Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank Chairman Jeff Miller for his continued leadership as we work to provide our veterans with the care and benefits that they have earned.

Keeping the promises that we have made to our veterans and their families is of utmost importance to me and all Americans. This piece of legislation is a major step in the process of restoring veteran trust in the VA.

This bill will expand access to non-VA care, making wait times shorter and increase convenience. Although this will ensure veterans who are currently on a waiting list will get the timely care they deserve, much more needs to be done.

I am especially pleased that an independent congressional committee on care will be formed to look at the VA from the ground up. For lasting change to take place, the corrupt culture shown by some in the VA must be purged. It must be replaced with an ethos that puts the veteran first.

By authorizing the Secretary of the VA to fire senior employees that are guilty of poor performance or misconduct, this bill ensures that newly confirmed Secretary McDonald will have more tools to hold individuals accountable for their actions. However, granting this authority will mean nothing if it isn't combined with the leadership required to always do the right things for our veterans. Through his words and actions, Secretary McDonald must make it clear from day one that individuals will be held accountable, whistleblowers will be protected, and anyone responsible for poor performance, negligence, or preventable deaths, even, will be held accountable.

It has been an honor to serve with the chairman during this conference committee.

I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting the VA conference report.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the University of Colorado Colorado Springs on the occasion of its upcoming 50th Anniversary.

UCCS is one of the fastest growing universities in the United States, and is the designated growth campus for the University of Colorado with over 11,000 students. It is also one of the largest employers in southern Colorado with an economic impact of over $300 million annually to the state and local economies.

Since 1965, UCCS has brought the world-class standards of the University of Colorado System to southern Colorado and continues to educate and inspire not only the students, faculty, and staff of the university, but also the community-at-large. On behalf of the Colorado Fifth Congressional District, I wish UCCS a very happy 50th Anniversary and look forward to the next 50 years of growth and prosperity.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize General William L. Shelton on the occasion of his retirement from the U.S. Air Force.

Over the course of his career, General Shelton has served with great distinction and made countless sacrifices for our country. We commend his service and the sacrifices of his wife, Linda, and their two children, Sara and Joel, in support of his service.

General Shelton has been a vigilant advocate for national security space programs. As the commander of Air Force Space Command, he was responsible for more than 40,000 military and civilian personnel who assure space and cyberspace protection for our Nation. He established an unmatched level of success during a time of increasing challenges. His frank and informed discussions on space systems have helped leaders and citizens around the world appreciate the value of our Nation's space capabilities.

General Shelton deserves our most heartfelt gratitude and praise. Thank you, General Shelton, and best wishes to you and your family.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that when the House adjourns today, it adjourn to meet at 10 a.m. tomorrow.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this motion to instruct and yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, the motion to instruct would require the House to recede to the Senate amendments to H.R. 3230. As Chairman Miller has stated during debate on nearly identical motions to instruct last week and again last night, the foremost goals of the House and Senate conference committee are, one, to improve timely access to high-quality health care for veterans who have been waiting for weeks, months, or even years; and, two, to improve the accountability and overall operations of the Department of Veterans Affairs health care system. This was the central charge to the conferees at the beginning of the conference and remains so today. I have no doubt that my colleague from California, Congresswoman Brownley, the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Health, shares these goals. However, this motion does not further our pursuit of them.

Tonight, our attention is best spent devoted to finding a true compromise--one that best serves our Nation's veterans and taxpayers and lays the foundation for correcting the departmental deficiencies that have brought us here--and not tying the conference committee's hands with an unnecessary, unhelpful, unbinding, and time-consuming motion to instruct.

As the gentlewoman knows, because she was in the Veterans' Affairs Committee hearing with the acting VA Secretary, this morning, Chairman Miller offered a proposal that would largely agree with nearly everything in the Senate bill, with a few minor exceptions.

