Timothy Walz

Mr. WALZ of Minnesota

Mr. WALZ of Minnesota. Mr. Speaker, I would like to say that the goals of this legislation that the gentleman and his supporters have put before us are noble. The supporters have stressed it is to improve accuracy in how we account for loan programs. That's, indeed, a laudable goal. As stewards of the taxpayer dollars, we all believe it's our responsibility to keep a careful eye on every dollar spent. This includes using the most accurate accounting measures possible. Unfortunately, we have no assurances. Mr. Speaker, the intentions of this bill are laudable. The problem we have is there's no assurance that the piece of legislation we're doing today will encode that into law. Instead, what we have are half- finished ideas whose merit is disputed by nonpartisan budgeting experts and whose effects are still unknown. We've heard concerns today that enactment of this bill could result in us systematically overestimating the cost of Federal loan programs. This will not just be inaccurate accounting; it could cause significant harm to millions of Americans who depend on these loans. As a school teacher and a 24-year veteran of the National Guard, I know that the two groups that depend on these loans more than any other are students and our veterans. That's why I have this motion at the desk to amend the bill to ensure that, at the very least, as this experiment plays out, we hold harmless students and veterans. This amendment does not kill the bill, and it changes nothing in it. It simply ensures that until we know how this policy is going to work out, we won't insist that we make it any harder for an Iraq or Afghanistan veteran to get a home loan. At the same time, when economic hardships and rising tuition costs are making it harder for our best and brightest, those very students that we depend on to make this Nation profitable, we need to make sure that they're not harmed by this process. My amendment would ensure that we hold them, the veterans and the students, harmless until we know how this unvetted, untested piece of legislation will work. I simply encourage my colleagues to join me. Protect the students and the veterans in this. Go ahead and pass the bill, if that's what you want to do; but let's make sure there's a firewall between those that can least afford to have this go bad. With that, I yield back the balance of my time, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. WALZ of Minnesota. I have a motion at the desk, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. WALZ of Minnesota. In its current form, I am, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. WALZ of Minnesota. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. WALZ of Minnesota

Mr. WALZ of Minnesota. I have an amendment, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. WALZ of Minnesota. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for having that opportunity and for allowing this to go forward. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. WALZ of Minnesota. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself as much time as I may consume. First of all, I would like to thank the chairman and the ranking member for making my amendment in order and granting me the opportunity to address this. I rise today to offer what I think is a very commonsense amendment to the underlying bill. There's some of this debate that there's very little to debate about. Our national debt is nearly $15 trillion. We're borrowing about 30 cents on every dollar. This represents, in my opinion, one of the biggest threats to our economic future, and I believe it needs to be a top priority. But I also believe the first step in addressing our national debt is getting honest about how we calculate it and the impact of it. That means we have to take the right factors into account, and that includes the impact that higher deficits will have on our economy. As you know, the main problem with deficits is they push up interest rates. Eventually, it will happen. Higher interest rates hurt the economy by making it more expensive to buy a home or a car. They make it harder for my constituents to afford college for their children, and they make it more difficult for local businesses to get credit they need to grow. My amendment would simply ensure that the Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation expressly include interest rates in the list of economic factors they consider in their studies. If we don't consider interest rates, the underlying bill would underestimate the impact unpaid government spending--or the un-offset tax cuts--would have on the economy and the deficit. Congress has to stop hiding behind the funny math that masks the true costs of our policies. I'd like to stress that my amendment is nonpartisan and nonideological. It's completely neutral on whether the deficit is increased by unpaid-for spending or un-offset tax cuts. The effects are the same. It simply ensures that Congress, when we take a vote, takes into account whether it was done in a fiscally responsible manner. We must let facts drive our decision-making, not ideology. If the facts dispute our ideology, we need to change our ideology, not the other way around. As a high school teacher, one thing I know for sure is you need to start by getting the math right. I reserve the balance of my time, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. WALZ OF MINNESOTA

Mr. WALZ OF MINNESOTA. Mr. Speaker, again, this august body displayed the worst of what we can do. The opportunity to try and compromise was there. I have to say, last week I supported a bill put forward by my Republican friends, sent it to the Senate. It came back. And as the previous speaker said, I didn't even get a chance to vote on it. The real tragedy here is that there is another piece of legislation that is being held up that the American public knows needs to happen. We can have a difference of political opinions across the aisle. The one that needs to get done is to believe people here are playing by the rules. The Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge, the insider-trading bill that's 18 pages long, it's been sitting around for 6 years. It now has 240 bipartisan cosponsors. It is now suddenly buried and gone. The American people demand us to do one thing: be honest and work for them. That bill can ensure that happens.

