Cliff Stearns

Mr. STEARNS

Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to Mr. Pitts, the gentleman from Pennsylvania.

Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Scalise).

Mr. STEARNS. I yield myself 15 seconds to reply to the distinguished Member of Massachusetts. I just got a tweet on Twitter notifying me that Representative Ed Markey was speaking. His fan club is so omnipresent that it just came across saying to everybody in the United States that he was on the floor speaking so eloquently. So I couldn't resist pulling it up and seeing what it said. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn).

Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Tennessee to engage in a colloquy with the chairman of the Subcommittee on Telecommunications.

Mr. STEARNS. I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Broun).

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

Mr. STEARNS

Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I am also pleased to support this resolution authorizing the use of the Emancipation Hall to celebrate the birthday of King Kamehameha of Hawaii. I think many of us have read all about this distinguished individual and the history, so it's altogether appropriate that the king, often known as Kamehameha the Great, is really, indeed, a legendary figure in Hawaiian culture and history and rightly so. He fought heroically for its unity and independence at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries. His law or Rule of the Splintered Paddle protecting noncombatants during wartime has been heralded for its justness and established a human rights benchmark that would later be built upon in the Geneva Conventions. This June 11 will mark the 94th annual King Kamehameha Day in Hawaii. His illustrious statue is part of the National Statutory Hall Collection. I urge all Members to go down and see it. It now sits in the Capitol Visitor Center, so it's visible to all, millions of Americans, as they come here to visit the Capitol. I thank the sponsor of this resolution, Congresswoman Hirono, and I thank the chairman for bringing it to the floor. I urge my colleagues to join me in support of this great resolution. I reserve the balance of my time, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I think many of my colleagues have been to Hawaii, probably a lot of Americans have. If you go into a gift shop and you get a tourist book, and you look through and you look at some of the sites there, and then you see the unique history of Hawaii. Kamehameha, the legendary king, is written in detail in these books and you start to realize the difficult decisions he had to make for the island when it transitioned. And I think it's part of the history of this country to celebrate his leadership and also to understand all about him and what he had to deal with. So I am delighted at this time to allow this commemoration of this legendary man and his historic role in Hawaii to be honored on this date, and I support this resolution and urge all of my colleagues to support it also. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. STEARNS

