[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 107 (Friday, August 5, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 5, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                                  NOTE

  Due to a printing error in the Record of August 3, a colloquy between 
Senators Pell, Mikulski, and Chafee appears incorrectly. The permanent 
Record has been corrected to reflect the following corrected version.


                      providence va medical center

       Mr. Pell. Mr. President, I would be most appreciative if 
     the distinguished chairperson and manager of the bill, 
     Senator Mikulski, could give us some words of advice, and 
     hopefully support and encouragement, regarding an important 
     VA construction project in Rhode Island.
       The project, designated officially as ``Project 650-073 
     Renovate Building No. 31'', is based on a well-conceived plan 
     to utilize existing structures to accommodate VA needs and 
     avoid major new construction costs. Unfortunately, after an 
     auspicious start, it seems to have become mired in 
     bureaucratic complications.
       The plan was designed to meet two needs. One was to provide 
     more space for an ambulatory care facility which currently 
     shares space with the medical center's administrative 
     services, and the other was to provide space for the Veterans 
     Benefits Administration Regional Office.
       A ready solution presented itself with the availability of 
     a nearby church school, Our Lady of Providence High School, 
     which offers sufficient space to house both the 
     administrative offices of the medical center as well as the 
     VBA Regional Office. And this in turn will free up sufficient 
     space in the existing medical center to allow for the 
     expansion of the ambulatory care facility.
       The plan makes a good deal of budgetary sense. It obviates 
     the need for new construction of an outpatient clinical 
     addition which was estimated in 1991 to cost approximately 
     $40 million. And it would move the VBA Regional Office from 
     current costly leased space to shared VA space in the former 
     school.
       The VA purchased Our Lady of Providence High School in 
     April 1991 for $1.75 million. The estimated costs of 
     renovation are $12.5 million, and the prospective saving to 
     the Government of proceeding with the project in lieu of 
     building a new facility is estimated at $15 to $20 million.
       It should be noted at this point that the project has been 
     deemed by the VA Assistant General Counsel to be fully 
     authorized because it was partially funded prior to the 
     enactment date of Public Law 102-405, which established the 
     groundrules for funding such projects. The Providence project 
     was thereby ``grnadfathered''.
       Notwithstanding its obvious virtues, Project 650-073 has 
     not come to fruition. Design development work has been 
     completed and the VA advises that the project is ready to be 
     considered for funding for construction. But now, 3 years 
     after acquisition of the school building, no funding has 
     materialized and we have on our hands a vacant building which 
     incurs costly maintenance, a crowded VA medical facility and 
     a VA regional benefits office housed elsewhere in costly 
     leased space.
       Mr. President, this is a situation that just does not make 
     sense. It reflects poorly on the Department of Veterans 
     Affairs and on the Federal Government in general. Our 
     constituents, particularly those veterans using the medical 
     facility, cannot understand why their Government should start 
     such a promising project, and buy up property only to leave 
     it unused.
       The Rhode Island congressional delegation has vigorously 
     pursued the matter with the Department of Veterans Affairs 
     over the past 3 years. We have done everything we could using 
     the usual channels of communication and liaison to secure 
     action. But the responses from the department always seem to 
     take us deeper into a bureaucratic morass.
       Most recently, we were told that the project would be 
     considered for funding as soon as possible, based on the VA's 
     scale of priorities for all pending projects. And here we 
     learned that our project may be the victim of its own 
     virtues: because it involves both administrative as well as 
     medical facilities, it is scored as an administrative project 
     and ranked lower on the priority list. This is ironic because 
     one of the main objectives was to provide medical space and 
     avoid the $40 million cost of building an addition to the 
     Medical Center. Clearly the project should not be 
     penalized because of its multipurpose nature.
       It seems to me that this is one of those occasions where 
     Congressional intervention is necessary to accommodate a 
     special situation which doesn't quite fit the bureaucratic 
     guidelines. In this connection, I am very pleased to note 
     that the House Appropriations Committee, in its report on 
     this bill, ``urges the VA to proceed, from funds presently 
     available, with the design of the regional office and 
     hospital office project at the Providence VA Medical 
     Center.''
       Mr. President, in this light, I would welcome any support 
     and assistance which the distinguished manager of the bill, 
     Senator Mikulski, could give us on this matter. I would be 
     more appreciative if the committee could look into the matter 
     of the classification and prioritization of such a multi-use 
     project, particularly when the intent is to economize by 
     freeing up administrative space to be used for medical 
     purposes.
       Further, I would appreciate clarification as to whether 
     some funding might be obtained by reprogramming from the 
     working reserve, particularly in view of the fact that the 
     project has already received partial funding to cover the 
     school acquisition. Specifically, I would like to know if the 
     VA could propose such a refunding of reserve funds in the 
     context of the fiscal year 1996 appropriations cycle.
       I thank the Senator from Maryland for her attention to this 
     matter and welcome any clarification she can provide.
       Ms. Mikulski. Mr. President, the senior Senator from Rhode 
     Island raises some very good points about the Providence 
     Medical Center project. I can well understand the sense of 
     frustration and distress that he and his colleagues and their 
     constituents must feel about a project that seems to be 
     stalled midstream after the Government has already acquired a 
     property which is supposed to be part of the solution.
       It seems to me that the Department of Veterans Affairs 
     should try to be more responsive and more flexible in dealing 
     with special circumstances. I agree with the Senator from 
     Rhode Island that the project as described certainly appears 
     to have a substantial medical purpose, and if that is the 
     case, it certainly should be reflected in the priority 
     assigned to the project. If upon further review the project 
     receives a higher ranking, I see no reason why the department 
     should not seek to reprogram existing funds to augment those 
     already appropriated or amounts which might subsequently be 
     appropriated. I am pleased to hear that the VA counsel has 
     found the project to be fully authorized.
       I can assure the Senator from Rhode Island that the 
     committee expects VA to provide a full report on this project 
     and on all the questions he has raised, and that we will 
     continue to monitor the project closely until it comes to 
     fruition.
       Mr. Chafee. Mr. President, I simply would like to echo the 
     eloquent comments of my senior colleague from Rhode Island, 
     and to thank the Chair of the subcommittee for her 
     encouraging words.
       As my colleague has said, the problem we are facing with 
     the Department of Veterans Affairs is exactly the sort of 
     thing that makes people cynical about the Federal Government. 
     The VA has spent $2.5 million to purchase the vacant Our Lady 
     of Providence (OLP) school building and to develop a design 
     plan for its renovation--and for good reason. The project 
     makes perfect sense. We will save money by avoiding the cost 
     of building a new facility. Moveover, we will improve 
     services to veterans by moving the VBA office next to the 
     Medical Center and by expanding ambulatory care services.
       But as my colleague has recounted, the auspicious start to 
     this project has given way to frustrating--and expensive--
     bureaucratic footdragging. It is now 3 years since the 
     purchase of the OLP property, and we have no indication from 
     the VA as to when--if ever--they intend to request funding to 
     finish the job. Meanwhile, we are spending approximately 
     $700,000 each year to maintain the vacant OLP property and 
     continue to lease space for the VBA office.
       Mr. President, I have been involved with this project from 
     the start. More than 4 years ago, I personally urged then-VA 
     Secretary Derwinski to purchase the OLP building, and was 
     thrilled when that purchase took place. I still believe that 
     the project has great merit, and remain committed to seeing 
     it through.
       I share my colleague's view that the OLP project is an 
     ideal candidate for funding through the working reserve, as 
     it is fully authorized already. However, I welcome any and 
     all alternatives which will bring it to fruition, and I thank 
     the Chair of the subcommittee for her kind assistance in this 
     regard.

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