[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 157 (Sunday, November 9, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H10485-H10486]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[[Page H10485]]
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House of Representatives
VETERANS' BENEFITS ACT OF 1997
(Continued)
Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the
gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Poshard].
(Mr. POSHARD asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. POSHARD. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of Senate bill 714, the
Homeless Veterans Act.
Mr. STUMP. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. In
closing, let me just say, as others have, that we will be observing
Veterans Day here in just of couple of days to honor all those who have
served this Nation. I urge my colleagues to support this bill because
it will provide meaningful and necessary improvements in many VA
programs which serve our Nation's veterans.
Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join my colleagues in
supporting S. 714, a bill to extend the Native American Veterans
Housing Loan Program. During my tenure as chairman of the Government
Operations Subcommittee on Human Resources and Intergovernmental
Relations, it was brought to my attention by several tribal
governments, including the Navajo Nation, that their members had not
been able to take advantage of this housing loan program. At that time,
Veterans Administration Secretary, Jesse Brown, supported the extension
of this program in order to make it available to a much larger number
of native American veterans. While administration support for this
program is certainly welcomed and it is vital to ensuring that the
program is fully implemented, today, we have an opportunity to
strengthen the housing loan program for native Ameican veterans by
giving it a legislative authorization until the year 2003.
In addition, Mr. Speaker, I join with my subcommittee chairman, the
gentleman from Connecticut, Chris Shays, in praising the addition, in
this bill, or authority for the Department to provide noninstitutional
alternatives to nursing home care. Under the auspices of the House
Government Reform and Oversight Subcommittee on Human Resources,
Chairman Shays and I have been involved in numerous hearings related to
the illnesses suffered by our Gulf War veterans. One of the critical
elements in improving the quality of life for veterans suffering from
these illnesses has been their ability to receive health care services
outside of the traditional V.A. hospital and nursing home setting.
Hopefully, this authority will enable the Department to provide not
only alternative forms of treatment for our Nation's veterans but to
also open up new avenues for research that were heretofore unavailable.
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JOHN WARNER, Chairman.
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[[Page H10486]]
Mr. Speaker, S. 714 provides new authority to the V.A. I believe
these programs will enhance V.A. housing programs for native American
veterans and improve the quality of home care treatment for our
veterans. I would urge my colleagues to join us in supporting this
measure.
Mrs. MINK of Hawaii. Mr. Speaker, I rise to express my support for S.
714, extending and improving the Native American Veteran Housing Loan
Pilot Program, Homeless Veterans Programs, and other authorities of the
Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
The Native American Veteran Housing Loan Pilot Program authorizes the
Secretary of Veterans Affairs to make direct housing loans to qualified
Native American Veterans. S. 714 will extend the authority of this
program for an additional six years, until December 2003.
The bill contains a provision that would be of particular interest to
a portion of my constituency in Hawaii, Native Hawaiian Veterans. The
bill extends authority of outreach activities under the Native American
Veteran Housing Loan Pilot Program to conferences and conventions
conducted by the Department of Hawaiian Homelands. This provision
authorizes needed assistance in educating Native Hawaiian Veterans of
the availability of these special direct housing loans.
S. 714 also extends the authorization of a number of valuable
veterans health care activities and activities that serve the homeless
veterans including: Noninstitutional Alternatives to Nursing Home Care
Pilot Program; Health Professional Scholarship Program; Drug and
alcohol abuse and dependence programs; Housing assistance for Homeless
Veterans; Community-Based Residential Care for Homeless Chronically
Mentally III Veterans; A Demonstration Program of Compensated Work
Therapy; Services and Assistance to Homeless Veterans; and Homeless
Veterans' Reintegration Projects.
These programs will help provide for the many needs of our veteran
population.
Passage of legislation extending such important veterans programs
would be a proper way to begin a week of honoring our Veterans and I
urge the immediate passage of S. 714.
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 Senate bill, S. 714, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor
thereof) the rules were suspended and the Senate bill, as amended, was
passed.
The title of the Senate bill was amended so as to read: ``An Act to
amend title 38, United States Code, to revise, extend, and improve
programs for veterans.''.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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