Mr. STEARNS. I would say to the chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, Mr. Filner, he just did a 1-minute where he said, Let it go, let it go. So I'm a little surprised he's bringing up the health care bill and talking about it prior to these six wonderful bills we're going to pass on Veterans' Affairs. But since he brought it up, I think it's probably appropriate that I return with our side of this issue, because, as he pointed out, last night the House of Representatives passed the Senate bill, which was the government setting up exchanges-- which these exchanges include taxes, they include mandates and regulation, and it's phased in over a number of years to 2014. But there are some problems, frankly, with that bill. If there were no problems, then Ike Skelton, who's chairman of the Armed Services Committee, would not have brought it up 2 days ago, sort of furiously to try to get it in, because he voted against the health care bill. So the chairman of the Armed Services Committee voted against the Senate health care bill last night. The day before that, he brought up the idea that we have to protect DoD veterans who are on TRICARE. That's probably one of the flaws in the bill that's being sent to the President. It has some serious ramifications for our military and dependents under TRICARE, Madam Speaker, for veterans' widows, orphans, and for children suffering from spina bifida as a result of a parent's exposure to Agent Orange during the wars in Korea and Vietnam. As deputy ranking member of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, I joined with Ranking Member Steve Buyer, of our committee, and Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Buck McKeon to introduce H.R. 4894 to protect the Department of Defense and the VA beneficiaries. So I'm a little surprised that the Democrat leadership didn't take up our bill. Instead, they passed a more limited bill introduced by, as I mentioned, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, Ike Skelton, which, after reading it, provides limited protection for TRICARE beneficiaries but not the DOD and VA health care systems and the VA health care benefits. Moreover, I was also surprised to learn from the Congressional Budget Office there could be a cost associated with our bill, the $4.4 billion, so-called, for the cost of our bill. I'm an original cosponsor. So what are the implications for these beneficiaries? Simply, it means that the government takeover of health care could result in a savings of $4.4 billion made on the backs of servicemembers, widows, and orphans, and children suffering from spina bifida as a result of a parent's exposure to Agent Orange. I don't think the public realizes that. So I think it's important to get this information out, and I'm hopeful that we can solve this problem. Over the weekend, there were a lot of claims made that there is no problem for TRICARE and VA health care beneficiaries under the Senate health care bill that was passed by the Democrats yesterday. Well, frankly, there is, and it's a big problem. As I mentioned earlier, Madam Speaker, if it wasn't a problem, then Ike Skelton, the Armed Services Committee chairman, would not have been here 2 days ago trying to offer a scaled-down bill to correct the problem. He would not have taken his own bill, H.R. 4887, to the floor in a quick effort to solve this issue. So it's important to reiterate that this bill does not protect the DOD and VA health care systems. It doesn't fully address TRICARE either, as a result of the CBO score of H.R. 4887. The Ike Skelton bill does not stop $4.5 billion from being cut from TRICARE, but we think ours will. The veterans service organizations know what is happening. The American Legion, the VFW, DAV, and the National Association of Uniformed Services have all supported our bill, H.R. 4894, which they believe will protect veterans. So, Madam Speaker, I hope that the House Democrat leadership will see fit to act as soon as possible to allay the fears of all these veteran service organizations as soon as possible to correct the measure with H.R. 4894, to stop these cuts and to protect the individuals and their families who have served and sacrificed on behalf of our Nation and, I might add, to allay the fears of men at war who think when they come back they will retire or possibly be under Champus/VA. With those comments, let me then move to the bill that we're considering. I rise in support of H.R. 4810, End Veteran Homeless Act of 2010. Now, my colleagues, this bill would amend Title 38 of the United States Code to make certain improvements in the services provided for homeless veterans. This important legislation represents a combination of a number of bills that moved through the Veterans' Affairs Committee, and I believe truly exemplifies the manner in which our committee can and does work together in a bipartisan fashion to bring forth legislation that improves the lives of our veterans. It is with a deep and personal commitment that I and everybody else on the Veterans' Affairs Committee embrace and aggressively want to tackle the challenge of homelessness and veterans and forward our mutual goals of ending this chronic problem among our veterans. Since the enactment of the Homeless Veterans Comprehensive Assistance Act back in 2001, which significantly expanded the VA's homeless program, we've seen a significant number of previously homeless veterans returning to leading productive and sober lives. H.R. 4810 continues that proactive approach by permanently extending a VA program that provides grants to entities that help low-income families that are homeless, transitioning to permanent housing, or already in permanent housing; increasing the annual amounts authorized for VA's Homeless Grant and Per Diem Program from $150 million to $200 million; and encouraging the VA to expand its promotion for homeless veterans to include programs for homeless veterans that are female or that have children. VA's latest estimate indicates that about 107,000 veterans were homeless on any one given night last year. With the unemployment rate for veterans from Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom aged 18 to 24 standing at a staggering 21.1 percent, more simply must be done to ensure that our veterans come home not to joblessness and homelessness, but to supportive communities and meaningful employment. I recently had the pleasure of participating in the grand opening of the new HONOR--Hope, Opportunities, Networking, Outreach, and Recovery--Center in my congressional district in Gainesville, Florida. This newly renovated comprehensive VA homeless center includes a 45-bed domiciliary to care for disabled and homeless veterans with special medical needs. The HONOR Center will also have program offices for outreach, grant and per diem, and other essential services, including a special area that's designated just for women. The HONOR Center will provide a full continuum of care and a homelike environment and will provide homeless veterans with family-style dining and special recreation areas including a nice library with a meditation room and a full-time recreational therapist. The HONOR Center has been in development for nearly 3 years, and I was very pleased and proud to see such a wonderful resource for homeless veterans open in my congressional district in Gainesville, Florida. So, Madam Speaker, H.R. 4810, the End Veteran Homeless Act, is one important step in achieving our goal of eliminating homelessness among veterans. But still, my colleagues, it is only one step. While I support its passage, I look forward to continuing to work hard in the future to make sure America's veterans are welcomed back from service with open arms, good jobs, and happy and healthy homes. Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time. I would like to thank Chairman Filner and Ranking Member Buyer, who unfortunately couldn't be here this morning, of the Veterans' Affairs Committee as well as Chairman Michaud and Ranking Member Brown of the Subcommittee on Health for bringing this bill forward. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 4810 and do their part to ensure that not a single one of the brave men and women who fight in uniform to defend our rights come home to a life without a job and a home. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. STEARNS

