[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 42 (Tuesday, March 27, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H1137-H1143]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 VETERANS HOSPITAL EMERGENCY REPAIR ACT

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and 
pass the bill (H.R. 811) to authorize the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 
to carry out construction projects for the purpose of improving, 
renovating, and updating patient care facilities at Department of 
Veterans Affairs medical centers, as amended.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                                H.R. 811

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Veterans Hospital Emergency 
     Repair Act''.

     SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF MAJOR MEDICAL FACILITY PROJECTS FOR 
                   PATIENT CARE IMPROVEMENTS.

       (a) In General.--(1) The Secretary of Veterans Affairs is 
     authorized to carry out major medical facility projects in 
     accordance with this section, using funds appropriated for 
     fiscal year 2002 or fiscal year 2003 pursuant to section 3. 
     The cost of any such project may not exceed $25,000,000, 
     except that up to two projects per year may be carried out at 
     a cost not to exceed $30,000,000 for the purpose stated in 
     subsection (c)(1).
       (2) Projects carried out under this section are not subject 
     to section 8104(a)(2) of title 38, United States Code.
       (b) Type of Projects.--A project carried out under 
     subsection (a) may be carried out only at a Department of 
     Veterans Affairs medical center and only for the purpose of--
       (1) improving a patient care facility;
       (2) replacing a patient care facility;
       (3) renovating a patient care facility;
       (4) updating a patient care facility to contemporary 
     standards; or
       (5) improving, replacing, or renovating a research facility 
     or updating such a facility to contemporary standards.
       (c) Purpose of Projects.--In selecting medical centers for 
     projects under subsection (a), the Secretary shall select 
     projects to improve, replace, renovate, or update facilities 
     to achieve one or more of the following:
       (1) Seismic protection improvements related to patient 
     safety (or, in the case of a research facility, patient or 
     employee safety).
       (2) Fire safety improvements.
       (3) Improvements to utility systems and ancillary patient 
     care facilities (including such systems and facilities that 
     may be exclusively associated with research facilities).
       (4) Improved accommodation for persons with disabilities, 
     including barrier-free access.
       (5) Improvements at patient care facilities to specialized 
     programs of the Department, including the following:
       (A) Blind rehabilitation centers.
       (B) Inpatient and residential programs for seriously 
     mentally ill veterans, including mental illness research, 
     education, and clinical centers.
       (C) Residential and rehabilitation programs for veterans 
     with substance-use disorders.
       (D) Physical medicine and rehabilitation activities.
       (E) Long-term care, including geriatric research, 
     education, and clinical centers, adult day care centers, and 
     nursing home care facilities.
       (F) Amputation care, including facilities for prosthetics, 
     orthotics programs, and sensory aids.
       (G) Spinal cord injury centers.
       (H) Traumatic brain injury programs.

[[Page H1138]]

       (I) Women veterans' health programs (including particularly 
     programs involving privacy and accommodation for female 
     patients).
       (J) Facilities for hospice and palliative care programs.
       (d) Review Process.--(1) Before a project is submitted to 
     the Secretary with a recommendation that it be approved as a 
     project to be carried out under the authority of this 
     section, the project shall be reviewed by a board within the 
     Department of Veterans Affairs that is independent of the 
     Veterans Health Administration and that is constituted by 
     the Secretary to evaluate capital investment projects. The 
     board shall review each such project to determine the 
     project's relevance to the medical care mission of the 
     Department and whether the project improves, renovates, 
     repairs, or updates facilities of the Department in 
     accordance with this section.
       (2) In selecting projects to be carried out under the 
     authority provided by this section, the Secretary shall 
     consider the recommendations of the board under paragraph 
     (1). In any case in which the Secretary selects a project to 
     be carried out under this section that was not recommended 
     for such approval by the board under paragraph (1), the 
     Secretary shall include in the report of the Secretary under 
     section 4(b) notice of such selection and the Secretary's 
     reasons for not following the recommendation of the board 
     with respect to that project.

     SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

       (a) In General.--There are authorized to be appropriated to 
     the Secretary of Veterans Affairs for the Construction, Major 
     Projects, account for projects under section 2--
       (1) $250,000,000 for fiscal year 2002; and
       (2) $300,000,000 for fiscal year 2003.
       (b) Limitation.--Projects may be carried out under section 
     2 only using funds appropriated pursuant to the authorization 
     of appropriations in subsection (a), except that funds 
     appropriated for advance planning may be used for the 
     purposes for which appropriated in connection with such 
     projects.

     SEC. 4. REPORTS.

       (a) GAO Report.--Not later than April 1, 2003, the 
     Comptroller General shall submit to the Committees on 
     Veterans' Affairs and on Appropriations of the Senate and 
     House of Representatives a report evaluating the advantages 
     and disadvantages of congressional authorization for projects 
     of the type described in section 2(b) through general 
     authorization as provided by section 2(a), rather than 
     through specific authorization as would otherwise be 
     applicable under section 8104(a)(2) of title 38, United 
     States Code. Such report shall include a description of the 
     actions of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs during fiscal 
     year 2002 to select and carry out projects under section 2.
       (b) Secretary Report.--Not later than 120 days after the 
     date on which the site for the final project under section 2 
     is selected, the Secretary shall submit to the committees 
     referred to in subsection (a) a report on the authorization 
     process under section 2. The Secretary shall include in the 
     report the following:
       (1) A listing by project of each such project selected by 
     the Secretary under that section, together with a prospectus 
     description of the purposes of the project, the estimated 
     cost of the project, and a statement attesting to the review 
     of the project under section 2(c), and, if that project was 
     not recommended by the board, the Secretary's justification 
     under section 2(d) for not following the recommendation of 
     the board.
       (2) An assessment of the utility to the Department of 
     Veterans Affairs of that authorization process.
       (3) Such recommendations as the Secretary considers 
     appropriate for future congressional policy for 
     authorizations of major and minor medical facility 
     construction projects for the Department of Veterans Affairs.
       (4) Any other matter that the Secretary considers to be 
     appropriate with respect to oversight by Congress of capital 
     facilities projects of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New 
Jersey (Mr. Smith) and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Evans) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith).
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, as chairman of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, I 
rise in strong support of this legislation, H.R. 811, as amended, the 
Veterans Hospital Emergency Repair Act.
  This bill would authorize the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to carry 
out urgently needed medical facility construction projects over the 
next 2 fiscal years, and would authorize appropriations of $250 million 
in fiscal year 2002 and $300 million in fiscal year 2003 for those 
projects.
  I will briefly discuss the bill, and then would ask our distinguished 
chairman of the Subcommittee on Health, the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. 
Moran), to provide a more detailed expansion explanation. He has done a 
great deal of work on this bill.
  On March 1, 2001, Mr. Speaker, I introduced the Veterans Hospital 
Emergency Repair Act with our ranking member, the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Evans), and a number of our colleagues, including the 
gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Moran).
  We are concerned, Mr. Speaker, that the flow of appropriated funds 
