Bob Filner

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/4\ minutes to the chairwoman of our Economic Opportunity Subcommittee, the gentlelady from South Dakota, Stephanie Herseth Sandlin.

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. I thank the chairman not only for his kind words, but for bringing this resolution to us on National Maritime Day, and for his making the connection between what we are doing today and the historical record that we as a Nation, I think, have to recognize and correct. This resolution, H. Res. 413, does recognize the heroic and brave service of the Merchant Marine veterans who have gone unheralded by this country for far too long. Of course, this is the best time to do this, on National Maritime Day, which was first celebrated in 1933. It is intended to recognize the invaluable role that the maritime industry in general and the Merchant Marine in particular served to our Nation's economy and to our security. Throughout our Nation's history, the Merchant Marine has played a crucial part in ensuring our freedom and security during war and in transporting our commerce during peace. This day was conceptualized by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a former Assistant Secretary of the Navy, who firmly believed, as we continue to, that the Nation needed a strong Merchant Marine to serve as an auxiliary to our naval and other military forces during war. In fact, the Merchant Marine has participated in every war since serving as the Nation's first Navy, helping George Washington's Continental Army defeat the British. After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, 29 Merchant Marine Academy cadets operated a fleet of boats in New York Harbor, transporting the firefighters and other emergency equipment workers and medical supplies. It is interesting to note that the United States Merchant Marine Academy is the only one of our five military academies that will send its cadets into war; and, in fact, we have lost 142 of those cadets since World War II. Today, more than 8,000 merchant mariners serve in the Military Sealift Command, most working in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. I thank my colleague for bringing up the situation of our World War II veterans. As he said, it is too late to give them education benefits. But I have a bill, H.R. 23, that says we want to give you a belated thank you with a payment for the last years of their life, most of whom are over 80 right now. During World War II, these merchant mariners traversed the dangerous U-boat-laden waters of the Atlantic and the Pacific, faced down fierce air attacks from kamikaze planes, and were instrumental in every theater of war by carrying 95 percent of all tank supplies and troops during the Great War. As a result, they suffered, as was pointed out, the highest casualty rate of any of the military branches. It is indisputable that the allied forces would not have been able to begin, sustain, or finish World War II without their valiant and selfless service. When I first heard of the plight of the merchant mariners of World War II, I could not believe the treatment that they have received. They did not receive any recognition as veterans that they deserved, or the benefits of the GI bill which they had earned. And their fight for equality continued for over 40 years, when they finally attained veteran status after a lengthy court battle. By then, over 125,000 of them had died. I actually had the privilege of receiving the heart-wrenching testimony during a hearing before the Veterans' Affairs Committee from one of the named parties in that suit, in the 1980s, a merchant mariner named Stanley Willner. He was captured, interned, beaten, starved, and tortured as a POW for 3 years. He actually was one of the unfortunate group of Allied Forces who was forced to build the infamous bridge on the River Kwai. Upon release, he weighed a mere 74 pounds. When he returned home, even his wife couldn't recognize him. Well, neither did his country. The brave merchant mariner received just 2 weeks of medical care and little else for his incredible service and sacrifice. What a travesty of justice. Mr. Speaker, there are many more stories like this that tell about the merchant mariners of World War II, of opportunities lost and dreams foreclosed. It is long overdue that we treat these veterans the same as we try to do with all other veterans: Do our best to make them whole again. As such, in recognition of the 74th anniversary of National Maritime Day, I invite all of the country and my colleagues to join me in recognizing the brave men and women of the sea who, like the Merchant Marine veterans of World War II, serve selflessly to ensure our Nation's continued safety and prosperity by voting in favor of this resolution, and then taking action, hopefully in a few weeks, where we give a belated ``thank you'' to the merchant mariners of World War II and pass H.R. 23.

