Phil Roe

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3996, the VA Design- Build Construction Enhancement Act of 2019. This bill is sponsored by my good friend Congressman Jim Banks from Indiana. Congressman Banks is a former chairman and current ranking member of the Subcommittee on Technology Modernization and a tireless advocate for his fellow veterans. His bill would encourage the use of the design-build construction method in the Department of Veterans Affairs by adding a reference to VA's construction statute, to existing government- wide design-build construction procedures; prohibiting VA from discouraging other Federal agencies that manage construction projects on VA's behalf from using design-build; and incorporating design-build into VA's construction management training curriculum. Design-build is a construction delivery method that is characterized by combining architectural, engineering, and construction services into a single contract. Design-build has been used successfully across the Federal Government since the mid-1990s. When used appropriately, it can accelerate the completion of construction projects, reduce change orders, and increase warranty protections. However, design-build has been used infrequently by VA, particularly after it was unfairly blamed for the troubles that plagued the replacement medical center construction project in Aurora, Colorado, which is just outside of Denver, despite not being used until 4 years into that project when the majority of the design-build had already been completed. As the chairman said, that project was $1 billion over budget. And to put that in perspective for just regular folks like me out there where I live, that is 1,000 million dollars over budget. That is how much a billion is. I believe that VA could have avoided these excessive change orders and other issues that caused the delays and cost overruns that came to characterize the Denver project had they incorporated design-build principles much earlier. Moving forward, I hope that the Department learns from the difficult lessons that Denver taught and does not shy away from using the design- build method, when appropriate, to deliver high-quality construction projects to serve our Nation's veterans. I thank Congressman Banks for his work on this bill; and while I wish Chairman Takano had used regular order to bring it forward, I am pleased to support its passage today. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Banks), my good friend. I have had a chance to visit his district and VA and talked to many groups in his district. There is no more passionate member of our committee than Congressman Banks.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I yield myself such time as I may consume. I think this is commonsense legislation, and certainly we can avoid what happened in Denver. That thousand million dollars could have been spent on veterans' healthcare or benefits or other much-needed projects in the VA. We don't have an endless supply of money. I certainly appreciate Mr. Banks' work on this. Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1424, the Fallen Warrior Battlefield Cross Memorial Act. This bill would require the Department of Veterans Affairs' national cemeteries to allow the display of the battlefield cross, which is a monument that depicts a fallen servicemember by an inverted rifle with a helmet and dog tags on top and a pair of combat boots at the bottom. We have all seen this. In 2017, a VA employee misinterpreted VA policy and removed a battlefield cross from the Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery, as well as two other similar memorials in cemeteries in Illinois and Michigan. The objection to the memorials were that they contained realistic depictions of firearms. As one Ohio veteran described, this image is one that veterans ``have seen in battlefields, on ships, on aircraft carriers, wherever we lost men. It's a symbol of respect and thanks. . . . It means a lot to veterans.'' I could not have said it better myself, Mr. Speaker; although, I do note that the battlefield cross is a powerful symbol that is used to honor all of our fallen warriors, both men and women. In response to veterans' and congressional concerns over the incident, the Department reinstated the memorial monuments and clarified that VA cemeteries can display this image. However, this bill is necessary to codify that policy and to ensure that VA does not ban this image ever again. This bill has my full support, and I appreciate Congressman Anthony Gonzalez from Ohio for introducing it and for his leadership on this issue. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Gonzalez), the author of this bill. I appreciate the gentleman is a new Member, but it didn't take him long to jump into gear and to recognize a wrong and to right that wrong.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers. I am prepared to close, and I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, I can think of no other time better than the day right after Veterans Day to bring this up and to vote on this legislation. I have lost friends in combat in the Vietnam War and know many families, as most of us have visited with families who have lost members. I also want to say that nowhere in the country--really, in the world--do we honor our cemeteries more than the VA does. The VA does a phenomenal job in our national cemeteries. And I have had an opportunity to travel to Europe and visit those cemeteries in Normandy, Flanders Field, Chateau-Thierry, and many others. It is really a place of sacred honor, these cemeteries are, and it is only appropriate that we allow and have this symbol there codified by law. I thank Congressman Gonzalez for his first bill. He can take great pride in having this bill passed and signed into law by the President. Mr. Speaker, I encourage all of our Members to support H.R. 1424, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3224, as amended, the Deborah Sampson Act. For as long as the United States has been a reality, brave women have been stepping up to serve on behalf of her