Phil Roe

Mr. ROE of Tennessee

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, as we begin debate on these important bills, I would like to take a moment to thank outgoing Chairman Miller for his tireless work on behalf of our Nation's veterans and, of course, on behalf of Florida's First Congressional District. Chairman Miller has led the House Veterans' Affairs Committee through tumultuous times at the VA. Through his service and extensive oversight, he has exposed a bureaucracy that has failed veterans time and time again. His commitment to veterans has never wavered. He has started the VA on a path to reforms the agency has so desperately needed. It has been an honor to serve along beside him. I know I have got big shoes to fill come January. He leaves behind the legacy of a statesman who has never compromised his principles or forgotten the people he was elected to serve. On a personal note, Jeff has become a dear friend, and I know our friendship will continue long after he has left these Halls. For the last 6 years, veterans have had a friend in Jeff Miller, and so have I. I wish him well in his future endeavors and thank him for all he has done for this body, for Floridians, and for our heroes in the 15 years he served honorably in the House of Representatives, the people's House. I would also like to thank his wife, Vicki, as well as his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchild. As we all know, none of the work we do here would be possible without the support and understanding of our families. There is no question, Jeff has a special family. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Miller), chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee.

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. 6416, the Jeff Miller and Richard Blumenthal Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act of 2016. This bipartisan, bicameral legislation represents a significant portion of the committee's hard work throughout the 114th Congress and contains numerous provisions that would improve healthcare benefits and services for those that are most deserving: our Nation's heroes. I am proud to report that so far this Congress, the House has passed 60 veterans-related bills. By the close of business tomorrow, that tally will be 68. The text of many of those bills can be found within H.R. 6416. While we do not have enough time for me to go through every worthwhile section of this legislation, I do want to touch on just a few. Among the provisions that would improve disability benefits is one that would allow physicians who are under contract with VA and who have unrestricted licenses to conduct disability examinations in any State, regardless of where that physician is licensed. Another provision would extend the temporary expansion of the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims to nine judges through 2020, which would help the court address the growing number of cases before it and ensure veterans receive the court's decision in a timely manner. Three proposals sponsored by Chairman Miller would ensure that all veterans have the opportunity to have future generations remember and respect their lives and their service by directing VA to provide a medallion to be affixed to the headstone in a private cemetery that signifies that a deceased person is a veteran, permitting VA to furnish a medallion or marker specifically designed for the graves of the deceased Medal of Honor recipients, and providing Presidential Memorial Certificates to those who served in the National Guard or Reserve even if they were never called to Active Duty. Other provisions of the bill would make needed improvements to education, vocational rehabilitation, and employment benefits to better support veterans by prioritizing vocational rehabilitation services for our most disabled veterans, increasing approval and access to oversight processes for education programs and schools, improving coordination between Federal and State agencies who provide employment services to veterans, expanding eligibility for work-study programs, extending the amount of time spouses of fallen servicemembers have to use the GI Bill's Fry Scholarship benefits, and by extending instate tuition rate limit to dependents of servicemembers who are still serving on Active Duty, a policy change that will allow VA to fully cover their tuition charges. Finally, this bill also contains numerous provisions that would improve the health and care that VA provides our veterans. To increase accountability, oversight, and transparency of the VA healthcare system, it would require VA to produce and provide an annual report on a number of critical measures of care. To improve the provision of care to those facing a health emergency, it would clarify VA's responsibility to provide medical screenings and treatment to individuals requesting to be seen in a VA emergency room, including women in labor, and ensure that VA emergency room physicians are afforded the schedule flexibility that their private sector colleagues enjoy and the nature of their work demands. To address ongoing concerns about the potential impact of toxic exposure during military service on veterans' descendants, it would require VA to enter into an agreement with the National Academy of Medicine to conduct an assessment and issue a report on scientific research relating to the descendants of individuals with toxic exposure and, depending on the results of those efforts, require VA to establish an advisory board to advise the Secretary on further research. That provision is strongly supported by Vietnam Veterans of America, and I am glad to see it included here. The bill also includes provisions that would require reforms to VA's medical facility construction processes and procedures. The many failures of VA's current construction program have been well publicized and will continue to be a focus of this committee's oversight next Congress so that we can all be assured that VA both has the facilities it needs to provide the care our veterans deserve and is being a responsible steward of taxpayer dollars. Unfortunately, we were unable to get every provision that cleared this Chamber or that the committee included in this legislation, which only means there is still work to be done next year and beyond. I am grateful to all the Members who have contributed thoughtful and, most importantly, needed legislation throughout this Congress in support of our veterans. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 6416, a bill named in part after Chairman Miller. I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H. R. 6416) to amend title 38, United States Code, to make certain improvements in the laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.

