Chris Smith

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 yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, before yielding back, I do want to thank and commend the hard work of committee staff, Devon Seibert, Paige McManus, Darryl Kehrer, Patrick Ryan, Kingston Smith, Jim Holley, Mary Ellen McCarthy, Geoffrey Collver, Leah Booth and so many others who have made this legislation and all the bills that we work cooperatively on with my friend and colleague, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Evans), to bring to the floor what we think are quality, well-vetted, very thoughtful pieces of legislation that make the difference in the lives of veterans and their families. This is another example of that kind of cooperation. This is the way this body should work, and it is so good to see us again working hand-in- glove in this partnership. Again, I want to thank the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Brown) and the gentleman from Maine (Mr. Michaud) for their good work as chairman and ranking member of the subcommittee. I urge all Members to support this bill.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis) who is the vice chairman of the committee and has been, and as the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Brown) pointed out, seven times he has now tried to get the Gold Star Wives' compensation not lost if they were to remarry, and this time we have it in the bill. Last year when we sent it over to the Senate, we lost it, but this time I think the seventh time is the charm, and I thank him for his leadership.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2297) to amend title 38, United States Code, to modify and improve certain benefits for veterans, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2297 as amended, the Veterans Benefit Act of 2003, contains 20 substantive provisions and is a diverse and comprehensive measure with very broad bipartisan support. This bill will affect veterans and survivors alike. Among the education provisions, the bill provides for an expansion of the Montgomery GI Bill, the college program, by authorizing educational assistance for on-job training in certain 6-month self-employment training programs. It provides an extension of the delimiting date for survivors' and dependents' education benefits when the eligible individual is involuntarily ordered to full-time National Guard duty. It provides for an extension of the VA's Veterans' Advisory Committee on education through December 31 of 2009 and for the repeal of the VA's obsolete education loan program authorization. This program has not made a loan in the past several years because of other better options in the public and private sector. The bill would also provide that the remarriage of the surviving spouse of a veteran after attaining the age of 55 would not result in the termination of Dependency and Indemnity Compensation, or the DIC program. It allows a remarried surviving spouse to attain eligibility for burial in a national cemetery based on his or her marriage to a veteran. It makes permanent the State Cemetery Grants Program. It reinstates a VA pilot program to provide vocational training to newly eligible VA nonservice-connected pension recipients. It increases, Mr. Speaker, the specially adapted automobile grant from $9,000 to $11,000 and increases the specially adapted housing grant from $48,000 to $50,000 for the most severely disabled veterans and from $9,350 to $10,000 for less severely disabled veterans. The bill also adds cirrhosis of the liver to the list of presumed service-connected disabilities for former prisoners of war. It eliminates the requirement that a POW be held for 30 days or more to qualify for presumptions of service-connection for certain disabilities: psychosis and any of the anxiety states, organic residuals of frostbite, and post-traumatic osteoarthritis. It expands benefits eligibility to those children with spina bifida who were born to Vietnam-era veterans who served in an area of Korea near the demilitarized zone between October 1 of 1967 and May 7 of 1975. Out of concern about spina bifida, Mr. Speaker, I would note parenthetically that the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Stupak) and I formed the Congressional Spina Bifida Caucus, which we now co-chair. This caucus is dedicated to improving the health care and overall quality of life for the some 70,000 Americans and their families living with spina bifida, and in a very short time I would again note to my colleagues we have about 20 Members who have joined. And just a little push here in promotion, if they would like to join that spina bifida caucus, we would very much like to have them as part of it. Let me continue with the bill. H.R. 2297, as amended, would also make permanent the VA home loan program for members of the Selected Reserve. It reinstates the Department of Veterans Affairs' vendee loan program and provides the full amount of compensation and Dependency and Indemnity Compensation for eligible members of the New Philippine Scouts, who served just after World War II, who are legal residents of the United States. It also provides the full amount of DIC for service in the organized military forces of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, including organized guerrilla units, to individuals who are legal residents of the United States. It extends eligibility for burial in a national cemetery to New Philippine Scouts, as well as eligibility for burial benefits to those who lawfully reside in the United