Mr. STEARNS. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1879, as amended. This bill amends title 38 United States Code to provide for employment and reemployment rights for certain individuals ordered to full-time National Guard duty. Madam Speaker, it's well known that the National Guard and Reserve units have carried a significant load in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many of these units have served multiple combat tours, and others have provided homeland security services, such as maintaining an airborne alert here in the D.C. area. Additionally, Guard units have performed heroically at times when natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. As a result of these demands, many of the members of the Guard have accumulated significant active duty time and are now in danger of exceeding the 5-year limit on active duty that is protected under the Uniform Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, or USERRA. So I'm pleased that our colleague Mike Coffman from Colorado has taken the action to recognize that active duty performed under title 32 should be added to the types of duties exempted from the 5-year limit. I also thank Chairman Herseth Sandlin and Ranking Member Boozman of the Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity for their bipartisan work, as well as Chairman Filner for bringing this bill to the floor. With that, Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to Mr. Coffman, a fellow veteran who served in the Army and the Marines in the first gulf war and second gulf war in Iraq.

Mr. STEARNS. Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 1879, as amended, the National Guard Employment Protection Act of 2010. I have no further requests for time, so I yield back the balance of my time. General Leave

Mr. STEARNS

Mr. STEARNS. Madam Speaker, not only does the BVA provide support for our Nation's blind veterans, the organization also provides inspiration and support for their family members via the Kathern F. Gruber Scholarship Awards. This worthy scholarship enables spouses and dependent children of blinded veterans to achieve their goals in higher education. Our blinded veterans have made tremendous sacrifices on behalf of our Nation to ensure our safety and our freedom. It is altogether appropriate that we honor them this day and join the Blinded Veterans Association in celebrating its 65th anniversary. Obviously I am a strong supporter of H.J. Res. 80, a resolution to recognize and honor the Blinded Veterans Association on its 65th anniversary of representing blinded veterans and their families. As all of us know, recovering from the tragic loss of sight is a traumatic and life-changing event. Veterans who are burdened with this loss are forced to relearn almost every task associated with normal daily activities. Such rehabilitation is a difficult but necessary challenge blinded veterans must overcome to integrate back into civilian life. The Blinded Veterans Association was established specifically to help these severely injured veterans and their families during this most difficult period. On March 28, 1945, 100 blinded members of the Armed Forces who served in World War II formed the Blinded Veterans Association. Just a year later, in 1946, General Bradley of the Veterans Administration appointed the BVA as the first official representative for blinded veterans who were filing claims and appeals to the Veterans Administration. This made the Blinded Veterans Association the eighth veterans service organization to receive such authorization. Chartered by Congress in 1958, the BVA has worked throughout the years assisting blind veterans in acquiring Department of Veterans Affairs disability compensation and health care benefits, as well as other Federal and local benefits. Thanks in large part to the efforts of the BVA, there are now ten blindness rehabilitation centers located at various VA medical centers across this country. Madam Speaker, along with this legislation, which obviously you can see how important it is, we wanted to honor today these blinded veterans on their 65th anniversary. But, Madam Speaker, our committee also had requested consideration of H.R. 4360, a bill to designate the blind rehabilitation center in Long Beach, California, as the Major Charles R. Soltes, Jr., O.D. Department of Veterans Affairs Blind Rehabilitation Center. This legislation has the support of the entire California delegation and the major veterans service organizations in California and would further honor blind veterans to whom Major Soltes provided so much service and so much sacrifice. I would like to inquire, if it is appropriate to the Speaker, or perhaps Chairman Filner, if they could explain why this very important bill was not permitted consideration on the floor today?

Mr. STEARNS. I yield.