Mr. ROE of Tennessee

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 add extraneous material.

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 3492) to designate the Traverse City VA Community- Based Outpatient Clinic of the Department of Veterans Affairs in Traverse City, Michigan, as the ``Colonel Demas T. Craw VA Clinic''.

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. In closing, it is a great privilege for all of us to be here on the floor of this incredible House to speak. We would not be able to do that if it weren't for the heroics of people like Colonel Craw and the sacrifice that he and his family made. We are entering the Christmas season, and I think about our Armed Forces that are stationed around the world, young men and women today, that are out there protecting our Nation's freedoms and others' freedoms. So it is a great honor--and I think one of the things that I have enjoyed doing the most--naming and hearing about the incredible heroics of some of these men and women that have been before us. I want to encourage all Members to support this legislation wholeheartedly. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of S. 3492, a bill to designate the Department of Veterans Affairs Community-Based Outpatient Clinic in Traverse City, Michigan, as the Colonel Demas T. Craw VA Clinic. I thank the bill's sponsor, Senator Gary Peters from Michigan, for his efforts in introducing this bill. I also want to thank my colleague, friend, and the chairman of the Subcommittee on Health, Congressman Dan Benishek, from Michigan, for his work on the House side to ensure that Colonel Craw is honored. Demas T. Craw was born and raised in Long Lake Township, Michigan. He enlisted in the United States Army at just 18 years old and went to serve both in World War I and World War II, eventually earning the position of senior pilot. Colonel Craw served our country valiantly until he was tragically killed in combat. In 1942, Colonel Craw volunteered to accompany the leading wave of assault boats to shore in Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of north Africa. The mission was to pass through the enemy lines to locate the French commander with a view to suspending hostilities. Sadly, during the course of that mission, Colonel Craw was instantly killed by a sustained burst of machine-gun fire at pointblank range from a concealed position near the road. During his illustrious time in the Army, Colonel Craw accumulated numerous awards, including the World War I Victory Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, and the Purple Heart. He also received our Nation's highest honor, the Medal of Honor, for his valiant actions in north Africa. Colonel Demas Craw was a Michigan native and Traverse City resident who served our country with courage. It is only appropriate that the community-based outpatient clinic in Traverse City be named in his honor. S. 3492 satisfies the committee's naming criteria and is supported by the Michigan congressional delegation as well as numerous veterans organizations, including the Disabled American Veterans, the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, and the American Legion. Once again, I am grateful to Congressman Benishek for sponsoring the companion to this legislation. I urge all of my colleagues to join me in supporting it. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, it is indeed an honor to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Benishek), a great friend and colleague.

Mr. ROE of Tennessee

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to add extraneous material on H.R. 4150, as amended.

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4150) to amend title 38, United States Code, to allow the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to modify the hours of employment of physicians employed on a full-time basis by the Department of Veterans Affairs, as amended.