Chairman Miller's proposal would accept title I through title VII of the original Senate bill, with amended language to include all 27 leases authorized by the House last December in H.R. 3521 rather than the 26 that the Senate approved; provide VA with $102 million for fiscal year 2014 to address the Department's internal funding shortfalls; provide $10 billion of no-year, mandatory, emergency funding to cover the cost of the Senate's choice provisions, with the remaining Senate provisions subject to appropriations.

Mr. Speaker, I am supportive of Chairman Miller's proposal because it is a fair, commonsense approach that ensures Congress is able to continue its oversight to ensure that taxpayers' funds are spent wisely.

As we all know, recently, Senator Sanders, chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee and cochair of the conference committee, has indicated his desire to expand the scope of the conference to include VA's recent request for an additional $17.6 billion. We call that an airdrop. Unfortunately, there is virtually no parachute in the form of detailed justification for this request, and to a great extent, Congress' acceptance of unsubstantiated funding requests in the past have helped get us to where we are today.

This summer, the House Veterans' Affairs Committee has held multiple full committee oversight hearings to discuss the access and accountability failures VA has been subjecting our veterans to. These hearings have confirmed that the problems VA is facing today require long-term and large-scale reform. Adding more money, more people, and more infrastructure to a system that has not proven itself able to make effective use of its existing resources that it has been provided without first implementing underlying reforms does not serve our veterans well and will not prevent them from continuing to face unacceptably long patient waiting times.

It has been proven time and time again by the VA inspector general, the Government Accountability Office, the administration, and others that VA has been suffering from widespread data manipulation and a systemic lack of integrity.

Given that, what confidence do we have that the $17.6 billion resource request that VA is now making is based on data that is valid or reliable, particularly given that the committee has received very little analysis, justification, or verification of these numbers?

Before Congress can contemplate devoting such a significant amount of taxpayer money, it is imperative that VA provide a full accounting of each additional dollar that is being requested. The resource request the Department has put forward so far is not the well thought-out and thoroughly justifiable position that our Nation's veterans and our taxpayers deserve. Rather, it is an unsubstantiated guess put together in the back room of a massive bureaucracy.

Mr. Speaker, I truly believe we could have already come to an agreement if Senator Sanders would not have insisted on moving the goalposts so dramatically. The House has passed almost a dozen bills reforming the VA that have waited months for Senate consideration. The Senate could pass those bills and send them to the President to become law today.

I would remind Ms. Brownley that one such bill, H.R. 2527, would extend VA's military sexual trauma counseling, along with care and treatment programs, for veterans for sexual trauma that occurred during Active Duty or Active Duty for training to veterans who experienced such trauma during inactive duty training.

Mr. Speaker, we are continually trying to work out a deal with the Senate, but I would submit to this body these motions to instruct are unproductive, are slowing down the conference process, and have become nothing more than a political ploy to distract from the true issues facing our veterans and the conference committee.

So with that, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the motion to instruct.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

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

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

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

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

Mr. Speaker, at this time, there are no plans to have any additional speakers.

Mr. Speaker, I once again urge all Members to oppose the motion to instruct, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today deeply disturbed by the failed foreign policy of President Obama's--a policy of collapses, defeats, failures, and fiascoes. With every day of Obama's Presidency, the safety of Americans abroad deteriorates.

Desperate for anything that may seem like a foreign policy success, President Obama and Secretary Kerry are steaming full speed ahead toward another foreign policy calamity with Iran. Sunday is the deadline for nuclear negotiations with Iran. Let me remind you who we are dealing with. The rockets falling into Israel today were largely supplied by Iran. Hezbollah, Iran's proxy in Lebanon, is supporting Assad, Syria's genocidal dictator, and thousands of Iranian-supplied bombs have killed and maimed Americans in Iraq.

Mr. President, as you, yourself, have said, a bad deal is worse than no deal at all. A deal that allows Iran to continue enriching uranium and pursuing a military nuclear program while supporting terrorism around the world is a bad deal, and we in Congress will oppose it.

