Phil Roe

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to rise in opposition to the amendment, although I am not opposed.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chair, I share the gentleman's concern. I have been on the 405, and I certainly understand that trip. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of Congressman Cisneros' amendment to include physical therapy for service-connected disabilities under the definition of ``covered health service.'' Caring for service-connected conditions is the reason the VA healthcare system exists. Service-connected conditions should always take priority. I thank Congressman Cisneros for recognizing this with his amendment. I am proud to join him in supporting it. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Chair, caring for service- connected conditions is the reason the VA healthcare system exists. I strongly support Congressman Cisneros' amendment and encourage my colleagues to support it also. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Chair, I want to thank Congressman Rodney Davis, first of all, for his commitment to our Nation's heroes. I was able and privileged to be in his district last year. I saw his commitment to that and the respect that they have for him, and I want to thank him for bringing this up. He does a terrific job for our Nation's heroes in his district, and it was a privilege to be there. I rise in support of Congressman Davis' and Congressman Panetta's commonsense amendment. The bill we are considering today defines a veteran who is eligible for childcare assistance as a veteran who is ``the'' primary caretaker of a child or children. However, this amendment rightly recognizes that most children have two parents and either of them could be considered ``a'' primary caretaker of that child. I thank Congressman Davis and Congressman Panetta for that clarification, and I am happy to support this amendment today.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Chair, I ask unanimous consent to rise in opposition, although I am not opposed.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chair, I rise in support of Congressman Sablan's amendment to include mental healthcare provided via telemedicine under the definition of a ``covered health service.'' The VA healthcare system is an industry leader in telemedicine and should be commended in using it to increase access to care for veterans who would otherwise have to travel great distances on a regular basis to receive the care they need. I want to thank my good friend, Congressman Sablan, who is a tireless advocate in the Marianas. He has been an amazing supporter of the veterans there who really have very limited services. I thank him for introducing this amendment to make sure that veterans accessing tele- healthcare are also eligible for childcare assistance, if needed. I am pleased to join him in supporting this. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Chair, I rise in support of this amendment to require an annual report on the processing of claims for childcare assistance. VA has made improvements in recent years in the speed at which community providers are being reimbursed for the services they provide to veteran patients, however, claims processing remains an area where VA struggles; to be kind to them, struggles. We must take steps to ensure that veterans and childcare providers who are awaiting reimbursement pursuant to this bill are not left waiting like many veterans and community providers have been previously. Mr. Chair, I am grateful to Congressman Cloud for his leadership and sponsoring this amendment and I look forward to joining him in its support.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Walker) for the work he has done as our past chairman of the Republican Study Committee and now in leadership and our Conference, and I appreciate the opportunity to be here tonight. I remember, about 2 years ago, I was up late at night watching the election returns, and then-President-elect Trump announced his acceptance speech. He was not 3 minutes into his speech when he said that he wanted to help our Nation's veterans. It was very near and dear to my heart because I am a generation of veterans. That was during the Vietnam war, and we were not so much appreciated and treated rather shabbily by our country. So I knew what was in President Trump's heart, and I wish he were here tonight to be able to express that. Because every time I have been in the room with him, he has appreciated the service of our Nation's 21 million living veterans. Madam Speaker, 2 years ago, we had an opportunity to do something about it, and, in a bipartisan way--and I do want to give thanks to both sides of the aisle. This would not have happened without their help. We started on a mission to really reform the way the VA provides healthcare. For those out there who don't know about our VA system, there are over 150 VA medical centers, over 800 outpatient clinics that we have. The VA is divided into, actually, three parts: It is healthcare, and it is benefits, and it is cemeteries. If you haven't visited a VA cemetery, you should, because it will really make your heart feel good to see how we treat our Nation's heroes. We started, 2 years ago, with the idea that not all employees at work at the VA are good employees and should be there. When I got to Congress in 2010--I have been here, now, 10 years--there were 250,000 employees at the VA. Now, the VA employs almost 370,000 people. But there were some egregious acts that some of these folks had carried out, and they could not be fired. We passed a bill in a bipartisan way that allows us to terminate poorly performing employees while maintaining the rights of those employees who are there, 99.9 percent of whom are doing a great job for our Nation's heroes. The second thing most of us Congressmen hear about is disability claims. When I got to Congress in 2009, there were a million backlogged disability claims, veterans sometimes waiting until they died to get their disability claim adjudicated. That number now is down to around 350,000--far too many. We passed a bill at that point, about 18 months ago, the appeals reform bill, and it has been piloted--called the RAMP program--which has sped up. Last Friday, I was in Nashville, Tennessee, going to our regional office to see how they were doing, and I ran into a gentleman who was using the VA--just happened to be there, a veteran, about my age. He said: ``I have been trying for 7 years to get my claim adjudicated, get taken care of.'' In 90 days, with the new RAMP program--he had waited 7 years. In 90 days, it was solved. That program goes live next month. The Secretary has approved it, and, hopefully, now we can speed the claims and appeals process up. A third bill that we passed, that I used in 1975 when I got out of the Army and came back stateside from the Southeast Asia, is called the GI bill. For those out there, it is an education bill, and it was written, initially, by