[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 84 (Tuesday, June 15, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1269-E1270]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  INTRODUCTION OF HOUSE RESOLUTION 208 CALLING FOR VETERANS CEMETERY 
                         PLANNING JUNE 15, 1999

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. CORRINE BROWN

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 15, 1999

  Ms. BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing, together 
with Mr. Evans, the Ranking Democrat on the Veterans' Affairs Committee 
as an original cosponsor, House Resolution----that would reaffirm the 
commitment of the United States to the men and women who have honorably 
served this Nation in the Armed Forces to provide reasonable access to 
burial in a national or State veterans cemetery. Our Resolution also 
would call on the National Cemetery Administration of the Department of 
Veterans Affairs, vested with the responsibility of providing a final 
resting place for America's heroes, to commence without delay the 
planning for the construction of new national cemeteries and other 
activities to provide America's veterans reasonable access to burial in 
a veterans cemetery.
  I am appalled at the Department of Veterans Affairs' less-than-
inspired goal for performing its mission ``to honor veterans with a 
final resting place and lasting memorials to commemorate their service 
to our Nation.''
  Currently, nearly one-third of United States veterans do not have the 
option of being buried in a national or State veterans cemetery located 
within a reasonable distance of their residence--being 75 miles, as 
determined by the VA's National Cemetery Administration. Shockingly, 
the National Cemetery Administration, as its fiscal year 2000 
performance plan program objective, will try to provide only 80 percent 
of United States veterans with a burial option within a reasonable 
distance of their residence.
  Mr. Speaker, a National Cemetery Administration goal, which does not 
provide 20 percent of United States veterans with a burial option 
within a reasonable distance of their residence, is not acceptable to 
me nor should it be to this House.
  By VA's own statistics, the demand for cemetery space will rise 
sharply in the near future, with burials increasing 42 percent from 
1995 to 2010, and annual veteran deaths reaching 620,000 in the year 
2008. However, for some inadequately explained reason, the VA's Fiscal 
Year 2000 proposed budget failed to request funding for even the 
planning of any new national cemeteries.
  Last week I joined with Chairman Stump and Ranking Member Evans of 
the Veterans' Affairs Committee as an original cosponsor of H.R. 2040, 
the ``Veterans' Cemeteries Assessment Act of 1999''. That bill would 
require VA to contract for an independent study on improvements to 
veterans' cemeteries. Among other things, the study would assess the 
number of additional national cemeteries required for the interment and 
memorialization of veterans who die after 2010.
  Mr. Speaker, my home State of Florida has the oldest veterans' 
population of any state. By VA's estimate, there will be nearly 25,000 
veteran deaths in the greater Miami area in FY 2000, and by the year 
2010, the annual death rate in South Florida will be nearly 26,000. 
Unfortunately, the nearest veterans cemetery is 250 miles away. It is 
for that reason, on April 29, I introduced H.R. 1628 to require the 
Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a national cemetery in the 
Miami, Florida, metropolitan area to serve the needs of veterans and 
their families.
  I would note for my colleagues that in both 1987 and 1994, the Miami 
area was designated by congressionally mandated reports as one of the 
top geographic areas in the United States in which need for burial 
space for veterans is greatest. Yet, as late as August 1998, VA's 
strategic planning through the year 2010 indicated nothing more than a 
willingness to continue evaluating the needs of nearly 800,000 veterans 
in the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale primary and secondary service area. Mr. 
Speaker, that is over 54 percent of the estimated State veteran 
population and 3.3 percent of the total U.S. veteran population.
  The burial space needs of veterans are approaching a crisis stage in 
Florida; but Florida is not alone. According to testimony received at a 
recent hearing of the Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and 
Investigations, of which I am the Ranking Democrat, ninety percent of 
eligible veterans are not--I repeat, are not--buried in a national or 
state veterans cemetery. Such hallowed grounds are simply located too 
far from their home and family.

[[Page E1270]]

  Mr. Speaker, standing on the threshold of a new century as we are, it 
is our obligation as Members of the 106th Congress to again affirm 
America's long and solemn commitment to her veterans--past, present, 
and future--that they and their families will be provided an 
appropriate resting place of honor, and that the Department of Veterans 
Affairs will fully carry out its responsibilities to that end.