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman. I thank Chairman DeFazio and Ranking Member Duncan and Chairman Oberstar for this creative solution to a very difficult problem. I happen to live at the border. I represent the whole California- Mexico border. Through my district, at least 4,000 trucks a day pass through. That means across the whole border three or four, five times that will cross. The volume is enormous. There is no way for us to inspect this incredible volume of traffic. In fact, when there was a test case several years ago of inspecting all the trucks, they found 100 percent of the trucks had either insurance or safety violations. We are dealing with issues of insurance. We are dealing with issues of truck safety. We're dealing with issues of driver certification and jobs on this side of the border. There's no question that these certifications are just not the same standards that we apply. We have fraudulent use of papers. There is enormous difficulty in getting accountability. But, in addition, if we allow the truckers to cross they will be in this country and able to take jobs away from our local companies, especially small trucking companies. It costs them about 150 dollars to go to L.A. from San Diego and back. A Mexican trucker will do it for 50 dollars. That puts all our guys out of business if the administration proposal was allowed to go through. So I thank the Chair for coming up with this creative solution. This is a bad, bad vision that the administration has to allow all trucks across in a way which does not really meet the safety or insurance or certification standards that we have in this country. And we're going to have a major accident somewhere, and the people in America are going to say how did this happen. Well, we intend in Congress to make sure that we keep our safe roads and we keep our jobs for American truckers.

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. When the Democrats became the majority of this Congress earlier this year, we promised to keep our contract with our Nation's veterans, to keep our contract. So how have we done during the first four months as Democrats? Wherever we stand on the war, wherever we stand on the war, we are committed to make sure that every young man and woman who returns from that war gets all the care, the love, the attention, the honor, respect and dignity that this Nation can bestow. And in the first three budget bills that went by this House, in the last 3 months, we were able to add over last year's total over $13 billion for veterans health care; $13 billion, that's almost a 30 percent increase over last year. The biggest in the history of the Veterans' Administration. And we're going to use that money to make sure that the terrible brain-injured veterans that come back, those who have physical scars or mental scars (PTSD, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) will get all the care that an advanced Nation can give. As a nation, we are not doing our job now, but we Democrats are committed to making sure the job is done.

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman, and like her, I commend the gentleman from California for his tireless work on an issue that rarely gets community support, and I am convinced, as he said I visited the area, that we will have an up-and-running homeless program for veterans with substance abuse in a very short time. It is a place where the VA is using its facilities, and it is a great opportunity for anybody who wants to help this issue. So I thank the gentleman and I thank the gentlewoman.

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

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 1 minute. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the concerns that the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ginny Brown-Waite) raised. I think the concern should be directed to the VA Secretary who, if he had asked for a competition on proposals, wouldn't be negotiating with just one group. I personally have talked to groups that say they would offer proposals which would guarantee all veterans and would guarantee sober living, and we are convinced it would not take 2 years, but could be done rather quickly. I think Congressman Sherman can answer with much greater expertise and I would yield to him such time as he may consume.

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1642) to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to ensure that, to the extent possible, an enhanced-use lease for a homeless housing project at the Department of Veterans Affairs facility known as the Sepulveda Ambulatory Care Center, located in North Hills, California, shall provide that such housing project shall be maintained as a sober living facility for veterans only, and for other purposes.