Mr. Speaker, the crisis we are currently witnessing at our southern border is the direct result of the Obama administration's selective enforcement of our Nation's immigration laws. Through its repeated inaction and disregard for border security,

this administration has created a magnet for illegal immigration.

This is endangering the lives of children and is adding additional strains to our already overtaxed taxpayers, and now, the President says he needs $3.7 billion from Congress to address the problem that his disregard for our laws has created. Virtually none of this money addresses the real problem of securing our border.

We need to deploy the National Guard to the border. The National Guard is well equipped to handle this humanitarian crisis. It would provide critical relief to our Border Patrol, allowing them to better concentrate on protecting our border.

My amendment to the NDAA of transferring $5 million to the Army National Guard would do exactly that.

I thank the chairman for his great leadership on energy in the Natural Resources Committee.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of H.R. 4899, the Lowering Gasoline Prices to Fuel an America That Works Act of 2014.

The offshore and onshore provisions in this bill will create American jobs, contribute to economic growth, and increase revenue to both State and Federal Governments. This legislation takes steps to move our country forward on a path towards energy independence.

This legislation will streamline the onshore permitting process and ensure that energy projects can be permitted in a timely fashion. It will instill regulatory certainty into the leasing process by ensuring that BLM, the Bureau of Land Management, leases a minimum number of acres annually, and it will allow energy developers to move forward with energy production.

It also requires the Secretary to develop a 4-year plan for energy development, opens up the national petroleum reserve in Alaska for production, and modernizes the leasing process by allowing BLM to conduct lease sales through the Internet.

The Obama administration has made energy production on Federal lands so burdensome that companies are avoiding Federal land in favor of State and private lands. Both oil and gas production on Federal land are down under Barack Obama, by 6 percent and 28 percent respectively. In a State like my home State of Colorado, with a significant amount of Federal land, this is a problem because less energy production means less jobs and less growth.

This bill injects much-needed certainty into nearly every step of the energy production process. It will ensure timely permit approvals, ensure that BLM field offices have the funds they need to process permits, prohibits the Secretary from changing lease terms, and ensure that our Nation has a plan for an energy future.

I urge all my colleagues to support this critical legislation.

Mr. Chairman, I want to thank my colleague from Colorado for bringing this bill to the floor. It is so important that we exploit American domestic resources to create jobs, create global stability, and make lower prices for consumers. This bill does all those things.

So we have a lot to thank you for, Congressman Gardner, for what this bill could accomplish, and I appreciate that.

Let me address a couple of points that I think have been erroneously made. Some said that current users of natural gas won't benefit as much if this bill were to become law. That is simply not true.

There is such an abundance of natural gas in this country that we can supply domestic needs and, at the same time, have liquefied natural gas exports to our friends and allies. We can do both, and everyone will benefit. The shale gas revolution in this country is so amazing that that has made this possible.

Secondly, some have said that there will not be the same quality of environmental reviews of LNG if this takes place, and that is simply not true either. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission maintains its role to permit the siting of facilities, just as under current law, and FERC, as they are known, is required by the National Environmental Policy Act, NEPA, to conduct an environmental assessment and, if necessary, an EIS, an Environmental Impact Statement, if that is required. That does not change either. The same requirements under NEPA will still be met under this law, should it become law. So we are not in any way degrading or compromising environmental standards. They are still going to be satisfied.

So, for all those reasons, I want to thank the sponsor of this bill, Representative Gardner, and I ask all of my colleagues to support it.

Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. Chairman, there is an important program to help our Special Forces troops and families. It is called the Preservation of the Force and Family program.

Admiral McRaven, who is the commander of Special Operations Command, has told the Armed Services Committee that this is his highest priority. It combines several kinds of help and assistance to wounded warriors and to their families in a holistic way. For those who are in it and have benefited from it, it has been a tremendous, tremendous program.

What I am proposing in this amendment is to take $5 million from the Special Operation Command's budget request for flying hours, which in my understanding was increased by the Appropriations Committee, which is normally an excellent thing to fund, but they even gave, in my understanding, Mr. Chairman, above and beyond what the command had asked for.