Mr. STEARNS. I understand he is saying that it wasn't put in the loop at the moment, it wasn't put on the schedule, but I think you are also saying that this is the type of bill that you support and you believe should be part of a vote on the floor. Can I assume you support this bill?

Mr. STEARNS. Well, Madam Speaker, I think it is unfortunate that this bill to honor an individual who did so much for our blind veterans community and paid the ultimate sacrifice in service to his country, this particular bill is not being considered this afternoon. Many of us are disappointed, and we will work with Ranking Member Buyer and Chairman Filner, since he is a signee on the unanimous delegation letter, to have it brought to the floor at the earliest opportunity. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time. General Leave

Mr. STEARNS

Mr. STEARNS. Madam Speaker, if I might digress, I just wanted to thank Mrs. Halvorson on H.J. Res. 80 for introducing the resolution, and the chairman and Mr. Buyer for bringing that joint resolution to the floor. I think that is important to remind all of my colleagues. Madam Speaker, I also rise in support of H.R. 3976, as amended, a bill to extend certain expiring provisions providing enhanced protections for servicemembers relating to mortgages and mortgage foreclosure. Madam Speaker, Public Law 110-289, the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, extended the protections against foreclosure and related actions on servicemembers' homes contained in the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act from 90 days to 9 months following lengthy deployments. Extensions of these protections will sunset December 31, 2010. To address the continuing lengthy deployments by our servicemembers, the Veterans Home Preservation Act of 2010 would simply extend the mortgage-related sunset days contained in Public Law 110-289 through December 31, 2015. The bill also adds a new clause that would apply these same mortgage protections to a surviving spouse of a servicemember who dies while in military service and whose death is service connected. Madam Speaker, these are good provisions that are appropriate given the current economic climate. I thank the authors of the bill, Mr. Perriello, as well as Chairman Herseth Sandlin and Ranking Member Boozman for their fine work, and the Veterans' Affairs Committee chairman, Mr. Filner, and Mr. Buyer, the ranking member, for bringing this legislation to the floor. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. STEARNS. Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 3976, as amended, a bill to extend certain expiring provisions providing enhanced protections to servicemembers relating to mortgages and mortgage foreclosure. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. STEARNS

Mr. STEARNS. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4667, the Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living-Adjustment Act of 2010. This legislation would increase, effective December 1, 2010, the rates of compensation for veterans with service-connected disabilities and the rate of dependency and indemnity compensation for the survivors of certain disabled veterans, and for other purposes. Now, this COLA adjustment includes veterans disability compensation, additional compensation for dependents, clothing allowance, dependency and indemnity compensation to surviving spouses and their children. This is an important annual authorization which provides much needed assistance to our Nation's veterans, and, obviously, I encourage all my colleagues to support the bill. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. STEARNS. Madam Speaker, I'd like to thank my House colleagues, Mr. Hall of New York, chairman of the Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs Subcommittee, and Mr. Lamborn of Colorado, the ranking member of the subcommittee, as well as the House bill sponsor, Mr. Perriello of Virginia, for their leadership on H.R. 4667. I also thank Chairman Filner and the ranking member, Mr. Buyer, for advancing this bill. I urge my colleagues to support it. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. STEARNS

Mr. STEARNS. Madam Speaker, I also rise in support of H.R. 4592, as amended, a bill to provide for the establishment of a pilot program to encourage the employment of veterans in energy-related positions. Madam Speaker, I think the final bill is better. I applaud the manner in which the bill was developed. As originally introduced by Mr. Teague, the bill would have established a Department of Labor grant program to subsidize employers for salaries paid to newly hired veterans working in the energy sector. The ranking member of the Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity, Mr. Boozman, Dr. Boozman, expressed some reservations, some concerns about the approach, and he offered to work with Mr. Teague to craft a bill that would pay for skilled development, providing on-the-job training for veterans in the energy sector. And to the credit of Mr. Teague, he's worked with our side in a bipartisan manner. I believe we have a better bill that will promote greater veterans employment results in the long run. I liken it to helping a veteran, in a way, instead of perhaps giving him something for a day, we're also giving him the opportunity to learn so that it will be for a lifetime. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. STEARNS. Madam Speaker, once again, I thank Chairwoman Herseth Sandlin for her leadership and Ranking Member Dr. Boozman and Mr. Teague for their work to bring us a bipartisan bill. I urge my colleagues to support it, as amended, to provide for the establishment of a pilot program to encourage the employment of veterans in energy- related positions. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. STEARNS

