[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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[[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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