton, Maine, who created the first Tribal veterans cemetery not only in Maine, but also along the entire East Coast.

This past summer, Mr. Speaker, I was very surprised to learn that family members of veterans buried at Tribal cemeteries are not provided the same treatment as those buried at State and national veterans cemeteries. H.R. 3657 fixes this issue permanently.

Specifically, it would ensure that the family members of veterans who are buried at Tribal cemeteries--such as the Maliseet Indian Tribal cemetery in Houlton--are provided with government-furnished headstones, the same treatment as those buried at national and State veterans cemeteries.

Mr. Speaker, we are all Americans. People who put on the uniform-- whether a man or a woman, whoever they are, wherever they live, or whatever cemetery they are buried in--deserve the same respect, the same honor, and the same treatment.

I am thrilled to tell everybody listening here that this moved out of committee--this commonsense fix--this bill moved out of committee with unanimous support.

Mr. Speaker, I am asking for that to happen tonight when it appears on the floor, and I am grateful for our chairman to bring this up tonight.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the rule and the underlying bill, Resilient Federal Forests Act of 2017.

I do thank the gentleman from Washington State for this time. I urge all Members, Republicans and Democrats, to support the rule and the underlying bill.

Mr. Speaker, I want to focus my remarks on one specific and very important section of the underlying bill. This pertains to allowing young men and young women the opportunity to work and to learn the family trade of logging.

Now, logging is a very big business in the State of Maine. About 90 percent of our State, Mr. Speaker, is forested, and we have generations and traditions of logging in the State of Maine. Logging is often a family-run business where the practice and the technique of harvesting and then transporting saw logs to mills are passed down from one generation to another.

Now, H.R. 2936 brings Federal regulations in line with this new technology and new standards of safety by allowing family-owned logging businesses

the ability to train 16- and 17-year-olds under very close supervision of their parents.

We need to make certain, Mr. Speaker, that the next generation of loggers are able to learn what they need to know, how to run these family-run businesses, including the operation and maintenance of their equipment. We do this, please, by supporting the Resilient Federal Forests Act of 2017.

This bill, Mr. Speaker, will ensure that the long-term health of the logging business industry is supported and can continue from one generation to another.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join 1.3 million fellow Mainers in celebrating National Forest Products Week.

Mr. Speaker, our great State is 90 percent covered by healthy, sustainable forests which support more than 30,000 good-paying jobs. Now, nationally, our working forests support 930,000 hardworking Americans who manage the forests, who harvest the trees, and who transport the wood to paper mills and energy plants across our great Nation.

Every day, products like paper and lumber and pet food bags and toothpicks and pencils make our lives better. And the best part, Mr. Speaker, is that these trees grow back after we cut them, so this entire green, sustainable industry creates good-paying jobs generation after generation.

Now, Democrats and Republicans must do everything humanly possible to help make sure our forest products industry is healthy and thrives. And to that end, Mr. Speaker, I want to thank everybody in this Chamber to make sure that we continue to treat biomass fairly in our regulations, make sure biomass is carbon neutral. This will avoid unnecessary and costly regulations being imposed on our mills, factories, and energy plants.

Madam Chair, I inadvertently voted ``aye'' when I intended to vote ``no'' on rollcall No. 521.

Amendment No. 200 Offered by Mr. Ellison

Mr. Chairman, I am thrilled to rise today to speak on behalf of my amendment which will remove unnecessary, redundant, and burdensome regulations from our sea urchins and sea cucumbers industry in the great State of Maine.

Now, we have some of the most hardworking people, Mr. Chair, in our State, and some of them--about 600 or so of them--along with the processing part brave the cold, dark waters of the great State of Maine and dive for sea urchins and cucumbers and harvest them on a regular basis year-round. It is a process that is dangerous, but these delicacies are sold all around the world, mostly in the Far East, and we need to make sure our government helps these individuals work this terrific fishery that has been doing so well in the past.