Mr. WALZ of Minnesota

Mr. WALZ of Minnesota. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I respect the chairman and the gentleman's opinion on this, but I want to be very clear. The only people this applies to is violators of veterans' workplace employment. These are veterans returning home who choose to have union representation, who have fought for that right in uniform and are now being told this. The NLRB said this is no problem being able to be put in. It's at no cost to the taxpayer to be able to do this. And the thing that I hear coming up in the discussion today was we need to have more time to explain it to them. I have tremendous faith in the ability of our folks who served in split-second, life-and-death decisions overseas serving in combat to be able to, after a few days, make a decision with the information they're given whether they want representation or not, not being drug out in litigation for 2 years so they can protect their rights against employers previously cited in the 1 year. These are not the good actors. These are the bad actors. I don't like the underlying bill. I'm trying to make it better. Why are we protecting the 1 percent of bad actors in this at the expense of a veteran who has the right to organize? With that, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. WALZ of Minnesota. I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. WALZ of Minnesota. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. WALZ of Minnesota. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. First of all, I rise to offer an amendment that would reinforce our commitment to protecting the employment rights of our brave servicemembers. We've all seen this show before, Mr. Chairman. Let's not insult the intelligence of the American public. When we had an Employee Free Choice Act the other side argued we only want to protect the secret ballot. Now it's no, we want to protect the ability to let you vote on a secret ballot, but only when we decide that time has come. We've seen this song and dance in Ohio, we've seen it in Wisconsin. Let's just be honest that we have a fundamental difference about labor rights and the ability to collectively bargain. We probably are not going to agree on that, but let's find some bipartisan ground where we can agree. I think my amendment is the one that will do that. It's very straightforward. It simply prevents this piece of legislation, H.R. 3094, from applying to businesses that have been cited for violations of labor laws against employees who are veterans in the previous year. It is very simple. These are not the vast majority of employers who are playing by the rules. These are those who have had egregious violations, specifically against veterans, and this will help us protect those. I wholeheartedly agree we've got a lot of good, strong employers out there supporting our Guard and Reserve, but labor laws are still being violated. We need these laws--last year, 3,000 cases of employers who violated the Uniform Service Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, USERRA, the main Federal law that protects veterans. My amendment provides a means for Congress to enforce veteran-related labor laws by removing the ability for violators to present unnecessary barriers to a free and expeditious union election process. Keep in mind, these are the very people who fought to protect the basic American right to organize collectively for a safe workplace; yet, when they come home, we're going to throw barriers in their way even by companies that have already violated veterans' employment rights at a time when we have high unemployment amongst veterans. This is one on which we can come together. By the way, 2 million veterans are in labor unions of their choice now, so this isn't a small number. This is a large number. Why would Congress hinder the ability for a veteran to choose whether or not they want representation? It's what they fought for. While my colleagues and I can debate the role of government in collective bargaining, I don't believe there should be any difference in where we believe that this should not apply to violators of veterans' employment rights and allow them to make the choice. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. WALZ of Minnesota. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the balance of my time. I express my disappointment with the gentleman. I do respect his service, and we have a fond attachment to our veterans in getting this right. Let me do something that doesn't happen down here very much to show you how small this is. I'll read you the entire amendment: ``The designated parties referred to in subparagraph (B) are employers that have been found liable for any labor law violation against a veteran of the Armed Forces during the 1-year period preceding the filing of a petition under this subsection. Such parties may not engage in the dilatory tactic of raising new issues or positions during a preelection hearing that were not raised prior to the commencement of the hearing.'' No matter how you feel about the underlying bill, if we really want to make this better and try and reach across together, maybe this is one area we could do it. I would urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle: Do what's right. Pick off these bad employers so they can't engage in these tactics against veterans. Let's get our folks back to work and let's agree to disagree on the fundamental underlying bill on labor. On this one, we shouldn't. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. WALZ of Minnesota