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. H.R. 4150, as amended, the Department of Veterans Affairs Emergency Medical Staffing Recruitment and Retention Act, would authorize the VA, upon written request, to modify the hours of employment for full-time physicians to be more than or less than 80 hours in a biweekly pay period, as agreed to by the physician and hospital management. Earlier this year, the VA testified that there are nearly 4,000 physician vacancies across the VA healthcare system. The VA's ability to effectively recruit and retain high-quality medical professionals to care for our veterans is threatened by the Nation's worsening physician shortage, which the Association of American Medical Colleges has stated could grow to just under 100,000 physicians by 2025. In light of this, it is imperative that we provide the VA with every available tool to improve physician recruitment and to make efficient use of the current physician workforce. Currently, the VA's ability in both regards is hampered by a rigid 80-hour, biweekly work schedule that is at odds with private sector industry standards. Typically, emergency room, ER, providers in non-VA hospitals across the country work flexible schedules to accommodate the irregular hours that emergency medicine demands. However, ER doctors in VA medical facilities are not afforded the opportunity to adopt the flexible schedules that their private sector colleagues enjoy. This bill would correct that discrepancy and improve the VA's ability to recruit and retain ER physicians. H.R. 4150, as amended, which has my full support, originated as a VA legislative proposal and is sponsored by Congressman Raul Ruiz of California, who is an emergency medical physician. I am grateful to him for his efforts in addressing this issue, and I urge all of my colleagues to support this needed legislation. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I, too, am strongly in favor of this bill. I don't know where Dr. Ruiz was with regard to this 40-hour week, but I wish he had been around when I was in training and in practice because it would have been a joy to have worked just 40 hours. This particular bill allows the flexibility that every other hospital in the world has for staffing, and this is with the consent of the physicians and the hospital. It just makes sense. I am so glad that Dr. Ruiz brought this up. As a practicing ER physician, he knows about this, and he knows exactly what it is. I appreciate Dr. Ruiz bringing this up and making the committee aware of it. This will become a new law. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. ROE of Tennessee

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Debbie Shedden who is the current President of the Tennessee School Boards Association. Debbie has been active at the local, state, and national levels of education for several years. She was named the Tennessee School Board Member of the Year in 2011 and received the Premier Ambassador Award from Tennessee School Boards Association in 2013 and 2014. In 2016 Tennessee Education Commissioner Dr. Candice McQueen reappointed Debbie to the Tennessee Task Force on Student Testing and Assessment. Debbie is also actively involved in the Rogersville Rotary Club and the Interact Club at Cherokee High School. Debbie has dedicated herself to serving the students and communities of Hawkins County and Tennessee. I am proud to recognize Debbie for her commitment and work to improving education in Tennessee.

Mr. ROE of Tennessee

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I want to thank Mr. Moulton and one of our leaders, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, for bringing this very important piece of legislation to the floor. One of the reasons is that it shows when you bring someone with real-world experiences who uses the VA how they can then take that and convert that into meaningful legislation that will actually help veterans around the country. I encourage all Members to support this legislation. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Washington (Mrs. McMorris Rodgers), who is our conference chair. Cathy McMorris Rodgers is a very passionate supporter of veterans' issues.