States. It extends the authority of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to maintain a regional office in Manila, Philippines, through December 31 also of 2009. It mandates that the Department of Labor place staff in veterans' assistance offices at oversees military installations 90 days after the date of enactment, and it expands the list of serious Federal criminal offenses a conviction of which would result in a bar to all VA benefits. As I mentioned, Mr. Speaker, the bill addresses the needs for former prisoners of war. Current law requires former POWs to have been confined for at least 30 days before they qualify for a presumption of service-connection for certain disabilities. Prisoners of war in more recent conflicts, however, have been interred for shorter periods of time. All the POWs from Operation Iraqi Freedom were confined for less than 30 days, for example. Because physical and psychological trauma can indeed occur within minutes of capture, let alone days or weeks, H.R. 2297, as amended, would provide a presumption of service-connection disability without regard to length of confinement for certain psychiatric disabilities as well as cold-weather-related injuries and traumatic osteoarthritis. The bill would also, as I said, add a number of other aspects, and I hopefully have outlined those adequately to the committee. Let me just say, finally, Mr. Speaker, I really want to congratulate the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Brown), the subcommittee chair of our Subcommittee on Benefits, and the gentleman from Maine (Mr. Michaud), his ranking member, for their outstanding work on this legislation, for doing the hard work, holding the hearings, working out all the different disparate provisions, and then working to bring it together in a bipartisan way so that we can present to this body a bill that we can all be proud of that will tangibly advance the ball when it comes to our veterans. I want to thank them very much for their good hard work and also the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Evans), my good friend and colleague, on whom we have partnered for years now as chairman and ranking member, working on bills to benefit our veterans both on the health care area and benefits area. I want to thank him as well. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing H.R. 3260 in bi-partisan collaboration with my colleague, the gentleman from Illinois and Ranking Member of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, Lane Evans. This bill would augment certain health care business practices and programs of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to achieve greater efficiencies and economies of scale. Other enhancements included in this bill would benefit the Department of Defense (DOD) and VA's nonprofit research corporations. The bill would also extend certain reporting dates and authorities of VA in the provision of health care services to our Nation's veterans. Finally, our bill would authorize the naming of the Prescott, Arizona Veterans Affairs Medical Center for the late Bob Stump, my predecessor as Chairman of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Mr. Speaker, this bill would authorize a five-year extension to VA's authority to provide non-institutional extended care services and required nursing home care to certain veterans. The mounting importance of providing long-term care alternatives to our aging veterans is supported by the projected increase in veterans who are 85 years of age or older from some 644,000 today to 1.3 million within the next decade. In 1999, Congress enacted the Veterans Millennium Health Care and Benefits Act (Public Law 106-117), requiring VA to operate and maintain certain long-term care programs in nursing home care. This Act also contained initiatives in geriatric evaluation, domiciliary care, adult day health care, respite, palliative and hospice programs. All of these programs are intended to address the growing needs of aging and disabled veterans by both institutional and non-institutional means. The authorities for these programs in the Veterans Millennium Health Care and Benefits Act will expire on December 31, 2003. This legislation would extend these authorities until December 31, 2008. H.R. 3260 would also allow veterans who are former prisoners of war to receive outpatient dental care from VA, without requiring them to have been in captivity for at least 90 days, as under current law. This bill also would eliminate the requirement under current law that ex- POWs must now pay pharmacy co-payments. These are tangible and justified enhancements showing the gratitude of the nation for the sacrifices of former prisoners of war. Mr. Speaker, this bill would also streamline the process and notification requirements when VA intends to enter into an enhanced-use lease agreement for better use of underutilized VA property. Initially authorized in 1991, this unique asset management authority allows VA to enter into partnerships with private industry to yield the ``highest and best'' use of VA property for veterans, taxpayers, and the government. The enhanced-use lease program was created by Congress to allow VA activities to generate revenue, maximize value, minimize costs, and maintain competitiveness by developing health care and long-term care facilities, parking, energy plants, transitional and independent senior housing, assisted living, research and development facilities, child and adult day care and office space (government and commercial) projects in