Phil Roe

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Carter), my good friend. I have had the privilege of visiting his beautiful district, and I really appreciate his work on this extremely important issue.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, this should be about people not politics. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Babin), my good friend, who is a dentist, who served both in the Army as an artilleryman and in the United States Air Force as a dentist, and has been a very active member of our caucus.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire how much time I have remaining?

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. How you decide who gets this vaccine is basically you just look at who suffered the most from it. Where has that been? It has been your nursing homes and your long-term care facilities. I want to give the VA a shout-out. I served as the ranking member on the Veterans' Affairs Committee and chairman in the last Congress. They have used the fourth mission of the VA to go out into many, many nursing homes across this country and to train and bring people up to speed about how to isolate patients so that it doesn't spread. I remember one State veterans' nursing home in Massachusetts that lost over 70 veterans--that is unbelievable--in one facility. So we are getting much better. It is our elderly and long-term care facilities, over 40 percent of the deaths have been in long-term care and nursing homes. Certainly, our healthcare workers and our first responders should be the first ones when a safe and effective vaccine is created. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Harris). Dr. Harris is the cochair of the Doctors Caucus. Dr. Andy Harris is a Navy veteran and very active Member who will have the reins next year.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I would like to say to Dr. Harris before he leaves, let's have a little discussion. The Doctors Caucus can get down in the weeds sometimes, and I realize that we do. But let's explain to people what herd immunity is. What does it actually mean? You heard about this, and you hear all these folks get on TV and the talking heads start talking about it. What does that actually mean? Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I might point out that I have never seen a Republican or Democratic virus in my life. Just like I have never seen a Republican or Democratic cancer. This just affects people. The virus will be safe, it will be effective, and it will be voluntary. It will be a person's decision, or their family's decision, who actually receives the vaccine. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Murphy), who I served with on the Committee on Education and Labor, my good friend, and the newest member of the GOP's Doctor's Caucus.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues for being here tonight. I look forward to continuing this debate and this discussion here on the House floor. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the remainder of my time.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, we are here today with the GOP Doctors Caucus for the next hour to discuss the COVID epidemic. It is my distinct honor and privilege to be down here with my colleagues for the first time in some time since the House has not been in session for quite a few weeks. Collectively on the floor tonight, there are over 200 years of clinical experience with the GOP Doctors Caucus. I myself practiced 37 years before I retired and ran for Congress in 2008. Tonight, I want to go over the timeline just briefly of the pandemic that we currently are experiencing. Remember, about 8\1/2\ months ago, we knew that there was a virus that had spread from China, from Wuhan, China, to the U.S. In that timeline, on January 9, the World Health Organization announced that there was a pneumonia in Wuhan, China. By January 20, three cities in the U.S. had already begun to limit flights and to check passengers from flights that landed in Los Angeles at LAX, at San Francisco, and at JFK International. On January 21, the first confirmed case was a person who lived in Wuhan but came back to the U.S. By January 31 of this year, the President had stopped all flights from China to the U.S. and then subsequently, as we all know, from Europe to the U.S. So, literally, from not knowing what this virus was in the first month, what RNA sequence it was, we had limited the travel of this virus. Through the month of February, I became involved with the Diamond Princess cruise ship. It turned out I had a very good friend on that ship. It was docked with 3,500 people onboard. The average age of the passengers on that ship was 75 years of age. My friend is a physician. I talked to him on the phone. I must give a shout-out to HHS, who really led the evacuation of that ship, bringing all Americans back home, quarantining them. Not a single American died, and I think we can take some pride in that. I am a former U.S. Army officer. I served in the 2nd Infantry Division in Korea. We were trained, and it was beaten in our heads, you do not leave anyone behind. I think a number that is left out is our U.S. State Department has repatriated over 90,000 U.S. American citizens from overseas back home to the U.S., where they can receive the care that they need. We have recognized that we got the RNA sequence of the virus and literally, within 6 weeks, began to approve treatments for this virus we didn't know a lot about. I want to say, in my 37 years--this December, I would have graduated from medical school 50 years ago--I don't ever remember a time in my life where we found a disease, an infectious disease, where within 8 months we had cut the mortality rate by over 40 percent. That is literally unheard of. It is a huge shout-out to the men and women who get up every day and go into our hospitals--we all know them at home--and put their lives on the line to treat us as patients and to take care of us. When given the proper equipment, they are doing a phenomenal job on the front lines. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my friends and colleagues who are still in practice every day for that. We had an opportunity in May. Once we had realized that this had ramped up and a lot of Americans had been affected by this, the White House started something called Operation Warp Speed. Literally, in the history of this country, I don't remember a time-- typically, when we have a vaccine, a treatment for a disease, there is usually anywhere from 3 or 4 years to 10 or 15 years to get that vaccine approved and get it to market. What we want is a safe, effective vaccine like you would for polio. As a child, I remember as a little boy when the polio vaccine came out. Literally overnight in this country, we eliminated polio as a risk. Many of my friends developed polio. They got it before the vaccine was available. I was very fortunate and did not, as were many children. We have essentially eliminated that from the Earth today. We began Operation Warp Speed, which was to develop a vaccine. Well, how is that going to happen? We kept hearing it would be done in about a year. How can you safely do that in a year? What usually happens in vaccine development is you sequence the RNA. The virus, you sequence it. After that virus is sequenced, you send your information over to the FDA, and they approve that you can begin clinical phase 1 trials. Phase 1 trials are typically 45 or 50 patients. You then get the information from the phase 1 trials back to the FDA, the approval boards, and they give you permission to go to phase 2 and then to phase 3 trials. If all of that is successful, then you begin to manufacture the vaccine and then deliver the vaccine to health departments, to doctors' offices, to hospitals and pharmacies and so forth to use the vaccine, just like we do for the flu. What has happened this time is that all of these things have occurred simultaneously. So the phase 1 trials, the FDA gets the information. Phase 2 trials, they get the information. If it looks good, they can go ahead with phase 3 trials. That is why right now we have three trials in phase 3 trials in 8 months, which is unheard of, I can tell you. These are tens of thousands of patients who are enrolled in these trials. Hopefully, by the end of this year, we will have a vaccine that is both safe and effective to treat our people in this country, our ones at most risk. I am going to stop now. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Burgess). The first person I would like to recognize tonight is my good friend, Dr. Mike Burgess, a fellow OB/GYN doctor representing Texas' District 26. He is a senior member of our GOP Doctors Caucus and has been active in the caucus since it began. Dr. Burgess serves on the Energy and Commerce Committee as a senior member.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, Dr. Burgess is correct. It is one thing to manufacture a very small amount of vaccine, and vaccines are only one part of the prevention part. We all know about washing our hands and face coverings, and the American people are doing that. Certainly, I have traveled a lot, as we all have, and I have seen great compliance in my home State of Tennessee with this very deadly virus. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Bucshon), my good friend, and he is that indeed. I have had the privilege of getting to know Dr. Bucshon and his family. I have been to his district, Indiana 8 in Evansville. He has been here five terms, has served a little over 10 years as U.S. Navy Reserve, and is a retired cardiothoracic surgeon.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I think you have to ask, any time you put something like this, Operation Warp Speed, together is: What is the goal? And the goal of that is to produce 300 million doses of an effective, safe vaccine to protect the American people. And also, it is to provide therapeutics and diagnostics along with that. And this is under the umbrella of Health and Human Services; the FDA; the CDC; the NIH; BARDA, which is the Biomedical Advanced Research and Developmental Authority; and the Department of Defense. So it is a multidepartment approach of the entire government and the private sector. It is a private-public partnership to try to help defeat this virus and put our American people back at ease and back at work. Look, every day when I go home, they say: Dr. Roe, when are we going to be able to get back to normal? And yesterday was the first day I had attended an in-person church service in 6 months, the longest time in my life I remember not being in church, and people were so glad to be there and to have some semblance of normalcy. This morning I got up. As I drove back, I saw parents putting their children on schoolbuses--something as simple as that, just to put your child on a schoolbus. I saw a mother this morning hug her little boy, and he jumps on with his mask on, jumps on the schoolbus ready to go to school. I think people are craving that. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Wenstrup), my good friend, who is the vice chair of the Doctors Caucus, as Dr. Bucshon is. He is a colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve--I have to salute him. I never made it past O-4--for over 20 years. He served in Iraq and also served on the Veterans' Affairs Committee and chaired the Subcommittee on Health.