Mike Coffman

Mr. COFFMAN

Mr. COFFMAN. Mr. Chairman, this amendment seeks to take $15.7 million out of the Air Force research, development, test and evaluation account, equal to the amount the Air Force has budgeted for sixth- generation fighter development, and places those funds into the spending reduction account for debt relief. Mr. Chairman, this amendment is not about capabilities; it is quite simply about priorities. I could understand the need for sixth- generation fighter development funding had the administration not attempted to scrap our military's only dedicated close air support platform, the A-10, citing budgetary concerns. I could understand the need for sixth-generation fighter development funding had the administration not attempted to scrap the U-2, an aging but capable aircraft that continues to provide the warfighter with actionable intelligence in some of the world's most dangerous areas, citing budgetary concerns. I could understand the need for sixth-generation fighter development funding had the administration not capped America's premier air dominance fighter, the fifth-generation F-22 Raptor, at 187 aircraft, citing, once again, budgetary concerns. And I could understand the need for sixth-generation fighter development funding if the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a fifth- generation program I do support, was not admittedly over budget and behind schedule. Mr. Chairman, our Nation is over $17 trillion in debt and is running a budget deficit of over half a billion dollars. As a result, it has become almost a cliche to quote Admiral Mullen's warning of our national debt as America's greatest threat. That is why I cannot support millions of dollars in funding for the Department of Defense to begin developing the follow-on to the F-35 when the F-35 itself is years away from being operational. Mr. Chairman, I urge my fellow Members to support this commonsense amendment. By supporting my amendment you will be sending a message to the Department of Defense to get its current programs under control and its fiscal house in order before asking the American taxpayer to foot the bill for any future programs. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. COFFMAN

Mr. COFFMAN. Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08. Today, it is $17,536,123,426,853.10. We've added $6,909,246,377,940.02 to our debt in 5 years. This is over $6.9 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. COFFMAN

Mr. COFFMAN. Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08. Today, it is $17,555,165,805,212.20. We've added $6,928,288,756,299.20 to our debt in 5 years. This is over $6.9 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. COFFMAN

Mr. COFFMAN. Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08. Today, it is $17,490,047,622,577.60. We've added $6,863,170,573,664.60 to our debt in 5 years. This is over $6.8 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. COFFMAN

Mr. COFFMAN. Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08. Today, it is $17,494,957,564,945.40. We've added $6,868,080,516,032.40 to our debt in 5 years. This is over $6.8 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. COFFMAN

Mr. COFFMAN. Mr. Speaker, as a gulf war and Iraq war veteran, I am grateful for the leadership of the gentleman from Florida, Chairman Miller, on the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs and for his support of H.R. 4261. H.R. 4261, the Gulf War Health Research Reform Act of 2014, which I sponsored along with Ranking Member Kirkpatrick and full committee Ranking Member Michaud, restores the independence of the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses to perform the role it has historically played, as intended by Congress, to improve the lives of ill gulf war veterans. This bill is necessary because some career VA staff have been trying to revive the discredited 1990s fiction that nothing special happened to gulf war veterans' health and that the problems experienced by gulf war veterans are just ``what happens after every war'' due to psychological stress factors. Because there is no scientific evidence for this position, VA staffers have resorted to manipulating research studies and reports to try and revive this discredited theory. A major new VA gulf war veteran survey, for example, included the questions necessary to identify PTSD but not Gulf War illness. Most shockingly, VA has even manipulated new research of the Institute of Medicine by limiting the terms of its contracts. VA transformed the Institute of Medicine gulf war treatments study ordered by Congress into a report based largely on psychotherapies. The Research Advisory Committee objected strongly to these actions, which threatened to mislead treatment research just as science is finally turning the corner. VA retaliated by eliminating the independence of the committee, changing its charter to remove its authority to review the effectiveness of government research programs, and replacing the members serving on the committee. The effect of these changes can already be seen. The section of the new 2014 Research Advisory Committee report that detailed VA's manipulations of research had to be removed because the committee's authority to review the effectiveness of VA's research programs had been eliminated. The independent voice, so critical to honest research, will be all but replaced by September with those who seem to bend to VA's will. H.R. 4261 will restore the authority of the committee and provide that its membership, instead of being appointed entirely by VA, will consist of nine members appointed by the chairs and ranking members of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, and three members chosen by VA. This arrangement follows the longstanding model of the bipartisan Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance at the Department of Education. Current law provides that the Research Advisory Committee membership may include veterans, representatives of veterans, and the general public. While there are those who seek to limit veteran members to ill veterans, excluding most veterans service organization representatives and others, the Research Advisory Committee has been well-served by having both ill and other veterans serve on the committee. It is important to remember that the unwillingness of the VA to honestly address this illness is the reason Congress created the Research Advisory Committee in the first place. The 1997 congressional report that led to that legislation was entitled, ``Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses: VA, DOD Continue to Resist Strong Evidence Linking Toxic Causes to Chronic Health Effects.'' Science has made great progress since then, thanks in no small measure to the work of the Research Advisory Committee, as well as to the effective Gulf War Illness Research Program that Congress created at the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs. But this progress is all at risk if VA is able to again mislead science down blind alleys, directing scarce research dollars at the wrong target, as so often happened in the 1990s and 2000s.

