Mark Takano

Mr. TAKANO

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Henry W. Coil, Jr., a Riverside native and a champion of education in the arts. Henry has left an indelible legacy as a visionary and as a philanthropist who loved and supported his community. Through his generous and highly successful construction work, he helped build and restore schools and infrastructure throughout the Inland Empire in southern California. I knew Henry through his love for Riverside Community College, which he attended before moving on to UC Berkeley. At RCC, we worked to establish a new school for the arts, and it was Henry's philanthropy that helped turn this vision into a reality. For most of his life, Henry was a successful businessman, but his dedication to his community set him apart. He served briefly on the Riverside City Council, and he was a devoted supporter of the Boy Scouts. In fact, he even went on to earn the Boy Scouts' Distinguished Eagle Scout Award, recognizing 50 years of his continued service to the Boy Scouts. Above all, what made Henry special was his character. He stood up to bigotry and prejudice. I recall him saying to me how misguided he thought it was that a local politician was running a homophobic campaign. This was a bold position to take at the time, but this statement has stuck with me, throughout my life and career, as a mark of his character. While Henry may no longer be with us, the positive change he created will never be forgotten.

Mr. TAKANO

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of S. 3479, the Department of Veterans Affairs Expiring Authorities Act of 2018. S. 3479 makes sure that some of the vital programs we have in place to take care of our veterans continue past the end of the fiscal year and continue to help our veterans. Included in this bill are provisions related to healthcare, benefits, homeless veterans, and other related issues. I am pleased to support extending programs related to support services for caregivers, childcare for certain veterans receiving healthcare, and a pilot program on counseling in retreat settings for women veterans newly separated from service. It also has provisions to extend the authority related to rehabilitation and vocational benefits to members of the Armed Forces with severe injuries or illnesses, homeless veterans reintegration programs, homeless women veterans and homeless veterans with children, and providing housing assistance and counseling to homeless and at-risk veterans. Also included are several extensions of authority for programs to help our disabled veterans, as well as the authority to enter into agreements with the National Academy of Sciences to review the research on links between diseases and dioxin exposure, a critical step in creating new Agent Orange presumptions. These provisions are crucial in helping our aging Vietnam-era veteran population. The package also contains several technical corrections to the MISSION Act that we passed earlier this year. These corrections will help VA implement the law correctly, and all sides agree that they must become law quickly. In short, this is a bill that both the majority and the minority support, and we all agree that it must be signed into law as soon as possible. I urge all my fellow Members to support its passage. I thank the chairman and his staff for working with the minority on this legislation. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, likewise, I thank the gentleman from Texas for his friendship and for the work that we have done together in a bipartisan fashion on the Veterans' Affairs Committee. I am also proud of the bipartisan work that we have accomplished together on behalf of our veterans. I say God bless our veterans as well. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in passing S. 3479, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. TAKANO

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of Kathleen Daley--a friend, a trusted colleague, and a respected member of the Riverside community. I met Kathleen Daley when I was elected to the RCC board of trustees. As I got to know her, I realized that she and I could not be more different. She was a conservative Republican, and I am a progressive Democrat. She was a tax accountant, and, back then, I was still a public schoolteacher. But in spite of these differences, when we served on the board of trustees, we were always able to work together and put the needs of students first. I respected her for her expertise in finance. The board trusted her to chair the finance committee during her tenure. I admired her for her knowledge and experience, and so did my colleagues. We often unanimously supported her to be the presiding officer of the board. And I befriended her because of the dedicated person she was, because she always worked in the best interest of students. Riverside has lost a great public servant, and I join our community in remembering Kathleen Daley's passion for student success and recognizing her contributions.

Mr. TAKANO

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Texas for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 6691, the Community Safety and Security Act of 2018. Mr. Speaker, I want to bring to my colleague's attention an issue I don't think the majority considered when rushing this bill to the floor without any hearings or markup. They departed from regular order, and doing so always has some, I think, unintended consequences. H.R. 6691 will help deport veterans, people who have served in our military and often who have served in combat. Current law makes certain crimes a deportable offense for legal permanent residents. For the thousands of servicemembers and veterans who are legal permanent residents, this bill will make it easier to deport them. If a soldier comes home with PTSD or if a veteran is struggling with substance abuse or gets in trouble with the law, this bill makes it harder to grant them any kind of discretion. I have met with dozens of deported veterans who have served their country honorably, even been to war, but were deported when they came home. They made mistakes. They paid their debt to society, and their service meant nothing when it came time to permanently banish them from our country. Now, that is unfair. It is cruel and unusual punishment. I believe that if anyone deserves a second chance in our country, it is our veterans. Now, I agree with many of my colleagues that the Supreme Court is right and that we need to change the vagueness in the current law; however, we need to do that through regular order. This bill would classify certain crimes as violent, even if no one was harmed in the act. These are serious issues and they deserve a serious process. Mr. Speaker, this bill will have many unintended consequences if made into law. I implore my colleagues to vote against it and have it go through regular order and get the hearings that it merits.