a World War II vet Harry G. Colmery. Mr. Colmery wrote a bill and thought that we could really change our Nation by educating veterans who were getting out of the military; and we did just that, and it changed our Nation. I am still appreciative, to this day, of the $300 a month that my country invested in me when I had a young family, when I went back to finish my education at the University of Tennessee, College of Medicine. I was able to use that money to help me finish my training and my education. But that terminated at 10 years. If I didn't use it within 10 years, it went away. Today, we passed a bill, fully paid for, that allows a veteran to use their GI bill the rest of their life. And we know if someone is 23 when they get out, when they are 40, maybe they might need retraining. Well, now, they can get that. The second thing we did in that bill--again, very personal to me--is some veterans hadn't served long enough. If they earned a Purple Heart, they didn't get the full benefit because they hadn't served enough time. Now, if you shed blood for this Nation, you get the full GI bill, and it should be that. We also improved payment for our Gold Star families and others, and we have added time for technical training. We know those courses sometimes take longer. We also funded, what is called the Veterans Choice Program three times during the last Congress, and that is how veterans get care outside the VA. We know that most VA hospitals can't provide everything to everybody, and many veterans have to travel long, long distances to see a doctor, to see a specialist. I was visiting Oregon a couple years ago and found out that one congressional district in Oregon had more square miles than the State of Tennessee did. We had to develop a bill that allowed veterans in rural areas to see a doctor and veterans in urban areas to do so. We passed the VA MISSION Act, which was signed into law, appropriately, on June the 6th of 2018, 74 years after D-day. What this bill will do is the following. It will revise how veterans get their care outside the VA. It has a second very important part called the VA caregiver bill. Catastrophically injured, post-9/11 GIs who were injured in battle now can have a caregiver given a stipend to stay home so that they can stay out of the hospital. But that did not apply to pre-9/11 veterans, Vietnam-era veterans like I am, Korea, and World War II. We now provide that benefit for those veterans. Thirdly, we are looking at what is called an asset review of the VA. This is something that really surprised me when I looked at the data. The actual number of patients in hospital beds peaked in 1981. The population has grown 40 percent, and we actually have 10 percent fewer people in hospital beds than we did almost 40 years ago. So medicine is changing, and the VA needs to change. It needs to go through a self-evaluation, get right-sized, and get the VA healthcare out where the patients live, where the veterans are. We know that patients are moving, veterans are moving, from the Northeast to the South and West, so we need to put those assets there. That is what the VA bill will do. There are a few other small things, Madam Speaker, that we did that might not be big to some people but were huge to me, because my Scoutmaster was killed in 1965 in Vietnam. His name was Thomas E. Thayer. He was a first sergeant in the 101st Airborne Division, a great man with four children. When we have Gold Star families that sign a lease, let's say--and we had this happen where they signed a lease. One was in North Carolina, and the person would not release that woman from her lease, and she had to pay that. Now, if you lose your husband or your wife in combat, you can get out of those. We also did the same thing for cable TV, for internet, and for cell phones. If you are deployed, you can't use those things, so you can get out of those long-term contracts. The Veterans' Affairs Committee passed over 80 bills. Almost 50 of them were signed into law to help our Nation's veterans. We did have one very disappointing failure to me, and I have already dropped a bill this term. It is called the blue water Navy bill. Just to let our audience out there, the folks viewing this, know what it is, there are veterans who served on surface ships in the territorial waters just off Vietnam, off the coast. Actually, Agent Orange was used in Korea, where I was. If you put your boots on the ground, then you are given the presumption for certain diseases for disability benefits. That does not occur for those men and women who served on surface ships. We passed it 382-0 in the House and could not get it moved in the Senate. We are going to give them an opportunity to do the right thing this next Congress. Madam Speaker, it has been a privilege for me to serve for 10 years on the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, and we are committed in that committee to continuing to serve our Nation's heroes and to give them the benefits they have earned that allow us to be free. I thank Mr. Walker for allowing me a few minutes to come down and share these few things we did for our Nation's heroes.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to honor Dr. C.H. Charlton, affectionately known to all of us at home as ``Rev,'' for his 43 years of faithful service as pastor of Friendship Baptist Church in Johnson City, Tennessee. A native of southwest Virginia, Dr. Charlton was previously pastor of several Baptist congregations near his hometown of Radford, later moving to Johnson City, where he found his home at Friendship Baptist Church. Dr. Charlton is also a dedicated public servant. He served as the first African American mayor in southwest Virginia and is recognized by the Virginia Historical Society as contributing significantly to the State's history. Dr. Charlton continued to serve in Johnson City by sitting on the city's Regional Planning Commission and Board of Education while working as a professor at Northeast State Community College. Furthermore, I am proud to have served with him on the City Commission, where he served 2 years as vice mayor of Johnson City. Rev is a shining star on the hill. For nearly six decades, Dr. Charlton has dedicated himself to serving the Lord, his wife, his family, and his community. I wish my friend the best in his retirement.