[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 156 (Tuesday, October 10, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H9761-H9762]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  EXTENDING THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS AUTHORITY TO USE NURSE 
   ANESTHETIST CONTRACT SALARY DATA IN ESTABLISHING PAY RATES FOR VA-
                      EMPLOYED NURSE ANESTHETISTS

  Mr. STUMP. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill 
(H.R. 1536) to amend title 38, United States Code, to extend for 2 
years an expiring authority of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs with 
respect to determination of locality salaries for certain nurse 
anesthetist positions in the Department of Veterans Affairs.
  The Clerk read as follows:
  
[[Page H 9762]]


                               H.R. 1536

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled, That 
     section 7451(d)(3)(C)(iii) of title 38, United States Code, 
     is amended by striking out ``April 1, 1995'' and inserting in 
     lieu thereof ``December 31, 1997''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Latham). Pursuant to the rule, the 
gentleman from Arizona [Mr. Stump] will be recognized for 20 minutes 
and the gentleman from Mississippi [Mr. Montgomery] will be recognized 
for 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Arizona [Mr. Stump].


                             general leave

  Mr. STUMP. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include 
extraneous materials on H.R. 1536.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Arizona?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. STUMP. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1536 would extend until December 31, 1997, the 
authority to permit VA Medical Center Directors to use nurse 
anesthetist contract agency compensation data to adjust locality-based 
nurse pay rates.
  This would only be done where a VA locality survey provides 
insufficient data.
  The Department requested extension of this authority which will allow 
the VA to remain competitive in the job market for nurse anesthetists.
  The Congressional Budget Office has stated the bill would have no 
significant cost to the Federal Government.
  I want to thank the ranking member of the Veterans' Affairs 
Committee, Sonny Montgomery for helping move the bill to the floor.
  I also want to thank Tim Hutchinson, chairman of the Hospitals and 
Health Care Subcommittee, and Chet Edwards the subcommittee's ranking 
member for their efforts on the bill.
  Mr. MONTGOMERY. Mr. Speaker, I yield yield such time as he may 
consume to the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Edwards].
  Mr. EDWARDS. Mr. Speaker, again, as with the previous legislation 
that we just passed, this legislation will basically help the VA 
medical centers bring the best quality of health care to our Nation's 
veterans by allowing flexibility in pay scale for VA nurse 
anesthetists. This will allow us to keep many of our finest nurse 
anesthetists in the VA hospitals. Without this legislation, there is a 
very real chance that many of these important people in our VA health 
care system might be pulled out of the public health care system and 
somewhere into private practice. If that were to happen, that would be 
a loss not only to our VA health care centers, but to the veterans that 
they serve.
  Mr. Speaker, once again, as in the previous legislation, I want to 
commend the gentleman from Arizona [Mr. Stump] and the gentleman from 
Arkansas [Mr. Hutchinson] for their leadership on this important 
legislation, along with the gentleman from Mississippi [Mr. Montgomery] 
for his leadership as the ranking member of the full committee. I urge 
passage of this legislation.
  Mr. STUMP. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the 
gentleman from Arkansas [Mr. Hutchinson].
  Mr. HUTCHINSON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 1536. I want to commend 
the gentleman from Arizona [Mr. Stump] for his work on this bill and 
for bringing it to the floor today. Again, I thank the ranking member, 
the gentleman from Mississippi [Mr. Montgomery], for his work on this 
bill, along with so many on behalf of veterans. I also want to express 
my gratitude to the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Edwards], the ranking 
member on the Subcommittee on Hospitals and Health Care, for his kind 
words earlier and for his good work and for how easy it is to work with 
him on behalf of all veterans.
  This is another one of those bills, as Mr. Edwards said, that will 
not be on the evening news, but it is an example of the way Congress 
ought to work. Mr. Speaker, members of this committee, Mr. Stump, Mr. 
Montgomery, Mr. Edwards, and the other members of our committee, Mr. 
Kennedy, we have very strong differences on many issues. We certainly 
are no less loyal to our political parties, but what makes this 
committee work so well is a greater loyalty to our veterans. While we 
feel strongly about our particular issues, we feel even stronger about 
the need to work together on behalf of the veterans of this country. So 
it is a great committee on which to serve.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in full support of this legislation to extend the 
expiring authority to determine locality pay for VA nurse anesthetists 
and urge immediate passage of the bill. The bill continues the VA 
authority to use salary data from any employee of nurse anesthetists as 
a means of setting appropriate locality pay rates to December 31, 1997. 
This authority was made necessary because of a quirk in the Veterans 
Affairs Nurse Pay Act of 1990 which established a locality pay system 
for VA nurses, but failed to provide an adequate means for determining 
the rates of pay for nurse anesthetists.
  The legislation passed unanimously in both the Subcommittee on 
Hospitals and Health Care and the full Veterans Affairs' Committee. It 
is supported by the VA, and CBO has concluded that the legislation has 
no significant cost to the Federal Government. So once again, Mr. 
Speaker, I urge quick passage of H.R. 1536.
  Mr. MONTGOMERY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 1 minute.
  Mr. Speaker, there have been some around here who have said in years 
past that the members of the Committee on Veterans Affairs get up and 
congratulate each other on both sides of the aisle, and I like that. I 
think we would do much better around here if we did that in other 
committees, if we were to work more closely together. We enjoy working 
with the other side of the aisle, as they enjoy working with us. Of 
course, we have a wonderful constituency in that we have the veterans 
and their dependents and the others who are affected by what we do in 
veterans programs.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this legislation, and I would hope 
that this would be a unanimous vote.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                              {time}  1530

  Mr. STUMP. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Latham). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from Arizona [Mr. Stump] that the House 
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 1536.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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