So based on that, I am asking for a transfer back of $5 million from the flying hours budget to the Preservation of the Force and Family Program.

This aligns with what the Armed Services Committee had put in the NDAA after their deliberations in committee. I would ask that the House adopt this amendment.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I would agree with the assertion that every single fighting man and woman is special. The Special Operations Forces do have some tremendous stresses that they can undergo, especially in the kind of combat missions that they perform.

I believe that this is a program that has been successful in preventing suicide, so for that reason, I think it is timely. It is appropriate.

There are different programs to treat our wounded warriors who have PTSD, and every program does not work for every soldier, sailor, airman, or marine; but for those who do get the treatment they need, it is literally a lifesaver.

For that reason, I think it is a priority to address the aftereffects of PTSD, and this would be a very good program. I do appreciate the Appropriations Committee work that they do and the tough choices that they are constantly making, and I respect that, but I think this is a good choice, so I offer the amendment.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I am offering the second Lamborn amendment, 052.

Mr. Chairman, when you look at press accounts on what is happening at our southwest border, we are being overwhelmed. This amendment would take $5 million and give it to the Army National Guard out of the Department of Defense's administration operations account so that the National Guard is better able to get people and station them at our southwest border. They do not have dedicated funding or the additional funding they need for this border protection mission, yet they are involved in trying to establish order at the border.

The primary role of the Federal Government is to provide for our national security, and securing our borders is part of that national security mission. Mr. Chairman, I believe that this $5 million would be better spent on securing our border than adding more people to the Secretary of Defense's staff.

I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey.

Reclaiming my time, I appreciate the chairman's hard work and for his support of this amendment.

With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3375) to designate the community-based outpatient clinic of the Department of Veterans Affairs to be constructed at 3141 Centennial Boulevard, Colorado Springs, Colorado, as the ``PFC Floyd K. Lindstrom Department of Veterans Affairs Clinic''.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3375, which would name the Department of Veterans Affairs community-based outpatient clinic at 3141 Centennial Boulevard in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the PFC Floyd K. Lindstrom Department of Veterans Affairs Clinic.

We are here today to honor the life and sacrifice of Private First Class Floyd K. Lindstrom by naming a new VA community-based outpatient clinic in southern Colorado after him.

PFC Lindstrom was raised by his mother in Colorado Springs, which is part of the Fifth Congressional District that I am honored to represent. There, he spent much of his youth working summers on the Stratton farm and playing basketball. As a young man, he delivered fruit and produce between California and Colorado, while helping to support his mother and sister.

Just after his 30th birthday, PFC Lindstrom answered the Nation's call to serve by enlisting in the United States Army on June 22, 1942. He was trained as a machine gunner; assigned to 2nd Platoon, H Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Infantry Division; and arrived in North Africa in the early months of 1943. That is when my father was also in North Africa.

On July 12, 1943, PFC Lindstrom's convoy was in Sicily and came under attack from enemy aircraft when he saw an out-of-control truck heading for a friendly dismounted soldier. Noticing that the soldier was unaware of the threat, Lindstrom abandoned the safety of his protective cover and redirected the truck, saving his fellow soldier's life. For these actions, Lindstrom was awarded the Silver Star.

This wasn't the only time he displayed extraordinary heroism and selfless sacrifice.

On November 11, 1943, PFC Lindstrom's unit was providing machine gun support for a rifle company attacking a hill near Mignano, Italy. When a German counterattack forced friendly forces to retreat to a defensive position, Lindstrom demonstrated complete fearlessness in the face of almost certain death by singlehandedly assaulting and knocking out an enemy machine gun position. That display of aggressive spirit and conspicuous gallantry was credited with breaking up the counterattack, and Lindstrom was subsequently nominated for the Medal of Honor.

I would like to read the last sentence from the citation for PFC Lindstrom when he received his Medal of Honor:

His spectacular performance completely broke up the German

counterattack. PFC Lindstrom demonstrated aggressive spirit

and complete fearlessness in the face of almost certain

death.