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Madam Speaker, today I join in paying tribute to the sesquicentennial of my hometown of Johnson city, Tennessee. The City of Johnson City was founded in Northeast Tennessee, where three railroads--East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad, Clinchfield Railroad, and Southern Railway--converged, holding its first election on Jan. 3, 1870, with 60 registered voters. Voters elected entrepreneur Henry Johnson, owner of Johnson's Depot, to serve as the City's first mayor. The City charter defined the city limits as being the area within a half-mile radius of Johnson's Depot, the city's first commercial business. Johnson's Depot operated as a railway depot, freight station, and post office, and also served as a hotel, restaurant, and store. The Watauga Tannery, the city's first major industry, was established in November 1883 covering 130 acres and employing as many as 300 men. Today, Johnson City boasts a diverse economy led by healthcare and education. The Mountain Branch of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers opened in 1903. Now known as the James H. Quillen VA Medical Center, it serves more than 170,000 veterans living in a 41- county area of Tennessee, Virginia, and Kentucky. The City's first professional hospital, Appalachian Hospital and School of Nursing, opened in 1921 with the support of citizens who funded half the cost of the facility. Johnson City has become home to three major hospitals--Johnson City Medical Center, Franklin Woods Community Hospital, and Niswonger Children's Hospital. In 1911, the teacher-training institute known as East Tennessee State Normal School, predecessor of East Tennessee State University, was founded. Today, as the fourth largest university in the State of Tennessee, ETSU also includes the highly regarded Quillen College of Medicine and Gatton College of Pharmacy. In 1939 the Johnson City Board of Commissioners adopted the charter that established the council-manager form of government, under which it operates today. Through a collaborative process of elected officials working closely with citizens, Johnson City has created a city recognized by a variety of publications as a great place to live. Johnson City has operated its own Transit System since 1979 and established Tennessee's first citywide curbside recycling program in 1989. Additionally, the city has 18 parks, 40 athletic fields and a host of multi-use trails. Johnson City is also home to Freedom Hall Civic Center, Memorial Park Community Center, a large public library and a robust senior services program. Although Johnson City's local economy includes national and regional companies, it also embodies the entrepreneurial spirit of Henry Johnson, supporting countless small business owners who operate in city limits, particularly the downtown area. The City of Johnson City, which kicked off its Sesquicentennial on Jan. 3, 2019, has become a thriving community of more than 66,000 residents with city limits expanded to 43.3 square miles. I look forward to what the next 150 years holds for Johnson City.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Madam Speaker, today, I rise to celebrate and pay tribute to my hometown of Johnson City, Tennessee, for its sesquicentennial. In 1856, entrepreneur Henry Johnson opened a railroad station and a commercial business, Johnson's Depot. Just 13 years later, in 1869, Johnson City was founded, holding its first election on January 3, 1870, when voters elected Mr. Johnson as the city's first mayor. Today, Johnson City boasts a diverse economy, attracting national and regional companies while also supporting countless small business owners. The city is home to three major hospitals; to the James H. Quillen VA Medical Center, which serves more than 170,000 veterans; and to East Tennessee State University, recognized for the highly regarded Quillen College of Medicine and Gatton College of Pharmacy. The city has become a thriving community of more than 66,000 residents, and I look forward to what is in store for Johnson City over the next 150 years. I doubt that I will be there. Madam Speaker, I will include in the Record a more complete statement of Johnson City's history.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Madam Speaker, I rise today in opposition to title III of the Democratic rules package, which will allow House Democrats to file a motion in Texas v. United States defending the constitutionality of the ACA. This lawsuit, which was filed by more than 20 State Attorneys General, is about individual liberty and whether the Federal Government can force individuals to purchase a product. When the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the ACA 6 years ago, it did so under the logic that the individual mandate was a tax. I disagreed with that rule then, but because we now have repealed the tax, the Supreme Court's rationale for upholding the law was applied by the district court when it found the mandate inseverable from the law and struck it down. The promise of the ACA, which we can all agree on, was to increase access to, and lower the cost of, healthcare. In my State of Tennessee alone, the average premium prices have gone up 176 percent in 8 years, with deductible levels that are nothing more than the equivalent to catastrophic coverage. Let me give you an example, Madam Speaker. The majority of the uncollectible debt in the hospital where I work are people with insurance, not without insurance. Giving people access to a card does not necessarily equal coverage. That is why, in my district alone, you had nearly the same number of people who paid the tax that actually got the benefit. In the ruling in Texas v. U.S. the courts are giving Congress an opportunity for a much-needed do-over. I spent over 30 years of my life taking care of patients, and in that time I never saw a Republican or Democratic disease. Preexisting conditions can affect anyone. All of us in the House want to ensure those affected by serious illnesses can access affordable care. Rather than keeping the cost burden on the middle class, let's work together to protect those with preexisting conditions while also trusting Americans to make their own decisions when buying coverage that best fits the needs of their family. How can we find common ground? Well, if you have ever received your health insurance from an employer in the private sector, you were covered by ERISA and its updates under HIPAA, which protect people with preexisting conditions from being denied coverage. Unfortunately, the rules weren't the same for the individual and small-group markets, and that is where the problem arose. A simple solution to this problem is to apply those large-group ERISA protections to individual and small-group markets and the preexisting coverage question is solved. Whether you are for or against the passage of the ACA, it should be clear that the law is broken. Instead of continuing to support a law that clearly isn't working, why don't we come together and enact a real patient-centered, free-market healthcare system that treats individuals and small groups like big corporations. The bottom line is that the ACA has failed, at least in my State. The House of Representatives has more important work to focus on than getting involved in litigation to resuscitate a law that is broken and is causing problems for many individuals and families across America. If we defeat title III of the Democratic rules package, I am hopeful this will be the first step in agreeing that we should be focusing on bipartisan reforms to our healthcare system, instead of wasting our time on litigation. I urge opposition to the rule.