Mr. WALZ of Minnesota. Mr. Speaker, it has been 4 days since the CBS News program ``60 Minutes'' ran a troubling piece on insider trading in this very House. Mr. Speaker, you and I and our colleagues are the only people in this august body today who are exempt from insider trading rules. How do we expect the public to take us seriously about anything we do when there is the belief that people here are enriching themselves from the knowledge they gain on the job? Even the perception of wrongdoing undermines the trust in the democracy. The good news is that Ms. Slaughter, myself, and now 55 of our colleagues have joined together to put an end to this practice. The STOCK Act that I rise and encourage my colleagues to join us on would stop trading on congressional knowledge. It would put Congress on the same playing field of every teacher, firefighter, small business owner, and investor. Then we can get down to the business of making America right--by creating jobs. I encourage my colleagues to join me.

Mr. WALZ of Minnesota

Mr. WALZ of Minnesota. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 842 I voted ``no'' but intended to vote ``yes''.

Mr. WALZ of Minnesota

Mr. WALZ of Minnesota. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge and implore my colleagues to support the STOCK Act, the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act, and I ask also that Speaker Boehner bring this bill to the floor for a vote immediately. On Sunday night on CBS, their news program ``60 Minutes'' highlighted the potential problem of insider trading on Capitol Hill. Unlike all other Americans and investors, Members of Congress and their staff are not held legally responsible for profiting from nonpublic information they gain from their official position serving the public. This is absolutely outrageous and strikes at the heart of the democracy. When I first came to Congress and sat down with the author of this bill originally, Congressman Baird, and he started explaining to me what this was about, I, as most Americans, was shocked to believe it wasn't already a bill. Why would you allow the breach of trust of the American public to believe that their Member of Congress could potentially be trading on information to enrich themselves? It's not the point of, is it happening? The point is if the potential lies there. At the heart of every relationship is trust. If the trust is violated, everything that comes after that is a moot point. And this might be the greatest understatement ever: the American public is understandably frustrated with all the bickering and gridlock here. They don't trust institutions, they don't trust their banker, they don't trust corporations, and they don't trust Congress. If you thought we couldn't go any lower than a 9 percent approval rating, just have the people who watch ``60 Minutes'' vote now and see where they're at. This legislation is a very big step in the right direction. It's about restoring the faith and trust in Congress and the work of democracy. Ronald Reagan was right. We've heard about President Reagan several times today. Trust but verify. That's what this piece of legislation is about. We want to work with Speaker Boehner and get this bill moving. And let me tell you, it's very simple on what it does. The bill would prohibit insider trading on Capitol Hill. It will remove loopholes and any confusion about what's right, wrong, legal or illegal. No insider trading by Members of Congress and their staff, period. If you do it, you break the law and you will be held accountable. It's common sense. The STOCK Act would prohibit Members of Congress and Congressional staff from using nonpublic information obtained through their official duties for personal gain in the stocks in the commodities markets. It would also prohibit private individuals and firms who attempt to mine such information from public officials to use it for insider trading. Specifically, the bill is simple and short and says this: It requires that the SEC and the CFTC write rules that ban using congressional, nonpublic information to make trades. It changes the House ethics rules to specifically ban Members and staff from using nonpublic information to make trades. It changes House disclosure rules to require Members and staff who already file financial disclosures to disclose trades of $1,000 or more in a timely fashion, in addition to the annual disclosures. And it requires political intelligence firms to register like lobbyists. These are the people who come to the Hill and use their connections to talk to people, try and understand what piece of legislation is moving, what's the potential for a potential government contract, and then they go back and sell the information that's given to investors. That breach of trust, that potential to undermine our financial systems, is a cancer on the system. It weighs on the American public's trust of their finance, of corporations, of Congress and undermines the democracy. These people can still come here but register just like lobbyists. Let's make sure that transparency and the disinfectant of sunshine shines on this. There is no room in this institution for even the perception of wrongdoing. Every Member of Congress must be held to a higher standard. It doesn't infringe upon their rights to legally trade, it doesn't infringe upon their rights--their American rights--to work hard, be smart, make good investments, and profit from that. What it does prohibit is an unfair playing field that penalizes those that play by the rules. And like so many of my colleagues and millions of middle class Americans, I myself am a public school teacher. I spent 24 years in the National Guard. I tried to do what was right by my family and my neighbors. I tried to play by the rules, with the great understanding that the American Dream was you play by the rules, you work hard, and you will benefit from that. This piece of legislation ensures that the American people know that we, as their representatives in this sacred House of the people, are playing by the exact same rules, not worrying about enriching ourselves, not worrying about gaming the system, and making sure that their needs are put first. And as I said, it's not whether it happens or not, it's whether the perception is there. I urge my colleagues and Speaker Boehner, move this to the floor and let's vote for it.