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 2642. We all know that homelessness among veterans is a pervasive problem. Estimates are that there are 20,000 to 30,000 homeless veterans in the Los Angeles area alone and more than 200,000 probably on the streets of our entire Nation. Many of these homeless veterans also have substance abuse problems. My colleague and friend, Congressman Brad Sherman, has worked with veterans in the San Fernando Valley community to mobilize community support for veterans-only housing, a project that will use two buildings at the VA Sepulveda complex to provide housing and supportive services for homeless veterans with substance abuse problems. The bill before you will ensure that the Sepulveda veterans facilities and resources are used for veterans only. It also provides that all qualified housing organizations receive the opportunity to compete for the homeless veterans housing project at Sepulveda. Most importantly, this bill directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to ensure that, to the extent possible, an enhanced use lease for a homeless housing project at Sepulveda shall be maintained as a sober living facility for veterans only with adequate staffing and security. Additionally, this bill will ensure that all qualified housing organizations receive the opportunity to present competing proposals to the VA for a homeless veterans project at the Sepulveda Ambulatory Care Center in North Hills, California. Mr. Speaker, two worthy and good nonprofit organizations, New Directions, Incorporated, and their partner, A Community of Friends, made a proposal to local VA administrators and local elected officials and community representatives to enter into this lease with the VA for a veterans-only housing project for recovering substance abusers that would in fact be alcohol-free and would have adequate staffing and security. All the parties that were brought together by Mr. Sherman agreed to these commitments. But just last summer, the nonprofits abandoned that proposal and sought enhanced-use lease to deliver a project that was substantially different than what everyone had agreed to earlier. They took these steps after discovering additional funding sources through Housing and Urban Development that it believes might be available for this project if it opens these facilities to residency by non-veterans and allows the use of alcohol. Mr. Speaker, how can you begin to help homeless veterans who are trying to get their lives together, trying to recover from addictions to drugs and alcohol, but putting them in a facility that allows the very thing from which they are trying to recover? It does not make any sense. This bill does not stop the Secretary of the VA from entering into a lease, but it does ensure that the Secretary conduct a diligent search to find a qualified organization with the experience, efficiency and funding sources to deliver a veterans-only, sober living facility and to enter into a lease with the organization best suited to deliver the projects. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support passage of H.R. 1642. I also ask for their continued support for our Nation's veterans. This bill is the least we can do to help ensure our homeless and recovering veterans have an environment that allows them to reach their goal, clean and sober. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Madam Speaker, my friend and colleague, James L. Wood, died on Wednesday, April 18, following a brief bout with an aggressive cancer. Since his retirement from San Diego State University in May 2005, Jim and his wife Patsy lived in Berkeley. Jim was an inspirational teacher and reform activist. These passions animated him throughout his life, both in his family relations and in his engagement with the larger world. Jim was born in Oakland, CA, in 1941. After graduating from the Oakland public schools, he enrolled in the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned his Bachelor's degree and Ph.D. in sociology. As a student at Berkeley, Jim met his future wife Patsy. They studied at Berkeley in extraordinary times, when national and world affairs and their academic aspirations converged. Jim's first day of graduate school, October 1, 1964, marked the beginning of the Free Speech movement. Additionally, the Civil Rights movement and the anti-war movement's mobilization of students and broad segments of the general public against the U.S. involvement in war in Southeast Asia influenced Jim to study collective behavior and mass movements. Upon completion of his doctoral studies at Berkeley, Jim moved to San Diego and joined the Sociology Department at San Diego State University (SDSU) in 1975. His scholarship and teaching focused on social movements and political sociology. He also taught courses on statistics and methodology. Jim assumed the duties of Department Chair, from 1991 to 2000. During these years at SDSU, Jim authored and co-authored many articles and books addressing civil rights, collective behavior and student activism, social movements, and sociological traditions. When State budget allocations for the California State University system (CSU) declined, in the early 1990s, efforts of the SDSU leadership to restructure departments on that campus, including elimination of the Sociology Department, prompted Jim to focus intensively on the politics of higher education. As an activist and leader in the SDSU Chapter of the California Faculty Association, Jim was part of a faculty-student coalition that prompted the restoration of nine academic departments that had been slated for dismantling, and the withdrawal of termination notices for the numerous tenured faculty who would have been dismissed. For the CFA Chapter, Jim chaired the legislative committee. He also actively participated in other organizations, including the American Sociological Association. He was a member and elected officer of the American Association of University Professors. In 1996, he was a founding member and later became president of the San Diego-based Faculty Coalition for Public Higher Education, which supports funding stabilization for the State's public colleges and universities, the protection of tenure in the face of the expansion and exploitation of contingent faculty ranks, faculty control of technology in the classroom, and the exposure of corporate influence in higher education. Following retirement, Jim and Patsy resettled in Berkeley. Jim continued to be active in sharing information and supporting the reforms for the community colleges and universities to which he had devoted so much energy over the years. For colleagues and friends, the memory of Jim as a committed professor and activist will continue as an inspiration. Jim is survived by his wife Patsy and daughter Ann, both of Berkeley, and son Jeff of Los Angeles. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, April 28, at 2 p.m. at the Unity Church, 2075 Eunice Street, Berkeley, CA.

