Cliff Stearns

Mr. STEARNS

Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. STEARNS. I thank my colleague from Florida. I just want to say to the distinguished former chairman of the Appropriations Committee, chairman emeritus, and also the chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, that I appreciate his endorsement. Notwithstanding that, I would say to him that his acceptance is good, but I think the floor should have a vote on this.

Mr. STEARNS. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Chairman, I rise today to offer an amendment that prohibits funds made available through this act to implement a new enrollment fee for TRICARE for Life beneficiaries. The Department of Defense may have the authority to raise fees and implement new enrollment fees unless specified by Congress prohibiting such authority. Last year, through the FY 2012 DOD authorization and appropriations process, the administration increased enrollment fees for TRICARE prime beneficiaries for the first time since 1995. My amendment will ensure the administration does not implement a first time ever enrollment fee for TRICARE for Life beneficiaries. For fiscal year 2013, the administration proposed additional fees and cost-sharing increases, a new annual enrollment fee for TRICARE for Life, aggressive increases in pharmacy copayments, and a cap of $3,000 per family. On April 17, 2012, I expressed my opposition to these proposals that were made by this administration on the House floor to raise such fees for our servicemembers and veterans. I quoted the President in a speech he gave about veterans being ``shortchanged.'' Then Senator Barack Obama said on May 18, 2006: ``When a young man or woman goes off and serves the country in the military, they should be treated with the utmost dignity and respect when they come home.'' Mr. President, this is at least one thing I can fully agree with you on. Passage of this bill will mark the third consecutive annual decrease in total DOD funding, including Overseas Contingency Operations, since FY 2010. I understand budget cuts need to be made and obviously we need to get our fiscal house in order, but, my colleagues, we owe our veterans quality health care for their service and their sacrifice. We promised to take care of our troops when they came home. As a veteran myself, I can appreciate knowing that our country's support for our troops is not limited to strictly the battlefield. It is unconscionable that this administration seeks to raise health care costs on more than 9.3 million veterans and their families that are currently eligible for TRICARE when there are other excesses that can surely be cut. For example, we should limit funds to Pakistan before giving DOD the option to raise costs on our veterans. We heard adequately yesterday on Members' opposition to Pakistan for closing supply routes since November 2011 that are necessary for providing our troops in Afghanistan necessary supplies and resources. So I ask Members of this Congress to consider alternative avenues to cut spending before we require 3.3 million veterans that are eligible for TRICARE for Life to sacrifice even further. I'd like to submit for the Record letters of support from the Veterans of Foreign War, VFW, and the American Legion for my amendment prohibiting funds from this act to be used to implement an enrollment fee for the TRICARE for Life program. The Military Association of America also is in support of this effort. Mr. Chairman, the administration's proposal to increase health care costs on our military represents a very serious breach of faith, as it taxes the oldest cohort of military retirees and their families. So I conclude by asking my colleagues to support my amendment. By doing so, we honor the promises made to our brave men and women who have sacrificed so much for the freedom that we all enjoy. With that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time. The American Legion, Washington, DC, July 19, 2012. Hon. Cliff Stearns, House of Representatives, Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC. Dear Representative Stearns: The American Legion offers its full support to the Stearns Amendment to H.R. 5856. The proposed amendment to the 2013 Defense Appropriations Act (H.R. 5856) would mandate that no funds made available by this Act may be used by the Secretary of Defense to implement an enrollment fee for the TRICARE for Life program. As you know, both the House and Senate Armed Services Committees have turned aside the Pentagon's call for higher health care fees, to include a first-ever TRICARE for Life enrollment fee, in the 2013 Defense Authorization bill. However, the president has threatened a veto of the defense bill, in part, because it does not include increased health care fees for members of the military. As such, the threat of higher health care fees continues. By resolution, The American Legion requests that all proposals to implement any increases in military retirees' Tricare enrollment fees, deductibles, or premiums be reconsidered; especially before all efforts have been exhausted to remove waste, fraud, and abuse from the Tricare program. Once again, The American Legion fully supports this amendment and we appreciate your leadership in addressing this critical issue that is important to America's service members, veterans and their families. Sincerely, Fang A. Wong, National Commander.

Mr. STEARNS. I have an amendment at the desk, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. STEARNS. Yes. Amendment Offered by Mr. Stearns

Mr. STEARNS. The gentlelady from California (Ms. Eshoo) was talking about an amendment that was ruled out of order. Is it germane for her to be talking about an amendment that is ruled out of order?

Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk, but I do have a question for the Chairman, if I could.

Mr. STEARNS

Mr. STEARNS. The gentlelady from California knows full well--she serves on the Energy and Commerce Committee--all during the markup of ObamaCare we had an alternative health plan. I'm proud to cosponsor this bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, ObamaCare, because the act is not affordable. Cutting half a trillion dollars from Medicare to pay for new spending is wrong. Savings in Medicare should stay in Medicare. How severe are these cuts to Medicare? The Chief Actuary for CMS reports that 15 percent of hospitals will be unprofitable within 10 years. These cuts can endanger the viability of the hospital system and jeopardize the health care available for seniors. Now, we have a whole alphabet soup of new agencies that are created by this monstrosity of a law. Let me tell you, the IPAD, the Independent Payment Advisory Board, we all know what that's going to do; PCORI, Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institutes; CCIIO is the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, they set up all the exchanges; the PCIP, which is the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan. I mean, these are all new government agencies. We need to repeal this law and start anew with commonsense solutions that encourage innovation without punishing businesses, seniors, or individuals.

Mr. STEARNS

Mr. STEARNS. Madam Chair, on rollcall No. 419, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``no.'' Amendment Offered by Mr. Gosar

Mr. STEARNS

Mr. STEARNS. My colleagues, this reauthorization of the FDA's user fees will provide stability for the FDA's new product review as companies submit new and innovative drugs, medical devices, and biologics for approval. I am especially proud that my bill, the Faster Access to Specialized Treatments, H.R. 4132, FAST, was included in the FDA Reform Act. FAST modernizes the FDA's accelerated approval pathway to reflect scientific developments that have occurred over the past 20 years. This will allow for new drugs for people suffering from rare diseases. There are 30 million Americans suffering from one of over 7,000 rare diseases, but only 250 currently have any treatment. FAST will save lives. I am pleased also that the bill includes the EXPERRT Act, H.R. 4156. This will help the FDA consult with medical experts when evaluating drugs designed for rare diseases, such as cystic fibrosis. As the cofounder of the Cystic Fibrosis Caucus, I am glad we are finally providing this tool to the FDA. I obviously support the passage of this bill. Mr. Speaker, the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act (S. 3187) is based on user fee negotiations between FDA and the prescription drug, generic drug, biologic, and medical device industry. This reauthorization of the FDA user fees will provide stability with FDA's new product review as companies submit new and innovative devices and drugs for approval. This bill is the result of hard work and negotiations between industry and FDA, and the hard work between Republicans and Democrats, and between the House and the Senate. This bill is a true bipartisan, bicameral bill that will serve the American people well. In codifying the User Fee Agreement, this committee has included additional provisions designed to address some of the defects of the regulatory structure and overreach by the FDA. Under my Chairmanship of the Oversight and Investigation Subcommittee, we held a hearing into FDA's regulatory efforts in the medical device space. During our hearing, many of the witnesses talked about the reluctance of FDA to approve devices and how FDA continually moved the goalposts for approval. I am glad that Title VI of this bill includes a significant number of reform provisions designed to bring certainty to the medical device field. In addition to reforming approaches to medical devices through Title VI, the FDA's approach to rare diseases must also be modernized. I want to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Emil Kakkis, Julia Jenkins, Harry Sporidis, Tim Perrin, Steve Stranne, everyone at the EveryLife Foundation for Rare Diseases, Pat Furlong, Nick Manetto, everyone at the Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy, and the other 150 rare disease groups that supported FAST and ULTRA. In 2011, I met with Dr. Kakkis who introduced me to two parents who had children with rare diseases and limited options as most rare diseases do not have treatments. One parent talked about his frustration at not having any treatments, except for a drug trial happening in Europe, not the United States. We talked about how we need FDA to properly address the issue of drug approval for the rare disease community, which led to examining the Accelerated Approval pathway and trying to modernize it. We developed the Unlocking Lifesaving Treatments for Rare-Diseases Act (ULTRA, H.R. 3737), which I introduced with my friend and colleague, Rep. Ed Towns, to nudge the FDA into using Accelerated Approval for rare diseases. However, after further review of the law, FDA's history of