partnerships with private and public entities. Since its inception, the enhanced-use lease program has generated cost savings, private investment, new long-term sources of revenues as well as jobs and expanded tax revenues. Mr. Speaker, this program represents cost effective, good government. This bill would extend the benefits of the enhanced-use lease program to the Veterans Benefits and National Cemetery Administrations as well as the health care system. Current law limits the program to real estate assets of the Veterans Health Administration. This bill would allow the proceeds to be retained by the Veterans Health Administration, the Veterans Benefits Administration or the National Cemetery Administration, whichever administration initiated and developed the enhanced-use lease project. This bill would allow the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to extend authority to the Secretary of Defense, beginning in fiscal year 2004, to purchase medical equipment, services and supplies through VA's revolving supply fund. This simple provision would serve to further expand federal purchasing power and enhance economies of scale. Mr. Speaker, at the request of the Department, this bill would change statutory reporting dates on several reports VA is required to make to Congress. The bill would also provide certain Federal liability coverage to a very specific and small group of employees who work in the nonprofit research corporations authorized in title 38. Congress established these nonprofit corporations to manage non-appropriated research activities, primarily those funded through grants from the National Institutes of Health, philanthropic grants and a variety of clinical and pharmaceutical trials. Congress expanded the role of VA nonprofit corporations in 1999 to include a variety of educational endeavors for VA clinical care staff. Employees of these nonprofit corporations would have liability coverage equivalent to their VA counterparts. The bill would also authorize a five-year extension of the basic authority for these nonprofits through December 31, 2008. The final provision of this bill is to honor our departed former Chairman, the Honorable Bob Stump. In June of this year, we were saddened by the loss of our former colleague who served with distinction in Congress for 26 years. From his enlistment in the Navy during World War II at the age of 16, to his extraordinary leadership as Chairman of the Veterans' Affairs and Armed Services Committees in the House of Representatives, Bob Stump was a true American hero. Chairman Stump used his influence to promote responsible legislation to assist and honor our Nation's veterans, past, present and future. Under Bob Stump's leadership, Congress increased funding for veterans' health care; expanded access to long term care for aging veterans, including nonhospital alternative care; reformed eligibility standards for access to VA health care; extended the national cemetery system, including Arlington National Cemetery; increased assistance to disabled veterans and their survivors; and strengthened the Montgomery GI Bill that has helped millions of veterans fulfill their educational and career goals. As his successor as Chairman of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, I particularly know and appreciate all that he did for our Nation's veterans, service members and their families. A modest man who preferred to shun the spotlight, Bob Stump's lifetime of service to America and our Nation's veterans left this country a better place. I am honored to include in this legislation a provision to name the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Prescott, Arizona as the ``Bob Stump Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center.'' This memorial is a fitting tribute in his beloved home state of Arizona, and will ensure that his legacy will continue to shine brightly for generations to come. Mr. Speaker, the Veterans' Extended Health Care Services and Business Enhancements Act of 2003 is an important measure. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 3260 and to work with me and my colleagues on the Committee to advance this legislation this year.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, partial birth abortion is but the tip of an ugly and an unseemly iceberg. Just below the surface, the surface appeal of choice is a reality almost too horrific and cruel to contemplate, let alone face. Yet we persist in our illusions and denial, ever enabled by clever marketing, biased news reporting, and the cheap sophistry of choice. Let us be clear. Abortion is child abuse, and it exploits women. Women deserve better than having their babies stabbed, cut, decapitated, or poisoned. Women deserve nonviolent, life-affirming, positive alternatives to abortion. Thirty years after Roe, the national debate about partial birth abortion has finally pierced the multiple layers of euphemisms and collective denial to reveal child battering in the extreme. The cover- up is over, and the dirty secret concerning abortion methods is finally getting the scrutiny that will usher in reform and protective statutes. Mr. Speaker, there is nothing compassionate nor benign about stabbing babies in the brain with scissors so their brains can be sucked out. In like manner, there is nothing compassionate or benign about other methods of abortion, like injections of chemical poison that burn and blister or dismemberment by suction machines 20 to 30 times more powerful than household vacuum cleaners. The loss of children's lives since Roe has been staggering, Mr. Speaker: 44.4 million babies dead. Picture this: Two days ago 56,292 fans packed into Yankee Stadium for the play-offs. The number of children killed since Roe would fill Yankee Stadium to capacity each and every day for 788 days. The shear number of children destroyed is numbing. Then there is the terrible toll that abortion imposes on women. A new organization, Mr. Speaker, Silent No More, organized by women who have had abortions, including actress Jennifer O'Neill, shatters the myth that abortion somehow benefits women. ``We are the face of women exploited,'' they say. Women need real love, genuine compassion, and their voice will ultimately be heard. Mr. Speaker, the cover-up is over.