and defending her from her enemies. This bill is named after one of those amazing women, Deborah Sampson, who so believed in the ideals of the American Revolution that she disguised herself as a man so that she could join in the fight for freedom and independence. Deborah Sampson's spirit of bravery, patriotism, and commitment to service are still very much alive in the approximately 2 million women veterans in the United States today and the almost 400,000 women serving on Active Duty or in the Guard and Reserves. Those women have fought in defense of the American Dream--on the frontlines, in the Pentagon, and everywhere in between, in every branch of the armed services. And, once they leave the military, they are, increasingly, seeking care from the Department of Veterans Affairs. In fact, the number of women using the VA healthcare system has more than tripled since 2001 and is expected to continue rising significantly in the years ahead. VA leaders have been working to make the department more welcoming to women veterans, but the fact remains that the VA healthcare system was designed for men. That is, perhaps, most upsettingly evidenced by the VA study published last December that found that a full quarter of the women veterans who seek care from the VA are subjected to inappropriate or unwanted comments from male veterans on VA grounds. That is tragic and unacceptable, just like it is anytime the VA falls short of providing the high-quality care, benefits, and services that women veterans have earned and certainly deserve, which still, sadly, happens all too often. The Deborah Sampson Act is legislation introduced by Congresswoman Julia Brownley from California--and she is to be applauded for that-- the chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Health and the bipartisan Women Veterans Task Force that would help put an end to this. The bill would create an Office of Women's Health within the VA, require VA to establish an environment of care standards for women veterans and ensure that VA medical facilities are retrofitted to meet those standards, require and fund VA programs to train providers in VA medical facilities and in the community on women's health, and improve access to care for women veterans and their newborn children. It also includes provisions that would help all veterans, women and men alike, who experience military sexual trauma, intimate-partner violence, sexual assault, or sexual harassment to get the support and care that they need. Mr. Speaker, there have been a lot of allegations made by Chairman Takano, and I make the following remarks with a heavy heart. There have been a lot of allegations made by Chairman Takano and others in the 2 weeks since the Deborah Sampson Act was marked up in the committee about how I and my Republican colleagues feel about this legislation and about the women that it is intended to serve. So let me be crystal clear. I stand here in strong support of the Deborah Sampson Act and all the good it would do for the millions of women veterans that it would serve. I intend to call for a recorded vote on this bill, and I fully expect the vote to prove that there is overwhelming bipartisan support for this legislation. Mr. Speaker, when I left the Army in 1974, I returned home to Tennessee to finish my residency in obstetrics and gynecology and spend the better part of my life caring for women in private practice. My dedication to ensuring that women, whether they be civilian or veteran, have the care that they need is personal, deeply felt, and informed by three decades of direct action on behalf of the women who are my patients, my friends, my family, my neighbors, my colleagues, and my fellow veterans. That is why it is so disappointing that, when my Republican colleagues and I walked out of the committee markup where this bill was being considered in protest to the chairman's actions surrounding it, he decided to launch a baseless, identity-politics fueled attack on me and other Republican members of the committee by alleging that we were walking out on women veterans. Nothing can be further from the truth. The chairman knows full well that our decision to leave that markup had nothing to do with our support for the Deborah Sampson Act, much less our support for women veterans, and everything to do with the unprecedented partisanship that he displayed when this bill was being considered by our committee. So I would like to take this opportunity this afternoon to correct the record. Chairman Takano has called this bill historic and monumental, yet, during the committee's consideration of it, he allowed one Democrat member, Congresswoman Brownley, exactly 4 minutes to talk about it before cutting off all debate for every other member in the room by invoking a procedural tactic that hadn't been used by our committee in more than a decade. And I will say this: I never used this when I was chairman, nor did Chairman Miller. He did that to avoid debate on certain Republican amendments that he erroneously characterized as toxic and partisan. They were offered in good faith to address barriers to care for veteran women and men across the country that we have been requesting the chairman to act on for the better part of a year. One of the amendments that the chairman refused to debate or vote on was offered by Congressman Andy Barr from Kentucky to prevent those charged with a serious crime, including violent or sexual crimes against children, from caring for children while their veteran parent is receiving care from VA until their case has been favorably resolved. The lack of childcare services is a serious barrier to care for veterans, including many women veterans, as the chairman himself has mentioned many times. Our committee rightly acted on a bill, H.R. 840, which passed the House in February, to break down that barrier by authorizing VA to provide childcare for veterans who are engaged in VA treatment. But if the veterans cannot rest assured that their children are safe in the VA childcare program, they won't use it--they won't use the care--and the lack of childcare services will