Mr. Speaker, at this time, I will introduce into the Record the citation for his Medal of Honor.

Medal of Honor citation

Private First Class Lindstrom's official Medal of Honor

citation reads:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of life

above and beyond the call of duty. On 11 November 1943, this

soldier's platoon was furnishing machinegun support for a

rifle company attacking a hill near Mignano, Italy, when the

enemy counterattacked, forcing the riflemen and half the

machinegun platoon to retire to a defensive position. Pfc.

Lindstrom saw that his small section was alone and

outnumbered 5 to 1, yet he immediately deployed the few

remaining men into position and opened fire with his single

gun. The enemy centered fire on him with machinegun, machine

pistols, and grenades. Unable to knock out the enemy nest

from his original position, Pfc. Lindstrom picked up his own

heavy machinegun and staggered 15 yards up the barren, rocky

hillside to a new position, completely ignoring enemy small

arms fire which was striking all around him. From this new

site, only 10 yards from the enemy machinegun, he engaged it

in an intense duel. Realizing that he could not hit the

hostile gunners because they were behind a large rock, he

charged uphill under a steady stream of fire, killed both

gunners with his pistol and dragged their gun down to his own

men, directing them to employ it against the enemy.

Disregarding heavy rifle fire, he returned to the enemy

machinegun nest for 2 boxes of ammunition, came back and

resumed withering fire from his own gun. His spectacular

performance completely broke up the German counterattack.

Pfc. Lindstrom demonstrated aggressive spirit and complete

fearlessness in the face of almost certain death.

Following that event, PFC Lindstrom was given the option of staying with his fellow soldiers or taking a significantly safer assignment as a guard far removed from enemy lines. Consistent with his previous actions, Lindstrom refused to put his own safety ahead of his fellow soldiers and chose to remain with his unit. Less than 3 months later, he was killed during a German counterattack at Anzio, Italy. On April 20, 1944, PFC Lindstrom was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his courageous actions near Mignano.

He is now interred in Evergreen Cemetery in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

The new VA community-based outpatient clinic in Colorado Springs is set to open in the next few months and was only made possible through many years of hard work by the veterans of southern Colorado and the support of my colleagues here in Congress. The new facility will double the size of existing clinics while providing health care that is more comprehensive and convenient to the veterans of southern Colorado. It is only fitting for the new clinic to be named after one of Colorado Springs'--and the Nation's--greatest heroes.

I can think of no one more deserving of this honor than Private 1st Class Floyd K. Lindstrom. It is my pleasure to offer H.R. 3375, and I am grateful for the leadership and support of the VA Committee Chairman Jeff Miller, Ranking Member Michaud, and the entire Colorado delegation.

I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring this great hero by supporting this bill. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague, the gentleman from South Carolina, for his words and his support on this bill. This has special meaning to me because my father fought, also, in North Africa, Sicily, and Italy, and he recently passed away as one of the members of the Greatest Generation. Floyd Lindstrom, though, never came back. I believe he was engaged. He had a fiancee or a girlfriend, but he never came back.

So it is only fitting that we honor the veterans who have served in the past on a building that is going to be serving the needs of our veterans in the

present. And I believe this will also inspire generations in the future as they know the story of Floyd Lindstrom.

With that, I reserve the balance of my time.

I ask my colleagues to also support H.R. 3375, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4199) to name the Department of Veterans Affairs medical center in Waco, Texas, as the ``Doris Miller Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center''.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4199, which is sponsored by my good friend and colleague and fellow committee member, Representative Bill Flores of Texas, who serves as the chairman of the Economic Opportunity Subcommittee.

H.R. 4199 would name the VA medical center in Waco, Texas, the Doris Miller Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Petty Officer Doris--or ``Dorie''--Miller served in the U.S. Navy from 1939 to 1943.

