Jeff Miller

Mr. MILLER of Florida

Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the gentlelady for her fine work, and I urge all of my colleagues to support H.R. 2942. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. MILLER of Florida

Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I urge all my colleagues to support H.R. 2527, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on H.R. 2527.

Mr. MILLER of Florida

Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members would have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on H.R. 4261.

Mr. MILLER of Florida

Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, on May 15, 2014, Northwest Florida and our Nation lost a warrior--Commander Robert James Flynn, United States Navy, Retired. Commander Flynn honorably served our country as a member of the Armed Forces for twenty-seven years, and I am humbled to rise and pay tribute to his life and his unwavering devotion to God and country. Hailing from La Crosse, Wisconsin, Commander Flynn studied pre-law at the University of Minnesota until 1958 when he entered the Naval Aviation Cadet Program. Within two years, he became a Naval Flight Officer and then trained as a bombardier/navigator. On August 21, 1967, his life took a tragic turn when his A-6 aircraft, which launched from the USS Constellation, was shot down over North Vietnam. Commander Flynn spent the next five and a half years of his life in a Chinese prison. According to the POW Network, his unimaginable 2,030 days in solitary confinement makes it the longest amount of time a member of the U.S. Armed Forces served in solitary confinement. Commander Flynn was released on March 15, 1973. Commander Flynn was proud to say that his captors called him ``one of the most reactionary prisoners in their history.'' His relentless strength and courage were hallmarks of both his life and career, and it was his strong faith in God, his love for his family, and his commitment to duty, honor, and country that even in the darkest of times he held on and survived. His final assignment as Director of Aviation Warfare Training with Chief of Naval Education and Training at Naval Air Station Pensacola brought Commander Flynn back home to his beloved Northwest Florida. In 1985, he retired from the Navy after 71 missions. Throughout his distinguished Naval Career, Commander Flynn earned and was bestowed multiple honors including the Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star, and Prisoner of War Medal. Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the United States Congress, it gives me great pride to honor the life and service of an American hero and decorated warrior. Our Nation, the Northwest Florida community, and countless others will miss Commander Flynn's unwavering perseverance and optimism, but his legacy will endure for years to come. My wife Vicki joins me in extending our most sincere condolences to his wife, Kathy; their two children, Elizabeth and Robert; and the entire Flynn family.

Mr. MILLER of Florida

Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. We have just been told that this is a knee-jerk reaction to a crisis. It is the only action to a crisis. The President, for 3 weeks, has said nothing until today. He still said nothing today. The Secretary has not been involved. We have to take care of the veterans we have fighting for our freedoms every single day. Nothing in this bill takes away the recruitment process through SES, and if the Secretary does fire somebody or demote somebody because of this law, he has to provide notice to Congress within 30 days. If you don't do your job, you get fired. I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Kelly).

Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I now yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. LaMalfa).

Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Gainesville, Florida, Dr. Yoho, who has a facility that, in fact, is in question at this point and from which several people have been put on administrative leave.

Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I have one more speaker I have been told is on his way, but he is not here at this point, so we are prepared to close.

Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, for the past 3 years, the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs has uncovered, and continues to uncover, numerous instances of gross negligence and incompetence by senior VA officials that have led to delays in care, growing patient wait times, and lengthy backlogs of disability claims. Regrettably, some of these instances have resulted in lack of proper care for veterans and for preventable deaths. Despite repeated promises of accountability and change, the committee has received nothing but disturbing silence from the White House and only one excuse after another from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Mr. Speaker, we have all seen the heartbreaking news or spoken personally to family after family coming forward, sharing their stories of how the VA has failed to fulfill their promise to our veterans. The time is past due for us, as the House of Representatives, to take action. The troubling stories that have come out of Phoenix, Arizona, where whistleblowers allege that as many as 40 veterans died while waiting for care and alleged secret waiting lists are unconscionable if in fact proven true. We would not be doing our sworn duty if we sat idly by and allowed these preventable deaths of those who made sacrifices for this great country to become the status quo at the VA. Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, these incidents do not seem to be isolated. They are under the watch of not just one senior VA manager. Similar stories of mismanagement and negligence have arisen in Fort Collins, Colorado; San Antonio, Texas; Augusta, Georgia; Atlanta, Georgia; Memphis, Tennessee; Columbia, South Carolina; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Chicago, Illinois, with news stories being covered almost every single day. Mr. Speaker, these stories were crystallized for me and other Members at a recent hearing that we had on patient wait times on April 9. Mr. Barry Coates, a veteran from Columbia, South Carolina, informed the committee that he waited almost a year to receive a colonoscopy at VA. When he finally received his appointment, it was revealed that he had stage IV colon cancer. Mr. Coates testified: ``The gross negligence and crippling backlog epidemic of the VA health care system has not only handed me a death sentence, but ruined my quality of life.'' Mr. Speaker, the need for accountability to help veterans like Mr. Coates is the reason why H.R. 4031 is so critically important. The VA Management Accountability Act of 2014 would give the Secretary the authority to fire or to demote VA Senior Executive Service or equivalent employees based on performance at any time. The current system is so calcified in bureaucratic red tape that it is easier for someone to get a bonus than it is to be given some type of discipline at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Is this what our citizens want? Is this what our veterans deserve? I don't think so, and neither do the 150 bipartisan cosponsors of this piece of legislation or the leading VSOs that support it. Now, the actions of these few senior executives do not tarnish the hard work of 300,000 frontline VA employees who come to work every day and by and large provide excellent care and services to our veterans. Too many of these employees have in fact been continually let down by poor-performing senior executives. It is time to restore their trust and America's trust in the leadership at VA. Look, General Shinseki is a good man. He wants to hold others accountable, but he is being held back by a failed civil service that makes it nearly impossible to remove SES employees. If this bill becomes law, he and his successors will have no excuse. He will have every tool to hold managers accountable and restore faith in the VA. I am truly grateful to the 150 sponsors from both sides of the aisle of this vital piece of legislation. I also want to thank the following VSOs, veterans service organizations, who have tirelessly advocated on behalf of this bill, including the American Legion, Concerned Veterans for America, IAVA, AMVETS, the Reserve Officers, Vietnam Veterans of America, and the Military Officers Association of America. Finally, I thank Leader Cantor and Speaker Boehner for their help in bringing this bill to the floor. Mr. Speaker, it is time that VA's status quo is upended, which is why I believe this bill, the House's earlier action this year to suspend VA bonuses for 5 years, and my call on President Obama to establish a bipartisan VA medical care access commission is crucial to getting a resolution to this problem. I believe the question presented before each Member here today is very clear: Do you stand with our veterans or do you stand with a bureaucratic-entrenched failing system? I urge all of my colleagues to support H.R. 4031 and maintain our promises to our veterans and their families. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, at this time, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from the 12th District of Pennsylvania (Mr. Rothfus), who has been very involved in issues as they relate to Pittsburgh.

Mr. MILLER of Florida. First, I want to say thank you very much to the gentleman from Maine, who in fact has been very bipartisan in the way that we have approached this. Our committee has in fact worked in a very bipartisan way in trying to get to the bottom of the issue that lays out there. I would like to say that it has been said on the floor that there were no hearings on this bill. In fact, it has been heard in subcommittee. It has also been said that the Secretary has the tools that he needs in order to hold people accountable. Folks, here is where we are. Back in January, I went to Augusta, Georgia, and Columbia, South Carolina, at the request of Congressman Joe Wilson and Congressman John Barrow. We know--and VA has said--that there were deaths that occurred. There were some 5,000 veterans that were on waiting lists for colonoscopies. I talked about one of those veterans who testified before our committee today. Shortly after that, I wrote a letter to the Secretary and I asked him to please provide me the names of the people, what their positions were, and what type of accountability, what disciplinary actions have you taken. We are now in the closing weeks of the month of May, and I have heard absolutely nothing out of the Department of Veterans Affairs. He may have the tools, but he won't use the tools that he has at his disposal to get rid of or to discipline the very people who are at the crux of the problem that we are talking about all across this Nation today. Let me tell you something else. The very director of the Phoenix hospital that is now on administrative leave, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs today, got an $8,500 bonus in April of this year, even though they knew that there was an open Office of Inspector General investigation ongoing at the time. He got a bonus while there was an ongoing investigation. In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where the director of the health care system up there knew that there was Legionella inside the water system that led to the death of at least six veterans--they knew it for a year--that person got a $63,000 Presidential bonus. It is easier to get rewarded at VA than it is to be disciplined. That is why I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of H.R. 4031, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. MILLER of Florida. The best way to reform the VA is to get rid of the deadwood, and that is what this bill actually gives the Secretary the opportunity to do, and that is to fire the people that aren't doing their job, especially--especially--those that are at the senior level. With that, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Lamborn).

Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it is now my pleasure to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Jolly). He is the newest member on the VA Committee, somebody who just came to Congress, but who, as a staff member, had been an advocate for veterans prior to his arrival here.

Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4031) to amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for the removal of the Senior Executive Service employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs for performance, and for other purposes.

Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on H.R. 4031.

Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Michigan, Dr. Benishek, a former doctor within the Department of Veterans Affairs, somebody who serves his subcommittee as chairman of the Health Subcommittee very well.

Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I would add another statistic to those that my colleague from Florida just said. There have been 23--at least 23 preventable deaths within the Department of Veterans Affairs. I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Coffman), my friend, the chairman of the O&I Subcommittee.

Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlelady from Indiana (Mrs. Walorski), a very capable member of the VA committee.

Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I have a request of the gentleman from Maine. My speaker has now shown up. May I yield him 1 minute?

Mr. MILLER of Florida

Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it is my privilege to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Camp Pinchot National Historic District located in Northwest Florida. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places in October 1998, Camp Pinchot is nestled in the Choctawhatchee National Forest, near Ft. Walton Beach, Florida, along the west bank of Garnier's Bayou. One of the first national forests and designated as one of President Theodore Roosevelt's original eleven Forest Service Headquarters in 1908, Choctawhatchee National Forest aided in the area's regional development and the establishment of the Camp, nearly six years later. In its earlier years, the forest served as a means for timber and wood turpentine. During this period, hundreds of miles of county and state roads were also built to help service the area, while maintaining the natural beauty of the forest, which was a fundamental goal of Gifford Pinchot, the first Chief of the United States Forest Service and namesake of Camp Pinchot. During the Great Depression, Camp Pinchot and the Choctawhatchee National Forest stood as a location for work relief for the Civilian Conservation Corps. In 1940, the national forest was ceded to the War Department to be used for a proving ground for aircraft armament. Major General William E. Kepner, who served as the Commanding General of the Air Proving Ground, helped preserve the site of Camp Pinchot, and today it is home to Eglin Air Force Base Commander's quarters. Mr. Speaker, surrounded by live oaks draped with Spanish moss, Camp Pinchot to this day maintains the turn of the century spirit of a quiet and simple life, and I am honored to commemorate its one hundred years of existence.