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, before the gentleman leaves, I know we had the opportunity, and we do about weekly, to be on a phone conference call with Operation Warp Speed leaders. One of the things that they asked us to do, and I do this here tonight, is to ask more African Americans to sign up for the vaccine trials. In one particular large trial there were only 5.5 percent I believe African Americans in the trial, and they need to get that up. So if you are out there, I am asking you to volunteer for this trial. Certainly, we need that. I think they had enough Latinos and senior citizens like myself, but I think that we do need that. Mr. Speaker, you do need that. Basically, you need to study this as you do the population. I think Pfizer is going to increase their trial to the low 40,000s. So it is a huge--just to let people know--that is a gigantic clinical trial. It is placebo controlled. One group gets a saline, basically a placebo, and the other group gets the vaccines. Then you check later. By the way, all of these six vaccines, five of them will be two shots; one, and then one 21 to 28 days later. One which will be developed a little later on, I think into 2021, will be a single shot.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Actually, we had a normal summer at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park this year. We had 1.7 million people come in July which was a record, I understand. One of the things I want to also mention briefly while Dr. Dunn comes up is: Should you wear a mask, or should you not wear a mask? A mask is an inconvenience. I am standing here way away from anybody, 20 feet away from anybody, but the way a mask probably works is this-- these are not good enough to keep a virus from getting in. But if you walk through a room with coronavirus and you walk through a room filled with people, Mr. Speaker, you potentially will infect 2\1/2\ of those people. Why? Because it is probably spread by droplets. So if I have this mask on it prevents--if I sneeze or cough or whatever--a droplet from getting out or certainly not spreading very far. That is why if you touch a surface you want to wash your hands and cleanse the surface. To give an example of how infectious measles is, if I have the measles and I walk through that same room, I probably can infect as many as 15 to 18 people. So it is aerosolized. It is like a pollen in the air. That is how it is spread as opposed to just a droplet spread, which means that the coronavirus is not spread nearly as easily as some other viruses are. I wore a mask for over 30 years in the operating room. If it turns out it doesn't help all that much, then you have been inconvenienced. If it helps, then you maybe have saved a life. Mr. Speaker, it is my great pleasure to introduce Dr. Dunn. My friend is a U.S. Army veteran. I served with Dr. Dunn on the Veterans' Affairs Committee. He is extremely active on that committee. It has been a real pleasure to serve with Dr. Dunn in the U.S. Congress. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Dunn).

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. It has been. One of the things that the CARES package did was--this is not Operation Warp Speed--but the CARES package also provided the way we shift when seeing patients in person through telehealth. The VA, for instance, about 1 year ago did 70,000 or 80,000 telehealth visits a month for their PTSD treatments. That number went to over 900,000 in May of this year. That is unbelievable when you can do that. I think many practices now, including my own at home, have used telehealth to see patients, and I myself have used telehealth which saved me a many-hour drive one way or the other. The pandemic is not all bad. We have learned some good things and some things I think that are going to persist after we get through this particular pandemic. I also might add, this is not the first pandemic we have had. That is why I know we were going to be fine. There was an H3N2 pandemic in 1968, a coronavirus pandemic, and we got through that as a country. We have responded so much better this time with the therapeutics, monoclonal antibodies antivirals, just the way we treat it. Anticoagulation hasn't been mentioned. We know this is an inflammatory response. It causes coagulation in the kidneys, the heart, and the lungs. So we have learned that. Hats off to our medical professionals who have gone out and literally--it is unbelievable how fast they have upped their knowledge of this. I appreciate the gentleman's comments. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Joyce), who I just introduced. He is double-boarded in internal medicine and dermatology, is a relatively new representative from Pennsylvania 13th, and has had 31 years in practice.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman. Mr. Speaker, next I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Carter). Dr. Buddy Carter is our only pharmacist--soon to be two--in the U.S. Congress. We are glad to have Dr. Carter from Georgia One. He has been an incredibly important member of the Doctor's Caucus in providing his perspective because he has run a business for many, many years, has seen patients for many, many years, and brings his perspective to our caucus.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Madam Speaker, I was not present to vote on July 27, 2020, due to a personal matter. Had I been present, I would have voted Yea on Roll Call 167--On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass S. 2163.