for VA construction programs, at one time in the hundreds of millions 
of dollars every year, in recent years slowed to barely a trickle, and 
then bottomed out last year.
  No funding was provided through the appropriations process for VA 
major construction in fiscal year 2001. However, as construction 
funding for veterans' hospitals and other medical facilities dried up, 
they continued to age. Hundreds of VA medical buildings are over 50 
years old and have become run-down, substandard and, in some cases, 
unsafe.
  Part of the reason funding has not been appropriated for construction 
projects has been the VA's Capital Assets Realignment for Enhanced 
Services, or CARES, initiative. CARES is expected to provide 
comprehensive planning for VA facilities across the country.
  While the VA committee supports CARES, it is a phased process that 
could take 3 to 5 years to produce just the plans for some VA medical 
centers. Then it would take more time for projects to go forward 
through the authorization and the construction process.
  Among these identified construction needs are some 67 VA buildings 
currently used by patients and staff that could be damaged or collapse 
in the event of an earthquake, including three that suffered damage 
several weeks ago at the American Lake Medical Center in the State of 
Washington.
  Mr. Speaker, I think my colleagues know the urgency we are talking 
about. Hopefully it is self-evident to all of us. Our Nation's veterans 
simply cannot wait any longer, the CARES process notwithstanding. They 
need our health care today, as well as tomorrow. As a country we have 
obligations to these men and women who have served in the military 
uniform and have done so with honor, and deferring these obligations is 
the same thing as not keeping those obligations.
  Mr. Speaker, as chairman of the committee, I am going to do my best 
to see that our veterans have high-quality health care in modern, well-
maintained, and safe buildings. All of our committee members are 
together on this.
  H.R. 811, as amended, is an important step that would provide a 
temporary authority to the Secretary to set aside for 2 years existing 
authorization requirements. It would allow the Secretary some 
discretion to approve repair projects based on recommendations of the 
VA Capital Investments Board.
  This legislation, frankly, would depart from current authorization 
practice by effectively eliminating congressional influence in deciding 
how this money should be spent. We call it an emergency because it is.
  I know the media likes to sometimes focus on pork in bills we 
consider. We hope that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs will make the 
most meritorious choices, those facilities that need repairs the most. 
Again, that is why we call it an emergency repair act.
  The major veterans' organizations, Mr. Speaker, testified in support 
of this bill at the Committee on Veterans' Affairs' legislative hearing 
on March 13 of this year. The administration supports the bill, so long 
as it aligns with the President's overall budget.
  I am very pleased, Mr. Speaker, and encouraged that the proposed 
budget resolution that we begin debating later on today fully 
accommodates the amount of money that we anticipate will be required to 
do this work.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank again, as I did on the previous 
bill, my good friend and colleague, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. 
Evans) and his staff, and our staff, as well, for working in a 
bipartisan way in ensuring that this legislation meets the needs of our 
crumbling infrastructure.
  Finally, just let me say, there have been studies done as to what we 
actually have in the inventory of the VA; the Pricewaterhouse study, 
for example, done a couple of years ago. They estimated that we have 
about $35 billion worth of assets, and in order to keep those assets up 
and running and in fine shape, it would require about $700 million to 
$1.4 billion a year. We have been nowhere near that amount. Hence, we 
have a crumbling infrastructure crying out for repair, crying out