Mr. WALZ of Minnesota

Mr. WALZ of Minnesota. Madam Speaker, I rise today to urge--no, to implore--my colleagues to support the STOCK Act and ask Speaker Boehner to bring this bill to the floor immediately. On Sunday night, the CBS news program ``60 Minutes'' highlighted a problem of potential insider trading on Capitol Hill. Unlike other Americans, Members of Congress and their staffs are not held legally responsible for profiting from nonpublic information they gain in their official positions. It's outrageous. When I came to Congress several years ago, I couldn't believe it wasn't already a law. At a time when Americans are understandably frustrated with bickering and gridlock here in Congress, the one thing we can do is restore their trust in the system. This legislation is a big step in that direction of restoring that trust. It's very simple. It asks that if you are a Member of Congress and receive information, you cannot trade stocks to profit from those. It's a simple bill. I ask Speaker Boehner to allow this bill to come to the floor. Let's make sure that the American people--may differ with us on ideas, and healthy debate is fine, but they must not believe the system is corrupt and people are gaming the system. I ask that this be brought to the floor, and I encourage my colleagues to vote for it.

Mr. WALZ of Minnesota

Mr. WALZ of Minnesota. Mr. Speaker, bipartisanship is not dead. There are policies grounded in common sense that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle can agree upon. I'm proud to be part of a group of lawmakers, Democrat and Republican, who are fighting to complete the Lewis and Clark Rural Water System in Minnesota, Iowa, and South Dakota. This infrastructure project alone will bring drinking water to an area of the United States the size of Connecticut. It will sustain hundreds of jobs and create an estimated 10,000 jobs in the long run. The funds for this project were promised during the Clinton Presidency, the Bush Presidency, and the Obama Presidency. Locals not only paid their share, they paid in advance. And yet today, the earth movers, the forklifts, and the dump trucks sit idle, and no water runs to thirsty communities. A bipartisan coalition in this Congress is ready to act to push this project forward. With only 14 legislative days left in our congressional calendar, the time is now to work together, create jobs in a commonsense approach, bring Lewis and Clark to a reality.

Mr. WALZ of Minnesota

Mr. WALZ of Minnesota. Mr. Speaker, like the last speaker, I had the opportunity last week to visit an American manufacturer, Blue Star Power Systems, a small business in southern Minnesota employing 35 people that manufactures backup generators for schools, hospitals, and businesses. Doug Fahrforth, the CFO of Blue Star, told me something that made me pause. He said that nowadays his bank will tell him this: We believe in you; we believe in your product; but unless there is no risk, we don't want anything to do with you. Our economic system relies upon risks that small businesses take, like Blue Star Power, to create innovative products and services which boost our economy and grow our middle class. Yesterday there was a New York Times story that said banks said they were turning depositors away at the door because the banks have more money than they know what to do with. I have a couple of ideas what they can do with that money. Invest in Main Street. Invest in businesses like Blue Star Power Systems who create first class products right here in the United States. Blue Star also told me there are things that we can do in Congress that will streamline the Small Business Administration and make it more efficient and effective. I look forward to working with them on that. There are actions that we can take right now so that Blue Star Power and other businesses just like them can continue to innovate and create jobs in America.