Mr. STEARNS. Madam Speaker, this incredibly expensive $1 trillion health care bill will hurt many individuals that currently have insurance. The bill will hurt veterans because it does not accept TRICARE as a qualified medical plan. It will hurt seniors by cutting Medicare advantage to fund these new government programs. Mr. Stupak, no lawyer, will argue that an Executive order is law. So the Senate bill starts us on a path of government-sanctioned abortion-on-demand paid for by taxpayers. The U.S. has a $1.5 trillion deficit, and now we are adding $1.2 trillion over 10 years. The President pledged no family making under $250,000 would face tax increases, yet there are 12 new tax increases violating that pledge, and 46 percent of families making less than $66,000 will be forced to pay the individual mandate. The bill will expand the IRS by 17,000 auditors to enforce these new taxes. It will hurt businesses, create health care rationing, and move the United States of America to further fiscal instability.

Mr. STEARNS

Mr. STEARNS. I thank the distinguished chairman. The bottom line-- this is the bottom line--the Senate language in the health care bill does not protect VA and Department of Defense health care systems from interference by other Federal agencies, such as Health and Human Services. We need to have the Buyer-McKeon bill part of this package, or you're going to leave out a whole segment of veterans who are under TRICARE, not to mention survivors and dependents who are covered under the CHAMPVA. This is extremely important to American veterans, so I urge you, Democrats who are in the majority, to reconsider Mr. Buyer's simple request to make part of your bill today, immediately, as much as possible, to amend it so that we include the Buyer language which is H.R. 4894. It's not a major thing to do here. We can do that. Mr. Skelton here earlier said that he's against the health care bill. He emphatically said he's going to vote ``no.'' I understand that. He feels that the Democrat health care bill is not something he can support. He's chairman of the Armed Services Committee. He understands that passage of this rule that we're going to talk about later will deem passage of the entire health care bill in America. But then here we are, trying in desperation because this is a farce, this health care bill, because it strips TRICARE from the military veterans. It hurts survivors and dependents. Now in a charade here of a farce, they're trying to amend a bill that has never passed. Think of that. This bill that we're going to vote on, the Skelton bill, is amending a bill that has not even passed. So I even question the constitutionality and the procedures here. The health care bill is not going to protect Department of Defense military people under TRICARE and veterans. Now why is this occurring? I think we realize it is because the Democrats moved too quickly, and they're penalizing our veterans. So the chairman of the Armed Services Committee is against it. More importantly, he's here with this bill, and I think all of us should understand that without passage of the Buyer-McKeon bill, which is H.R. 4894--the bill has been dropped--to amend the patient protection and affordable care to ensure appropriate treatment of Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense health programs--this is a simple statement, but it has huge implications. So Mr. Levin, I urge you to reconsider and to make sure that part of this McKeon bill has the language of the Buyer-McKeon. Again, I will just close by saying that the reason why we're here today is because the bill was put together improperly, and it's just an affront to our veterans, to our military retirees that they are going to be affected by this health care bill. Announcement by the Speaker pro tempore

Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, there is something else that is going on here, too. Okay, so the Skelton bill passes without the Buyer-McKeon. Okay, then the health care bill comes tomorrow. We vote on it tomorrow night, and it passes. But still, the veterans will still be without care because this bill that is passing here has to go to the Senate. The Senate could make some changes and then it comes back to the House. So you will have a health care bill out there standing by itself that has passed, gone to the President, signed into law that does not protect veterans on TRICARE. You should be very concerned about that, and I think the American people should be concerned that our veterans, who are in two wars today, are not going to be protected because you are delaying the enforcement of the rigorous understanding of what this bill is about. So just simply passing this today under suspension will not mean that the veterans are protected. It still has to go to the Senate and comes back to the House before it is signed by the President.