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend for yielding me the time. Mr. Speaker, let me just make this very clear. The other side cannot have it both ways. The gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Edwards) argue that this legislation will not stop a single abortion, while the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Maloney) and the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton) took to the floor and argued that it would ban all abortions after 12 weeks. They cannot have it both ways. Let us be very clear. Let us have intellectual honesty in this debate. We are trying to proscribe a horrific procedure wherein a baby who is partially born, only to have his or her brain jabbed with a scissors or some other sharp instrument and his or her brains are sucked out, thereby killing that child. This was invented by the abortion industry as a way of precluding what they considered a ``dreaded complication,'' that is, late-term abortions where babies actually survive and go on to be adopted in many cases. There have been many instances where babies survive an hour, 2 hours or longer. Some survive and are adopted, having survived later-term abortions. Partial birth abortion ensures that there is no survivor. They set out to kill the baby. The abortionist succeeds in his task. Let me also point out that the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Slaughter), my good friend, argued that partial-birth abortions are performed on disabled children. First of all, I resent the fact that somebody would suggest that a disabled child ought to be executed in this fashion. The Americans with Disability Act and all the other disability legislation finally brought us to the point where we recognized disabled people as just as human, just as alive, just as entitled to the best possible life imaginable as everyone else. To say that somehow the disabled ought to have this method reserved for them because, of course, they are disabled, I think, is unconscionable. Let me also say, Ron FitzSimmons from the Abortion lobby made it very clear Pro-Abortion side ``lied through our teeth'' about for whom this method was intended. It is intended for later-term, second-trimester and third-trimester abortions. They lied through their teeth about who it was these were performed on. And how often they are performed. Most of the kids who are killed with partial-birth abortion methods are perfectly healthy, perfectly normal, and those kids, like their disabled brothers and sisters, should not be executed in this terrible way or in any other way.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. My team lost to his last night. Yankee Stadium was filled to capacity, 56,292 people. The number of lives that have been lost since Roe v. Wade, 44.4 million, and picture this, it would be like filling Yankee Stadium every single day for 788 days full of children who are then slaughtered. The horrific loss of life, that is a staggering loss of life, is beyond almost any of our comprehensions to grasp, and yet that is what has happened in the 30 years since Roe v. Wade. It has been done in what seems to be the pristine environment of an abortion clinic. We know that is not often case. Many of these so- called doctors are anything but. They are at the lower level of the medical chain, if you will, food chain, and I have known some abortion doctors, some of whom have actually become pro-life, and they talk about the squalor, the killing that goes on every day and the mental impact it even has on them. So I just want to say to my colleagues that tomorrow we take, I think, a major step forward in trying to stop some of this killing, and I think the logical among us, the logical people out there in America, will begin connecting the dots and saying if it is so horrific to kill a baby with partial-birth abortion, why is suction okay? Why is D & E and all the other methods that are no less gruesome but a little bit more invisible because they do not happen as late in the stage of the pregnancy and they are not as visible as a partial-birth abortion, why are they any less of an act of child abuse? And this is all about child abuse. Again, there are two victims in every abortion, and my hope is that tomorrow we take a step forward in protecting these children from this cruelty. I thank my good friend.