Mr. MILLER of Florida

Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to congratulate the First Congressional District of Florida's West Florida High School's girls softball team for winning the Class 4A State Championship. This victory marks the Lady Jaguars first ever state championship. West Florida High School ended their championship season with a record of 29-1, with a victory over P.K. Yonge High School on May 8, 2014 in the Class 4A State Championship Game. Led by head coach Jessica Smith, pitching coach Angie Johnson, and assistant coach Gary Jackson, the Jaguars are a team of young women with tremendous persistence and passion. These attributes were on full display in the championship game when the Jaguars found themselves trailing by four runs and down to their last out in the 7th inning. Despite the long odds, the Jaguars refused to give up. A pivotal moment in the game occurred when the Navy's Blue Angels, home based at Pensacola Naval Air Station, could be seen flying over the field, which was located over 500 miles from Pensacola, in Vero Beach. As Coach Smith described, catching a glimpse of home both encouraged and sparked a special energy in the Jaguars, and they triumphed over P.K. Yonge with a score of 6 to 5. Winning the state championship is a true testament to the hard work, ambition, and dedication of the West Florida High School girls softball team. Each team member is an invaluable asset to both the Lady Jaguars and the local community. To be honored with the opportunity to bring home a state championship is a wonderful reflection of the team's commitment to Northwest Florida and to each other. I commend Korina Rosario, Kathleen Smiley, Jordaine Watkins, Nachelle Watson, Ali Cutaio, Kristin Gunter, Emily Loring, Kayla Miller, Breana Rogers, Danyelle Black, Maegan Freeman, Jibrasha Moore, Farrah Nicholas, Lauren Carnley, Jasmyn Nguyen, and EaIon Pyle for challenging themselves as a team and setting a shining example of camaraderie and athleticism for their fellow students and youth in Pensacola. Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the United States Congress, it gives me great pleasure to recognize this outstanding group of young women and their devoted coaches for their extraordinary victory. My wife Vicki joins me in offering our best wishes to West Florida High School and its talented athletes for their continued personal and athletic success.

Mr. MILLER of Florida

Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I am privileged to recognize the dedicated service and contributions of Patrick G. Emmanuel on the occasion of his retirement from Emmanuel Sheppard and Condon, one of the oldest law firms in Pensacola, Florida. For 67 years, Mr. Emmanuel proudly served the law profession and Northwest Florida with passion and integrity. Prior to his career in law, Mr. Emmanuel served our Nation with honor and distinction as an officer in the United States Armed Forces. As a U.S. Army major, he earned the Bronze Star for his service as part of a tank battalion unit during World War II. Upon graduating from the University of Florida College of Law in 1946, Mr. Emmanuel began his long and decorated legal career. His countless accolades attest to his expertise as an attorney. Mr. Emmanuel has been listed in each prestigious volume of The Best Lawyers in America from 1983 until present, was rated by Martindale Hubbell as an A-V attorney, and was the recipient of the Florida Bar Foundation's ``2001 Medal of Honor Award.'' He also served as a Fellow in the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, the American College of Trial Lawyers, and the American Bar Association. His vast list of memberships include: The Florida Bar, President, 1985-1986; Florida Bar Foundation, President, 1971-1973; Federal Judicial Nominating Commission of Florida, member and Chairman, 1974-1981; American Bar Association, Delegate, 1986-1989; Society of the Bar of the First Judicial Circuit, President, 1967; and the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, Delegate, 1986-1990. In addition to serving his profession, Mr. Emmanuel also maintained an honorable level of commitment to the Northwest Florida community. For 20 years, he was a pro bono attorney for the Northwest Florida Crippled Children's Home, as well as served on their Board of Directors. Mr. Emmanuel was Chairman of the Advisory Board of Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola for a decade, was appointed by the Governor to the Florida Children's Commission, chaired the Legal Division of the March of Dimes, and was a member of the James Baroco Foundation, Inc. His extensive pro bono work earned him the recognition of the Florida Bar and their President's Pro Bono Service Award. Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the entire United States Congress, it is an honor to recognize the impressive career and achievements of one of Northwest Florida's most accomplished attorneys, Patrick G. Emmanuel. My wife Vicki and I congratulate Mr. Emmanuel, and we wish him and his family all the best for continued success.

Mr. MILLER of Florida

Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, due to the devastating impact of recent flooding in my district, I missed the following rollcall votes: No. 188-193 on May 1, 2014. If present, I would have voted: rollcall vote No. 188--Nugent of Florida Amendment to H.R. 4487, ``aye,'' rollcall vote No. 189--Gosar of Arizona Amendment to H.R. 4487, ``aye,'' rollcall vote No. 190--Broun of Georgia Amendment to H.R. 4487, ``aye,'' rollcall vote No. 191--Holt of New Jersey Amendment to H.R. 4487, ``nay,'' rollcall vote No. 192--H.R. 4487, Motion to Recommit, ``nay,'' rollcall vote No. 193--H.R. 4487, Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2015, ``aye.''