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, this is long overdue. One of the problems we have in VA is that we know the scandal at Phoenix where there were secret waiting lists for appointments for honorably discharged veterans to see a doctor. This is one of the ways in which we can put veterans back in charge. One of the things I want to do is put veterans and doctors--healthcare providers--in charge of the health care and not bureaucrats, schedulers, and so forth. This puts the power back in front of the veterans. We are at the Christmas season. Many of us order packages on Amazon or wherever. Guess what we can do? We can track that through our own personal device anywhere that package is so that it reaches our doorstep. Veterans should have that command so they can have an appointment when they want it; they can make it. The technology is available. I can't think of a better thing to do than to have a private and public competition to see which is the most effective for the veteran. I think in a year we are going to know. It will be simple to implement. Almost everyone has a smart device now that we can use for this process. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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. 4352, as amended, the Faster Care for Veterans Act of 2016. The wait time scandals that continue to plague the Department of Veterans Affairs have highlighted the need for veterans to be able to schedule their own medical appointments. Everyone agrees that the veterans who want this capability should have it. A self-scheduling option would reduce the workload on overburdened schedulers, allow the VA to use taxpayer resources more efficiently, and grant veterans who would prefer to schedule their own appointments the ability and flexibility to do so. It would also encourage accountability by giving veterans verifiable records of their own appointment bookings. VA has been considering self-scheduling since at least 2013. However, projects start and stop, priorities shift, and nothing usable has so far emerged from those considerations. Unfortunately, this seems to be the result of a tug of war between some VA officials who favor a commercial off-the-shelf system and others who favor a government- developed system. VA has been developing a self-scheduling mobile application based on its VISTA management system and plans to roll it out in January 2017. I have high hopes for that effort, but VA's IT development record is mixed--to put it mildly--and past experience shows that meeting high standards and firm deadlines are crucial to success. The time has come to settle this issue once and for all. H.R. 4352, as amended, establishes capability standards reflecting the state of the art that apply to any commercial or government self-scheduling system in VA. It also directs VA to pilot the best available commercial software in three locations. The bill tasks an independent expert to verify whether that commercial system and the government system meet those standards, and by the end of 2017, VA must certify whether or not they do. The concept is, in other words, a bake-off to create the most successful possible software for our veterans. Ideally, both systems will meet the standards, but if the government system cannot make the grade, VA will have a commercial alternative thoroughly piloted and ready to go to work for VA patients. H.R. 4352, as amended, is sponsored by Congressman Seth Moulton from Massachusetts and Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers from Washington. I thank them both for their leadership on this issue. This broadly bipartisan legislation is an efficient, timely solution to a longstanding problem, and I encourage all of my colleagues to join me in supporting it. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4352) to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to carry out a pilot program establishing a patient self-scheduling appointment system, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. ROE of Tennessee

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I encourage all Members to support this legislation. I have practiced medicine for almost 40 years under these same requirements right here, and we should expect no less for the care of our veterans. I encourage support. I yield back the balance of my time.

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

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. 5399, the Ethical Patient Care for Veterans Act of 2016, which I am proud to sponsor. There is no higher priority than ensuring that our Nation's veterans receive safe, high-quality care from the Department of Veterans Affairs. The vast majority of VA employees are upstanding, well-qualified, and want nothing more than to do right by the veterans in their care. However, in the last several years, we have heard far too many instances where VA employees have failed to live up to the standards of care that our veterans deserve. In many of those cases, a culture of silence or fear of retaliation by supervisors has prevented other employees from reporting those transgressions in a timely manner. To protect our veterans from poor-performing VA medical professionals, H.R. 5399 would require VA to ensure that every VA physician is informed of his or her duty to report impaired, incompetent, or unethical behavior that the physician witnesses or otherwise discovers directly to the applicable State licensing authorities within 5 days. This is consistent with the longstanding practice of the American Medical Association and existing VA policy and would improve the quality of care VA provides by making sure that the poor performers, those who put the lives and well-being of veteran patients at risk, are reported to relevant authorities within a reasonable time frame so that the appropriate action can be taken to safeguard the patients in their care. Mr. Speaker, this is commonsense legislation. More importantly, it is the right thing to do for veterans. I urge all of my colleagues to join me in supporting this legislation. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ROE of Tennessee

Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise to urge all Members to support S. 3076, the Charles Duncan Buried with Honor Act of 2016. S. 3076, which passed the Senate by unanimous consent on September 20, 2016, would provide indigent families of deceased veterans with more choices as they make the difficult decision about where to lay their loved ones to rest without being financially penalized. This legislation is a practical solution for a common challenge that is faced by too many veterans' families. Dr. Wenstrup, my colleague and a valued member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, has sponsored H.R. 6114, the House companion to this bill. Under current law, if a family does not have sufficient resources to buy a casket or an urn for a deceased loved one, the VA can provide one if the veteran is buried in a national cemetery, but not if the veteran is buried in a State or a tribal cemetery. However, for some families, interring a veteran in a national cemetery is not always the best option. For example, a national cemetery may be too far away for families to attend burial services or to regularly visit their loved ones. To better serve the families of all veterans, S. 3076 allows the VA to furnish a casket or an urn if the deceased veteran is laid to rest in a national or in a State or a tribal cemetery. It is appropriate to honor the service of veterans who have passed by providing a casket or an urn regardless of where the veteran is interred. I urge my colleagues to support S. 3076. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.