Chet Edwards

Mr. EDWARDS of Texas

Mr. EDWARDS of Texas. I just want to commend the gentleman for his leadership on this effort. It is a heartbreaking tragedy every time a veteran takes his or her life as a result of their service to our country. I look forward to working with the gentleman and with the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Crenshaw) and the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Wamp) as we go to conference committee to see that we do more than everything that is already being done to see that we prevent suicides from occurring. If we save one life, then the gentleman's and our service here in Congress will have been time well served.

Mr. EDWARDS of Texas. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. EDWARDS of Texas. I just want to commend him and commend Mr. Buyer for this effort. These photographs are an inspiration to all of us, to our veterans, to our Wounded Warriors, but to every American. This program is an inspiration to our Wounded Warriors, our veterans, and all Americans who hear about it. I am in full support of this amendment. I also want to thank again Mr. Buyer, along with Mr. Perlmutter and Mr. Langevin, who over the last several years have been real champions, along with Mr. Buyer, of this program, and again, I'm honored to support the amendment.

Mr. EDWARDS of Texas. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. EDWARDS of Texas. I am glad to support this amendment.

Mr. EDWARDS of Texas. Madam Chair, I claim time in opposition to the amendment, though I am not opposed to the amendment.

Mr. EDWARDS of Texas. I will support this amendment, Madam Chair. I do want to clarify that there is no funding in this bill of any type to fund any kind of facility to house detainees from Guantanamo. Having said that, I would be glad to support the gentleman's amendment. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. EDWARDS of Texas. Madam Chair, I rise to claim time in opposition to the amendment.

Mr. EDWARDS of Texas. I want to salute the gentleman's focus, his genuine commitment on the important need of providing long-term care for our veterans and wounded warriors with traumatic brain injury. I care deeply about this. We all care deeply about it. In fact, several years ago I personally put the money in our VA appropriations bill to build a new polytrauma center where there was not one in the entire southwestern part of the United States. I wish the gentleman could agree to work with the majority and the minority, the conference committee, to try to find a way to also work with the VA to find a way to address the very important needs that he is wanting to address. If he's not willing to pull this amendment down, I must reluctantly rise in opposition to it for several reasons: First, the VA is studying this issue right now, and we ought to sit down with them and find out what they have learned and what they think are the best ways to use taxpayers' dollars to address these needs. Secondly, I don't know if we need four of these long-term centers or six or eight or 10. Rather than spending money on four centers, perhaps it would be better to do smaller renovations on 10 to 20 centers where our traumatically injured veterans could receive care closer to the homes of their loved ones. Third, I don't know what the full cost of this is going to be. The $9.5 million doesn't, I don't think, even come close to providing for the full cost of the construction of these four projects. Perhaps the gentleman could help illuminate for all of us both the cost of the construction plus the cost of the operations of those centers. And there are a lot of unanswered questions, important questions, such as: Where would the staff come from to man these centers? Would they come from existing VA facilities? I don't know. Perhaps there are good answers to those questions. I just don't think the committee has them at this point. Finally, there are pay-fors on this. The consequences of how this gentleman would pay for these would be that we would have a domiciliary extended-stay unit would not be replaced in Butler, Pennsylvania; a kidney dialysis unit expansion would not occur in Richmond, Virginia; an ambulatory surgery center would not be completed in Albuquerque, New Mexico; an urgent care center will not be renovated at Castle Point, New York; and a psychiatric residential rehab facility will not be replaced in Perry Point, Maryland. It was not the intention of the gentleman to try to prevent these five important projects from being completed, but it is the consequence of his amendment as written. I yield to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott).

Mr. EDWARDS of Texas. I just want to commend the gentleman. This is such a good amendment. Sometimes common sense can prevail, because it certainly makes no sense to take drugs that a veteran is using, prescription drugs used in a VA hospital, and then have a half a bottle or three-quarters of a bottle of those pills left, have to throw them away, and then go directly to the pharmacy at the VA hospital to get those exact same prescription drugs to take for use at home. So this is going to save taxpayers money. And every dollar that's saved can be put back into much-needed medical care for our veterans. So I am thrilled to support the gentleman's amendment and salute him for working on this.

Mr. EDWARDS of Texas. Madam Chair, I rise to claim time in opposition to the amendment.

Mr. EDWARDS of Texas. I now yield to the gentleman from New York.

Mr. EDWARDS of Texas. Madam Chair, do I have any time remaining?

