Mark Takano

Mr. TAKANO

Mr. TAKANO. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. Houlahan), my good friend.

Mr. TAKANO. Madam Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to join me in passing S. 785. I thank all of my colleagues who worked on this bill on both sides of the aisle, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. TAKANO. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Cisneros), my good friend and member of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee.

Mr. TAKANO. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Nevada (Mrs. Lee), my good friend and the chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Technology Modernization, and also the author of this important piece of legislation.

Mr. TAKANO. Madam Speaker, I thank Ranking Member Roe for his kind words, and it is a pleasure to be here today to present this package of legislation on veteran suicide prevention. I do appreciate his mentioning the veteran hotline, and I do want to also encourage veterans to know that it is okay to not be okay and to please call the number that Dr. Roe just announced. I will try to make sure I repeat that later on during our session today. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Lamb), my good friend and vice chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee.

Mr. TAKANO. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of S. 785, the Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act. Madam Speaker, throughout the 116th Congress, the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs has committed significant resources and energy with one goal in mind, addressing and helping reduce veteran suicide. As a result, our committee has passed no less than 15 pieces of legislation that would address many of the upstream challenges that veterans confront, which can exacerbate mental health conditions and often lead veterans into crisis. While we are not discussing all of these proposals today, I am hopeful that one bill, and the subject of today's debate, S. 785, will provide additional tools and will lead to additional reporting that will inform our continued efforts to address this multifaceted and complex challenge. There is no one solution to this issue, but I know that by working together we can continue to make meaningful progress. I also thank the members of my committee and other Members of this Chamber who offered legislation in the House to address gaps, enhance upstream prevention, and create additional resources to help veterans access care. Many of these components are included in S. 785. Congressman Sablan's legislation included in S. 785 extends VA healthcare to veterans for a 1-year period following discharge or release from active service. We know this is a crucial period for veterans to be enrolled in and receive high-quality healthcare. Two provisions from Congressman Cisneros's bill are included in S. 785; one, directing VA to update its clinical practice guidelines for treating veterans at risk of suicide, and the other mandating that VA develop clinical practice guidelines to standardize best practices for treating co-occurring substance use disorders, chronic pain, PTSD and/ or traumatic brain injuries. Other members of my committee introduced House companion legislation for key components of S. 785. Congresswoman Lee's bill supported further telehealth expansion at the VA to capitalize on the use of technology and meeting veterans where they are. Congressman Lamb introduced legislation to bring the VA's complementary and integrated health services to even more veterans and also pushed the scientific enterprise to seek biomarkers and more tailored treatments for mental health problems through a new VA precision medicine initiative. Congressman Brindisi's bill will bring more resources to VA's suicide prevention coordinators and more staffing in this critical area to VA medical centers. Madam Speaker, I want to say thanks to them and all our Members who introduced companion legislation to S. 785, and I now encourage my colleagues to join me in supporting S. 785. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. TAKANO

Mr. TAKANO. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5245, as amended, the Stopping Harm and Implementing Enhanced Lead-Time for Debts for Veterans Act, or the SHIELD for Veterans Act. It would create important steps to improve how VA handles overpayments made to veterans. The Department's process for collecting overpayments that it makes must be fair and reasonable and consider the potential hardships when an error is discovered. This legislation does just that. Further, the legislation would make overpayments less common by improving the information available to beneficiaries and modernize how veterans can provide updates to VA on their eligibility and status. The SHIELD Act was sponsored by Chairman Chris Pappas, who leads our Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee. The bill was developed based on hearings Chairman Pappas held during the session. The subcommittee also conducted extensive oversight of VA collections. Finally, the legislation takes into account the experiences and input of veterans service organizations that help veterans navigate what is an overly complex current collections process that leaves many understandably frustrated. I also appreciate the bipartisan nature of this bill. Our oversight was conducted with the minority that also offered improvements to the bill, which were incorporated into the current language. I support this bill, and I urge my colleagues to do the same. I thank Mr. Pappas for sponsoring this important legislation and urge my colleagues to support H.R. 5245, as amended. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. TAKANO

