Bob Filner

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Madam Speaker, I have no further speakers and am prepared to close.

Mr. FILNER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics recently released survey data showing unsettling numbers on the employment rates of newly returning veterans. Last year, the unemployment rate for our Iraqi and Afghanistan veterans was over 10 percent. Even more disturbing were figures showing that the jobless rate of younger veterans exceeded 20 percent. Congressman Harry Teague, a first-term member of our committee from New Mexico, proposed an innovative way to provide training for veterans in the energy industry. He introduced this act, H.R. 4592, the Energy Jobs for Veterans Act. I would yield to Mr. Teague for further explanation of the bill.

Mr. FILNER. Thank you, Congressman Teague, for your strong advocacy on behalf of our veterans. This innovative and competitive idea will ensure that our returning veterans have the employment opportunities they require to make the difficult transition into the civilian workforce, while also addressing America's need for energy independence. Madam Speaker, Congress must act to ensure our returning veterans have employment opportunities as they strive to reintegrate into the civilian workforce. This bill would help do just that. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. FILNER. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4592) to provide for the establishment of a pilot program to encourage the employment of veterans in energy-related positions, as amended.

Mr. FILNER. I would urge my colleagues to support this bill. I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. FILNER. Madam Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Madam Speaker, just like our military men and women did not hesitate to offer to lay down their lives to defend our freedom and the way of life that we cherish, we will not hesitate to defend the funds necessary to support themselves and their families. General Leave

Mr. FILNER. Madam 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. 4667.

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

Mr. FILNER. I urge my colleagues to support the COLA bill, H.R. 4667. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. FILNER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in support of this bill which ensures that hard-earned benefits for disabled veterans and their surviving family members keep pace with their living expenses. This bill, like the last, was introduced by Mr. Perriello of Virginia. It will benefit each disabled veteran or survivor from the World War I era through the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. I yield to the hardworking, active, and committed Mr. Perriello for an explanation of the bill.

Mr. FILNER. Thank you, Mr. Perriello, and again I want to thank you for your service to our Nation's veterans. I reserve the balance of our time.

Mr. FILNER. Madam Speaker, I have no further speakers and am prepared to close.

Mr. FILNER. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4667) to increase, effective as of December 1, 2010, the rates of compensation for veterans with service-connected disabilities and the rates of dependency and indemnity compensation for the survivors of certain disabled veterans, and for other purposes.