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. I thank the gentlelady, and I thank the leadership of Ms. Woolsey and Ms. Lee of the Progressive Caucus. Madam Chair, I rise this morning as the Chair of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee in proud support of the Progressive Caucus budget. Other budgets fund the war; this budget funds the warrior. I am going to repeat that: Other budgets fund the war; this budget funds the warrior. Most of us in the Progressive Caucus are against the war in Iraq, but we are united in our view that when these young men and women come home and all the other young men and women who came home in the past, that they get all the care, the support, the honor, the dignity, the love that a grateful Nation can bestow. We are united in saying we will honor those who come home. They have done everything we have asked, they have been brave and courageous, they have had incredible wounds both physically and mentally, and we are going to give them the care, love, respect, and honor that they deserve. This is the only budget before us today that says we will have what is called ``mandatory funding'' of veterans health care. Mandatory funding means we don't have to wait 5 months like the Republicans did last year when they didn't fund the Veterans Administration for the first 5 months of the fiscal year. Assured funding, mandatory funding, means that they will be funded on the first day of the fiscal year, and they will get automatic funding that doesn't have to go through a political fight. We have a President that says support the troops, support the troops, support the troops. The speakers on the other side say support the troops, support the troops, support the troops. But when they get home, who is supporting them? Who is supporting these brave young men and women when they come back? We saw what happened at Walter Reed. We saw what happened to Bob Woodruff when he had traumatic brain injury--and those who were less fortunate than he didn't get the treatment they needed. We heard about the young marine who went to a Minnesota hospital saying he had PTSD and was thinking about committing suicide, and they said he was number 28 on the waiting list, come back in a month. He went home and he committed suicide. That is not a Veterans Administration, that is not a country that is welcoming its troops home. It is time that we fund the warrior and not just the war. Vote for the Progressive Caucus budget.