Mr. TAKANO. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 7105, as amended, the DELIVER Act. H.R. 7105, as amended, was introduced by Representative Mike Levin, chairman of the Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity, in June of this year. But the package before us encompasses many of the issues his subcommittee has worked on to reduce homelessness and improve employment opportunities for veterans. This bipartisan package encompasses seven bipartisan, bicameral pieces of legislation to improve the lives of veterans experiencing hardships. First, section 101 of this package includes Chairman Levin's Homeless Veterans Coronavirus Response Act. This section includes temporary authorities for the Department of Veterans Affairs to effectively assist veterans during this difficult time. Madam Speaker, that means giving VA the ability to serve more meals and providing blankets, clothing, basic hygiene products, and permanent and temporary shelter to veterans experiencing homelessness. The section also allows VA flexibility to more quickly pay out grant and per diem payments. This means housing more veterans more quickly. Finally, Mr. Levin's bill authorizes VA to use resources to contract healthcare services for veterans in the Health Care for Homeless Veterans, or HCHV, program during a public health emergency. These are crucial improvements that VA has asked for, and we stand with them to deliver this assistance. Now, section 102 of this legislation represents H.R. 2398 from Representative Scott Peters. His Veteran HOUSE Act would finally expand HUD-VASH to cover veterans with other-than-honorable discharges. Veterans with other-than-honorable discharges make up 3 percent of the population, but they compose 15 percent of the homeless veteran population. There is no question that this commonsense expansion of the program would mean fewer homeless veterans, and I thank Representative Peters for his tireless work on this section. Now, included in section 103 of the bill is H.R. 3749, Representative Panetta's Legal Services for Homeless Veterans Act. This would authorize VA to provide grants or enter into cooperative agreements with eligible entities that provide legal services to homeless veterans and veterans at risk for homelessness. Madam Speaker, according to community organizations, legal services are one of the top unmet needs for homeless veterans. Under this section, VA would be required to consult with organizations that have experience providing services to homeless veterans when establishing these criteria and requirements, and these grants or cooperative agreements would only be available to highly rated public or nonprofit entities. Additionally, Representative Wild has included legislation to ensure that at least 10 percent of the funds made available each fiscal year for this grant program must be reserved for providing legal services to homeless women veterans. As we know, women veterans are the fastest growing population of homeless veterans, and I thank Representative Panetta and Representative Wild for their work on this section. Section 104 of the underlying bill includes Representative Beatty's legislation to carry out a gap analysis study to determine if VA programs are properly serving homeless women veterans. Section 105 of the legislation represents bipartisan legislation just introduced by Minority Leader McCarthy and Chairman Levin. Their legislation, the Reducing Veteran Homelessness Act, would encourage VA to contract out vacant HUD-VASH caseworker positions, increase the grant per diem rates, and allow grant per diem participants to gain access to the homeless management information systems. This will make our community providers more effective at delivering for their communities. Section 105 also includes Representative Brownley's Homeless Veteran Families Act. Many homeless veterans with children are unable to obtain transitional housing and support assistance through the program because providers only receive payments from the VA for the veteran, not their minor dependents. This section would authorize VA to pay a partial per diem to GPD providers supporting our Nation's homeless veterans with children. Finally, this legislation would also have VA more accurately track HUD- VASH case manager vacancies and help Congress determine how to more effectively keep the program staffed so that it may most effectively serve our Nation's veterans. Sections 201 through 203 represent Ranking Member Roe and Chairman Levin's Rapid Retraining Assistance Program for Veterans. Now, this program will train 7,500 veterans who have been economically impacted by COVID-19, putting their skills and knowledge back to work in our economy. We have a commitment to our Nation's veterans to support them regardless of the challenges they face. COVID-19 is no different, and I am pleased that we were able to find a way to pass concrete employment measures for our Nation's veterans. Last but certainly not least, sections 204 through 207 represent Chairman Levin's Navy SEAL Chief Petty Officer William ``Bill'' Mulder, Retired, Transition Improvement Act. This section would make much-needed improvements to our servicemembers' transition process, including more accessible transition sites and providing grants for organizations to assist with resume assistance, interview training, and job recruitment training. All told, this is one of the most meaningful pieces of legislation dealing with economic hardship we will have a chance to consider, and I am grateful to the countless Members of Congress for their hard work to make it a reality. Our time here is short, so we call on our colleagues in the Senate, who have also worked on many of these provisions, to send this bill to the President before we finish our work this year. Madam Speaker, I encourage all my colleagues to join me in voting for H.R. 7105, as amended. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. TAKANO. Madam 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. 7105, as amended.