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Madam Speaker, I rise today in opposition to H.R. 1425, which doubles down on the flawed premise underlying the ACA and threatens access to lifesaving treatments in the middle of an ongoing public health epidemic. All of us agree in this country that there is a dire need for healthcare reform. Our current system costs too much, is too complex, and often doesn't promote quality or value. This hasn't changed since the ACA was first passed into law. Remember, the premise of the ACA was to lower costs and increase access. The scheme that the Democrats set up to accomplish this was an individual mandate to force people to purchase insurance they sometimes couldn't afford, a requirement for all plans to cover government- mandated essential health benefits--10 of them, to be exact--community rating to drive costs up for the youngest consumers, and massive subsidies that, today, are available to families of four with incomes as much as $104,000. In addition, the bill requires States to greatly expand their Medicaid programs, a requirement that was subsequently mitigated by the Supreme Court. What are the results? The CBO estimated 4 million individuals would receive coverage through the ACA. In reality, approximately 9 million received coverage, 80 percent of whom are on a highly subsidized plan. Costs exploded, as they tend to do with highly subsidized care, and plans responded by raising copays and deductibles. I said it before and I will say it again: If you have a $5,000 out- of-pocket, Madam Speaker, for most folks, you don't have insurance; you have a card. Meanwhile, the competition and plan choice that was promised never materialized. Plan options have decreased over time. Seventy-five percent of the increases in coverage most likely would have occurred with two reforms: allowing individuals to stay on their parents' plan until age 26, which I agree with, and a simple Medicaid expansion. Here we are again. Democrats appear to have learned none of the lessons that have become plainly evident since they passed their first government takeover of healthcare. Today we are considering legislation that will significantly expand premium subsidies for ACA insurance while prohibiting the 1332 waivers from States designing their own plans for their populations' unique needs. One of the best examples of these waivers is Maryland--hardly a conservative State--which reduced premiums for its residents an average of 13 percent in 2019 and an average of 10 percent in 2020. The Democrats want to block this. I have no Earthly idea why. That is not all. The most outrageous aspect of this legislation is that it would offset the cost expansion of the ACA by allowing government bureaucrats to set drug prices. This is a provision that--if it sounds familiar, it is, because it was the heart and soul of H.R. 3, the Democrats' flawed drug pricing plan from December--that would have reduced access to new lifesaving treatments. Every study that examined H.R. 3 concluded that it would stop cures from coming to market. They only disagreed on how many cures it would stop. Our country currently leads the way in bringing new medications to market. It would save lives and improve patients' quality of life. In fact, at this very moment American innovators are working at light speed to develop and mass-produce a COVID vaccine. The idea of passing legislation that discourages this type of innovation is absurd. My first in-patient pediatric rotation in medical school in Memphis was at St. Jude's Children's Hospital. At that time, Madam Speaker, 80 percent of those children that I saw died. Today, 80 percent of those children live. If we don't stifle innovation, my prayer is that 100 percent of these children will survive in the future. While Democrats continue to double down on the failure of ObamaCare, the Trump administration has been working to implement reforms that actually work and has acted aggressively in these last few months, in particular, to modernize our healthcare system and ensure patients continue receiving care during this pandemic. The Trump administration has been working to give patients new insurance options through short- term plans which cover only benefits essential to that patient. They have a potentially game-changing rule to increase transparency in hospital prices. They have expanded telehealth in Medicare--which I use today--given States the authority to experiment with plan design and encouraged States to innovate with their Medicaid programs. This should be a time for Congress to work together and pursue patient-centered policies that will ensure we have a strong healthcare system to come back to. I hope my Democratic colleagues will work with Republicans in a bipartisan manner to advance policies that increase access to quality care, lower costs for all Americans, and put patients back in charge of their healthcare decision-making. Madam Speaker, I, once again, urge my colleagues to vote against H.R. 1425.