Bob Filner

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers.

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, this is not a germane issue, and I will stick to dealing with the bills on the floor.

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, parliamentary inquiry. Does the yieldee have to make time for an extraneous comment from the yielder?

Mr. FILNER. Is the yieldee required to give time to the yielder for a matter that has nothing to do with the matter under discussion?

Mr. FILNER. So are they through with their time? Have they yielded back the balance of their time?

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. Res. 392.

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join Mr. Lamborn and me to unanimously support H. Res. 392. I have no further requests for time, and I yield back my time.

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 67) to amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the outreach activities of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield to myself such time as I may consume. This bill comes to us from the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. McIntyre), and we thank him for his leadership on veterans outreach. If I had to sum up this bill in one phrase, I would say that it allows local organizations to provide more bang for the buck by having greater resources at the local level. This bill requires the VA to partner with State and local governments, through grant opportunities, to reach out to veterans and their families to ensure receipt of benefit for which they are eligible and assist them in completing their benefits claims. As we have seen from recent news reports all over the country, we still have veterans slipping through the cracks of this system. They are either unaware of their veterans benefits or are having difficulty getting those benefits processed. This bill establishes a grant program for the VA to provide to States' outreach activities, cooperative relationships and benefit claims development. The grant program allows State veterans agencies to award a portion of the grants to local governments for outreach purposes. In addition, the grant allows funding for education and training of State and local government employees for accreditation to provide outreach services. It may also be used to establish a local government veterans service program. The bill prohibits any portion of the grant to be used by the State for administrative purposes and requires the VA to allocate grants based on veteran populations. The bill limits grant use by States to less than 50 percent of the cost of State and local government outreach activities and prohibits grant funds from supplanting State and local funds for such activities. H.R. 67 authorizes $25 million annually, in fact $1 per veteran in our Nation, to improve outreach to veterans and remove some of the significant obstacles veterans must overcome to access their benefits. This is particularly true in rural areas, which Mr. McIntyre represents. The bill also contains performance measures to ensure that grant recipients are properly fulfilling the requirements of the program. The bill is supported by the American Legion, Military Officers Association, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Paralyzed Veterans of America, National County Veteran Service Officers, National Organization of Veterans Advocates, and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. 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. 2239) to amend title 38, United States Code, to expand eligibility for vocational rehabilitation benefits administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, as amended.

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

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 both H.R. 2199 and H.R. 2239, as amended.

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

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the dynamic chair of our Economic Opportunity Subcommittee, the gentlewoman from South Dakota (Ms. Herseth Sandlin).

Mr. FILNER

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. Speaker, let me just conclude by saying like everything else about this war, the administration did not prepare either for the fighting, the aftermath, or the treatment of the veterans coming back. We simply left thousands of our veterans without adequate resources to treat these brain injuries or PTSD or other issues that arise. No matter what denial that comes from the minority party, no matter what denial comes from the administration, we have not prepared for adequate treatment of these veterans. We are passing legislation today to do that, and we will not deny that there will be thousands and thousands of brain-injured veterans. We should bring them home now and we should treat them well when they get back.

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to yield 2 minutes to another great new Member fighting for veterans, Congressman Welch from Vermont.

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to yield 2 minutes to the fighting gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pascrell), who we like to call an honorary member of the Veterans' Committee since he fights so hard for veterans and is cochair of the Traumatic Brain Injury Caucus in the Congress.

Mr. FILNER. I would now recognize another great new Member from Pennsylvania (Mr. Altmire) for 2 minutes. He has taken the lead on dealing with traumatic brain injury.

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, how much time do we have left?

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I would like to yield 2 minutes to another hard-working new member of our committee, the highest-enlisted man ever to be elected to Congress, Command Sergeant Major Tim Walz from Minnesota.

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I would like to yield 2 minutes to another hard-working new member from our committee, the gentleman from California (Mr. McNerney).

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, we have had many people contribute to this legislation, as Mr. Michaud said. I would like to recognize a great new Member from Indiana who has worked hard on this legislation, Mr. Donnelly, for 2 minutes.