Mr. ROE of Tennessee

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6418) to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to conduct a study regarding the accessibility of websites of the Department of Veterans Affairs to individuals with disabilities, as amended.

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks.

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 6418, as amended, the VA Website Accessibility Act of 2018. Mr. Speaker, in the interest of time, I will allow Vice Ranking Member Takano to discuss the bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, once again, I encourage all Members to support this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ROE of Tennessee

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 3777) to require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a tiger team dedicated to addressing the difficulties encountered by the Department of Veterans Affairs in carrying out section 3313 of title 38, United States Code, after the enactment of sections 107 and 501 of the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2017.

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous material during consideration of S. 3777.

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of S. 3777, Forever GI Bill Housing Payment Fulfillment Act of 2018. Mr. Speaker, the Forever GI Bill is one of several landmark bills that this Congress has enacted to help our Nation's veterans; however, the implementation of this law has been bumpy, to say the least, and there have been veterans who have been underpaid due to the Department of Veterans Affairs' inability to modify their ancient IT systems to properly implement the law. While I am encouraged by Secretary Wilkie's decision to reset implementation of the IT modifications, we owe it to our veterans to conduct proper oversight of this process. That is why I am proud to support this legislation introduced by my good friends Senator Boozman of Arkansas and Mr. Andy Barr of Kentucky on the House side. This bill would require the VA to create a ``tiger team'' that would produce a plan to ensure all GI bill users who were underpaid as a result of the IT systems not being in place are made whole. The bill would also require periodic updates on the VA's progress on providing these underpayments to veterans. Mr. Speaker, this bill will ensure the VA does the right thing and pays student veterans what they are owed under the law. I encourage my colleagues to support S. 3777, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I encourage all Members to support S. 3777, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ROE of Tennessee

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 3444) to designate the community-based outpatient clinic of the Department of Veterans Affairs in Lake Charles, Louisiana, as the ``Douglas Fournet Department of Veterans Affairs Clinic''.

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks.

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Higgins) to discuss this bill.

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I encourage all Members to support this legislation for an American hero, First Lieutenant Douglas Fournet. It is a privilege to recommend this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ROE of Tennessee

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 2248) to amend title 38, United States Code, to authorize the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide certain burial benefits for spouses and children of veterans who are buried in tribal cemeteries, and for other purposes, as amended.