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my very good friend and colleague not only for his leadership tonight, but for many years on behalf of the rights of the unborn and their mothers. He has been a stalwart. He has been compassionate, and I thank him for his leadership. And I would like to thank my colleagues who have spoken, the two docs, and the other Members who have spoken tonight so eloquently and passionately in favor of protecting the most innocent and the most at-risk minority in America today and that is the unborn children and the other victims of abortion, who every time that victim is the mother, many of whom who have been cast aside. They have been hurt and hurt very severely as a result of abortion. Just a couple of months ago we hosted, a number of us, a group of four women including Jennifer O'Neil, the actress who was in ``Summer of '42.'' She was a former Cover Girl. Melba Moore, an accomplished singer, four women who have had abortions, who have become part of a group called Silent No More. They have spoken out, and I encourage women who might be listening to this or men or who know someone who has had an abortion and is living with that agony to know that there is hope, there is reconciliation. The pro-life movement has always been about speaking truth to power, to Government and to those who would take the life of an unborn child, but also speaking truth and reconciliation to those women who have been victimized by abortion, including partial-birth abortion. Silentnomoreawareness.org can be accessed through the Web or through contacting our various offices. It is an outstanding means of reaching out to these women who are hurting. During the course of their conversations, one woman who had two abortions talked about how she had so many sleepless nights. She thought that she could never hold a child again in her hand. Jennifer O'Neil had talked about the pressure that had been put upon her time and again by her family members who thought they were doing something benign and good for her, while actually hurting her severely, unwittingly but nevertheless hurting her severely. And she carried that pain for years, and now speaks out passionately to the women of America to come forward and know that there is reconciliation and to warn other women not to march into that abortion clinic and get a partial-birth abortion or any of the other methods that dismember or chemically poison unborn children. I just would point out to my colleagues that some 62 years ago, from a podium right up there by the Speaker, Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave his famous speech after the attack on Pearl Harbor and called December 7 ``a day that would live in infamy.'' I would point out to my colleagues that as a result of that, as we all know, some 55 million people around the world lost their lives to that global conflict. Another day of infamy less visible but no less lethal, the imposition of abortion on demand by the U.S. Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade on January 22, 1973, has unleashed an assault on innocent human life that is absolutely staggering, about 44.4 million dead babies, children, and counting. The loss of so many innocent children by chemical poisoning, by literal dismemberment and suction machines 20 to 30 times more powerful than an average vacuum machine that all of us have in our homes, ripping apart that child; and now we see this cruel and unthinkable method where a baby, very late-term, as the doc pointed out a moment ago, third trimester, some in their second trimester but late second trimester, very mature babies where a doctor literally punctures their brains, usually with Metzenbaum scissors, to make a hole so that the baby's brains could be sucked out. That is pathetic child abuse, and thankfully tomorrow the House, with the leadership of so many Members, especially with our President, will be putting into effect when the Senate finally adopts it as well, which they will, signs this ban into law. Let me just give an idea of the numbers again, because I think sometimes we, in our entertainment-oriented age and the fact that we can go from one distraction to another, forget how many people have been lost. I mentioned 44.4 million. I am a big Yankee fan.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize one of Congress' newest caucuses--The Congressional Spina Bifida Caucus. This Congressional Member Organization (CMO) was co-founded and is co-chaired by my good friend Representataive Bart Stupak of Michigan and me. The Congressional Spina Bifida Caucus is dedicated to improving the healthcare and overall quality of life for the 70,000 Americans and their families living with spina bifida. This year has been a successful year for the patients and families who live with spina bifida, especially the members of the non-profit Spina Bifida Association of America who have done indefatigable work promoting an agenda of hope and research. In addition to securing $2 million to establish the National Spina Bifida Program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) earlier this year, a major gathering of leading spina bifida researchers was held here in Washington this past May. The successful conference played a major role in helping to chart the future path of spina bifida research. Yesterday, we marked another milestone--the official launch and first briefing of the Congressional Spina Bifida Caucus. In very short time, more than 20 Representatives supportive of our mission have joined the caucus. As more Members learn of the mission and legislative focus of the caucus, we are confident they too will join. I look forward to hosting additional informative briefings to better educate both Members and staff about spina bifida. All of these successes would have been impossible if not for the work of the Spina Bifida Association of America and the Spina Bifida Foundation. Under the Leadership of Foundation President Hal Pote, Association President Alex Brodrick, and CEO Cindy Brownstein, the SBAA has made tremendous strides these past few years in helping all Americans--and their families--who live with spina bifida. I wish the SBAA the best for continued success and I look forward to continuing to lead efforts in Congress on behalf of spina bifida patients and families.