[[Page H1139]]

for the money, the down payment for which is contained in this 
legislation.
  This is a modest bill, even though it is over half a billion dollars, 
a modest bill vis-a-vis the need, the unmet need, for repairing the 
physical infrastructure of the VA. If we want to care for veterans, if 
we want world-class health care for our veterans, we need the physical 
plant to accommodate that. This legislation takes us forward in that 
process.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support for this piece of legislation. 
As an original cosponsor of it, I thank and commend the gentleman from 
New Jersey (Mr. Smith) for his leadership on this issue.
  I think this is about the 30th time today that the gentleman has been 
saluted, Mr. Chairman, and he deserves each and every one. We know what 
work he has put into this and his staff has put into this as we 
introduce the legislation. So we are really pleased that the gentleman 
has moved it quickly to the floor and has taken his leadership role.
  The Veterans Hospital Emergency Repair Act provides an opportunity 
for needed construction of VA facilities to be completed in a more 
timely manner. I also want to thank the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. 
Moran), the gentleman from California (Mr. Filner), and the gentleman 
from Arkansas (Mr. Snyder) for their important contributions to this 
legislation. This is a better bill because of their efforts.
  The legislation addresses a serious problem. While the VA reviews 
facility needs for the future, there has been a virtual moratorium on 
major construction projects. The VA has 5,000 buildings that on average 
are 50 years old. Many of these facilities need substantial 
improvements to continue serving the needs of our veterans. 
Unfortunately, the de facto moratorium has placed veterans and VA 
employees at risk to just work in the hospital or to be a patient 
there.
  H.R. 811 allows the VA to expedite selection, funding, and completion 
of smaller construction projects within certain guidelines developed by 
the committee. Prioritized projects will improve safety and support 
VA's capacity for the programs most important to its mission.
  Mr. Speaker, clearly the House should support H.R. 811. I urge my 
colleagues to approve this measure.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 811 and thank the 
gentleman from New Jersey, the Chairman of our Committee, for his 
leadership on this important legislation. As an original cosponsor of 
the Veterans' Hospitals Emergency Repair Act, I believe this 
legislation provides for undertaking many existing VA construction 
needs in a more timely manner.
  Because of the willingness of the Chairman to fully consider and 
accept a number of suggestions offered during Committee consideration 
of this legislation, this bill has been improved and perfected. Our 
Ranking Member on the Subcommittee on Health, Bob Filner, recognized 
this measure as originally proposed might not enable VA to address the 
system's many needs for seismic corrections. As a result, the bill now 
before the House is intended to allow several of the more expensive 
seismic projects to be undertaken promptly. The Ranking Member of our 
Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Vic Snyder also 
identified the need to address research facility construction needs as 
research is integral to the VA's patient care mission. As reported, 
this measure now includes research facilities as candidates for 
emergency repair and construction activities.
  This legislation addresses a serious problem confronting VA. While VA 
is undertaking a process to review its infrastructure needs for the 
future, known as CARES (Capital Asset Realignment for Enhanced 
Services), there has been a virtual moratorium on its major 
construction projects. In a system with 5,000 buildings that have an 
average age of 50, it is clear that too little investment in 
infrastructure has taken place in recent years. The effect of this de 
facto moratorium likely has placed veterans and VA employees at risk as 
buildings age and deteriorate without necessary renovation and 
fortification.
  From my perspective, the current construction funding process has 
clearly had a dampening effect on both the quality and quantity of 
projects that have been routed through and recommended by the agency. 
As major construction funds have virtually evaporated, VA employees 
have recognized proposals they develop are unlikely to be funded--not 
because they lack merit--but because of the lack of availability of 
funds. I believe that the availability of designated funding will 
encourage more proposals from facilities, thereby enhancing the quality 
of projects from which VA may select.
  The legislation we are considering today will allow VA to expedite 
selection, funding, and completion of ``smaller'' construction projects 
it believes are in the best interest of the system within certain 
guidelines developed by the Committee. The Committee has prioritized 
projects that will improve facilities' safety and barrier-free access 
and develop its capacity for the programs most integral to its 
mission--blind rehabilitation, programs for the seriously mentally ill, 
substance use disorder treatment, other rehabilitation, long-term care, 
amputation care, spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, and 
women's health. These categories are largely consistent with the 
priority VA's Capital Investment Board now assigns to various 
construction projects it reviews. Within these priorities, it will be 
possible for VA to choose a range of projects that need not be held up 
by completion of the CARES process.
  I believe it is appropriate to delegate the selection of these 
projects to VA as an interim approach until the system has results from 
its CARES process for a number of reasons. CARES will produce 
guidelines for restructuring system assets within market-basket areas--
ultimately across the country. It is clear that some of the guidance it 
will produce will have significant implications for local markets, but 
some areas (those with only one VA medical center and high levels of 
acute workload) will be largely unaffected. VA also is aware of the 
areas (those in less populated areas whose mission has largely shifted 
to outpatient care and areas with more than one medical center) that 
may have some significant changes brought on by the CARES process. 
CARES may be a long-term project and projects must not be postponed 
indefinitely because of it.
  While it is appropriate for the agency to make investments in 
locations that are likely to be less affected by the potential outcome 
of CARES, it is not appropriate to delay construction indefinitely 
awaiting the outcome of a process that may take a decade to complete. I 
am concerned that some networks, such as VISN 12, may be delaying any 
projects pending the outcome of the process there. I am hopeful there 
will be a reasonable proposal available for the Chicago area soon, 
however, options for this area have been considered for almost a 
decade. Viable construction projects, such as replacement of the badly 
deteriorated blind center at Hines, must be advanced to uphold safety 
standards and assure quality.
  I understand that, within the guidelines of this legislation, the 
Department will have more authority. It is my hope that Headquarters 
use a centrally guided and administered process, such as the Capital 
Investment Board, to select those projects it believes best advance the 
mission of the agency overall. It should not be a process which 
allocates funds to networks for use at the directors' discretion. We 
have seen, on too many occasions that allocation of funds requested by 
the agency for special initiatives, such as waiting times or Hepatitis 
C, may not be used for these purposes.

