Bob Filner

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I would also ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in way to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on House Concurrent Resolution 60.

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 60) expressing support for the goals of Veterans Educate Today's Students (VETS) Day, and for other purposes.

Mr. FILNER

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

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I also 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. Res. 770.

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Nevada (Mr. Porter) for bringing us this resolution. As an historian myself who has worked with oral histories, I know how important it is professionally and, as he said, also personally. So I urge everyone to support this bill. General Leave

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. As we approach Veterans Day in another week, it is important that we, as Members of the House, not just give our speeches and ride in the parades on Veterans Day but we actually do things that will help our veterans, say thank you for their service, and make sure they get the benefits that are due them when they return home, and that they also avoid pitfalls that come about because they are serving their Nation abroad. There are many examples of this, and we are going to correct a few today. The first and most important, I think, is to assure that when our service men and women are abroad, when they are in active duty, that they do not face credit problems as a result of that duty if they miss some payments on bills back home. Our colleague, Mr. Brady from Philadelphia, chairman also of our House Administration Committee, has looked at this problem and has come up with a solution. Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong support of H.R. 513, as amended. I would like to thank my distinguished colleague, Congressman Robert Brady of Pennsylvania, for crafting this important bill to help protect our Nations veterans. I'd also like to thank the Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity Chairwoman, Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, and Ranking Member John Boozman for the strong bipartisan leadership they demonstrated in working on this legislation. When called to duty, servicemembers across our Nation leave their loved ones, school, and work behind. Unfortunately as we are witnessing today, some of these servicemembers are returning to letters of delinquency from credit lenders and credit bureaus due to their extended military service abroad. Mr. Speaker, we must honor our servicemembers' sacrifice by providing them with the resources and financial security needed to protect what they have left behind, so that they may have the peace of mind that their financial interests are protected while serving our Nation. Mr. Speaker, as you know, a credit score impacts all aspects of your life. It represents you as a consumer and indicates to the potential lender if you are trustworthy of repaying your debt. It also determines whether you will qualify for a good interest for a home loan, buying a car, or even school loans. H.R. 513, as amended, would protect these men and women while they are at war, by providing an explanation in their credit report. This explanation would be generated by a consumer reporting agency, and delivered in conjunction with a consumer report or credit score. It will indicate in the consumer report, or credit score, that the consumer was adversely affected during a period in which the servicemember was on active duty outside the continental United States in support of a contingency operation. To qualify, a person would have to be a member of the National Guard or Reserve, have the account open prior to deployment, and served a specifying period of service of no less than 180 days. By including a military service deployment explanation, any person who requests the credit score or consumer report of the servicemember will be informed of a potential reason of non-payment or missed payments. Currently, there is no credit protection offered to the men and women in the National Guard and Reserve. Furthermore, this legislation alleviates the servicemembers' concerns over negative financial implications of their deployment. Regardless of your view on the war, we all stand united in caring for our veterans. I urge all my colleagues to join me in support of H.R. 513, as amended. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Brady) to explain how this bill will help our active duty forces when they return home. (Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 513) to amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to enhance the protection of credit ratings of active duty military personnel who are activated for military service, as amended.

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I represent the southern part of the City of San Diego where we had thousands of evacuees, hundreds of homes lost, a really terrifying situation for many people. Of course, getting back on their feet will be a major, major challenge. But what we saw, as we have heard from my colleagues, is cooperation, cooperation from all levels of government, from the cities, the fire districts, county, State, Federal, and also international, which no one has mentioned up to this point. I watched as 60 firefighters, bomberos as we call them, from Tijuana, in Mexico, came to help and were a part of the team as we fought the Harris fire in southern San Diego. I think that was a very important contribution. I had the opportunity to talk to the President as we flew to the fires. He understood that he needed to be visible very early, which was very hopeful, and that FEMA had to be proactive and not just reactive. The blue shirts of FEMA were on the job and visible everywhere, and their local assistance centers were set up very much earlier than in any previous disaster, I think. And that gave hope to many people. Those assistance centers, again, before even many of the evacuees had been allowed to return home were there and helping people. We saw the hope on people's faces as they saw this cooperation in getting help from everywhere. And although they face a very difficult time, they do have hope. It was the volunteers, of course, our firefighters and our officers, police officers and other first responders, but the volunteers came from all over. Some of them had evacuated their own homes. Some of them lost their own homes. Teachers and others were there to help the children while away the time and even learn while they were there, people who brought food, people who brought clothing and psychological help, massages and medical help. So all of these people were involved. It was an incredible sight to behold as we went to Qualcomm Stadium or any of the evacuation centers around the county. You saw everybody pitching in. It was that coming together in San Diego that will give hope to the people who face challenges in the future and that got us through this very terrifying time. I thank the House for this resolution in support of the people of California.

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 1004, I was not present because I was helping my constituents cope with the fire crisis in San Diego, CA. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye.''

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 1003, I was not present because I was helping my constituents cope with the fire crisis in San Diego, CA. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Madam Speaker, on rollcall No. 1009, I was not present because I was helping my constituents cope with the fire crisis in San Diego, CA. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. FILNER. Madam Speaker, on rollcall No. 1008, I was not present because I was helping my constituents cope with the fire crisis in San Diego, CA. Had I been present, I would have voted ``nay.''