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, the murder of Ukrainian investigative journalist Heorhiy Gongadze remains unsolved--three years after he was murdered. On September 16, 2000, Gongadze, editor of ``Ukrainska Pravda'', an Internet news publication critical of high- level corruption in Ukraine, disappeared. Ukrainian President Kuchma and a number of high-ranking officials have been implicated in his disappearance and the circumstances leading to his murder. Audio recordings exist that contain conversations between Kuchma and other senior government officials discussing the desirability of Gongadze's elimination. Over the last three years, the Ukrainian authorities' handling, or more accurately, mishandling of this case has been characterized by obfuscation and stonewalling. Last month, a prime suspect in the case, former senior militiaman Ihor Honcharov, who allegedly headed a gang of ex-police accused of several kidnappings and murders, died in police custody under mysterious circumstances. His posthumous letters--which give a detailed account of events surrounding Gongadze's death and which name names-- are now being investigated by the Prosecutor General's office. A few days ago, Prosecutor General Svyatoslav Piskun indicated that some facts in the letters have proved to be true. Reportedly, warrants have been issued for two suspects in the killing. Mr. Speaker, a credible investigation of this case by Ukrainian authorities is long overdue. At the same time, it is important to stress that not only those who committed the actual crime, but those who ordered it--no matter who they may be--need to be brought to justice. Unfortunately, the Gongadze case is not an isolated one. The murder, and deaths in suspicious car accidents, of journalists and opposition figures, have become commonplace. Earlier this year, Ukraine's Ombudsman Nina Karpachova asserted that journalism remains among the most dangerous professions in Ukraine, with 36 media employees having been killed over the past ten years, and many more have been beaten, including several within the last few months. This past July, Volodymyr Yefremov, a journalist critical of president Kuchma who worked with the press freedom group Institute of Mass Information (11/41), died in a suspect car accident. Just two weeks ago, Ivan Havdyda, who was head of the Ternopil region branch of the democratic opposition ``Our Ukraine'', was found murdered in Kyiv under questionable circumstances. Over the last three years, the Helsinki Commission, Members of the House and Senate, Department of State, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and other international institutions repeatedly have raised the Gongadze murder case and urged the Ukrainian authorities to undertake a serious investigation into the this case. The response from Ukrainian officials has done nothing but cast doubt about the Ukrainian Government's commitment to the rule of law. Last year--just to cite one example--Ukrainian authorities blocked FBI experts from examining evidence gathered during the initial investigation, even after promising to accept U.S. technical assistance in the matter. I also hope that the Ukrainian parliament will take determined action in encouraging governmental accountability for solving the Gongadze and other murders, and bringing those involved to justice. The lack of a resolution of the Gongadze and other cases of those who have perished under suspicious circumstances has tarnished the credibility of the Ukrainian authorities in dealing with fundamental human rights. Mr. Speaker, as Chairman of the Helsinki Commission and in the strongest possible terms, I once again urge Ukrainian authorities to take seriously the many enduring concerns regarding the circumstances that led to Heorhiy Gongadze's murder and the subsequent investigation.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I just want to thank the gentleman from Illinois for his leadership on this and for working so cooperatively with us. I also thank the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Renzi), the gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. Udall), the gentleman from Hawaii (Mr. Abercrombie), the gentleman from Hawaii (Mr. Case), the gentlewoman from Guam (Mr. Bordallo), the gentleman from Maine (Mr. Michaud), and the gentleman from American Samoa (Mr. Faleomavaega) for his cosponsorship of this legislation. I appreciate it very much and urge the body to adopt it.