Mr. TAKANO. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Madam Speaker, I just want to say that this is a tremendously comprehensive bill. It represents the tremendous work of Members from both sides of the aisle. I have to say that I am recalling at this very moment a woman veteran who drove all the way from Los Angeles into my district to a townhall meeting where she first made me aware of the issue of veterans with children not having enough money, not enough benefits to be able to get into homeless housing, and I am so pleased that the bill by Ms. Brownley to address that issue is in this piece of legislation. I just urge all of my colleagues to pass H.R. 7105, as amended, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. TAKANO

Mr. TAKANO. Madam Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I am prepared to close.

Mr. TAKANO

Mr. TAKANO. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, H.R. 3798, as amended, eliminates copayments on contraceptive items at the Department of Veterans Affairs, ensuring that no veterans, especially women veterans, face economic barriers to a critical component of preventative healthcare. I thank Congresswoman Brownley for introducing this bill and for her efforts as chair of the Subcommittee on Health and the Women's Veterans Task Force. Contraception is an essential part of healthcare, and more than 99 percent of women have used birth control at some point in their lives. Women veterans represent the fastest growing population of veterans accessing care through VA, and many are of reproductive age. Contraception is widely available at VA, and veterans enrolled at VA can obtain oral contraceptives, shots, skin patches, vaginal rings, and long-acting reversible contraceptives, such as implants or intrauterine devices or IUDs. In addition, the VA pharmacy dispenses over-the- counter contraceptives, including condoms and emergency contraception. Requiring a copay for contraception creates an unnecessary economic barrier to preventative healthcare. Women veterans are more likely to live in poverty than male veterans, and transgender veterans are more likely to live in poverty than cisgender veterans. Even a small copay can be insurmountable for someone trying to make ends meet. Madam Speaker, passing this bill is especially critical during the pandemic. During times of crisis, such as natural disaster and pandemics, the rate of unplanned pregnancy increases. When so many Americans are experiencing economic hardship, their access to healthcare should be something that they do not have to worry about. This bill has wide VSO support and is also supported by the Department of Veterans Affairs. I, again, thank Ms. Brownley for her leadership on this issue. I thank Dr. Roe and the minority staff for working with us on this bill, and I look forward to working with our Senate counterparts to get it passed into law before the 116th Congress. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Brownley), my good friend, the chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Health, and also the author of this important piece of legislation.

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, before I conclude my remarks on Ms. Brownley's important piece of legislation on making contraception available on the same basis as the Department of Defense, I, too, want to add my words of praise to my colleague and my partner in the work in the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, Ranking Member Dr. Phil Roe. Mr. Speaker, he has so much to point to, the proud list of accomplishments: The Blue Water Navy bill was something that had a chain of ownership. I happened to be the last one on the chain. I know that the gentleman put a lot of work into that. Even as we approach the month of October, we know that, finally, they are going to implement the caregiver portion of that bill. What a tremendous expansion of caregiver benefits that were previously only available to post-9/11 veterans. I lament that it took that long, but it is here. Let's also think about the tremendous progress we made on homelessness. It is not done, and it is not over, but we made tremendous strides nationwide in reducing veteran homelessness. We just passed today a very comprehensive bill to deal with the remains of homelessness, which remains a very serious problem in my own home State of California. Mr. Speaker, Dr. Roe has helped shape our progress on veterans homelessness in so many areas of policy relating to our Nation's veterans. Mr. Speaker, I join all of my colleagues in saying that the Committee on Veterans' Affairs will miss him. I know his storytelling, but I learned late this year of his affection for the late folksinger John Prine. I know Dr. Roe plays the guitar, and I hope that before he leaves, he will regale us at some point with either one of his songs or one of the songs that he likes to play on that guitar. Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to join me in passing H.R. 3798, as amended, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. TAKANO