Mr. WALZ of Minnesota

Mr. WALZ of Minnesota. To the gentleman from Pennsylvania, thank you for your energy, your passion, your vision. Thank you also to all the folks who've gathered here. Mr. Speaker, you're witnessing an all too rare event in this House--a group of bipartisan legislators coming together and working for the common good and rejecting the politics of division, rejecting the politics of the false choices--the either/ors--and coming together with the respect and understanding that this Nation can innovate, can become energy independent and, at the same time, can protect those vital natural resources. You have a spectrum of folks who come from coal-producing West Virginia, from Pennsylvania, from Indiana, from California, from the plains of Minnesota. You have Members here who have a wide spectrum of political beliefs, but you also have folks here who have been in the business of producing energy, and you've got folks speaking who are endorsed by groups like the Sierra Club. Mr. Speaker, this is what the American public is asking for. They're asking for us to get together, to use our knowledge, to collect information, to use that data, and to come up with a plan that will do the things that you've heard talked about here. The very premise of this is just so simple, which is that this land is your land. It's the idea with the riches of this land and the natural resources, if we use them wisely, if we take those revenues and reinvest, that we can continue to do what we've always done--out- innovate, out-moving products to market--and do it in a way that protects and the natural park system that we have in this country. We can have it both ways if we're smart, but it needs to start here. It needs to start with a plan. It makes no sense to anyone I talk to on the plains of southern Minnesota that we're spending over $1 billion a day and sending it to countries that hate us. They will hate us for free. We can keep the money at home, reinvest in the infrastructure, make sure the outdated locks and dams on the Mississippi are up to where they need to be to quickly move those farm products from the upper Mississippi down to the gulf and to the markets around the world. Those things can be done. You heard each of our Members talk about the idea that we're reinvesting royalties. This Nation needs to make sure we're more efficient. We need to conserve on our energy needs, but to do so takes research; to do so takes investment. We have to upgrade our power grid. We have to make sure we're using smart grid technology and using the software and the technologies available to make sure we're using every bit of energy the most efficiently. We can take these revenues from the sale of the resources that are there, extract the resources in an environmentally sound manner, and take those back and put them into the research, into the infrastructure, into the ability to move forward. For example, in my district in southern Minnesota, we're very proud. We're the fourth leading producer of wind energy in this Nation. You can see the beautiful windmills stretching across there and producing a large amount of our power. Yet the reality is Minnesota is one of the most coal-dependent States in the Union because of the nature of where it's at, so we simultaneously need to make sure we're doing that in the most efficient, effective, and environmentally sound manner while we're being realistic about what our power needs are. This Nation and the world will become energy hungry like it has never seen as 50 percent more energy will need to be produced by 2025. We need to be smart on how we do it. The country that harnesses the innovation, that harnesses the ability to be energy independent will lead into the future. We can't afford to fall behind. We can't afford to allow the resources we've been blessed with to be squandered and not used and invested for our children's future. So I have to tell you, as this has been worked on, to me, one of the most reassuring things about our great democracy is how this committee and this bipartisan Energy Working Group have gotten together outside the constraints of existing politics, outside the constraints of existing committees and has brought Members--new Members, seasoned Members, more liberal Members, more conservative Members--with a very clear idea: making sure that we use our resources effectively, become more energy independent, diversify our energy portfolio, and do so without raising a single tax; and making sure our infrastructure is modern, making sure it is efficient and effective and, in the long run, making us more competitive. So there are jobs that will be created by this; there is the ability to pay down the deficit that will be created by this; and there is a sense of pride that we will have as a Nation. Back in March, President Obama challenged us to reduce our oil imports by a third over the next 10 years. To meet that challenge, there is only one plan sitting on the table right now that has the ability to do that, which is this piece of legislation. I have to say it's very gratifying to work on this. I very much feel that the American people are hungry for a bipartisan, commonsense ability to compromise where we need to, that there is the ability to bring the right research to bear and the ability to inspire the American innovative spirit to get there and to do so with a set outcome. This is real. This isn't talk. This isn't like, oh, we should become energy independent. I hear a lot of people complain about coal all the time. The reality of the matter is, if you're here today and complaining about coal, we need to turn the lights and the microphones off because they're being powered by that. Without another solution to that, we're not going to get any closer to what we'd like to see-- affordable, clean American energy that is powering our businesses and powering our homes. As the gentleman said, this isn't just an American Dream. This could become an American reality, and it could start as soon as we get this thing moved through. So, again, to my colleagues, I thank you for putting the energy and the effort into this. I thank the gentleman for continuing to hold us together. I thank him for being ahead of the curve as this group has been for the past several years. As for the American public, we're getting right in lockstep with them as to what they want to see us do. So I encourage my colleagues, Mr. Speaker, and their constituents to continue to engage in this and to talk to their Representatives about becoming part of this group. If you're really tired of the bickering and if you're really tired of the gridlock and if you're really tired of our not spending our money at home on our energy and on our ability to create jobs here, this is your solution, and you've got a spectrum of folks. It isn't a Democratic issue. It's not a Republican issue. To the gentleman from Pennsylvania, I have great appreciation for the work that you're doing.