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the resolution. As a ranking member of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, I have heard a lot of misinformation about the Department of Education's borrower defense rule and its effects on student veterans. Here is the truth: The rule does not limit the rights or benefits provided for veterans in the GI bill or servicemembers who use the Department of Defense's Tuition Assistance Program, or the TAP program. Any veteran or servicemember who is defrauded by an institution and took out Federal loans, will have the opportunity to have that claim fairly adjudicated, just like any other student would under the rule. When I was chairman of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs in 2017, I offered the Forever GI bill to make more veterans eligible to receive a GI bill benefit and make veterans eligible to receive this valuable benefit for life. Mr. Speaker, 45 years ago, this Army veteran, when he left the Army, used the GI bill. I know how valuable it is, personally, Mr. Speaker. It helped me and my family tremendously, and that is why we wanted to make this benefit a lifetime benefit. Mr. Speaker, just a few months ago, this Congress passed two bills to protect student veterans whose GI bill benefits were impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. My record has shown that one of my top priorities is ensuring veterans can receive a quality education, and a large part of that is ensuring that they receive the education they were promised and holding schools accountable for fraud. Mr. Speaker, the Department's rule does just that. And it sets up a clear process for borrowers to have their claim adjudicated and hold institutions of all types accountable. This rule is fair to borrowers. It is fair to schools. It is fair to taxpayers. Mr. Speaker, I support this rule, and I support the President's veto.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close. I appreciate the Members, Mrs. Luria and Mr. Bost, bringing this important bill up. We pass it every year. I encourage all of my colleagues to support this bill. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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. 6168, the Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2020. The bill was introduced by Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs Subcommittee Chair Elaine Luria and Ranking Member Mike Bost. I appreciate their leadership on this important issue. The Department of Veterans Affairs provides compensation benefits to help fulfill our obligation to take care of the brave men and women who have been injured during their service to this great Nation. H.R. 6168 would authorize a cost-of-living increase for veterans and their families next year, if Social Security recipients receive an increase. The annual COLA is necessary to help veterans and families afford their living expenses when prices go up. Currently, many of our Nation's veterans may have been affected by this pandemic and are worried about how they are going to pay their bills. The last thing that should be on their minds is whether the value of their VA benefits will keep pace with inflation. Mr. Speaker, I encourage all Members to support H.R. 6168. Mr. Speaker, I reserve 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 S. 3414, the VA Major Medical Facility Authorization Act. This bill is sponsored by my good friends on the other side of the Capitol, Chairman Jerry Moran and Ranking Member Jon Tester of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs. This bill would authorize the construction of the Department of Veterans Affairs major medical facility projects in Kentucky, California, New York, and Puerto Rico. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us the value of the VA healthcare system in serving not just our Nation's veterans, which is the Department's foremost responsibility, but also in supporting all Americans during times of crisis. The seven projects that would be authorized in this legislation have been requested by the administration in VA's most recent budget submission. They would increase access to high-quality care and services to veterans of all ages and eras. It would also ensure that VA is better able to fulfill the Department's important service training, research, and emergency response missions. Mr. Speaker, to associate myself with the chairman's remarks, Abraham Lincoln would recognize the VA medical center in my hometown, which was authorized right after the Civil War and opened in 1903 as an Old Soldiers' Home and now is a first-class VA medical center. I urge all of my colleagues to join me in supporting this bill. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers. I urge all of my colleagues to join in supporting this bill, 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 S. 3084, as amended. This bill is sponsored by Chairman Jerry Moran and Ranking Member Jon Tester of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, and I am grateful for them for introducing it. S. 3084, as amended, would correct an error in existing law that impedes employees serving in Senior Executive Service-equivalent positions in the Department of Veterans Health Administration from receiving their full salaries. Congress passed legislation in 2010 to ensure that the individuals in those positions would be appropriately compensated for their work. However, VA discovered a technical error in that legislation just last year that, unless corrected, would result in those hardworking men and women instead having their salaries significantly reduced. It would also result in VA having to issue and collect debts for current and former employees who served in these high-level positions over the last decade. That is certainly not what Congress intended. The VA employees who are impacted by this issue are serving in mission-critical positions across the VA healthcare system. Many of them have been working around the clock, leading VA's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. They are responsible for ensuring that veterans and VA employees are safe and well cared for and that VA is able to fulfill the Department's fourth mission obligation to support the national response to this crisis. They and their colleagues have performed incredibly lifesaving work during the pandemic. I commend them for their efforts, which I know will continue to be critical in the weeks and months ahead. Making them whole by passing this bill today is the least we can do for them in return. I am glad to be back at work in our Nation's Capitol, as our constituents always intended for us to be, and to support this bill today as a small token of appreciation to the VA leaders who are steering the Department through the crisis on behalf of our Nation's veterans and families. 