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Chairman, as the chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee, I rise in strong support of the Wounded Warrior Assistance Act; and I yield to myself what time I might consume. I want to thank Congressman Skelton and Congressman Hunter. This is a great bill. As a Nation and as a Congress, we were faced with a test, a real challenge, whether we can respond to the conditions of our Nation and of our veterans and our active duty troops. The revelations of what happened at Walter Reed presented us that challenge, gave us that test, and I say with confidence that this Congress is meeting that test. This is step two in meeting that test. Step one was to make sure we had sufficient resources in the budget of this Nation to meet the needs not only of our existing veterans who have more and more need, whether they are from World War II or Vietnam or the first Persian Gulf war or the great influx of veterans that we are going to have from Iraq and Afghanistan. We already have over 700,000 returning troops who are now veterans, and we are going to get hundreds of thousands more. In the so-called continuing resolution that was passed by this Congress a few weeks ago, the Veterans Administration was the only agency that got a significant increase from last year's budget; and this Congress added $3.6 billion to veterans in that one continuing resolution. The supplemental for war that passed this House last week, led by Speaker Pelosi, Chairman Skelton, Chairman Obey, and Chairman Edwards, we said that the supplemental for war has to also have a supplemental for the warrior--for the health care of our returning veterans. Both in the Defense Department and the VA, we put in almost $3.5 billion; and in the budget resolution that we will be considering today and voting on tomorrow, the Democrats have put in $6.6 billion above the 2007 levels. That, in 90 days, is over $13.5 billion added to last year's budget for the care of our veterans. George Washington said it very clearly, that the morale of our active duty troops is dependent on the sense of how they are going to be treated when they come home. The first step of infusion of money, the second step of the Wounded Warrior Assistance bill, says that we are going to meet the challenge, that we understand that the costs of caring for our veterans is part of the cost of war, and that no matter what we think about the war in Iraq, we are united in this Congress and in this Nation that every returning young man and woman gets all the care and love and respect and honor that this Nation can deliver. That is what this bill says, that we are all committed to making sure that the care of these veterans is first in our consciousness. Both the Defense health care system and the VA system is stretched to its limits. We have underfunded it over the years. We are asking from very dedicated professionals in the VA system to do more and more with less and less resources. The strain is evident wherever you look. The strain is evident at Walter Reed. The strain is evident when a young Marine shows up at a VA hospital in Minnesota and says, I think I have PTSD and I am having thoughts of suicide, and he was told that you are 28th on the waiting list, come back in a few weeks or a few months, and he went home and he committed suicide. The strain on our system is shown by events like that, and we are committed to making sure that they do not continue. So we have to live up to our responsibilities, both for the returning Iraqi and Afghanistan veterans and to those who have served our Nation going back to World War II. In many instances, the problems are exacerbated because of jurisdictional and procedure roadblocks between the Defense and the Veterans Administration. So we have to remove those roadblocks; and, as chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee, I have worked closely with other members of our committee who will speak today, with Chairman Skelton and Ranking Member Hunter of the Committee on Armed Services, to make sure we are working off the same page. This legislation takes important steps in making the servicemember's transition from the Department of Defense to the VA a seamless transition. We have been using that word for a long time, but we still have great cracks in that system. It is not seamless, but this bill would mandate the Department of Defense to provide disabled servicemembers who are being separated or returned from the Armed Forces with a written transition plan, a road map pointing the way to programs and benefits offered to them as veterans. It would institute a formal process for transmitting reports and other information to the Veterans Administration from the active duty situation. It would require both the Department of Defense and the Veterans Administration to establish a joint separation and evaluation physical. Physicals now are done by two different agencies and with two different standards and with two different bureaucracies. It is sometimes a hellish situation for returning active duty troops. We have to have a fully interoperable medical information system so that two agencies can speak to one another, so that the veteran coming home will have on his record in the VA all the things that occurred to him when he was on active duty in the military. If we are going to make the handoff in the continuum of care successful, if we are going to make sure there is a seamless transition, if we want to make sure that we don't fumble information that puts at risk the returning servicemembers, we have to take these steps. These steps have are not newly invented. They were first expressed in earlier reports, the President's Task Force, for example, to Improve Health care for our Nation's Veterans, talked about this transition. I hope we are providing both departments with the resources and the tools they need to get that transition right. Mr. Chairman, our concern is for the health of our fighting men and women when they come home that they get that health care taken care of, both in the Defense Department hospitals and in the VA system. Let's work seamlessly. I urge support for H.R. 1538. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Chairman, I would ask unanimous consent to use 10 minutes that were yielded back from the Armed Services time to be split evenly between the majority and minority.

Mr. FILNER. A point of order, Mr. Chairman, I had understood that they had yielded the time that they had left back to the Veterans' Affairs Committee for use if we needed it, and we do need it. I think Mr. Buyer needs some time, and I do also. If I could yield to Mr. Hunter for that.

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Skelton and Mr. Hunter, your committee, working with the Veterans Committee, has produced an outstanding piece of legislation; and I hope that that cooperation, I know that cooperation will continue, because we have other things to do. The gentleman from Kansas expressed what is on the minds of many of our colleagues, and that is to make sure that our rural veterans are served, also. We will do that; and I know my ranking member, Mr. Buyer, joins me in that commitment. As I said earlier, Mr. Chairman, we have a test as a Nation. Are we going to make sure that every returning young man and woman from Iraq and Afghanistan has the best facilities, the best health care, the best treatment, the best love, the best commitment that we, as a Nation, can offer? And are we going to make sure that their predecessors, from World War II to the present, are also given that same care and commitment? There are 200,000 homeless vets on the street tonight, mainly from the Vietnam era. We cannot allow that to continue. We have a 600,000 claim backlog for disability payments. We cannot allow that to continue. We have facilities that need to be repaired and rebuilt. We have needs for Agent Orange veterans and atomic veterans. We, as a Nation, must take up this challenge and must meet it. We had significant new resources provided in the budget matters that have come before us in the last 60 days. This Wounded Warrior Assistance Act is the next step as we try to make sure that those who faced danger and life-threatening situations in Iraq do not have to face a bureaucracy which threatens to kill them off. This is a step to change that. We are going to have a seamless transition, and I thank the Chair for his commitment.