Mr. WALZ of Minnesota. I thank the gentleman. I thank all the speakers today. Mr. Speaker, you just witnessed something--an hour-long discussion on energy policy that did not demonize producers of energy and did not demonize conservation groups, did not point out problems on the other side and did not become political. It put out solutions, answers that are workable, backed by facts and ready to be implemented. We can do this. The American people deserve us to do exactly this. I encourage you and everyone in this Chamber to get behind this.

Mr. WALZ of Minnesota

Mr. WALZ of Minnesota. I thank the ranking member for yielding me this time, as well as being a staunch supporter of this and, of course, other legislation to secure the rights and benefits for our veterans. I would also like to thank the gentleman from New Jersey for his unwavering support on this and other bills, and appreciate all of the things that are moving today. I say a special thank you to Chairman Miller and the majority leader and the majority whip who changed the schedule around to allow this bill to be debated tonight after Representatives Roe, Benishek, DesJarlais, Denham, and I returned from Afghanistan, visiting our warriors downrange defending freedom and putting their lives on the line and doing it in such a professional manner, and standing there and not being able to tell the difference between a Navy, a Marine, or an Army National Guard or Reservist, all of those services working together in unity for this. I'm proud to sponsor this piece of legislation, the Honor America's Guard and Reserve Act. The veterans' community has prioritized this for a long time. About the honor that you heard my good friend and the lead Republican sponsor on this from Iowa, Mr. Latham, talk about, it's about that honor and dignity and a country respecting that. These are folks who serve in so many ways, responding to national emergencies. But, most importantly, I think, standing ready to be deployed at a moment's notice as a deterrent to aggression. They stood there during the Cold War, many of these people for 20 years, serving this Nation, training the current warriors who are downrange. And yet we will honor them with military retired pay, medical care through Tricare, we'll even bury them in a veterans' cemetery. But under current law, that member of that reserve component, if they weren't called up under title 10 for more than 179 days, the honor we will not bestow upon them is the right to call themselves veterans, and that truly is a gross injustice. I believe it's an oversight to them, and its an oversight to their families who understood the respect they had. I think it is basic common sense. A reservist can be buried in a Federal cemetery. They should have the right--and what this bestows upon them, no money, no extra benefits, but when the flag comes by on Veterans Day, they can render a hand salute in taking part when that national anthem is played. It is about honor. It may not seem important to some, but for those who wear the uniform subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, received the same training, and spent 20 years away from their families and had the ability to be called up, this lack of recognition is a gross injustice. H.R. 1025 will finally correct this in a straightforward way, including the Guard and Reserve retiree in the definition of the term ``veteran.'' It will ensure they're no longer regulated to second-class status. As I've said, the sole purpose is to grant veteran's status to those who've been denied it to this point. In light of this fact, let me be absolutely clear: it's about honor. It's not about monetary benefits or material privilege. Both the Congressional Research Service as well as the Department of Veterans Affairs concluded this legislation will provide no additional benefits; instead, it is a tribute to their service. It has been reinforced by the Congressional Budget Office which says it has a zero cost to taxpayers. It's a simple bill. It simply states that those members of the Guard who've served for all of their time, stood ready to be deployed for whatever reason at a moment's notice, have earned the right to be considered veterans. I would like to point out this legislation is supported by the Military Coalition and the National Military Veterans Alliance, which together represent more than 4 million active-duty servicemember veterans and their families. I'd like to thank everyone who has engaged in this. It's been a long process. We've got a companion version in the Senate, Madam Speaker, and the time is right to bestow this honor on those who have given so much. So with that, I encourage my colleagues to use this as an opportunity to right an injustice, to stand tall with our Guard and Reserve soldiers, to set this right and allow them to proudly, by this Veterans Day, be able to render their hand salute to our flag.