usage of Accelerated Approval and the feedback we received from stakeholders, we realized that amending the law was not sufficient. Instead, we worked with all the stakeholders to rewrite the entirety of the Accelerated Approval statute. In March, Representative Towns and I introduced the Faster Access to Specialized Treatments Act (FAST, H.R. 4132). FAST updates and modernizes Section 506 of the Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act, and updates the Accelerated Approval statute to reflect two decades worth of medical sciences that has occurred since Accelerated Approval was first created. FAST will help FDA implement broadly effective processes for the expedited development and review of innovative new medicines intended to address unmet medical needs for serious or life- threatening diseases by using modern scientific tools. The use of surrogate endpoints may result in fewer, smaller or shorter clinical trials without compromising FDA's existing high standards for safety or efficacy. Surrogate and clinical endpoints only need to be reasonable predictors of clinical benefit to support accelerated approval. They do not need to be validated or proven first. The changes made to current law permitting the Secretary to require validation of surrogates following accelerated approval is not intended to change FDA's long history of granting accelerated approval based on unvalidated, but predictive, surrogate endpoints. Additionally, FAST includes explicit language for FDA to think about the challenges of rare diseases when developing their guidance and gives the rare disease community an opportunity to publically comment on FDA's draft guidance. FAST ensures that the voices of the 30 million Americans with a rare disease will be heard by FDA. There are about 7,000 rare diseases and only about 250 have any treatment. FAST will save lives, and give a voice to the voiceless; and I am glad it is in the final bill. Lastly, the committee included the Expanding and Promoting Expertise in Review of Rare Treatments, (EXPERRT Act, H.R. 4156), a bill my fellow Co-Chairs of the Cystic Fibrosis Caucus and I introduced. EXPERRT will have the FDA consult with experts in rare diseases. This will ensure that FDA has access to the knowledge needed when dealing with drug approvals for diseases where FDA may lack subject matter expertise. As one of the Co-Founders of the Cystic Fibrosis Caucus, I am glad that we are giving this tool to the FDA. I also want to thank Stephanie Krenrich and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation for all their hard work in developing EXPERRT. I would like to submit these letters from the EveryLife Foundation for Rare Diseases and the Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy into the Record. S. 3187 is a good bill that will help new drugs and new medicines get into the market and be available to patients. I support passage of the FDA Safety and Innovation Act. Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy, Hackensack, NJ, June 20, 2012. Hon. Cliff Stearns, U.S. Congress, Washington, DC. Rayburn House Office Building, Dear Representative Stearns: On behalf of all patients and families living with Duchenne muscular dystrophy--the most common form of muscular dystrophy and the most common lethal genetic condition diagnosed in childhood--Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy (PPMD) would like to express its deep gratitude for your efforts to include provisions of deep interest to the rare disease community in S. 3187, the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act. The final user fee reconciliation package between the House of Representatives and Senate includes a number of measures that will accelerate the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) process of reviewing potential therapies for serious life- threatening conditions like Duchenne, will ensure that the patient voice has a seat at the table when key decisions are made, and will incent industry to develop treatments for pediatric rare diseases. As you know, Duchenne muscular dystrophy exemplifies the challenges faced by many patients and families afflicted by rare diseases. It is a fatal condition with most patients not living past their late 20s, and the only approved therapies are steroids, which cause significant complications long- term. With nearly 20 potential therapies in various stages of clinical trials, our community is hopeful that better times are ahead, and we recognize that a more efficient FDA attuned to the needs of the rare disease patient population is critical to our success. Again, we are most appreciative of your efforts to ensure that the above mentioned provisions were included in the final legislation. On behalf of Duchenne and the broader rare disease community, thank you for your leadership and support. Sincerely, Pat Furlong, Founding President and CEO.

Mr. STEARNS

Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. STEARNS. I yield the balance of my time to my colleague from Florida (Mrs. Adams).

Mr. STEARNS. I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey.

Mr. STEARNS. How much time, Mr. Chairman, do I have left?