  Any construction planning exercise inevitably leads to the question 
of mission. What should VA be doing now and in the future? To be sure, 
the veterans' health care system has undergone many changes in the last 
few years--some reflect better practices from the private sector; some 
have redefined long-standing VA programs, such as mental health and 
long-term care, throughout the system, and perhaps not for the better.
  To the extent that construction planning and the CARES process do not 
adequately ``maintain the capacity'' of VA's long-term care programs 
and services for veterans with special disabilities, I believe VA's 
planning outcomes will continue to face opposition from Congress and 
the veterans who have come to rely upon VA for its health care 
services. We cannot turn back the clock on these services, but we must 
ensure that adequate resources are available to meet veterans' needs--
if not on an inpatient basis than in the community or home.
  I have heard from one network director who believes it is not his 
responsibility to ``maintain capacity''. Unfortunately, it is evident 
from the October 2000 Capacity Report that he is not alone in believing 
that the maintenance of capacity does not apply to him. The report 
shows that VISNs 3 and 21 have not maintained capacity in the number of 
patients they treat for spinal cord injury. VISNs 3 and 22 have 
significantly reduced their blind rehabilitation workloads. Only a few 
networks have bolstered traumatic brain injury workloads or dollars.
  I am most concerned about VA's substance abuse treatment capacity for 
mentally ill patients. It's not just about dollars which are overall 64 
percent of the funds spent for these services in FY 1996. Very few 
networks treated as many individuals with serious mental illnesses for 
substance use disorders in fiscal

[[Page H1140]]

year 1999 as in fiscal year 1996. This disturbing trend must be 
reversed now.
  I am also concerned about long-term care capacity. There is no 
question that VA has closed a number of its nursing home beds in recent 
years and diverted the mission of many others to subacute or 
rehabilitative care. VA is in the process of identifying measures that 
indicate its maintenance of capacity. VA long-term care programs have 
been considered one of its finest activities. If VA is to be responsive 
to veterans needs and not just duplicate services that may already be 
available to them in the private sector, it must continue to make these 
services a priority in its infrastructure and resource utilization 
plans.
  Mr. Speaker, there is clearly a need for approving H.R. 811 to begin 
to facilitate addressing some of many existing infrastructure needs 
within VA. I am pleased to recommend to this body the approval of the 
Veterans' Hospitals Emergency Repair Act.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may 
consume to the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Moran), the distinguished 
chairman of our Subcommittee on Health.
  Mr. MORAN of Kansas. Mr. Speaker, I would like to express my 
gratitude to the chairman of the committee, the gentleman from New 
Jersey (Mr. Smith); our ranking member, the gentleman from Illinois 
(Mr. Evans); and the gentleman from California (Mr. Filner), our 
ranking member of the Subcommittee on Health Care, for their leadership 
on this legislation.
  The Veterans Hospital Emergency Repair Act is very much a bipartisan 
measure. Health care for our American veterans is a high priority for 
this Congress, and that is demonstrated by this legislation being on 
the floor so early in this Congress.
  Presenting this bill and the earlier benefit measure, H.R. 801, prior 
to our spring district work period shows we are dedicated to attempting 
to do what is right for America's veterans and doing it early in this 
Congress.
  H.R. 811 provides us a map out of the forest, authorizing the VA to 
improve and upgrade veterans' hospitals with smaller projects while the 
VA and Congress decide the larger question about what to do for 
veterans' facilities in the longer term. We should not halt facility 
maintenance and improvements while the VA takes several years to come 
to decisions on redeployment of old VA facilities.
  A variety of factors have combined to result in a de facto moratorium 
on VA medical facility construction. Last year only one project was 
proposed, and no projects were funded. As the gentleman from New Jersey 
(Chairman Smith) indicated, the Committee on the Budget has supported 
the committee's underlying basis of this bill. Two of the members of 
our Committee on Veterans' Affairs sit on the Committee on the Budget, 
the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Crenshaw) and the gentleman from South 
Carolina (Mr. Brown). The Committee on Veterans' Affairs appreciates 
their support for this measure within the deliberations of the 
Committee on the Budget.
  The key components of H.R. 11 are, it authorizes the Secretary of 
Veterans Affairs to carry out major medical facility maintenance and 
rehabilitation projects during the next 2 years, and authorizes 
appropriations of $250 million in the fiscal year 2002 and $300 million 
in fiscal year 2003 for those purposes.
  This bill also authorizes the Secretary to select patient care 
projects and, in certain circumstances, VA research facilities for such 
construction under this authority, not to exceed $25 million for any 
single project, with the exception that the Secretary could authorize 
up to $30 million for two seismic correction projects.
  This legislation limits the types of projects that could be funded 
under the authority to those that would improve, replace, renovate, or 
update facilities, including research facilities, for patients' safety, 
seismic protection, improvements, and accommodations for those with 
disabilities.
  The Secretary would be authorized to improve the various high-
priority specialty disability programs within the Department, such as 
spinal cord, blind rehabilitation, traumatic brain injury, programs for 
seriously mentally ill. These veterans also deserve decent and upgraded 
facilities.
  This legislation requires the Secretary to consider recommendations 
to the VA Independent Board that reviews capital investment proposals 
in selecting projects under the Secretary's authority.