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, this is the first of a series of six pieces of legislation that will benefit our Nation's veterans. This Congress, and certainly this committee, has been concerned with these veterans in our daily work, and we are proud to present these items which will help prevent veterans' homelessness, protect National Guard employment, help veterans keep their home, give veterans a cost-of-living adjustment. Before I begin on this package, Madam Speaker, I just would like to briefly comment on a little item that came up yesterday during the debate on health care. One of our veterans service organizations and the ranking member of our committee claimed that the bill that we would pass would hurt veterans' health care. I just want to point out on behalf of all the Chairs on this side of the aisle, all the legal opinions that have been made, veterans' health care is not affected by the health care bill that we passed. All the benefits will be retained. Nobody will be penalized for being part of the veterans health care system or any other part of veterans health benefits. Congress actually received a letter yesterday from the Vietnam Veterans of America which said: ``It is unfortunate that some continue to raise what is now even more clearly a false alarm that is apparently meant to frighten veterans and their families in order to prompt them to oppose the pending legislation. While there is a legitimate debate as to whether or not the pending health care measure should become law, Vietnam Veterans of America does not appreciate spreading rumors that are not accurate by any political partisan from any point of the political spectrum.'' I just want to allay any fears that veterans have about this health care legislation. And certainly our committee, should anything arise that was unintended, we will move quickly to make sure that veterans health care is kept at a high quality and no one is penalized for having veterans health care in this country. So I want to point that out, Madam Speaker. Now, to get back to the bill we have, H.R. 4810, under consideration. Almost half the homeless on the street tonight, Madam Speaker, are veterans--anywhere from 150,000 to 200,000. This is a national disgrace. It is our national disgrace. It's been an issue that I have been working on since I came to Congress when I joined the Committee on Veterans' Affairs almost 18 years ago. Now that the Democrats have the majority, we want to put forward a plan, as our Secretary of Veterans' Affairs has announced, a plan to end veterans' homeless within 5 years. Zero tolerance. That's going to be our policy. Today we have the opportunity to take bold action to combat homelessness, but, as I said, we have a willing and eager administration to make sure that we achieve this goal. President Obama and his Secretary of Veterans' Affairs have, as I said, pledged to end homelessness over the next 5 years. Our Secretary has committed to expanding proven programs and launching innovative services to prevent veterans from falling into homelessness. This bill before us, H.R. 4810, does three important things to provide the administration with the necessary tools to combat homelessness: First, the bill would provide additional funding for the Grant and Per Diem Program, which provides grants to community agencies so they can, in turn, provide transitional housing, health services, and other supportive services to homeless veterans. Providing needed resources to the local agencies that care for our homeless veterans is just one way our grateful Nation can support the vital and compassionate work performed in communities all across the country. Second, this bill helps low-income veteran families who are occupying permanent housing from becoming homeless by extending powerful and effective support services. Examples of these services include outreach, case management, and assistance in obtaining benefits from the VA, as well as public benefits from State and local agencies. Finally, H.R. 4810 helps the increasing number of female veterans who end up being homeless. This is especially magnified for our women veterans coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan, who are four times more likely to become homeless than their male counterparts. My bill would direct the Department of Veterans Affairs to focus outreach efforts on homeless women veterans and homeless veterans with children. This powerful bill is the result of significant work by the entire committee. I would like to thank the chairman of our Subcommittee on Health, Mike Michaud from Maine, and Ranking Member Henry Brown from South Carolina for the bipartisan leadership they demonstrated on this bill. I'd also like to recognize the important contributions of our colleagues Harry Teague of New Mexico, Ciro Rodriguez of Texas, and Phil Hare of Illinois. Each of these Members are true advocates for homeless veterans and introduced legislation helping homeless veterans that are now key provisions of this bill. I'd also like to thank our staff from the Health Committee, especially our staff director, Cathy Wiblemo, who has worked so hard on this legislation for such a long time. There are hundreds of thousands of servicemembers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. It is our duty as a Nation, when we put our men and women in harm's way, to care for them when they return. We must also live up to the promise to honor the service and sacrifices of our veterans from previous conflicts. This is an opportunity today, Madam Speaker, to make a difference in the lives of veterans who are sleeping in cars, looking for public housing, searching for relief, and feeling helpless. I urge all of our colleagues to pass H.R. 4810 to provide the help and support that our homeless veterans need and deserve. I would reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. FILNER. Madam Speaker, a famous President once said: ``We have nothing to fear but fear itself.'' The deputy ranking member--I didn't know we had such a title--is spreading fear, and I would just like to make it clear to every veteran, every family of veterans, and all Americans, there will be no reduction of any benefits of any veteran in the veterans health care system. There will be no taxes. There will be no diminution of services. Let's just make that clear. General Leave

Mr. FILNER. Madam 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. 4810.

Mr. FILNER. I urge my colleagues to unanimously support the bill. I have no further requests for time and yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. As the gentleman knows, we included that bill on a list of seven bills that we asked to be taken up on the floor, and we were scheduled for six of them. That is as far as I know.

Mr. FILNER. Madam Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. FILNER. Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues' unanimous support, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 3976, as amended. I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. FILNER. Madam Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. FILNER. I have no further speakers, and I am prepared to close.

Mr. FILNER. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3976) to extend certain expiring provisions providing enhanced protections for servicemembers relating to mortgages and mortgage foreclosure, as amended.