Bob Filner

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield as much time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from South Dakota (Ms. Herseth Sandlin).

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, is it a requirement that committees have to file reports with legislation that is very straightforward?

Mr. FILNER. I thank you, and I hope the ranking member heard that.

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I have a parliamentary inquiry.

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, am I required to engage in political debate with the ranking member when we are discussing a bill very important to veterans?

Mr. FILNER. I would inform the ranking member that I am not going to respond to political debate.

Mr. FILNER. It's your time.

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield as much time as she may need to the gentlelady from Florida (Ms. Corrine Brown), who has now for 15 years fought side by side with me on behalf of our Nation's veterans. She is a fighter, and we are proud of her. You have the floor, Ms. Brown.

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H.R. 1470.

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I have a parliamentary inquiry.

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

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

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the author of the legislation, Mr. McIntyre, such time as he may consume.

Mr. FILNER. 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. 67, as amended.

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I urge all my colleagues to unanimously support this bill.

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

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

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, we have come to the end of a day of thanks to our Nation's veterans. We have seven bills, all of which will go to really improve our services, our health care, our sense of commitment to our Nation's veterans. We have had seven good bills today, and I think they will all be approved by this body. I was a professor of European history before I became a Congressman, and I used to talk about the Roman world. And there was this famous Roman senator named Cato. And Cato would end all his speeches, no matter on what subject, which they might be about the sewer system of Rome or they might be about gladiator games or war against the Parthians or whoever, but he would always end his speech, no matter what the thing was, and everybody would expect it and he sort of became the laughingstock of the senate because they would know he would end all his speeches with ``and we must destroy Carthage.'' And nobody paid any attention to his speeches because they were all waiting for that conclusion no matter on what subject. So with that little history lesson, I urge my colleagues to unanimously support H.R. 2239.

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. This bill, the Early Access to Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Benefits Act, was authored by my good friend from Arkansas (Mr. Boozman), and we appreciate his efforts over many years on behalf of our veterans. I was glad that we could get this bill to the floor today. It is the last of seven that say thank you to our Nation's veterans as we come up on Memorial Day. This would extend vocational rehabilitation and employment benefits to members of the Armed Forces who are determined to have a disability incurred while on active duty of at least 10 percent and likely to be discharged from service due to that disability. The servicemembers would still have to qualify under usual vocational rehabilitation and employment criteria of at least 20 percent, with an employment handicap of 10 percent with a serious employment handicap. H.R. 2239 will help veterans begin their rehab earlier and will be very beneficial to those veterans in extended convalescence which could be over a year. This is the ideal time, as veterans will still be on active duty, continuing to receive their military pay, making it easier to support his or her family. One of the factors that leads to servicemembers dropping out of vocational rehabilitation and employment is the need to support their families. Due to the severity of the injury or injuries, most veterans will be expected to experience a drop in pay once they are discharged. However, if a veteran begins their rehab immediately, they may be able to enter the job market much earlier. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 2239. It is an important bill. This is the least we can do for these brave men and women. It will ease the transition from the military to civilian employment market. And, again, I thank Mr. Boozman for his leadership on this issue. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1660) to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a national cemetery for veterans in the southern Colorado region, as amended.

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I recognize the chairman of our subcommittee who has taken such a great leadership role on these issues, the gentleman from Maine (Mr. Michaud) for 4 minutes.

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 3 minutes. Mr. Speaker, I would point out this is one of the most important bills on the floor today or at any time. It's called the Traumatic Brain Injury Health Enhancement and Long-Term Support Act of 2007. The wounded from wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are returning with multiple injuries due to the use of improvised explosive devices, or IEDs. This often results in servicemembers and veterans needing polytrauma care, and has caused an increase in veterans with brain injury, or TBI. We are going to have tens of thousands of these young men and women with these injuries. Among veterans and servicemembers that return from OEF and OIF and treated at Walter Reed for injuries of any type, approximately 65 percent have TBI or a comorbid, as they call it, diagnosis. Survivors of TBI experience physical, cognitive, emotional and community integration issues. Because of their injury, their capacity and initiative to seek appropriate care on their own is diminished. We are also faced with thousands of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with milder cases of brain injury. This milder case often is missed and goes untreated, and symptoms may often mirror that of PTSD. Indeed, according to the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center, in prior military conflicts, TBI was present in up to 14 to 20 percent of surviving casualties. The numbers for operations in OEF/OIF are predicted to go much, much higher. We must ensure that the health care and services that meet the needs of returning servicemembers are available and accessible, while never forgetting the needs of veterans from previous conflicts. This bill provides for mandatory screening of veterans for traumatic brain injury. It requires the Secretary to establish a comprehensive program of long-term care, of postacute traumatic brain injury rehabilitation at four geographically disbursed polytrauma network sites. It provides for the establishment of TBI transition offices at each Department polytrauma network site to coordinate health care and services to veterans who suffer from moderate to severe traumatic brain injuries. It requires the Secretary to establish a registry of those who served in Iraq who exhibit symptoms associated with TBI. This legislation establishes centers for TBI research, education and clinical activities, and requires the Secretary to establish a committee on the care of veterans with TBI. In addition to the provisions that address health care, research and treatment for veterans, this legislation also provides for veterans who reside in rural areas. Mr. Speaker, it is a very important bill. We will hear soon from Mr. Michaud, the chairman of our Health Subcommittee, who was the primary author of this, who has been a leader to make sure that we serve the veterans who come back with these incredible injuries, that they receive the proper care that they need. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2199) to amend title 38, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide certain improvements in the treatment of individuals with traumatic brain injuries, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 392) urging Americans and people of all nationalities to visit the American Cemeteries, Memorials and Markers.