continue to prevent veterans from getting the care that they need. Congressman Barr's amendment would close a loophole in that bill that would allow an individual charged with a serious offense--like child molestation--but who is awaiting his or her day in court to be responsible for caring for a veteran's child in a VA childcare program while their case is pending before the courts. Mr. Speaker, I know that there are a lot of things that we cannot agree on, but protecting vulnerable children should never be one of those things. Yet Chairman Takano has repeatedly refused to address this issue and employed a rarely used procedural tactic in our committee to disallow debate and votes on it twice in recent months. He has also failed to even respond to 11 committee members who wrote him in July asking for a legislative hearing on Congressman Barr's legislation. It defies understanding. Another amendment that the chairman has repeatedly refused to allow our committee to debate was offered by Congressman Chip Roy from Texas to prohibit VA from sending the name of a veteran or other beneficiary to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's National Instant Criminal Background Check System, NICS, solely because VA has determined that a person has a service-connected disability or solely because a fiduciary has been appointed on their behalf, without the order or finding of a judge, a magistrate, or other judicial authority that the person is a danger to themselves or others. Infringing on a law-abiding American citizen's constitutionally protected rights should never occur in a free society unless a very high bar has been met. For example, criminals must be convicted in a court of law before their names are provided to the NICS list; but, under current practice, VA sends veterans' names to the NICS list if they have been appointed a fiduciary to help manage their compensation benefits. This is because, once VA decides that an individual needs help with their finances, even though there may be no evidence the individual is a danger to themselves or anyone else, a VA bureaucrat sends that person's name to the FBI to be added to the NICS list and the veteran loses their second amendment right to own a firearm. And these are the very people who gave us those rights, protected those rights. Legislation that the House passed on a party-line vote earlier this year, H.R. 1112, would compound this injustice by requiring VA to also report a veteran or beneficiary to the NICS if they have been adjudicated by VA as having a mental illness when the veteran files for a disability claim--for example, PTSD or depression. I have personally heard from veterans across the country--and I mean from Long Island to Los Angeles--who tell me that they don't seek VA care and benefits that they have earned through their hard-fought service for our country because they fear they will lose their Second Amendment rights if they do so. This is unacceptable at any time and is particularly unacceptable during a national suicide crisis when we know that 14 of the 20 veteran and servicemember suicide deaths per day already occur among those who are not engaged in VA care prior to their deaths. Veterans risk their lives to protect our rights. The least we can do for them is to protect theirs. But Chairman Takano has once again refused to do that, despite making a public vow 8 months ago before the American Legion that he would act, as chairman, to protect the Second Amendment rights of our Nation's veterans. He also, once again, failed to respond to 12 committee members who wrote him in July asking for a legislative hearing to discuss veterans' Second Amendment issues. There are precious few avenues available to the minority party in Congress to influence the legislative agenda of the majority party. Since February, my Republican colleagues and I have been asking Chairman Takano, publicly and privately, to address these issues in our committee. Our requests have been ignored. Our letters have gone unanswered. The only remaining option we have left is to attempt to amend bills being marked up by the committee so that we can have an open debate and an up- or-down vote on these issues. If we win, we win. If we lose, we lose. We attempted to amend the Deborah Sampson Act with these amendments 2 weeks ago, on the advice of the Parliamentarian about the appropriateness of these particular amendments, which address serious issues facing female and male veterans alike in each one of our States and districts, to this particular bill. But the chairman denied us even this opportunity. That kind of partisanship has never been how this committee has operated as long as I have been there. Under the 8 previous years of Republican chairmen, debate was never cut off when Democratic members offered difficult amendments during committee markups. We allowed our Democratic colleagues the opportunity to have their say, and we took tough votes when we needed to. Mr. Speaker, I wish that we could have had such a different conversation today, the day after Veterans Day, than this one. But I would be remiss in my duty as ranking member if I did not call out this behavior and ways in which it fails our Nation's veterans. Chairman Takano has spoken movingly about how he wants us to use his chairmanship to stand up for the rights of minority veterans, and I commend him for that and have stood alongside him in doing that work, including in May, when we stood side-by-side to launch the bipartisan Women Veterans Task Force. Yet, I urge him now, in carrying out that commitment, not to spurn the historical bipartisan traditions of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, not to trounce on the rights of the minority members of that committee, not to cut corners in favor of expediency over doing our due diligence, and not to cast aspersions against me or any other member of our committee when we could be debating the issues at hand like our constituents sent us here to do. Despite our deep disagreements here, I consider Chairman Takano a friend, and I know him to be a good and fair man who is motivated by a sincere desire to do the right thing for the millions of veterans and their families who have sacrificed so much for this great Nation. That desire is shared by me and every member of our committee, Republican and Democrat alike. I do not doubt that for a second. I also do not doubt our ability, under the chairman's leadership, to put this unfortunate recent chapter of the committee's history behind us and return to the productive bipartisan tradition that our committee has known and respected throughout the United States Congress and the Nation. In doing so, we will, once again, live up to the example that our Nation's veterans, including Deborah Sampson herself, have set. I thank the chairman in advance for that. I stand ready to assist him however I can, as ranking member and as his friend. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Lexington, Kentucky (Mr. Barr), my good friend who is a member of our Veterans' Affairs Committee. He has been a tireless supporter of veterans. I have been in his district on several occasions, and the veterans have no better friend than Congressman Barr.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentleman from Kentucky another 30 seconds.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, certainly I think, on our side of the aisle, we are going to call for a recorded vote on this. This bill will pass overwhelmingly, and I congratulate Congresswoman Brownley, who is a good friend, for bringing this legislation forward. She has worked tirelessly for this, and I think you are going to see great support. The VA has a long way to go in doing this. I will say this. If I am privileged enough to get reelected to this body and to be placed on the Veterans' Affairs Committee again and to chair this committee, I will make this statement right here on the floor now: I will not treat the minority the same way we have been treated. The only way we have been able to bring legislation up on this floor when we are shut out is the amendment process, and we can debate it and vote it up or down. That is what Americans do. We should bring these bills up, and if they don't float on their merit in the majority, I am a big boy, I understand that. If you lose, you lose, and if you win, you win. But we should be allowed to be heard. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ROE of Tennessee

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Madam Speaker, due to a roundtable on veterans suicide at the White House, which is part of my work as Ranking Member of the Veterans Affairs Committee, I was unable to make the first series of votes. Had I been present, I would have voted ``nay'' on rollcall No. 579 and ``nay'' on rollcall No. 580. Personal Explanation

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Madam Speaker, I rise today to bring attention to an important veterans' initiative that I am proud to lead with Chairman Takano. It is essential that we recognize and commend the selfless sacrifice veterans have made to protect our most precious freedoms. That is why Chairman Takano and I have challenged all Members of Congress to participate in the Library of Congress' Veterans History Project by submitting at least one of their veteran constituents' stories to the project prior to Veteran's Day. The Veterans History Project gives our Nation's heroes a platform to share and preserve their personal stories about their time in uniform to help Americans understand military service and its importance to our country's history. We can think of no better way to honor the men and women who fought for our freedoms in the weeks leading up to Veteran's Day than by ensuring that their unique stories of service are forever memorialized for future generations of Americans. Madam Speaker, I would also like to associate my remarks with those about Elijah Cummings and wish his family God's blessings.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2385, as amended. This bill, which is sponsored by Congressman Conor Lamb from Pennsylvania, a United States Marine Corps veteran, would authorize the Department of Veterans Affairs to award grants instead of contracts to educational organizations that research the lives of those who are interred in our Nation's cemeteries. I thank Chairman Takano for the amendment he offered during the committee markup of this bill to include report language to ensure that Congress has the information needed to determine whether this grant program is financially sound. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 2385, as amended, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I am prepared to close. Mr. Speaker, I once again encourage all Members to support H.R. 2385, as amended, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1199, the VA Website Accessibility Act of 2019. This bill would require the Department of Veterans Affairs to examine all websites, apps, attachments, and electronic forms, determine which are inaccessible to veterans with disabilities, and develop a plan to make each of them accessible. Visually impaired veterans, in particular, often face barriers to accessing information from VA because they are directed to forms or pages that are incompatible with screen readers. This bill would require VA to take systematic action to address these issues, ensuring that all veterans are able to access needed VA information. Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to support H.R. 1199, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers and am prepared to close. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I would challenge that people who are sight impaired in this country have a 75 percent unemployment rate, if you look at that. The challenge that I do each year and what I do to myself when my sight-impaired constituents come to my office is I go back to my small apartment that I have and I put a blindfold on, and I try to get around and just do simple tasks of the day. And you find out how very difficult that is. I could not be more supportive of this legislation, and I thank the gentlewoman for bringing it up because, try on your computer when you can't see to get information you need to get services. You have to have someone there to help you. We have the technology available today, if it is used at the VA, so that these men and women who have served this country can also have the access that every other veteran has. Mr. Speaker, I strongly support this bill, H.R. 1199, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2334, a bill sponsored by Congressman Michael Conaway of Texas. This bill would name the Department of Veterans Affairs community-based outpatient clinic in Odessa, Texas, the ``Wilson and Young Medal of Honor VA Clinic,'' after two Texas veterans who received the Medal of Honor for their heroic actions in the Vietnam war. Private First Class Alfred ``Mac'' Wilson was a marine killed in action March 3, 1969, when he threw himself on a grenade to save his platoon mate during an enemy ambush. Staff Sergeant Marvin ``Rex'' Young was a soldier who was killed in action on August 21, 1968, when he was fatally wounded while rescuing several of his fellow soldiers who had been pinned down by enemy fire. Both of these men received posthumously the Medal of Honor, our country's highest tribute, for their actions. Even these many years after their deaths, their memories live on as examples of true courage, selflessness, and love of country. I commend Congressman Conaway for introducing this bill in their honor. This bill is supported by the entire Texas delegation, in both the House and the Senate, as well as by several veterans' service organizations throughout Texas. Mr. Speaker, this is something very near and dear and personal to me. I am a Vietnam-era veteran myself. I remember, all too often, seeing these American heroes who never got to see their families, their children, or their grandchildren because of the sacrifice that they gave for this country: their life, the greatest sacrifice they could. And we stand here in this great country, free, because of what these men did. And I hope that people in Odessa, Texas, take as much pride as I do. Tennessee and Texas have a great connection, as the Speaker knows, and I take great pride, in Tennessee, in having the privilege today to be on this floor debating this bill and bestowing this honor on these two heroes. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, it is my privilege to yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Conaway), my good friend from Texas' 11th District, the former chairman of the Agriculture Committee and now ranking member, who also serves on the Intelligence Committee, to honor these two great heroes.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I will associate myself with the remarks of the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Conaway). I know he misses his friend. It is a true privilege to be here today to be able to honor this clinic in Odessa, Texas. I encourage all Members to support H.R. 2334, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 95, the Homeless Veteran Families Act. This bill would amend the Department of Veterans Affairs Homeless Providers Grant and Per Diem Program to provide payments to GPD providers for the services they provide to the children of homeless veterans. Mr. Speaker, while VA and other partners have been very successful in decreasing the number of homeless veterans in the country by almost 50 percent since 2010, we still have an unacceptable number of veterans on the streets every night. The GPD program is a tool in VA's arsenal to help community organizations provide services to homeless veterans by reimbursing them for providing temporary housing and supportive services that promote health and self-sufficiency among homeless veterans. However, under current rules, community partners are not authorized funding for providing services and shelter to the dependents of the homeless veterans who they serve. This forces these organizations to make a difficult choice of turning away homeless veterans with children or finding another source of funding to provide services for them. H.R. 95 would address this issue by amending current law to authorize grant and per diem payments for the children of homeless veterans at half the amount paid for each homeless veteran. While I have some concerns about using medical care dollars to provide these services, as they may detract from the already limited resources available for providing services for homeless veterans themselves, I am not going to oppose this approach today. I want what is best for our veterans, and if this change helps community partners provide the services they need to homeless veteran families, then it is worthy of our support. I thank the gentlewoman from California, my friend, Congresswoman Julia Brownley, for sponsoring this bill, which has my full support, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from Puerto Rico (Miss Gonzalez-Colon). She was a member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee and a very passionate supporter of our veterans. After the hurricanes in Puerto Rico, she was kind enough to invite me. I saw her passion. We went through the VA hospital together, the outpatient clinics. I don't believe anyone in this Congress has more care for our veterans than her.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I think this is a great bill. Homelessness is a huge problem in this country, and keeping our families together is a huge problem in this country. This, I think, will be some of the best money that we ever spend, if we can keep these families together. If a veteran is out there with their spouse and they are trying the best they can, they need these resources so they can keep that family unit together. This bill should go through the House and the Senate unanimously. I think it will, and with over 300 cosponsors, I feel like it will. I want to thank Congresswoman Brownley, who is a tireless supporter of veterans on the Veterans' Affairs Committee. I thank her for bringing this up, and I encourage all of my colleagues to support this bill, H.R. 95. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.