Chris Smith

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in very strong support of H.R. 4068, as amended, the Robert J. Dole Department of Veterans Affairs Medical and Regional Office Center. Mr. Speaker, American history is filled with men and women who have made great sacrifices and performed great services on behalf of our Nation. It is one of the privileges that we in the House and Senate, the Congress, have to be able to recognize these individuals before our fellow countrymen and for all future generations. One such American worthy of honor is former soldier and Senator Bob Dole of Kansas. Bob Dole was probably one of the best known World War II veterans. As a young officer in the famed Tenth Mountain Division, he was severely wounded during fighting in Italy and spent 3 years in Army and Veterans Administration Hospitals recovering. He was permanently disabled with a shattered shoulder; yet by his personal courage and persistence, he overcame a boatload of crushing obstacles. He went on to become a national leader as a United States Senator, he was a presidential candidate, and a tireless advocate for veterans and the disabled. So it is extremely fitting that in his home State of Kansas, the VA facility in Wichita be named the Robert J. Dole Department of Veterans Affairs Medical and Regional Office Center. I would especially commend the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Moran), who is the author of the bill, to honor Bob Dole. The gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Moran) is chairman, as we know, of the Subcommittee on Health of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs; and I am very proud to be a co- sponsor of this bill, which he has spoken about with great eloquence earlier. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my team.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman). (Mr. GILMAN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to my good friend and colleague, the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Ryun), former world record-holder in the mile.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Moran), the chief sponsor of this legislation and chairman of the Subcommittee on Health of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 314) recognizing the members of AMVETS for their service to the Nation and supporting the goals of AMVETS National Charter Day.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 4085.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from New York (Chairman Gilman) for his comments. Although not a member of the committee, he is ever faithful on veterans' legislation, always here, and we thank him for his contribution. General Leave

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the distinguished gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman), chairman emeritus of the Committee on International Relations. (Mr. GILMAN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my good friend for his comments and for working so well with us on these important bills, the whole package. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the distinguished gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis), the vice chairman of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 4085, the Veterans' and Survivors' Benefits Expansion Act of 2002 will expand and increase a number of important benefits for veterans and their surviving spouses. With more than 2.3 million veterans relying on disability compensation payments, H.R. 4085 provides a much-needed cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), the same as that which is given to Social Security recipients, currently estimated to be about 2.3 percent next year. Surviving spouses and children of veterans who qualify for dependency and indemnity compensation (DIC) would also see their payments increased by the same COLA amount. For a 100 percent service-connected disabled veteran, this increase would take effect December 1 and will total about $600 next year in increase. In total, H.R. 4085 will increase disability compensation payments by about $300 million next year and by more than $1.5 billion over the next 5 years. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 4085 would also make a historic change in current law to allow surviving spouses who remarry after the age of 65 to retain their dependency and indemnity compensation as well as health insurance, home loan, and education benefits. Under current law, a surviving spouse of a veteran who is currently eligible for dependency and indemnity compensation, and who remarries, loses his or her eligibility for this and other VA benefits. Sadly, this economic penalty has prevented thousands of older women from enjoying the comforts that come from marriage later in their lives. Mr. Speaker, as my colleagues know, when a man and woman serve our Nation in the Armed Forces, we not only benefit from their service, but also from that of their spouse, who make their own sacrifices supporting their family on the home front. We should stop penalizing these brave women and men who have already lost so much, and are now looking for companionship in their twilight years. This provision has been championed in the House by the Committee on Veterans' Affairs vice chairman, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis). I want to commend him for his continuing work, and his commitment on behalf of veterans and their spouses. Let me say to my colleagues that we had hoped to bring forward legislation that contained a lower age limit; we wanted to get to 55 years, but budgetary constraints and questionable CBO scoring have prevented us from doing that. Instead, our legislation in essence would make a down payment to these Gold Star wives who have given our Nation so much. We will be monitoring the actual implementation costs of this provision so that we can revisit it in the future. While today's action is historic, let me assure these brave women that it is just the beginning of the process and not the end of the process. H.R. 4085 also contains several other provisions which the distinguished chairman of the Subcommittee on Benefits will be outlining in a moment. Finally, I just want to say that I am grateful to the chairman, the gentleman from Idaho (Mr. Simpson), gentleman from Texas (Mr. Reyes), the ranking member, and again my good friend, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Evans), for working with us on this legislation and for helping to bring it to the floor today. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Idaho (Mr. Simpson).

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4085) to increase, effective as of December 1, 2002, the rates of disability compensation for veterans with service- connected disabilities and the rates of dependency and indemnity compensation for survivors of certain service-connected disabled veterans, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I ask that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H.R. 4608, as amended.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4514) to authorize the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to carry out construction projects for the purpose of improving, renovating, and updating patient care facilities at Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 4015, as amended.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank our distinguished chairman for his leadership in authoring this bill and working it through the committee hearings and markup, and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Reyes) as well, the ranking member, and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Evans), the ranking member of the full committee. It has been, again, an effort made by so many. I want to thank a few other people on the staff again. Pat Ryan and Kingston Smith, Jeannie McNally, Summer Larson, Darryl Kehrer, who has done yeoman's work on this, Paige McManus, Devon Siebert, Jerry Tan, Mary McDermott, Mary Ellen McCarthy and Beth Kilker. Again, so much has gone into this. The distinguished chairman talked about the 2-year effort, and that the previous chairman of the subcommittee worked on this as well. This bill, we hope, will be very seriously and quickly considered by the Senate side. This has to be enacted into law as soon as humanly possible. Again, I thank him for his leadership. General Leave

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Idaho (Mr. Simpson), the distinguished chairman of our Subcommittee on Benefits of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to support President Bush's policy on Cuba. The Bush Initiative, which says the United States will work with Cuba once Fidel Castro takes concrete measures to improve the abysmal human rights situation and lack of freedoms granted to his people, is the correct course for us to take. The Bush policy clearly places the ball in Castro's court. Unlike comments made by former President Jimmy Carter last week, the Bush policy recognizes that Castro is a dictator who represses his people and that he, therefore, must take the first steps if he is serious about normalizing ties to the U.S. I concur completely with the President that Castro must free his political prisoners, legalize political activity, permit free elections, and cease discriminating against Cuban workers before Congress can begin to even consider lifting the economic embargo. Until the Cuban people are free, trade and other favorable relations with Cuba will not help the people. Rather, it will enrich and empower Castro and his cronies so they can maintain an iron clasp on freedom. Until Castro makes a lasting commitment to freedom, the U.S. cannot engage in activity that would prop him up

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3253) to amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for the establishment of emergency medical preparedness centers in the Department of Veterans Affairs, as amended.