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Madam Speaker, on rollcall No. 1007, I was not present because I was helping my constituents cope with the fire crisis in San Diego, CA. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.'' Stated against: Mr. McCarthy of California. Madam Speaker, on rollcall No. 1007, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``nay.''

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 1006, I was not present because I was helping my constituents cope with the fire crisis in San Diego, CA. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 1005, I was not present because I was helping my constituents cope with the fire crisis in San Diego, CA. Had I been present, I would have voted ``no.''

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 1002, I was not present because I was helping my constituents cope with the fire crisis in San Diego, CA. Had I been present, I would have voted ``no.''

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Madam Speaker, and colleagues, I rise today to speak about a bill that I have just introduced, ``Providing Military Honors For Our Nation's Heroes Act'' (H.R. 3954), to reimburse expenses of volunteers who provide military funeral honors at veterans' funerals. Because thousands of servicemembers are deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan while thousands of World War II and Korean War veterans die each day, there is simply not enough military to provide a proper 7- person honors detail for these funerals. Some families of veterans have had to ``make do'' with a CD playing taps. I am saddened by this outrageous situation and determined to provide proper military funeral honors for all families who request them. This bill will allow reimbursement to volunteers from members of veterans' service organizations (VSOs) and other organizations approved by the Secretary of the Department of Veterans' Affairs (VA). Transportation costs and other expenses, such as cleaning uniforms, incurred in providing funeral honors details will be reimbursed. A second change will allow reimbursement to details that are requested by funeral homes and the VA, as well as the Department of Defense, the current practice. Currently, members of VSOs and other volunteers can assist the military by providing a color guard, pallbearers, a bugler or firing party, but the law does not address ceremonies in which VSOs render honors without military representation. My bill will allow volunteers to be reimbursed even when no military person is a part of the honor guard. This change will increase the number of honors details available to families. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 5 minutes. Mr. Speaker, before I introduce the author of the legislation, I just want to say in introduction, unfortunately, suicide prevention has become a major part of our responsibilities to both active duty and our veterans. It is a terrible statistic, Mr. Speaker, but as many Vietnam veterans have now committed suicide as died in the original war. That is over 58,000. We have to do as a Nation a better job. The Army just announced recently that the suicide rate among active duty and recently discharged has now reached Vietnam proportions. So we have to do a far better job and we intend to do that. The author of the original legislation, Mr. Boswell from Iowa, saw this very clearly and introduced this bill. Mr. Speaker, one of the top priorities of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs in this Congress is to address the needs of our returning servicemembers. The House passed H.R. 327, the Joshua Omvig Veterans Suicide Prevention Act, on March 21st of this year. I'm pleased the Senate also made it a priority to act on this important legislation. I believe the bill shows a clear compromise in our efforts to provide help to those in need. One of the most pressing issues facing our men and women is mental health care. I believe that if we send our men and women off to war, we must, as a nation, do all we can to address their health care needs when they return. We cannot ask them to fight and then forget them when they return from battle. Veterans suffer a higher risk of suicide than the general population. The stress of combat, combined with the stigma that exists for servicemembers and veterans seeking mental health care services can have disastrous consequences. We must do everything possible to improve the VA's mental health services, and its ability to detect, and help, those veterans most at risk. H.R. 327 will provide the important tools to assist the VA in strengthening suicide prevention, education, and awareness programs within the VA by mandating a comprehensive program for suicide prevention among veterans. I thank my colleague Mr. Boswell for introducing this bill, and I thank my colleagues for their support. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Boswell).

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. I want to thank Mr. Kagen for bringing this story and history of a brave American and a great hero for Wisconsin. I wish your guys from Green Bay, whether they be quarterbacks or heroes, would have names we could pronounce. But we thank you for telling us the story of Milo Huempfner, and we look forward to the naming of the facility in Green Bay after him. Mr. Speaker, the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) was established in 1918 by President Woodrow Wilson. It is the second highest military decoration of the United States Army and surpassed only by the Medal of Honor in order of precedence. The DSC is awarded for extreme gallantry and risk of life and this extraordinary heroism must take place while the individual is engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States. The act of heroism must be so notable and involve risk of life so extraordinary as to set the individual apart from his comrades. It is an honor for me to stand before you today to talk about one such individual--Milo C. Huempfner. Mr. Huempfner was the most decorated serviceman in Brown County during World War II. In 1944, PFC Huempfner committed acts of extraordinary bravery and heroism during the final European campaign of World War II. On December 20, 1944, in Belgium, PFC Huempfner was driving a truck loaded with ammunition that went off the road. Sending his only comrade back to seek help and safety, Huempfner proceeded over the next 4 days and nights to wage war, single-handedly, against an entire German armored column. During this time, he warned off numerous American and British troops from the area who otherwise would have been slaughtered by the Germans occupying the area. After his military service he remained heavily involved in veterans activities. H.R. 2408 would name the Department of Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic in Green Bay, Wisconsin, as the ``Milo C. Huempfner Department of Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic''. Given his unselfish service to his country, it is only fitting that we name a Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic in his honor. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague of Wisconsin, Steve Kagen, for introducing this bill and I urge the support of my colleagues. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I again 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. 2408.

Mr. FILNER

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

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to another hero of the Vietnam War, a man who served two tours in Vietnam, the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Boswell).

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 1808.

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I have no future requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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