Mr. COFFMAN. I thank the chairman. It is also important to ask why the VA has pursued this course. Last month, we learned the answer. On April 22, 2014, Military Times reported that the VA Under Secretary for Benefits, Allison Hickey, objected even to using the term ``Gulf War illness'' because it ``might imply a casual link between service in the gulf and poor health which could necessitate . . . disability compensation for veterans who served in the gulf.'' Even if this policy was morally justifiable and saving money was the only goal, it is wrong. It will cost the Federal Government far less in the long run to face this problem honestly and pursue effective treatments, rather than to deny benefits and provide misleading research. We have strong support for this legislation from the Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Veterans, or AMVETS, and the Vietnam Veterans of America. I urge my colleagues to support this bill. Without an independent Research Advisory Committee, the slow but steady progress toward identifying treatments for Gulf War illness will most surely end.

Mr. COFFMAN

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

Mr. COFFMAN. Madam Chairman, I rise to offer an amendment to the Justice appropriation that would plus-up the account for salaries and expenses by $1 million for the United States Attorneys' Office and make an offsetting decrease in the amount appropriated for general administration. The first reason I offer this amendment is to acknowledge that, over the past couple of years, the United States Attorneys' Office has devoted substantial resources in the successful prosecution of numerous individuals for the fraudulent use of the service-disabled, veteran- owned small business preference program. My subcommittee worked diligently to bring attention to this type of fraud to the VA Office of the Inspector General and to get its commitment to pursue these cases. A recent case involved a joint VA OIG-FBI investigation of a sham company set up as a passthrough to secure almost $13.5 million in set- aside contracts that rightfully should have gone to a business owned by a qualified service-disabled veteran. Victimizing veterans must not be tolerated. As chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, I want to see these investigations and prosecutions continue. Second, I anticipate a serious need for investigative and prosecutorial resources, going forward, nationwide, as a result of the burgeoning scandal involving the manipulation of appointment scheduling records at VA medical facilities. My subcommittee has been investigating problems with appointment scheduling, consult delays, and timely health care for over 3 years. Lists with true wait times are being kept off the official books. According to these sources, as many as 40 veterans may have died while waiting for an appointment at the Phoenix medical center. Upon this discovery, the full committee chairman, Jeff Miller, immediately called for an in-depth criminal investigation by the VA OIG at all medical centers where such schedule manipulation, appointment delays, and preventable deaths may be occurring. The VA has had knowledge of the intentional manipulation of appointment schedules and the falsification of official records since at least 2010, when an internal memorandum warned of the use of as many as 17 different scheduling schemes. Such manipulation occurs because scheduling delays negatively affect a performance metric used for bonuses at the VA. In an interim report issued today, the VA OIG confirmed that the manipulation of appointment schedules persist, and they substantiated that significant delays in access to care have negatively impacted the quality of care at the Phoenix medical center. Further, they indicated that they opened investigations at 42 other VA medical facilities across the Nation. We do not yet know the full extent of the scandal, including how many veterans have died while waiting for an appointment with the VA. As with every scandal, I am very concerned that additional crimes may be committed during the coverup. I have instructed my investigators to continue to pursue leads in furtherance of the committee's congressional oversight duties. In this role, we have received credible allegations from numerous employees that multiple VA supervisors are instructing them to destroy evidence and are dictating what to say to OIG investigators. These allegations are being referred to the OIG for criminal investigations. Given the scope of the problems and the seriousness of the allegations, I strongly urge passage of this amendment to provide additional money to the U.S. Attorneys' Offices who will be tasked with the difficult job of pursuing investigations and prosecuting the crimes related to this national scandal unfolding at the VA. When our servicemembers are deprived of the quality health care that they have earned, we must demand justice from those who are found responsible. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. COFFMAN