Now, I want to thank my colleague, Chellie Pingree, who represents the First District. I represent the Second District of Maine. She has been very helpful. We have worked together for quite some time on this issue in a bipartisan way to make sure, Mr. Chairman, that we don't have too many regulations that are unnecessary and expensive such that we can make sure this part of our fishery is healthy and goes forward.

So, again, I appreciate, Mr. Chairman, very much your giving me this opportunity to speak on behalf of my amendment.

Mr. Speaker, I would remind you that ``Maine is Vacationland.'' If you have not booked your Maine vacation, there is still plenty of time.

I would like to thank Chairman Roe, who is a Vietnam veteran himself and a doctor, in leading us down this path for better healthcare for our veterans.

Mr. Speaker, it was, I believe, our first Commander in Chief, George Washington, who said, and I paraphrase, that we can never expect young men and women in this country to step forward and fight for their country and give us the freedom that we all enjoy unless and until we take care of those who have already sacrificed on the battlefield. That is what this is about.

Mr. Speaker, in our State, we have about 125,000 veterans, and we love our veterans in the State of Maine. More than half of them are in the Second Congressional District that I represent, which is mostly central, down east, western, and northern Maine. Let me tell you, Mr. Speaker, we know how to shoot straight up in Maine, and we just need to make sure we take care of our veterans who live in rural areas.

One of the great concerns I have--and I know the chairman and others on the committee have the same concern--is that what about if you are a veteran that lives far away from a medical hospital, a veterans hospital. In the State of Maine, we have one veterans hospital. It is called Togus. It is the first VA hospital in the country--about 150 years old--and it was put together first to take care of those who have served on the battlefield in the Civil War.

In northern Maine, you might live in Fort Kent or Van Buren or Madawaska and be a 5-hour drive away from Togus. If you are not feeling well, it is February and the snow is blowing sideways, it might be really tough to get down to Togus. That is why this Choice Program is so important. It allows our veterans who live far away from medical facilities to get their treatment close to home. This is something that I am a huge advocate of, and it is something we need to keep doing.

Now, one more thing I want to mention if I may, Mr. Speaker, is that we all know that veterans heal better with other veterans. We are not in any way trying to replace the veterans' facilities. We have healthcare facilities in this country. But the Choice Program allows us to augment that care through the Choice Program where they are able to go to private facilities.

Now, this emergency funding is absolutely critical. It will extend this program for 6 months instead of letting it run out of money in 3 weeks. It also includes something that is highly important. I am so grateful to the chairman for including it. It includes the ability to authorize a lease in Portland, Maine, for a brand-new, state-of-the- art, if you will, VA facility, a CBOC facility, an outpatient facility, that will serve about 4,000 veterans in the State of Maine.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Congresswoman Chellie Pingree from the First District of the State of Maine. I represent the Second District.

I encourage everyone in this body, Republicans and Democrats, to please take care of our veterans. Please vote for S. 114 to renew the authorization in the emergency fund for the Choice Program.

Mr. Speaker, throughout America's 241-year history, millions of brave men and women have fought for our freedom, and we are grateful for their service.

Sometimes, Mr. Speaker, we find an American hero who worked behind the scenes to keep us free. Eugene Wing of Fairfield, Maine, in central Maine, is one of these heroes.

Gene was a gifted student who graduated from Bowdoin College in 1905 and then studied economics at Oxford University in England. He was then hired, Mr. Speaker, by The International Banking Corporation and sent to the Philippines, where he became an expert on the trade of natural resources in the Far East.

At the start, Mr. Speaker, of World War I and, later, World War II, the Army Intelligence Service asked Gene to help defeat the enemy and save the world. Mr. Wing took extraordinary risks to locate and help control the flow of coal, oil, gold, silver, and iron ore which were desperately needed by the enemy's war machine. His daring spirit and extraordinary knowledge of these raw materials gave America and our Allies the upper hand to win both World Wars. Mr. Wing's unusual skill made him a target of our enemies, and he was eventually captured and put to death.

Mr. Speaker, Eugene Wing from Fairfield, Maine, is a true American hero. Millions of people around the world who live in freedom today are the beneficiaries of his sacrifice, his bravery, and his patriotism. We are grateful for Mr. Wing, and we will never forget.