                              {time}  1500

  And this legislation permits the Secretary to use Advanced Planning 
Funds to design programs selected by him under the purposes of this 
bill.
  Mr. Speaker, this bill provides for accountability. It requires the 
Secretary and the Comptroller General to report to Congress the 
projects selected under this authority, their purposes and their costs 
and the results of the authorization process and recommendations for 
amending or extending that authority so that Congress will have full 
opportunity to watch what the VA does with this new authority.
  Again, let me thank the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), 
chairman of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, for his leadership and 
compliment his assertiveness in the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
  Mr. Speaker, the new Committee on Veterans' Affairs is making a good 
start in the 107th Congress under the gentleman's leadership.
  Mr. Speaker, I also look forward to working closely with the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) and the gentleman from Illinois 
(Mr. Evans), ranking member of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, and 
also to the gentleman from California (Mr. Filner), the ranking member 
on the Subcommittee on Health in advancing VA health care in the 107th 
Congress.
  Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Filner).
  Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. 
Evans) for yielding the time to me.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today also in support of the Veterans Hospital 
Emergency Repair Act. I, too, want to thank the gentleman from New 
Jersey (Mr. Smith), Chairman of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, and 
the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Evans), the ranking member, and the 
gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Moran), chairman of the Subcommittee on 
Health, for their leadership in developing what I think is a very 
important bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I particularly want to thank the gentleman from New 
Jersey (Mr. Smith) for supporting a provision that I strongly advocated 
to allow more seismic correction projects to be completed.
  VA's Capital Investment Board has given the San Diego VA Medical 
Center one of its highest priorities for funding in the fiscal year 
2000, but this project and many other seismic projects have exceeded 
the threshold the original bill would have authorized.
  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that the amendment on the floor today 
allows the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to identify four seismic 
projects that exceed the $25 million threshold by as much as $5 million 
and use this authority to address them in fiscal years 2002 and 2003.
  The damage sustained, Mr. Speaker at the VA Puget Sound Health Care 
system in Seattle, Washington recently reminds many of us of the risk 
and disruption that VA staff and veterans using VA services may 
experience as a result of an earthquake. Sadly, we were also reminded 
of the tragedy experienced back in 1971, when 46 VA patients lost their 
lives during the San Fernando earthquake.
  The VA has identified more than 60 projects that require seismic 
fortification. We cannot continue to turn our heads while VA patients 
and employees are in harm's way. The damage sustained at Puget Sound 
might typify the type of damage we would see up and down the West Coast 
in the event of seismic activities, at Palo Alto, at Long Beach, at San 
Francisco, at West Los Angeles and, of course, at San Diego. San 
Diego's VA Medical Center requires new exterior bracing and 
enhancements to the existing seismic structures. The costs of not 
completing these projects, Mr. Speaker, may be measured in lives, 
rather than in dollars.
  Again, I would like to thank the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. 
Smith) and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Evans) and the gentleman 
from Kansas (Mr. Moran) for working on this much-needed legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to vote for H.R. 811.