Mr. FILNER. I appreciate that. Parliamentary Inquiry

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Chairman, we yield 3 minutes to the command sergeant major from Minnesota (Mr. Walz).

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from Nevada (Ms. Berkley) who is an aggressive advocate for the veterans not only in Las Vegas but across the Nation.

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 327) to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to develop and implement a comprehensive program designed to reduce the incidence of suicide among veterans, as amended.

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. 327, as amended.

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 5 minutes. Mr. Speaker and my colleagues, today we have the first bills that are coming out of the Veterans Committee this year. We are going to have an ambitious agenda for our committee, an agenda that in fact is demanded by the American people. We have seen in the last few weeks enormous attention paid to the treatment, or lack thereof, that is given to our Nation's veterans, whether they are from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the first Persian Gulf War or now from Iraq and Afghanistan. We have seen the Washington Post articles which detailed the problems at Walter Reed. We have seen news magazines have cover stories on how veterans are falling through the cracks of the system. We have seen on ABC News, Bob Woodruff, do a very moving piece on how brain injuries are treated, or perhaps not treated. We have seen stories in the press of homeless, already, from veterans of Iraq. The American people understand that we are not treating our veterans the way we claim to be. The American people, I think, understand that the treatment of our warriors is a part of the cost of war, and we simply have to provide for those brave men and women who have fought for our Nation's freedom. So we have an ambitious agenda in front of us, Mr. Speaker. These first items today address some specific areas that demand attention. I thank the Members from across the aisle for their support not only of these bills, but I think for the agenda that we are going to pursue in the future. And it is time, Mr. Speaker, that we say as a Congress and as a Nation, no matter where we are on this war in Iraq, that when those brave young men and women come back we are going to treat them with all the love and respect and honor and care that American veterans should have. And we make that pledge on both sides of the aisle. As I said, one of the top priorities of our committee is to address the needs of returning servicemembers from Iraq and Afghanistan, especially in the areas of mental health. I believe that if we send our citizens off to war, we have to address their health care needs when they return. We cannot say, support our troops, support our troops, support our troops, and then forget them when they come home. It turns out, I think unsurprisingly, that 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 can have disastrous consequences. It has already occurred for returning veterans, maybe a couple hundred. 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. This bill, H.R. 327, is an important step in the right direction. It comes to us from our colleague from Iowa (Mr. Boswell), who has taken the tragedy from a family in Iowa and turned it into constructive measures so that tragedy will not be repeated in other parts of the Nation. And we thank Mr. Boswell and his colleague, Mr. Braley from Iowa, for bringing this to our attention. This bill will provide important tools to the Veterans Administration to assist the Department in strengthening suicide prevention, education, and awareness programs within the VA by mandating a comprehensive program for suicide prevention among veterans. Again, I thank Mr. Boswell for introducing this bill. I thank Mr. Miller and his colleagues for supporting it. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the chairman of our Subcommittee on Health, the gentleman from Maine (Mr. Michaud).

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hare), who has picked up the torch from the legendary defender of veterans' rights, Mr. Lane Evans, and is carrying that torch with distinction.

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I say to Mr. Ramstad, we thank you for your passion. On the Veterans Committee, we intend to use the concern of America now for PTSD of returning veterans to argue that we need parity for all mental health issues in America. So we thank you for your leadership on this. Thank you for reminding us of Corporal Schulze. We will use this as a reminder of what we have to do for our veterans. Thank you again for your passion. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. McNerney), whose son now serves us in our Nation as a member of the Air Force Reserve.

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Walz), another new Member, who happens to be the highest ranking enlisted man, as a command sergeant major, ever to serve in the Congress. We thank you for your service.