Mark Takano

Mr. TAKANO

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 147) to amend titles 10 and 38, United States Code, to make certain improvements to transitional services for separating members of the Armed Forces and educational assistance under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to insert extraneous material on H.R. 147, as amended.

Mr. TAKANO

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3730) to amend title 38, United States Code, to establish in the Department of Veterans Affairs an Advisory Committee on United States Outlying Areas and Freely Associated States, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. TAKANO

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4233) to amend title 38, United States Code, to furnish Vet Center readjustment counseling and related mental health services to veterans and members of the Armed Forces using certain educational assistance benefits.

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to insert extraneous material on H.R. 4233.

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 4233, the Student Veterans Counseling Centers Eligibility Act from Congressman Murphy. We all know that student veterans may face challenges as they begin this new phase of their lives following military service, and we want them to be able to seek and find support at vet centers. We also encourage VA to continue monitoring the need for increased funding, staffing, and resources for vet centers as a result of demand for these services. I urge all of my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 4233, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I ask all of my colleagues to join me in passing H.R. 4233, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. TAKANO

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 796) to codify maternity care coordination programs at the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.

Mr. TAKANO

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 5516, the VITAL Assessment Act, as amended, which is sponsored by our newest House Veterans' Affairs Committee member, Congressman Ellzey. This bill requires that VA submit a report on the Department's Veterans Integration to Academic Leadership, or VITAL program. VITAL is designed to support student veterans in their academic settings, and it is a key component of VA's work to ensure that veterans thrive after completing their military service. VITAL is a longtime program at VA, and this report will provide a timely opportunity to examine outcomes for student veterans and academic institutions supported by VA. I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 5516, the VITAL Assessment Act, as amended, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers and I am prepared to close. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5516) to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to submit to Congress a report on the Veterans Integration to Academic Leadership program of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I ask all of my colleagues to join me in passing H.R. 5516, as amended, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. TAKANO

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4591) to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to submit to Congress periodic reports on the costs of the Department of Veterans Affairs Electronic Health Record Modernization program, as amended.

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to insert extraneous material on H.R. 4591, as amended.

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Mrvan), who is my good friend and a member of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs and chairman of the Subcommittee on Technology Modernization.

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 4591, the VA Electronic Health Record Transparency Act of 2021, as amended. The Department of Veterans Affairs has struggled to produce reliable cost estimates and reporting on the infrastructure needs associated with its $16 billion electronic health record modernization project. This bill is a good governance measure which will enable Congress to conduct better oversight and hold VA accountable for its spending. It is essential that we ensure that taxpayer funds meant to serve veterans are being used properly and that VA is maintaining detailed records of its IT and physical infrastructure expenditures. We owe that to the veterans who get their care from VA and to the American taxpayer. Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support H.R. 4591, as amended, which was unanimously supported in committee. I reserve the balance of my time, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I ask all of my colleagues to join me in passing H.R. 4591, the VA Electronic Health Record Transparency Act of 2021, as amended, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. TAKANO

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I will just reply that it is political gamesmanship. I hate seeing universities used as pawns in this game. I hate seeing our student veterans being used as pawns. What is at stake here is the principle, the precedent that this Congress will pay for emergencies out of emergency funding. The need to help our veterans, who must take their classes remotely, pay for their housing because of the national emergency that we are still in, is part of a precedent that we need to preserve. This is not a political game to me. This is about protecting our veterans. This is about protecting our Nation in the future. The idea that when a national disaster, whether it occurs in the form of a hurricane, an earthquake, or some other calamity like a pandemic that has killed 700,000 Americans, that the principle stands that that is an emergency and that we as a Nation stand together as one American from whatever State we are in to help an American in another State, even though that disaster didn't happen in that State. But this disaster was omnipresent throughout our country. I don't understand the logic. Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I ask all my colleagues to join me in passing this very important legislation, H.R. 5603, as amended, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 5603, as amended, the Protections for Student Veterans Act, introduced by Representative Underwood. This bill amends the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, which provides broad protections for Active Duty, reservist, and National Guard servicemembers during deployments. H.R. 5603, as amended, enhances protections for members of the Armed Forces who must suspend their education to fulfill military orders. Many States, including Illinois and Washington, have stronger student protections for servicemembers than those that exist at the Federal level. There are currently few Federal protections for members of the armed services who are enrolled in higher education when they receive Active Duty orders. These servicemembers can be held liable to repay tuition and may also receive failing or incomplete grades as a result of suspending their education for military duty. I hope we can all agree that this is an unfair penalty to those members of the Armed Forces who are preparing for their future through education while also serving our country. The protections proposed in this bill would cover unexpected withdrawals due to military orders and can provide restoration of benefits and reimbursements for classes. This bill takes the best practices from around the country to make sure student veterans aren't left with debts or incomplete classes outside their control due to military orders. This legislation is supported by numerous VSOs, including Student Veterans of America. I thank Speaker Pelosi and Leader Hoyer for bringing this legislation to the floor, and I urge the rest of my colleagues to support this legislation to protect GI Bill benefits for servicemembers fulfilling their duty to our country. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I am distressed that the ranking member has chosen this particular moment to inject comments about the REMOTE Act, sponsored by the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Trone), and to imply that there is obstruction in taking action to help our veterans, our student veterans, with their housing allowances--which we took action on during the pandemic, which still we are not completely out of yet. I would argue that we are still in a national emergency. We are seeing COVID infections rise in Europe, and we are seeing vaccine resistance and hesitancy in many parts of the country, which still necessitate the need for a policy which allows for student veterans to still get their housing allowances while they are taking classes virtually. I will remind the minority that three times under the Trump administration, we passed something like the REMOTE Act, the authority to allow student veterans to receive their housing allowances while taking virtual classes. They were not in residence at the school where they would do in-person learning. We allowed this three times under emergency spending. Why? Because emergency spending fits the moment. And it still fits the moment. This nonsense about we have to pay for something that should be an emergency is nonsense. I recall times on this floor when we had Members arguing that we should not pay for the damage done for hurricanes in one State because it didn't happen to the rest of the States, that we need to find a pay- for for hurricane damage in this country and for certain other kinds of natural disasters. A pandemic is a type of natural disaster. In this case, it has killed 700,000 Americans. I would argue that we saved lives, and we relieved a lot of suffering of our veterans who would have been turned out in the streets if we did not give them this housing allowance. And now at the eleventh hour when we intended to bring Representative Trone's bill to the floor, suddenly we had to meet a pay-for demand of the minority, and to set a precedent for future disasters that we would have to have this very argument. Instead of the precedent being that we spend emergency funds for emergency situations, we now are in a situation where the minority is arguing a ridiculous ideological argument about how we pay for things during a time of a national emergency. I am disappointed that the minority has brought up its objections and also sought to use my University of California, Riverside as part of this pawn. I just received a message from my chancellor correcting the position that they took on their public letter. They are the only university to submit such a detailed letter regarding the pay-for. No other university has sought to take that position. I have questions as to how my university reached a point where they issued such a letter so that it could be used on the floor. I now have a correction that was issued to me just hours before. This is about America's veterans, and this is about serving America's veterans during an emergency situation in which 700,000 Americans have already died. I want to keep those veterans safe. I want to keep them in housing. And, yes, I believe it is appropriate to keep the precedent of using emergency funding and not have this silly political gamesmanship over the pay-for. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.