Mr. STEARNS. I rise to offer an amendment on behalf of myself, Mr. Scalise of Louisiana, Mrs. Adams of Florida and Mr. Broun of Georgia. My colleagues, this simple amendment will prohibit the Department of Energy from using any funds included in this bill to subordinate any loan obligation to other financing in violation of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. That was the original intent of Congress. As chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation, I've led the investigation into the administration's rushed decision to loan Solyndra, a California-based solar panel manufacturing company, $535 million in taxpayers' money that was ultimately lost. During this investigation, it was uncovered that, shockingly, the Department of Energy knew as early as August 2009 that Solyndra would go bankrupt in September of 2011, but simply proceeded to risk more taxpayers' funds throughout that time. The investigation also discovered that following meetings with outside investors, DOE made the unprecedented decision on December 10, 2010, to subordinate $75 million of taxpayer money so more private capital could be injected into Solyndra. Subordination gave private investors' money priority over taxpayers' money, meaning that, in the event of bankruptcy, private investors would be paid back before the taxpayers. But Secretary Chu wasn't allowed to subordinate the taxpayers' money. As I mentioned earlier, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 states that DOE loan guarantees are not to be subordinated to other financing, and it was clear what the intent of Congress was. In fact, DOE went out of its way to violate the will of Congress and sought the opinion of outside counsel on the legality of the subordination. And based upon this opinion, they made a decision to subordinate. And it all hinged on the word ``is,'' the meaning of the word ``is.'' In a 17-page draft memo obtained by the Energy and Commerce Committee, DOE's private attorneys, they seem to acknowledge that the law prohibits the subordination of Department-guaranteed funds. However, this draft memo was never finalized. Instead, an email was sent by a lawyer at the law firm stating that DOE's rationale for subordination was, ``it makes the best possible case based on a reasonable interpretation supported by restructuring policy arguments.'' Now, Secretary Chu also ignored important parts of the law. The law required the Energy Secretary to notify the Attorney General in the event of a default on a loan guarantee. In a December 13, 2010 letter to Solyndra, Jonathan Silver, then-executive director of the DOE's loan program, notified Solyndra it was in default. However, Secretary Chu did not alert the Attorney General, as required by law. In addition, Treasury and OMB officials' emails clearly indicate they believed DOE's legal justification for placing taxpayers at the back of the line was inconsistent with their interpretation of the law, and advised DOE to seek a legal opinion from the Justice Department. In an August 17, 2011, email, Department of the Treasury Assistant Secretary for Financial Markets Mary Miller sent an email to Jeffery Zients, Deputy Director of OMB, in which she stated: Our legal counsel believes that the statute and the DOE regulations both require that the guaranteed loan should not be subordinate to any loan or other debt obligation. It is clear, Mr. Chairman, that every step of the way the Department of Energy ignored the law and did whatever it wished in order to push through the subordination. Our investigation continues. I and my colleagues on Energy and Commerce are working on a permanent legislation solution to ensure that taxpayers are never, ever again stuck paying hundreds of millions of dollars because of the Obama administration's risky bets and decisions to put taxpayers at the back of the line. I encourage all of my colleagues to support this amendment.

Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. STEARNS

Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, the Food and Drug Administration Reform Act, H.R. 5651, is based on user fee negotiations between FDA and the prescription drug, generic drug, biologic, and medical device industry. This reauthorization of the FDA user fees will provide stability with FDA's new product review as companies submit new and innovative devices and drugs for approval. In codifying the User Fee Agreement, this committee has included additional provisions designed to address some of the defects of the regulatory structure and overreach by the FDA. Under my Chairmanship of the Oversight and Investigation Subcommittee, we held a hearing into FDA's regulatory efforts in the medical device space. During our hearing, many of the witnesses talked about the reluctance of FDA to approve devices and how FDA continually moved the goalposts for approval. I am glad that Title VII of this bill includes a significant number of reform provisions designed to bring certainty to the medical device field. In addition to reforming approaches to medical devices through Title VII, the FDA's approach to rare diseases must also be modernized. I'm happy the Committee included the Faster Access to Specialized Treatments Act, FAST Act, H.R. 4132, which I introduced with my friend and colleague, Representative Ed Towns. FAST updates and modernizes Section 506 of the Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act, and updates the Accelerated Approval statute to reflect two decades worth of medical sciences that has occurred since Accelerated Approval was first created. FAST will help FDA implement broadly effective processes for the expedited development and review of innovative new medicines intended to address unmet medical needs for serious or life-threatening diseases by using modern scientific tools. The use of surrogate endpoints may result in fewer, smaller or shorter clinical trials without compromising FDA's existing high standards for safety or efficacy. Surrogate and clinical endpoints only need to be reasonable predictors of clinical benefit to support accelerated approval. They do not need to be validated or proven first. The changes made to current law permitting the Secretary to require validation of surrogates following accelerated approval is not intended to change FDA's long history of granting accelerated approval based on unvalidated, but predictive, surrogate endpoints. Additionally, FAST includes explicit language for FDA to think about the challenges of rare diseases when developing their guidance and gives the rare disease community an opportunity to publically comment on FDA's draft guidance. FAST ensures that the voices of the 30 million Americans with a rare disease will be heard by FDA. There are about 7,000 rare diseases and only about 250 have any treatment. FAST will save lives, and give a voice to the voiceless; and I am glad it is in the bill. Lastly, the committee included the Expanding and Promoting Expertise in Review of Rare Treatments, EXPERRT Act, H.R. 4156, a bill my fellow Co-Chairs of the Cystic Fibrosis Caucus and I introduced. EXPERRT will have the FDA consult with experts in rare diseases. This will ensure that FDA has access to the knowledge needed when dealing with drug approvals for diseases where FDA may lack subject matter expertise. As one of the Co-Founders of the Cystic Fibrosis Caucus, I am glad that we are giving this tool to the FDA. I'd like to submit this letter of support for FAST signed by over 150 rare disease groups into the Record. H.R. 5651 is a good bill that will help new drugs and new medicines get into the market and be available to patients. I support passage of the FDA Reform Act. March 23, 2012. Hon. Cliff Stearns, House of Representatives, Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC. Hon. Edolphus Towns, House of Representatives, Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC. Dear Congressmen Stearns & Towns: On behalf of patients, physicians, and other members of the health advocacy community we are writing to express our support for H.R. 4132, the Faster Access to Specialized Treatments (FAST) Act. This legislation will modernize and expand the FDA's Accelerated Approval pathway to encompass a broader range of diseases and leverage 21st century drug development tools and strategies. This reform will speed the approval of much- needed therapies and cures to patients who are facing serious and life-threatening conditions, including Alzheimer's disease, autoimmune diseases, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, neuromuscular disease and hundreds of rare diseases that remain untreated. We commend you for championing legislation that maintains the FDA's high standard for approval while at the same time ensuring the Agency can help facilitate the development of new and novel therapies to patients in a more timely manner. In many cases our patients have no available treatment for their diseases, or they are using a therapy that is older and may not work as effectively and safely. This is not acceptable. We believe that this legislation will ensure patients receive the best, modern treatment as soon as possible and we applaud your efforts on their behalf. Thank you for your leadership on this important bill and we look forward to working with you as it moves forward. Sincerely, Abigail Alliance for Better Access to Developmental Drugs; Advocacy for Patients with Chronic Illness, Inc.; Affiliated American CSA Foundation; Alliance for Aging Research; Alliance for Patient Access; American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association; American Brain Tumor Association; American Childhood Cancer Organization; American College of Medical Genetics; American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering; American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology; Batten Disease Support and Research Association; Break Through Cancer Coalition; Californians for Cures. Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University; Celiac Sprue Association; Charcot-Marie-Tooth Association (CMTA); Children's Cardiomyopathy Foundation, Inc.; Chinese American Association of Greater Chicago; Coalition Duchenne; Coalition for Pulmonary Fibrosis; Colon Cancer Alliance; Cooleys Anemia Foundation; Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America; Cryoglobulinemia Vasculitis Organization; CureDuchenne; CurePSP; Digestive Disease National Coalition; Erik Metzler Foundation. EveryLife Foundation for Rare Diseases; Fabry Support & Information Group; Georgia PKU Connect; GIST Support International; Hadley Hope Fund; Hannah's Hope Fund; Hayden's Batten Disease Foundation Inc.; HealthHIV; Hope4Bridget Foundation; ICE Epilepsy Alliance; I Have IIH; In Need of Diagnosis, Inc. (INOD); Inspire; International Cancer Advocacy Network (ICAN); Jacob's Cure, Inc. Jain Foundation Inc.; Jonah's Just Begun--Foundation to Cure Sanfilippo Inc. LAM Treatment Alliance; LGS Foundation; Liddy Shriver Sarcoma Initiative; Little Miss Hannah Foundation; Lung Cancer Alliance; Lupus Foundation of America; Lymphangiomatosis & Gorham's Disease Alliance (LGDA); Lymphatic Malformation Institute (LMI); Macular Degeneration Support, Inc. Madisons Foundation; Midwest Asian Health Association (MAHA); MLD Foundation; Mpdsupport.org-- Myeloproliferative Disease Support; Muscular Dystrophy Association. National Family Caregivers Association; National MPS Society; National MS Society; National Niemann-Pick Disease Foundation, Inc.; National PKU Alliance; National Tay-Sachs & Allied Diseases Association; National Venture Capital Association; NBIA Disorders Association; New Jersey Association for Biomedical Research; NKH International Family Network; Noah's Hope--Batten Disease Fund; Oxalosis and Hyperoxaluria Foundation; Pachyonychia Congenita Project. Parkinson's Action Network; Parry-Romberg Syndrome Resource, Inc.; Partnership for Cures; Polycystic Kidney Disease Foundation; RARE Project; Russell-Silver Syndrome Support; Scleroderma Research Foundation; Sickle Cell Disease Association of America, Inc.; Society for Women's Health Research; Solving Kids' Cancer; Student Society for Stem Cell Research; Sudden Arrhythmia Death Syndromes (SADS) Foundation; Taylor's Tale. The Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration (AFTD); The Children's Medical Research Foundation, Inc.; The Erythromelalgia Association; The Focus Foundation; The Manton Center for Orphan Disease Research, Children's Hospital Boston; The Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome Association (RSDSA); The Stop ALD Foundation; Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance; Veterans Health Council; VHL Family Alliance; Vietnam Veterans of America; ZERO--The Project to End Prostate Cancer.