Mr. COFFMAN. Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08. Today, it is $17,490,453,119,908.90. We've added $6,863,576,070,995.90 to our debt in 5 years. This is over $6.8 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. COFFMAN

Mr. COFFMAN. Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08. Today, it is $17,485,062,209,497.43. We've added $6,858,185,160,583.35 to our debt in 5 years. This is over $6.9 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. COFFMAN

Mr. COFFMAN. Mr. Chairman, thank you for your service to our Nation as the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. As a veteran, I deeply appreciate all you have done and will do until the end of your term. Madam Chairman, I rise in support of this en bloc amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act because it contains an amendment I offered which provides servicemembers diagnosed with a mental health condition who have been discharged access to a physician with special mental health training to provide an additional level of expert review on appeal. According to the Congressional Research Service, from 2001 to 2011, well over 900,000 servicemembers were diagnosed with at least one mental health condition. While the majority of those diagnosed were able to continue serving, many were ultimately discharged from the military either directly for their mental health issues or for conduct linked to those diagnoses. Current law insufficiently equips servicemembers diagnosed with a mental health disorder during appeal of a discharge. My amendment corrects this injustice and ensures fairness for those suffering from mental health issues as a result of their service to our Nation. I urge my colleagues to support this en bloc amendment.

Mr. COFFMAN

Mr. COFFMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 4031 because I believe that systemic failures of the VA exist far beyond the issue of appointment wait times. My subcommittee on VA Oversight and Investigations continues to uncover countless failures of leadership at the VA. This lack of leadership is the driving force behind the unacceptable delays and cost overruns in major VA construction projects, the tremendous backlog of veterans' disability claims, and the horrendous patient care practices that have resulted in preventable patient deaths. The individuals with responsibility and authority in the VA are unable to lead and, as a result, our veterans have suffered. It is time to usher in a new era of accountability at the VA, and I urge my colleagues to support the Department of Veterans Affairs Management Accountability Act of 2014.

Mr. COFFMAN

Mr. COFFMAN. Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08. Today, it is $17,479,199,305,480.74. We've added $6,852,322,256,567.70 to our debt in 5 years. This is over $6.8 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. COFFMAN

Mr. COFFMAN. Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08. Today, it is $17,471,572,575,280.71. We've added $6,844,695,526,367.70 to our debt in 5 years. This is over $6.8 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. COFFMAN

Mr. COFFMAN. Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08. Today, it is $17,484,285,711,524.06. We've added $6,857,408,662,610.98 to our debt in 5 years. This is over $6.8 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. COFFMAN

Mr. COFFMAN. Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08. Today, it is $17,473,168,572,574.12. We've added $6,846,291,523,661.04 to our debt in 5 years. This is over $6.8 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. COFFMAN

Mr. COFFMAN. Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08. Today, it is $17,468,093,940,076.33. We've added $6,841,216,891,163.25 to our debt in 5 years. This is over $6.8 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. COFFMAN

Mr. COFFMAN. Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08. Today, it is $17,447,321,527,551.15. We've added $6,820,444,478,638.07 to our debt in 5 years. This is over $6.8 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. COFFMAN