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, we are about to take up a package of seven bills that have come to the floor from the Veterans Committee, a committee which I am very proud of that has worked together over the first 4 or 5 months of this session to keep our contract with our Nation's veterans. And there is no better time than just before Memorial Day to say thank you. Memorial Day celebrates those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our Nation's freedom. We are here on the floor today to say thank you to those, and to those who are still deployed, and to veterans from past wars. In the recent election, Mr. Speaker, the Democrats promised to do more for our Nation's veterans. We said we had a President who was saying, support the troops, support the troops, support the troops; but when they came home, where was that support? Walter Reed ripped off the veil of our incompetency of dealing with veterans and showed that so many were not getting the care they were promised and people thought they were getting. We have had story after story in the Nation's press about how returning veterans with PTSD or brain injury have not been getting the care which this Nation has promised at the highest quality medical system in the world. So we have to do better. We have a system that is really about to break and collapse. What we saw as the majority party is that the first thing that had to be done was give the VA the resources to carry out the job; secondly, we had to have accountability for the spending of those resources. Well, in the first three spending bills that went through this House, we were able to add $13 billion for the health care of our veterans. That is an unprecedented increase from one year to the next, an increase of 30 percent in the health care budget. We have put in the resources to clean up the backlog of claims for disability pensions that have built up to 600,000. We have put in the money to open up new Centers of Excellence for traumatic brain injury, to finally give the mental health care that the tens of thousands of veterans who are coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan need. We call it PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder, but virtually every soldier subject to at least five blasts that would give them brain injury, seeing their buddies shot and killed in front of them, maybe having to kill even by accident some innocent people in Iraq, they come back with tremendous mental issues. They have to be worked out. They need medical care, and too many have been falling through the cracks. So we have said we will provide the resources to make sure that does not occur. We have provided the resources to meet these needs. Now we have to have accountability for their spending. The Veterans' Affairs Committee of this Congress has pledged to do that. So we have a collection of bills on the floor this afternoon to say thank you to our Nation's veterans, thank you for your efforts in this war, thank you for your efforts in past wars, and we honor those who gave the ultimate sacrifice on Memorial Day. This resolution before us now, H. Res. 392, comes to us under the leadership of the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Lamborn), and I thank him for his activity on the Veterans' Affairs Committee. This resolution encourages people to visit the cemeteries, memorials, and markers overseen by the American Battle Monuments Commission. I am sure many people who hear this say, what is the American Battle Monuments Commission? In 1923, Congress created the Battle Monuments Commission to control the construction of military cemeteries, monuments and markers erected to honor American servicemembers killed on foreign soil. Host countries provide the necessary lands for these sites to the United States in perpetuity and free of charge. The Commission cares for 24 military cemeteries and 25 memorials, monuments and markers in 15 nations around the world. These sites serve as the final resting places for almost 125,000 Americans who fought in the Mexican-American War through World War I and II. The Commission takes special care that all cemeteries under its supervision are maintained to the highest standard attainable. The Battle Monuments Commission extends an open invitation to all to visit these splendid shrines and go beyond the most well known, like Normandy, and venture into others. Each site has its own sense of history, sacrifice and beauty; each offers a different and unique experience. No two have the same garden or architecture. Perhaps only the spiritual qualities are similar. In less than a month from now, on June 6, the Battle Monuments Commission will commemorate the 63rd anniversary of the D-Day landing by opening a new Normandy American Cemetery Visitor Center. Under construction since 2002, the center will tell the story of the American servicemembers memorialized at Normandy. I encourage everyone to visit this new D-Day center and any of the other sites under the jurisdiction of the Commission. Overseas American cemeteries are lasting reminders of America's willingness to come to the defense of others. These tangible symbols of American values endure long after the fighting is over. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Lamborn for bringing this resolution to us. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.