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. I have no further speakers, and I am prepared to close. I would like to start, since Monday was Memorial Day, to associate myself with the remarks of Mr. LaMalfa from California about Sam Johnson, one of our colleagues. Sam Johnson is one of the reasons I am so proud to have served in this body. Sam was one of the most incredible human beings I have ever met. He spent over 40 months in solitary confinement, chained to a concrete floor. This man came back to this country as a Wounded Warrior, but he did not let that stop him. He went ahead and had a very fulfilling life and really affected many of us in ways Sam will never know. I can remember seeing Sam on this floor. Sam was so beat up in his captivity that he would take his voting card and have to step up, raise up on his toes to put his card--I would get tears in my eyes watching him--put his card in that voting machine over there to cast his vote. We owe Sam and many veterans like him who have given the ultimate sacrifice to this great country a debt that we can never pay back. I served at the same time that Sam did. I was in the 2nd Infantry Division in Korea but I did not serve in Vietnam, and I can't thank those men and women enough. To my colleagues, my brothers and sisters, welcome home. Mr. Speaker, before I yield back, I would like to take a moment to thank Chairman Takano and the leadership on both sides of the aisle for bringing these three important bills to the floor today. Our actions show that, like many other Americans, we can continue to do our jobs and our part to reopen the country and our economy in a safe and productive way. While I am pleased that we are debating these bills today, I am disappointed that H.R. 3504, the Ryan Kules and Paul Benne Specially Adaptive Housing Improvement Act of 2019, was not included on today's agenda. H.R. 3504 is a bipartisan bill introduced by Representatives Gus Bilirakis and Mike Levin that would make important improvements to the specially adaptive housing program that helps severely injured veterans adapt their homes. The bill would also require important changes to the administration of VA work-study benefits and make improvements to the GI Bill. The bill has already passed the House and has now come back over from the Senate. It represents a four corners bicameral agreement, and the bill is strongly supported by our veterans service organizations. I hope in the coming days we can pass the bill and send it to President Trump's desk as soon as possible. During this difficult time, we should be doing all we can to help support severely disabled veterans and student veterans. I thank the chairman. During this time that we have been at home with our constituents and with our families and really confined, we tried to continue to work, and I want to commend the chairman on being able to do this. Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize Ethan Magness, who delivered today's opening prayer. Ethan is the senior pastor at First Christian Church in my hometown of Johnson City, Tennessee, where my wife, Clarinda, has attended for many years. We are pleased to welcome Pastor Magness here today. Ethan is originally from Elizabethton, Tennessee, and graduated from Swarthmore College. He received his master of divinity from Emmanuel Christian Seminary and served for 10 years at the Mountain Christian Church in Joppa, Maryland. Ethan founded and still directs the Semester in Ministry program at Milligan College. He has served as an adjunct professor there for 10 years. I am proud to welcome Ethan; his wife, Betsy; and his son, Evan, to our Nation's Capitol today. I am also pleased he could share the Word of God with us today.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, today I rise in support of H.R. 2227, as amended, the Gold Star Spouses and Spouses of Injured Servicemembers Leasing Relief Act of 2019. This bill would build upon legislation enacted last Congress and in the fiscal year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act to amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to allow a surviving spouse of a servicemember who died on active duty to terminate a property lease following the servicemember's death. This bill would expand that allowance to include motor vehicle leases and provide the same protection for spouses of servicemembers who are catastrophically injured in service. Madam Speaker, the last thing a husband or wife should have to worry about when their servicemember spouse dies or is grievously injured in service to our country are late fees or penalties for terminating a lease for a car or property. Ensuring that they don't have to is the very least we can do in exchange for their sacrifice. I thank my colleagues, Congresswoman Cheri Bustos from Illinois, my friend Dr. Brad Wenstrup from Ohio, a fellow veteran and former senior committee member, as well as all the other Members of Congress who worked so hard on this bill in order to clarify these protections for these most deserving men and women. I encourage and urge all my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 2227, as amended, Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.