During the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Dorie's heroic actions in the heat of battle helped to save the lives of many of his fellow servicemembers. For his actions, he received the Purple Heart Medal, the American Defense Service Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, and the Navy Cross, making him the first African American in our Nation's history to receive that honor. It is only appropriate that the VA Medical Center in Waco, Texas, bear Dorie's name.

I am grateful to Representative Flores for sponsoring this legislation and urge all of my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 4199. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from Texas, Representative Bill Flores, the sponsor of the bill.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from South Carolina for his words and for his constructive and inspiring thoughts. I thank the sponsor for bringing this excellent piece of legislation forward. I encourage all Members to support H.R. 4199.

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

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1216) to designate the Department of Veterans Affairs Vet Center in Prescott, Arizona, as the ``Dr. Cameron McKinley Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Center''.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1216, sponsored by my good friend and colleague, Representative Paul Gosar of Arizona. This bill would name the Vet Center in Prescott, Arizona, as the Dr. Cameron McKinley Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Center.

Dr. Cameron McKinley joined the United States Marine Corps Reserve after World War II. Following his time in uniform, Dr. McKinley pursued a career in service to his fellow veterans, eventually becoming chief psychologist at the VA Medical Center in Prescott, Arizona. Given his lifelong service to the mental well-being of his fellow veterans, it is only appropriate that the Vet Center in Prescott, Arizona, bear his name.

I am grateful to Representative Gosar for sponsoring this legislation and urge all of my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 1216.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I thank my colleague from Massachusetts for his gracious words.

I would now yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Gosar), the sponsor of the legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Arizona for this excellent piece of legislation and his work on behalf of veterans in his district.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to support H.R. 1216, and with that, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3682) to designate the community-based outpatient clinic of the Department of Veterans Affairs located at 1961 Premier Drive in Mankato, Minnesota, as the ``Lyle C. Pearson Community-Based Outpatient Clinic''.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3682, which is sponsored by my good friend and colleague and fellow committee member on the Veterans' Affairs Committee, Representative Tim Walz, from Minnesota.

H.R. 3682 would name the VA Community-Based Outpatient Clinic in Mankato, Minnesota, the Lyle C. Pearson Community-Based Outpatient Clinic.

Lyle Pearson was a World War II prisoner of war who received the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with Clusters, and the Purple Heart for his service.

He was also a lifelong public servant, serving as the Disabled American Veterans National Commander from 1975 to 1976.

Recognizing Lyle's service and his sacrifice by naming the CBOC in Mankato after him is a fitting and appropriate honor.

I am grateful to Representative Walz for sponsoring this legislation and urge all of my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 3682.

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

Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to work with my colleague, Representative Walz, on this fine piece of legislation honoring someone very deserving of this honor and the naming of this clinic.

So with that, Mr. Speaker, I urge all of our Members and colleagues to support H.R. 3682, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the chairman's H.R. 4810, the Veteran Access to Care Act.

Recent reports from within the VA have confirmed that the manipulation of scheduling data and unacceptable wait times first highlighted in Phoenix are systemic throughout the VA system. Unfortunately, we have seen some of this in Colorado--at Colorado Springs, in particular. I am really upset about that.

These findings prompted me to author a letter last week that was signed by 35 of my colleagues urging Acting Secretary of the VA Gibson to expand the use of fee-based care in order to clear the current backlog and address any capacity shortfalls.

H.R. 4810 takes the next steps in addressing these shortfalls by mandating that the VA expand access to fee-based care and defines the parameters under which this care will be administered.

``Fee-based'' means that the veteran can get private health care providers to step in and take care of his health care needs when the VA doesn't have the capacity at that time to take care of him or her.

In order to ensure this timely delivery of quality care, H.R. 4810 also requires the VA to have an independent assessment conducted on the Veterans Health Administration to evaluate the Department's performance and to provide recommendations for improvement. Also, I would like to mention, bonuses will not be available to VA bureaucrats until 2016 under this bill, until this problem gets solved.

Mr. Speaker, I fully support H.R. 4810. I appreciate the chairman's leadership on this issue, and I ask my colleagues to support this important piece of legislation as well.