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Renzi), a member of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, this legislation would restore the operation of the Native American Veteran Housing Loan Program during the current fiscal year to the scope of that program as it was in effect on September 30, 2002. The Native American Veteran Home Loan Program was established in 1992 as a 5-year pilot program, and Congress has extended it twice, most recently through 2005. This program is intended to assist eligible veterans living on trust or equivalent lands to secure loans at market rates to purchase, build or to renovate homes. VA has made over 300 home loans under this program. The Department of Veterans Affairs has stopped making loans under the Native American direct loan program because of a limitation contained in the 2003 Appropriations Act, which capped the amount of loans that can be made under this program to $5 million. This limitation was requested by the administration with the assumption that the limit would not be breached. VA advised us as of June 11 in a letter that it has already exceeded that limit. Mr. Speaker, 47 loans have already been made during the fiscal year, many of them refinancing loans. The VA committee has been advised that construction of a number of homes has been suspended directly attributable to the imposition of this moratorium. Pending applications are also on hold. I see no reason, in effect, why our Native American veterans should lose access to home loans in this way. We should celebrate their success, not put an artificial cap on it, especially at a time when refinancing is a way to save veterans thousands of dollars each and every year. We need to end this moratorium as soon as possible, and that is the purpose of this legislation. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2595) to restore the operation of the Native American Veteran Housing Loan Program during fiscal year 2003 to the scope of that program as in effect on September 30, 2002.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Moran), the former chairman of the Subcommittee on Health, who held hearings on Project SHAD.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2433) to amend title 38, United States Code, to authorize the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide veterans who participated in certain Department of Defense chemical and biological warfare testing to be provided health care for illness without requirement for proof of service-connection, as amended.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Simmons), the distinguished chairman of our Subcommittee on Health.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, before I yield back, I want to again thank all of my colleagues and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Rodriguez), especially, for his leadership on this bill. The gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Moran), who spoke earlier, held the really landmark hearings that helped catapult this issue into the forefront in people's thought. Let us not forget what we are talking about. The Department of Defense in some 41 tests aboard ships used agents like anthrax, VX, sarin gas. Yes, they used simulants in many cases, but they actually used the real deal. They actually used real contaminants. We are not sure, even to this day, whether or not the protective suits that were worn by our sailors aboard those ships actually protected them from these very caustic and poisonous agents. We need to get to the bottom of it. I am convinced, having been at the hearings, having had several conversations with people at the DOD and the VA, that they are really going to go all out to make sure that every veteran who is malaffected or could have been malaffected by this gets the kind of health care and compensation that is necessary if, indeed, they have been contaminated by it. So this is a very important bill. I hope that the full body will embrace it. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in strong support of H.R. 2433, as amended, the Health Care for Veterans of Project 112/Project Shad Act of 2003. Project SHAD stands for ``shipboard hazard and defense.'' It was a program that was conducted in the 1970s. I will get into that in a moment. I do want to thank the chairman of the Subcommittee on Health, the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Simmons), and the subcommittee's ranking member, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Rodriguez), for their work and cooperation in moving this very bipartisan bill forward. I want to thank them for their leadership on it. This bill would authorize the VA to provide higher priority health care to veterans who participated in Project 112/SHAD. These tests, which involved exposure of servicemembers to simulated chemical and biological agents and in some cases, Mr. Speaker, actual poisons, were conducted by the Department of Defense at their Desert Test Center from 1962 through 1973. In the past year, DOD has released information about all of these secret Cold War-era tests and has worked with the Department of Veterans Affairs and our committee to identify and notify veterans who participated in the tests, some of them unknowingly. This legislation will ensure that those veterans who did participate in those tests are able to receive medical evaluations and treatment if necessary at VA health care facilities on a higher priority basis without being required to establish service connection for these illnesses they believe were caused by those exposures. H.R. 2433 also includes several measures designed to help the VA to maintain a quality workforce in all of its health care facilities. There is a well-documented shortage of trained registered nurses, for example, in the United States; and this shortage affects the VA's ability to deliver care to veterans. Our committee has expressed concern about a VA policy that requires VA-registered nurses to obtain baccalaureate degrees in nursing in order to advance beyond entry nurse-grade levels. The VA's continuation of this policy in the face of high demand and scarcity of nursing personnel discourages qualified nurses from seeking VA employment and makes the VA's ability to retain current nurses more challenging than it needs to be. H.R. 2433 will help keep the VA competitive