Mr. WALZ of Minnesota

Mr. WALZ of Minnesota. I rise today to let folks know that the American can-do spirit and the spirit of innovation is alive and well in southern Minnesota. Last week, I visited United Machine and Foundry in Winona, Minnesota. UMF is a small business that opened in 1885. It currently employs 35 people, and produces metal castings for asphalt production, road construction, and power generation. UMF's president, Tom Renk, told me the only real problem he has is this: that without investment in critical infrastructure like roads, the foundry doesn't sell any products, and when demand dries up, so do the jobs. Building things is in the American DNA. We build roads; we build bridges; we create the necessary infrastructure to power this economy. Congress has the tools to build again. We have a President prepared to break ground. We can create the infrastructure our grandchildren will need in the 21st century. I visited UMF of Winona to remind myself that building things is in our DNA, building things is the American spirit. That spirit will create jobs, and it will build the economy we need in the 21st century.

Mr. WALZ of Minnesota

Mr. WALZ of Minnesota. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I would like to thank the gentleman for his hard work on this bill as well as the chairman and the ranking member. I would also like to thank the gentleman for his service to this Nation in uniform and now on the VA Committee--a tireless advocate for our veterans. I think this piece of legislation authorizing the construction and some important things that you've just heard the gentleman talk about is a model for how we can do business here in a bipartisan manner--agreeing on things, discussing them, moving out of subcommittees, through the full committee, and now here to the House floor. So thank you for that. Mr. Speaker, our most solemn obligation is to take care of the men and women who have served our Nation and to ensure that they have access to the benefits and the quality health care that they've so rightly earned. We have an obligation to make sure the places that they receive care are world class and safe. H.R. 2646, as amended, would authorize $937,370,000 for seven major medical facilities. These projects include critical improvements to VA medical centers to protect them in the event of natural disasters and to protect our recovering veterans by addressing basic safety needs, such as adding fire extinguishers and abating existing asbestos. The projects also provide for state-of-the-art facilities and training centers to improve the care veterans receive and to make sure that veterans feel comfortable and welcome at all our facilities. Additionally, the bill would authorize funds for eight new major medical facility leases that will assist the VA in bringing health care closer to veterans and improve the quality of current health care services, especially in rural America. It contains several extensions of authority for homeless programs and supportive services for very low-income veteran families. We owe it to our veterans to ensure they have access to secure, safe, clean housing that offers a supportive environment. Finally, this bill extends programs that are critical for our veterans who suffer from mental health issues. Nearly 30 percent of the patients the VA sees during any given year have a mental health diagnosis. We've taken strides to address this ever-growing issue, but we still have a long way to go. With the growing number of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and with an increasing number of veterans suffering from mental health issues, we must work together to tackle this challenge, and this legislation helps by extending those programs. I would certainly encourage my colleagues to do what's right by our veterans and to support this good piece of legislation, H.R. 2646, as amended. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. WALZ of Minnesota. Mr. Speaker, I urge the support of this important piece of legislation. Again, I thank the gentleman from Ohio and the staff on both sides for putting together an important piece of legislation for America's veterans. As I have no further requests for time, I yield back the balance of my time. General Leave