Mr. Speaker, sadly, rural Maine is ground zero for the opioid epidemic in America.

Every day, on average, Mr. Speaker, one fellow Mainer dies from an overdose. Sixty percent of our families are impacted one way or another from this scourge.

For years, Mr. Speaker, law enforcement officials in Maine have found electronic benefit transfer cards, or EBT cards, at drug busts. Every month, these EBT cards are replenished with food stamps and other welfare benefits intended to help disadvantaged families. But too often these valuable cards are used to buy drugs.

Mr. Speaker, this has got to stop. I have found a commonsense way to do that. My Food Stamp Integrity Act permanently disqualifies anyone convicted of drug trafficking from receiving food stamps. This will help make sure limited welfare benefits are saved to compassionately help moms and dads put food on the table for hungry kids.

Additionally, Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3151 will require able-bodied adults without dependents, between the ages of 18 and 50, work at least 20 hours per week, job train, or perform community service in order for taxpayers to help them out with food assistance.

Mr. Speaker, similar reforms in Maine have helped lift thousands out of poverty and into independence and better lives through employment. We have plenty of jobs available.

My bill will help save precious welfare dollars for the disabled, elderly, sick, and the poor. It will also help stop deadly drug trafficking and treat taxpayers better.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3151 is a Maine commonsense solution to a national problem. I ask everyone in this Chamber, Republicans and Democrats, to vote for it.

Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. Chair, I appreciate the leadership of the Armed Services Committee in the Seapower Subcommittee on both sides of the aisle to accept this amendment and its important modifications to the underlying bill provision limiting the availability of funds for prior fiscal year DDG-51 Arleigh Burke class destroyers.

My revised amendment, Mr. Chair, is agreed to by the committee and, importantly, removes the additional, or third, fiscal year 2016 DDG-51 ship from the provision's proposed requirements.

Additionally, sir, and again, as agreed to by the committee, it states the sense of Congress that the Navy should bear the majority of the share-line risk for the fiscal year 2017 DDG-51 Flight III destroyer contract, which will represent the first ships to integrate the Air and Missile Defense Radar, which is 30 times more effective and better than the legacy radar system.

Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. Chair, I thank Chairman Thornberry and Chairman Wittman for their support on my important amendment. Bath Iron Works is a critical national security asset to our country. It is a source of great pride for all Mainers, and the shipyard employs some 6,000 of our most talented, hardworking citizens who care greatly about their contributions every day to keeping America safe and keeping America strong.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to address the Floor on this important issue.

Gentlemen, it was our first Commander in Chief, George Washington, who said something to the effect that we can never expect our young men and women to step forward and fight for our country unless those who have already returned from the battlefield are taken care of.

This is a solemn oath that we all have to honor. It is critically important. I will tell you, Mr. Speaker, in the State of Maine, we have about 125,000 veterans, and we love our veterans. We understand what it is like to fight for our freedom and to stand up for our way of life.

In the State of Maine, we have Togus Medical Center, which is the first veterans hospital in the country, about 150 years old. We understand this. They have great employees, and many of them are veterans themselves.

However, a couple of years ago our country was shocked to learn that there were and are some bad actors in this whole process. A few years ago, we learned that some of the folks at the veterans facility in Phoenix, Arizona, were cooking the scheduling books in order to get paid more money through a bonus program when, in fact, they did not and had not scheduled mental health appointments for some of our veterans who were at risk, and, as a result, a number of those veterans died. This is absolutely unacceptable.

There is nobody who has fought for this country on the front lines who comes home, who needs help, that should be denied help; and it certainty shouldn't be those who are supposed to take care of them who are cooking the books for their own benefit.

Mr. Speaker, that is why I am asking every Republican and Democrat here in this Chamber to support the Senate's bill, 1094. This is a good bill that holds the VA employees accountable for improper behavior. And, yes, sir, it does give, Mr. Speaker, management at the VA the opportunity to replace, fire, or otherwise, those who are supposed to care for our veterans who have chosen not to do so. Please support S. 1094