Gus Bilirakis

Mr. BILIRAKIS

Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3634) to amend title 38, United States Code, to ensure that individuals may access documentation verifying the monthly housing stipend paid to the individual under the Post-9/11 Educational Assistance Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks, and include extraneous material on H.R. 3634.

Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the sponsor of the bill, Mr. Himes, first of all, for holding the roundtables and the town halls-- they mean so much--and identifying the problem. We are solving it here today, so I appreciate all of the support for this bill. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3634, the Securing Electronic Records for Veterans' Ease Act of 2017, or SERVE Act. Under the post-9/11 GI Bill, eligible servicemembers, veterans, and their dependents are provided a monthly allowance that is based on the cost of living where they are taking the majority of their classes at the E-5 with dependents rate. For many students, this living stipend payment can be their only source of income, and proving that they will receive this payment while in school is important for them to show income for the purposes of renting an apartment or home while they are in school. It makes sense. The SERVE Act would help address this problem and would require the Secretary to electronically provide documentation that verifies the amount of the monthly housing stipend an individual receives under the GI Bill. This would allow beneficiaries to use this documentation as proof of income when applying for housing. Mr. Speaker, this is a commonsense, bipartisan bill that will help student veterans secure housing and would eliminate roadblocks to a student veteran's academic success. I thank Mr. Jim Himes of Connecticut for introducing this particular bill. It has my support. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. BILIRAKIS

Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3705) to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to require the use of certified mail and plain language in certain debt collection activities, as amended.

Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3705, as amended, the Veterans Fair Debt Notice Act of 2017, introduced by Congresswoman Pingree from Maine. This bill would help ensure that beneficiaries who have received an overpayment from VA clearly understand why the Department believes the veteran owes the money. Under VA's current practice, when the Department determines that a beneficiary may have received an overpayment, it sends a letter to the beneficiary that explains why the debt was created and how the veteran can dispute or mitigate the debt. But if VA doesn't have the veteran's current address, the veteran may miss important deadlines. For example, if the beneficiary intends to request a full waiver of the debt but does not request that waiver within 30 days of the date of the letter, VA may take action to withhold benefits until the waiver request is adjudicated. Sound confusing? It certainly is. We can't have that for our veterans. Another issue is that some veterans find the language used in the letters to be unclear and confusing. I am sure that is true, too. It is only fair that the veteran understands why the Department believes he or she owes the money. It is the least we can do. H.R. 3705, as amended, would require VA to develop a new notification letter that explains in plain language how the alleged debt was created and what actions the veteran can take to dispute or mitigate the debt. In addition, the bill would direct VA to study and report to Congress on its current debt collection process, including how many veterans are not receiving debt collection notices because of incorrect addresses. The report would also describe the steps VA will take to reduce the number of incorrect addresses in the Department's databases. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, let's pass this good bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H.R. 3705, as amended.

Mr. BILIRAKIS

Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3949) to amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for the designation of State approving agencies for multi-State apprenticeship programs for purposes of the educational assistance programs of the Department of Veterans Affairs, as amended.

Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H.R. 3949, as amended.

Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3949, as amended, the Veterans Apprenticeship and Labor Opportunity Reform Act, or the VALOR Act. This bill, introduced by Mr. Khanna, Mr. Arrington, and Mr. O'Rourke, would help streamline the approval of national apprenticeship programs for the use of GI Bill funds, which is very important. Once a national apprenticeship is GI Bill approved, veterans are eligible for tiered payments that help them complete the program that leads to a successful career. This bill also helps eliminate an out-of-date requirement that created unnecessary paperwork for a veteran to complete before they could get paid for work completed during the apprenticeship. Mr. Speaker, this is another commonsense, bipartisan bill that will help employers become approved under the GI Bill and ensure the student veterans secure placement in apprenticeship programs that lead to employment. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Arrington.)

Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Khanna and all the sponsors, including Chairman Arrington, as well, for recognizing the problem and solving it. This is the way Congress should work. Mr. Speaker, I encourage support for this particular bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BILIRAKIS

Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4173) to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to conduct a study on the Veterans Crisis Line, as amended.

Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 4173, as amended, the Veterans Crisis Line Study Act of 2017, offered by my friend and committee member, Representative Jim Banks of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, the Veterans Crisis Line, or VCL, was established in 2007 as a partnership between the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and the National Suicide Prevention Hotline. According to the Government Accountability Office, as of May 2016, the Veterans Crisis Line has answered over 2.3 million calls, over 55,000 texts, and dispatched emergency services over 61,000 times. As these statistics show, the Veterans Crisis Line is an incredibly valuable resource for veterans. However, while the VA tracks and evaluates statistics such as these for quality and access metrics, it does not currently process them through any meaningful form of data analytics as it relates to the effectiveness of the program. So, Mr. Speaker, H.R. 4173, as amended, the Veterans Crisis Line Study Act of 2017, would direct the Secretary to evaluate the efficacy of the VCL with respect to continuity of VA mental health services using the same anonymous data points as are currently collected by the VCL. Research and data analysis of these anonymous data points would utilize the growing national availability of statistics regarding suicides to better evaluate the impact of the VCL and potentially highlight opportunities for outcome improvements. Mr. Speaker, I believe that evaluating the VCL effectively requires a focus on the full continuum of mental health services provided by VA once a veteran first contacts the VCL or establishes a need for mental health services. Again, it is important to note that, under this legislation, the privacy of the caller is to be honored, and the VCL is directed to continue collecting data points in exactly the same manner as they currently are. Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to support this great bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Banks), who is the main sponsor of this particular bill, a great bill that has saved lives. I also appreciate Representative Walz for sponsoring the bill. I remember when he did it. We came in together.

Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Coffman).

Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Young).

Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, first of all, I support this great bill. And see how we are doing this? This was set up, the crisis line was set up a few years ago. We are improving upon that, and hopefully we are going to save lives. Again, I appreciate--I am really proud to serve on this committee. I have served on the committee. We have served on it together. We came in together, and we made our veterans, our true heroes, a priority. I appreciate you, sir. You take the politics out of it. Chairman Roe takes the politics out of it. I like to think I do, too, and all the members of the committee do, and we put our veterans first. This is a moral committee, as you said. It is a moral committee. I hope the children are watching this right now because, you know, there is a lot of gridlock in Washington, but we work together. They are not high-profile bills, but they are very important bills to our heroes. So, again, I am very proud to manage these bills today. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 4173, as amended.

Mr. BILIRAKIS

Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I am so proud to serve on this great committee under the chairman's leadership. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this important bill, which incorporates my bill, the Community CARE Act, which reauthorizes funding for community health centers for the next 2 years. Community health centers have a proven track record of providing high-quality, cost-efficient healthcare to approximately 25 million Americans, including 7 million children, and 300,000 veterans each year. There are over 100 million coordinated and integrated patient visits through the 1,400 community health centers across the country. This bill will reauthorize CHIP for the next 5 years. This program is vital for the roughly 360,000 children on CHIP in Florida alone. Additionally, this bill provides clarity for CHIP buy-in programs, such as the one we have in Florida. This sets the rules of the road and will ensure that 12,000 children in Florida's CHIP buy-in program will continue to have access to CHIP. Mr. Speaker, let's get this done now for our children. I urge passage of this important piece of legislation.

Mr. BILIRAKIS

Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I thank and appreciate my friend from Kentucky. He does a great job on the Energy and Commerce Committee and as vice chairman on the Health Subcommittee. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Protecting Seniors' Access to Medicare Act. I am a proud cosponsor of this bill, and I am glad we are passing this much-needed bill. The Affordable Care Act created the Independent Payment Advisory Board. This board of unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats was charged with the single goal of cutting Medicare payments to physicians and hospitals. We can't let that happen. This poorly conceived scheme could force physicians to exit the Medicare Program or limit their Medicare patients. We can't let that happen. This would create an access-to-care problem for the 170,000 Medicare beneficiaries in my district. When I am back in the district talking to seniors, senior advocates, local physicians, hospitals, practically everyone has raised concerns with this board. This is a commonsense repeal bill. They say that it hasn't been implemented yet, it hasn't been set up yet. Okay. Well, let's get rid of it. Most people don't want it. Mr. Speaker, again, we need to pass this particular bill. We need to abolish this bad idea.