Mr. EDWARDS of Texas. Let me just conclude by saying no one objects to the gentleman's goal. We would be glad to try to work in good faith to see if we can find another pay-for to improve funding for our veterans cemeteries. But I will strongly object and ask my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this amendment because of the damage done to veterans at these facilities that need the care that they would otherwise not get if this amendment is passed into law. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. EDWARDS of Texas. Madam Chair, before introducing Chairman Obey, I would like to join with my friend and colleague, Mr. Crenshaw, in saluting Mr. Young of Florida. While he is not here because of an illness today, he has spent a lifetime of service and commitment to our servicemen and women, our veterans and their families. I also see Mr. Lewis on the floor, the ranking member of the full committee, the former chairman of the full committee, the former chairman of the Defense Appropriations Committee. I thank Mr. Lewis also for working on this bill and for his leadership throughout his long career here in Congress in support of our servicemen and -women. Madam Chair, it is one of two honors of my lifetime to recognize and introduce Chairman Dave Obey. I must say that in the last 3\1/2\ years, this Congress has increased veterans funding by more than any 3\1/2\- year period in history. That would not have happened had it not been for the allocations and the personal leadership of Chairman Dave Obey. And while others of us at the subcommittee level or the VA authorizing subcommittee level have been the ones sometimes recognized by veterans groups for our work over these past 3\1/2\ years, it has been Chairman Obey's leadership and partnership with Speaker Pelosi behind the scenes that have made all of these new programs, including the funding of the GI bill, that has helped over 500,000 servicemen and -women and veterans and their families. It's been Mr. Obey's leadership that has truly made a difference in this process. Of his many great legacies of his service to this country and Congress, I hope he will always be remembered as a true champion of America's veterans. Madam Chair, I yield 5 minutes to Chairman Obey.

Mr. EDWARDS of Texas. Madam Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the vice chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, the gentleman from California (Mr. Farr), who has been a champion on this committee for veterans, our troops, their families, and for all of the many issues involved in this subcommittee's affairs.

Mr. EDWARDS of Texas. Madam Chair, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to a very important member of our Appropriations subcommittee, the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Salazar), who has been a real champion for our vets and our troops.

Mr. EDWARDS of Texas. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. EDWARDS of Texas. Madam Chair, there are several other speakers on our side of the aisle who said they would like to speak, but perhaps we have progressed more quickly than they thought. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Rodriguez), a member of the Appropriations Committee who has been vocal in his strong support of our veterans and troops.

Mr. EDWARDS of Texas. Madam Chair, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Kennedy). And as he approaches the well, let me just thank him. This will be his last year to be in the House, a member of this committee. And he has been an inspiration to veterans throughout America and to every member of our subcommittee on both sides of the aisle in his championing the cause of mental health care services and other services for veterans, care for our homeless veterans. I thank the gentleman. It will be a legacy that will live on for many decades to come.

Mr. EDWARDS of Texas. I yield the gentleman an additional 15 seconds.

Mr. EDWARDS of Texas. Madam Chair, I want to finish by thanking Mr. Crenshaw for, again, his leadership on this and working together importantly on so many parts of this bill, and doing so in a bipartisan manner. We thanked a lot of people in this process. It's been a work of good faith on both sides of the aisle. I always want to save the best for the last in thanking our veterans service organizations for their partnership in putting together this legislation. I add two letters, one from the DAV, AMVETS, Paralyzed Veterans of America, and Veterans of Foreign Wars; another from the president of the National Guard Association of the United States, in support of this legislation. The Independent Budget, July 27, 2010. Hon. Chet Edwards, Chairman, Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, House Committee on Appropriations, The Capitol, Washington, DC. Dear Chairman Edwards: On behalf of the co-authors of the Independent Budget, we would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your unwavering support for our nation's sick and disabled veterans, as well as all of the men and women who have so honorably served this country. We appreciate your efforts as Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans' Affairs to achieve an excellent funding level for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) once again this year. Through your leadership, the VA will receive another significant funding increase for

Mr. EDWARDS of Texas. I want to commend Mr. Buyer for offering this amendment. Without this amendment, the VA would actually be reducing at the very worst time the number of vocational rehab employees. We ought to be increasing those numbers, and that's what we will be doing with this, particularly given a lot of our troops coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan are having difficult times finding jobs. They need this support. The VA gets a lot of things right, but I don't think they got this part of their budget right. And I thank the gentleman for correcting it, and it's a privilege to support his amendment.

Mr. EDWARDS of Texas. I just want to commend Mr. Buyer for his leadership. This is not the first time he has come to the floor fighting for renewable energy projects and conservation projects for the VA. And as he leaves Congress at the end of this Congress, I want to thank him for this effort. Every dollar we save by conservation investments and renewable energy investments is a dollar that's either back into the taxpayers' pocket or a dollar that goes to actually provide better health care for America's veterans. So that's why I'm enthusiastic in my support of this amendment, and I commend the gentleman for his authorship of it.

Mr. EDWARDS of Texas. Madam Chair, I claim time in opposition.