Mr. TAKANO

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Correa), a member of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, and let it also be known that prior to his coming to Congress, he chaired a veterans committee in the California State Legislature.

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in passing H.R. 5693, 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, to begin, I thank Representative Higgins for his hard work on this legislation, and I support H.R. 5693, as amended. This bipartisan legislation is a forward-thinking first step toward better aligning VA's long-term care options with veteran preferences. Medical foster homes are a solution for veterans that may not be comfortable in a traditional institutional setting, such as a nursing home, yet still need some form of daily assistance and care. These homes provide caregiving services in a group setting for veterans that lack access to caregiving services at home. By allowing VA to cover the cost of medical foster homes, VA will be able to ensure veterans are achieving the most appropriate level of care in the most appropriate setting. The care delivered at medical foster homes is less intensive; therefore, less expensive. Additionally, the sense of community and the familiar home-like setting can promote a veteran's physical and mental health. Again, I appreciate my colleague's hard work on this legislation and look forward to voting in favor of the bill. I congratulate the gentleman from Louisiana's hard work. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. TAKANO

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5938, as amended, the Veterans Serving Veterans Act of 2018. Veterans exit the military with the highest quality of education and experience in their respective fields. We, along with the private sector, have worked diligently to ensure servicemembers are able to translate their skills to the private industry. However, this bill takes our efforts a step further by allowing the VA to create a searchable vacancy and recruitment database containing each VA vacancy and the corresponding military occupation code or skill that corresponds to the positions. The database will also allow interested servicemembers to opt in to be included in the database, so that the VA may begin recruiting transitioning servicemembers to fill vacant positions before their discharges are complete. In addition to the creation of the database, the bill also allows the Secretary to create a pilot program to train servicemembers who served as basic healthcare technicians while serving in the Armed Forces to be trained as intermediate care technicians at the VHA. By creating a pipeline from service to bedside, the VA can better treat the 9 million veterans who depend on its services. I appreciate the gentlewoman from Puerto Rico (Miss Gonzalez-Colon) for her hard work on this bill, and I urge my colleagues to support it. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in passing H.R. 5938, 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. The work of this subcommittee is the work of great heart, and I appreciate the heartfelt work that the chairman, Mr. Arrington, has put forward. I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. O'Rourke), my good friend, the ranking member of the Economic Opportunity Subcommittee, a gentleman with great heart for veterans.

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. Esty), my good friend, and the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs.

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, this is a very special piece of legislation to me. I was once the ranking member of this very subcommittee, and I applaud the work of Ranking Member Beto O'Rourke and Chairman Arrington. This is a work of great heart, of great compassion, and we all know that we need to improve the transition from military service to civilian life for our servicemembers. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in passing H.R. 5649, 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 in support of H.R. 5649, as amended, the Navy SEAL Chief Petty Officer William ``Bill'' Mulder (Ret.) Transition Improvements Act of 2018. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Economic Opportunity Subcommittee chairman, Mr. Arrington, and ranking member, Mr. O'Rourke, for their bipartisan focus on this issue and the bipartisan way they have crafted this piece of legislation and have moved it forward. This bill was generated out of feedback from our veteran service organization partners, rigorous oversight, and many, many hearings. It includes a number of curriculum changes, expansion of services, as well as first steps to making TAP a part of a larger transition effort. It also includes Ms. Brownley's Reduce Unemployment for Veterans of All Ages Act, which eliminates the period of eligibility for vocational rehabilitation services. Currently, veterans have only 12 years after their military service to utilize vocational rehabilitation services. This removes that deadline and allows anyone who qualifies for vocational rehabilitation to access those services in perpetuity. It also includes Mr. Poe's Veterans Education Disaster Act that provides continued educational assistance to students impacted by natural disasters. This is similar to the benefits that are provided for veterans whose schools suddenly close their doors, in order to ensure that veterans are not struggling while they seek to restart their education. This would also allow veterans to continue collecting their housing benefits even though their schools closed from natural disasters, and allow them to stop and restart their tuition benefits once their schools reopen. We also pay for this bill by closing a loophole in flight school costs, while also making modifications to law that allows for the unique nature of flight schools. All of these provisions have been crafted to fix issues we have seen in the field, and they will make life a little bit easier for our veterans. Mr. Speaker, again, I thank Mr. O'Rourke and Mr. Arrington for these necessary improvements to the Transition Assistance Program. A testament to their work is the broad support they have received from committee members for this bill, including Ms. Kuster, Mr. Peters, and Ms. Esty. I look forward to their future work on this as they continue to focus on and refine the program. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. TAKANO