with the private sector so that when a VA- registered nurse is otherwise eligible for a promotion, the lack of a specific educational degree may not be used to deny that promotion from nurse grade 1 to grade 2. Mr. Speaker, section 4 of the bill expands the number of health care workers entitled to extra pay for working weekends. Most private hospitals provide extra pay for weekend work. Many VA health care workers already receive extra compensation for working on weekends. Section 4 is an effort to eliminate current disparities between VA employees working side by side to care for sick veterans. The legislation also gives the approximately 3,000 Veterans' Canteen Service hourly workers the right to be considered for other VA positions on a competitive basis. This right was given to VCS managers in 1979. There is no reason whatsoever to impede good VA workers from seeking career advancement to more demanding, higher-paying positions for which they are qualified. This is a good bill. I hope that Members will support it. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding me time. Mr. Chairman, I just want to say to my colleagues, if you voted in favor of the Flake amendment in the past, I respectfully ask you today to reconsider your vote this year. While I make no secret of the fact that I have opposed, and will continue to oppose, lifting the travel ban until all political prisoners are released and other modest human rights forums are initiated. Today is clearly not the time to be embracing an easement on travel. The outrages of last spring, the brutal arrest, conviction and incarceration for up to 28 years of approximately 80 of Cuba's best and brightest and bravest is just the most the visible and the most recent act of hate and cruelty by Fidel Castro. For decades to come, these individuals, these reformers will now join approximately 400 other political prisoners in Cuba's infamous Gulags, which the U.S. State Department has described as ``harsh and life threatening'', where there is torture, physical and psychological. Don't get sick in one of those Gulags because if you do, you will likely not get medical treatment and your condition will be permitted to fester. Just read the U.S. State Dept's Country Reports of Human Rights Practices for this year and see how horrific those conditions are. The treatment of political prisoners is a scandal. Look at what the L.A. Times said recently, and I would quote them briefly. This is an editorial in the L.A. Times, ``After years of calling for liberalized relations with Cuba, this editorial page must now urge American policymakers to hit the brakes.'' Hit the brakes my colleagues. Do not liberalize and allow Castro to reep upwards of $5 billion of profit--money that goes directly into Castro's coffers. We need to hit the brakes and at least say, not now. Reference was made earlier about how the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf) and I tried to visit Cuba. We were turned down. We wanted to visit prisoners. We wanted to see Dr. Biscet and others and do what the International Committee of the Red Cross cannot do. As we know, the ICRC has been denied, repeatedly, access to prisoners. We tried to do it, and we were turned down. And what did Fidel Castro say in one of his speeches? Because we wanted to go into the prisons and assess the situation firsthand we were ``provocateurs.'' Mr. Chairman, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf) and I have visited many political prisons around the world, from Perm Camp 35 in the Soviet Union, when it was the Soviet Union, to China, Beijing Prison Number 1, where convicts from Tiananmen Square were being mistreated. I have even gotten into prisons in Indonesia, and met with East Timoree leader Xanana Gusmao, and yet we cannot get into Cuba. Yet, some Members want to lift the travel ban. Lifting the ban now sends a clear message to those who are suffering from Castro's hate and abuse that we do not care. I know this is not the maker of this amendment's intention, but that is the message nonetheless, and I hope Members will vote no on this amendment. Stand with the oppressed in Cuba, not the oppressor.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the balance of my time. This amendment that has been made in order is not the amendment to add back $1.8 billion, and I say that with great sadness on behalf of our veterans. What this amendment would do is lift a prohibition in the underlying bill that would prevent the VA from establishing already authorized medical preparedness centers, Centers of Excellence, to work the issue on weapons of mass destruction. As I said earlier, the VA is ready to go. We already have their time line. It is in print. They are ready to go. They want to do this. I would say to my colleagues that if we are saying we do not have the $5 million approximate in start-up costs, let us grow this budget. That is what we have been saying in this entire debate. I hope my colleagues will vote for this. I would again remind my colleagues that the VA already operates dozens of specialized research centers, the center for limb loss, the center for spinal cord injury, the center for brain rehab, the center for wheelchair and related technology; in May of 2001, two new centers to study war-related illnesses. We are not breaking new ground here; we are moving in a direction that heretofore has not been addressed and that is weapons of mass destruction. I would hope my colleagues would vote for this amendment. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Jones).