Mr. STEARNS

Mr. STEARNS. Madam Chair, on rollcall No. 313 I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``no.'' Amendment Offered by Ms. Hahn

Mr. STEARNS

Mr. STEARNS. With that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. STEARNS. I thank the gentleman for his suggestions. I am just going to go with my amendment at this point. Having an opportunity to look this over, I think we have talked to the veterans committee, and we think it is a viable amendment. I think certainly as we move into conference, we can look at what you're suggesting, but right now I would just like to press this.

Mr. STEARNS. I yield to the gentleman.

Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Chairman, I am not going to take the full 5 minutes. My amendment is pretty simple. It will prohibit funds from being paid as bonuses to employees that are classified in the Senior Executive Service. What we found when we looked at this, the Veterans' Affairs Committee held a hearing on this, on the budget, in February of this year. The Secretary of the VA testified that their budget request was held accountable for the program results. Of course, one of the issues that came up, Mr. Chairman, was the enormous bonuses and awards that were given out to VA employees. I think, like many of us here in the House, we are concerned about bonuses when we have so many problems in this economy, high employment, and also we have an unmanageable backlog of cases, an extremely long wait for our veterans to see mental health professionals. Of course, the VA has a history of poor contracting process and oversight. For example, at the Miami VA Health Center, veterans may have been exposed to HIV/AIDS due to poor sterilization procedures down there. Despite these poor records, they are giving out huge bonuses for simple things like suggestions, foreign language award, travel, savings incentives, referral bonuses. In fact, on recruitment and relocation retention alone, almost 60,000 recipients received over 450,000 in cash bonuses. My simple amendment is saying enough is enough. What we want to do is say all of government should make a sacrifice, particularly the VA. If they're giving out these huge bonuses, why don't they cut back on their senior, senior employees.

Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. STEARNS

Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman King for the time. I also rise today in strong support of H.R. 3670, a bill introduced by my good friend, Mr. Walz from Minnesota. This bill extends reemployment protections to employees of the Transportation Security Administration by making them subject to the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, or USERRA. USERRA is a law that protects the reemployment rights of servicemembers so they are able to keep their jobs, benefits, and seniority in their civilian jobs after serving on active duty. When TSA was created soon after 9/11, it was given a USERRA exemption to allow the agency to hire new employees without delay for airport screenings. There is no evidence that applying USERRA to TSA will impede TSA's mission of protecting our Nation's air travel system. In fact, bringing TSA under USERRA will strengthen their ability to recruit and retain highly qualified veterans. Mr. Speaker, I would note that in testimony submitted for the record on H.R. 3670, TSA stated that its current practice already conforms to the requirements that H.R. 3670 would put into statute. Therefore, enactment of H.R. 3670 would ensure existing protections could not be weakened by a change in administration rules or regulations. I want to thank my good friend Mr. Walz for introducing this legislation. I also thank Chairman Jeff Miller of Florida and Ranking Member Filner of California for their support, and I thank Mr. King.