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5882, as amended, the Gold Star Spouses Leasing Relief Act. Mr. Speaker, I would like to first start by thanking the gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Bustos) for drafting this bill. It would allow the spouse of a servicemember to terminate their lease after the death of the servicemember. Oftentimes, servicemembers and their families are required to move far away from home due to the needs of the service and where the servicemember is stationed. In the difficult time after the passing of a servicemember, spouses should not be stuck in a lease far away from their home and support network. This may seem like a small detail, but it is something that can make life just a little bit easier in a very trying time. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the chairman for working with us on including National Guard and Reserve servicemembers who are killed while on duty. As we move the Reserve components from a Strategic Reserve to an Operational Reserve concept, we are seeing too many deaths of National Guardsmen and -women and reservists while they are in uniform. It is critically important that we modernize our statutes to ensure benefits parity while servicemembers are in uniform. Mr. Speaker, again, I would like to thank the gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Bustos), for working on this issue and Mr. Wenstrup for joining her in introducing the bill. I would also like to thank our fellow committee members, Ms. Kuster, Ms. Brownley, and Miss Gonzalez- Colon, for cosponsoring this bill and raising the profile of this issue. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Bustos), my good friend and the author of this bill.

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in passing H.R. 5882, as amended. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Illinois for introducing this important piece of legislation. I am dumbfounded that we have landlords who would not recognize the situation of a fallen soldier, but this law is necessary, and I urge all my colleagues to support it. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. TAKANO

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5974, as amended, the Department of Veterans Affairs Creation of On-Site Treatment Systems Affording Veterans Improvements and Numerous General Safety Enhancements Act, otherwise known as the VA COST SAVINGS Enhancements Act. Mr. Speaker, the current funding issues currently surrounding VA are evidence of the need for creative cost savings measures. I must thank Representative Denham in identifying and championing one such creative solution. The VA COST SAVINGS Enhancements Act simply asks VHA to review its current medical waste disposal system and determine whether hosting this disposal onsite would result in cost savings over the next 5 years. If so, then the facility is required to implement onsite disposal. Onsite medical waste disposal is safer and far more efficient in most cases, and this bill would simply require VHA to ensure they are achieving the safest and most cost-effective method of medical waste disposal. Again, I thank Representative Denham for his work on the bill, and I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of the measure. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers. I ask my colleagues to join me in passing H.R. 5974, as amended, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. TAKANO

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I am prepared to close. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in passing H.R. 5864, 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 in support of H.R. 5864, as amended, the VA Hospitals Establishing Leadership Performance Act, or VA HELP Act. Due to nationwide shortages, nuanced certification and licensing requirements, and complex position descriptions, human resource professionals working in the healthcare industry must possess a unique set of skills and qualifications. Human resource professionals working within the VA must further develop their skills while learning how to leverage the many hiring initiatives, budgetary concerns, and Federal resources in a way that can compete with the private sector's financial incentives. The VA HELP Act is an effort to assist the VA in finding the unique talent it needs to fill these health-specific human resource officers by requiring the VA to establish qualifications and standardized performance metrics for each human resource position within VHA. By further defining the human resource positions within VHA and standardizing performance metrics, the VA will be able to more easily to attract, access, and retain quality human resource officers. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. TAKANO

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in passing H.R. 5538, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Peters), a member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, the author of this bill, and my good friend.

Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5538, the Reserve Component Vocational Rehabilitation Parity Act. This bill protects an overlooked provision related to our National Guard and Reserve servicemembers who are mobilized under 12304b authorities. This bill allows servicemembers to pause the clock on the 12-year limit to use vocational rehabilitation programs while mobilized on Active Duty orders. Currently, this is allowed for mostly mobilization authorities, but this particular authority was overlooked. Simply, the bill adds to 12304a and 12304b authorities to the 12304 provision already listed within the statute. This is an important fix because of the increased use of 12304b authority by the Department of Defense over the past few years, and the increases planned for the future. As we move the Reserve components from a strategic reserve to an operational reserve concept, it is critically important that we modernize our statutes to ensure benefits parity while servicemembers are in uniform. This is a step in the right direction. With this bill, Congress has the opportunity to be proactive, instead of reactive, to the needs of our servicemembers. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Peters for bringing this issue forward and identifying a fix. He is a reliable and critical advocate for our country's National Guard and Reserve servicemembers. I also thank Mr. Bergman for reaching across the aisle and joining Mr. Peters in introducing this bill. And I thank the co-chairs of the House's National Guard and Reserve Components Caucus, Mr. Walz and Mr. Palazzo, for supporting the initiative. Lastly, I thank the six other members of our committee who were original cosponsors of the bill, including Mr. O'Rourke, Ms. Brownley, and Ms. Kuster. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.