Mr. TAKANO. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Veterans' Affairs be discharged from further consideration of the bill (H.R. 4983) to designate the Department of Veterans Affairs community-based outpatient clinic in Gilbert, Arizona, as the ``Staff Sergeant Alexander W. Conrad Veterans Affairs Health Care Clinic'', and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. TAKANO

Mr. TAKANO. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speaker's table the bill (S. 4072) to designate the clinic of the Department of Veterans Affairs in Bend, Oregon, as the ``Robert D. Maxwell Department of Veterans Affairs Clinic'', and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. TAKANO

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 7795) to amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the ability of veterans to access and submit disability benefit questionnaire forms of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Mr. TAKANO

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 6092, the Veteran's Prostate Cancer Treatment and Research Act. The number one cancer diagnosed by the Veterans Health Administration is prostate cancer. Nearly half a million veterans are currently undergoing treatment, with disproportionate diagnoses of this disease impacting Black veterans and those exposed to Agent Orange. This legislation would create a national clinical pathway and standardized system of care for treatment of prostate cancer at all stages. This will ensure more widespread early detection efforts, increase access to clinical trials, and create a registry and research program. Mr. Speaker, our veterans battle prostate cancer at twice the rate of their civilian counterparts. A unified systems-wide approach that builds on the incredible work of the Department's research efforts is essential. I want to thank Dr. Dunn for his steadfast leadership and his passion on this matter. Mr. Speaker, I also encourage all of my colleagues to support H.R. 6092, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. TAKANO

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

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I ask that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to insert extraneous material on H.R. 3228, as amended.

Mr. TAKANO

Mr. TAKANO. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3010) to amend title 38, United States Code, to establish a mission statement of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Mr. TAKANO. Madam 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. 3010.

Mr. TAKANO. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, H.R. 3010 establishes an inclusive VA mission statement or motto as follows: ``To fulfill President Lincoln's promise to care for those `who shall have borne the battle' and for their families, caregivers, and survivors.'' Congresswoman Rice introduced this bill to establish a model at VA that includes all who VA is mandated to serve. Since its creation in 1861, only one woman, Dr. Mary Walker, has received the Medal of Honor. Her citation recognized her for devoting ``herself with much patriotic zeal to the sick and wounded soldiers, both in the field and in hospitals, to the detriment of her own health,'' and enduring ``hardships as a prisoner of war.'' She received the Medal of Honor in 1866 for her service to the U.S. Army throughout the American Civil War. The current VA mission statement, a line from President Lincoln's second inaugural address delivered in 1865, uses only male pronouns and excludes women and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer veterans, as well as the diversity of their families, caregivers and survivors. For years, this committee has heard from veterans and their supporters that both the gender-exclusive motto and the VA's refusal to changes it are reflective of a culture that does not prioritize or value them. The current model was unilaterally selected by the Administrator of what was then the Veterans Administration in 1959. By passing this bill to create a new mission statement, we are demonstrating the will of the American people for VA's motto to be inclusive. In the original context, President Lincoln expressed an intent of inclusion and an obligation to care for all who had endured conflict. Madam Speaker, H.R. 3010 both honors the original spirit of President Lincoln's words while reflecting the full scope of VA's mission and whom they must serve. As Dr. Mary Walker said: ``Let the generations know that women in uniform also guaranteed their freedom.'' I, again, thank Miss Rice from the State of New York for sponsoring this bill and for her tireless work on behalf of America's veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors. I thank Dr. Roe and the minority Members who made bringing this bill to the floor a fully bipartisan effort, and I hope the Senate will take this on swiftly so that it will pass into law before the end of the 116th Congress. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. TAKANO. Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from New York (Miss Rice), who is my good friend and who is the sponsor of H.R. 3010.

Mr. TAKANO. Madam Speaker, I thank H.R. 3010's sponsor, Representative Kathleen Rice from New York. It is long past due for us to recognize the contributions of all veterans, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, or gender identity. Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of H.R. 3010, and I yield back the balance of my time.