Mr. COFFMAN. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support as the chairman of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee for the House Veterans' Affairs Committee. I rise in support of the Sinema-Salmon bipartisan amendment to transfer funds from the general administration line item within the Department of Veterans Affairs to the Office of Inspector General for the purpose of really looking into this issue, the issue of veterans dying from preventable illnesses because, in fact, the VA was playing a game in the Phoenix VA hospital with appointment times. My office--my investigators last Monday turned over this ``secret list'' that the VA was using that they, in fact, are denying today to the VA Office of Inspector General. In that list, it will demonstrate that there are veterans with preventable illnesses that died waiting for an appointment, and we also know that there were administrators who received bonuses for supposedly bringing down these wait times for appointments. My greatest fear is not only that this act which has criminal implications, this alleged act which has criminal implications, occurred in the Phoenix VA hospital, but also my concern is that it is more widespread, it is more systematic, that it is something that the leadership in the VA has knowingly or unwittingly allowed to occur, and so I think it is important for us to get down to the bottom of it. It is a great tragedy that we don't have confidence--certainly, I don't have confidence in the leadership of the Veterans Administration in and of themselves to get down to the bottom of it, and it takes the Office of the Inspector General and that it takes my investigators in the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee for the House Veterans' Affairs Committee to uncover these things, bring these things to light, and move them forward. So, again, I rise in support of the Sinema-Salmon bipartisan amendment to transfer moneys from the administration of the Veterans Administration to the Office of Inspector General to move these investigations forward; and if, in fact, they are found to be true, I certainly hope that they are referred to criminal prosecution. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. COFFMAN. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

Mr. COFFMAN

Mr. COFFMAN. Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08. Today, it is $17,447,321,527,551.15. We've added $6,820,444,478,638.07 to our debt in 5 years. This is over $6.8 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. COFFMAN

Mr. COFFMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Lana Millman, Matthew Dowgin, Anna Vallad, and Amanda Davanzo for their dedication and hard work for the people of Colorado's Sixth District as interns in my Washington, DC office for the spring 2014 session. The work of these young men and women has been exemplary and I know they all have bright futures. They served as tour guides, interacted with constituents, and learned a great deal about our nation's legislative process. I was glad to be able to offer this educational opportunity to these four and look forward to seeing them build their careers in public service. All four of our interns have made plans to continue their work in public service next year with various organizations in both Colorado and Washington. I am certain they will succeed in their new roles and wish them all the best in their future endeavors. Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to recognize Lana Millman, Matthew Dowgin, Anna Vallad, and Amanda Davanzo for their service this spring.

Mr. COFFMAN

Mr. COFFMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Savannah Clemente, Jacob Johnson, Lucas Nicodemus, Luke Robinson, Nathan Teeter, and LeeAnn Wilson of Aurora, Colorado. Colorado was well represented by these Rangeview High School students at the 2014 CyberPatriot Competition National Finals in National Harbor, Maryland. CyberPatriot is the premier national youth cyber defense competition that teaches high school and middle school students about cyber-safety and how to defend computer systems against cyberattack. It also teaches students about internships and careers in cybersecurity and other opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The Rangeview High School CyberPatriot team distinguished itself from the rest of the competing teams by demonstrating outstanding skills in three rigorous rounds of competition against their peers. Out of 1,500 competing teams, only 28 made it to the final competition where national championship trophies and scholarships were awarded. The Rangeview team won First Place in the Digital Crime Scene Challenge sponsored by the U.S. Cyber Crime Conference. The Rangeview High School CyberPatriot students will undoubtedly go on to serve as innovative leaders in our country. Their fierce dedication to the STEM disciplines is critical to our nation's future. Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to recognize the Rangeview High School CyberPatriot students for their achievement of competing in the 2014 CyberPatfiot Competition National Finals.

Mr. COFFMAN

Mr. COFFMAN. Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08. Today, it is $17,436,444,226,130.22. We've added $6,809,567,177,217.14 to our debt in 5 years. This is over $6.8 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.