[[Page H1141]]

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may 
consume to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis).
  Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, and I, again, want to thank the gentleman 
from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) for yielding the time to me.
  Mr. Speaker, I also want to, along with the others, recognize the 
leadership of the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) for advancing 
this bill to final passage so early in our new Congress, along with, of 
course, the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Moran), chairman of the 
Subcommittee on Health, who has been ill and had to go out of his way 
to get here in time to speak here today.
  Mr. Speaker, the Committee on Veterans' Affairs looks to the Capital 
Asset Realignment for Enhanced Services, which we fondly refer to as 
CARES as a map for restructuring VA capital facilities and to enhance 
services to veterans. That is good, Mr. Speaker.
  In fact, my colleagues may recall that VA's CARES program was 
developed as an adaptation of early language in one of our bills, H.R. 
2116, in the last Congress.
  CARES should eventually reach all the major facilities, but some VA 
medical centers are not going to have the benefit of the results of 
these studies any time soon. VA has a list of patient care and research 
buildings that need upkeep, replacement, restoration and modernization. 
Some of these projects are shown in our bill report filed yesterday, 
which we know that VA is doing some of its heavy maintenance work by 
using minor construction and maintenance accounts, but funds Congress 
appropriates for small-scale maintenance and routine upkeep should not 
be bundled and used to support major construction requirements.
  VA spending is still a ``zero sum gain'' and in the long run managing 
this way poorly serves veterans and VA. Even with such creative 
juggling of accounts, VA is falling behind. Many of VA's 4,700 patient-
care buildings with a ``present replacement value'' of $35 billion, 
according to one report, are outdated. Frankly, some are beginning to 
look a bit threadbare, inefficient and very crowded. But it is more 
than the mere cosmetics, Mr. Speaker. As the gentleman from New Jersey 
(Mr. Smith) pointed out, dozens of VA buildings currently in use could 
be damaged or even collapse in the event of an earthquake.
  The Veterans Hospital Emergency Repair Act, the bill we are 
discussing here today, is an acknowledgment that much of the VA health 
care system is showing its age. The flow of appropriated funds for VA's 
construction programs, at one time in the hundreds of millions of 
dollars every year, has slowed to barely a trickle.
  H.R. 811 would provide a temporary authority to the Secretary by 
setting aside for 2 years the existing Congressional authorization 
requirements. It would allow the Secretary to approve repair projects 
based on recommendations of VA's independent Capital Investments Board.
  The bill provides strong guidance to the Secretary to give priority 
to projects that improve, restore, replace, and repair patient care 
facilities, facilities housing VA's special programs, facilities needed 
by VA's women patients and facilities that are at risk of seismic 
failure or other dangers, including VA's research facility.
  Mr. Speaker, the Committee on Veterans' Affairs has concluded that VA 
has urgent construction needs that are not being met. Reported 
conditions at various VA medical centers tell the story best, crowded 
and inadequate treatment areas, unsafe conditions that impact quality 
of care, lack of maintenance and improvements and patient care 
buildings that clearly need seismic corrections for patients' and staff 
safety.
  The bipartisan bill that we consider today authorizes VA to identify 
and remedy some of the most serious problems so that quality and safety 
may be maintained, or if need be, restored.
  Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas 
(Mr. Rodriguez).
  Mr. RODRIGUEZ. Mr. Speaker, I just rose on the previous measure to 
stress the importance of improving educational, burial, and outreach 
programs for the departing service members, veterans, and their 
dependents.
  There exists another matter which deserves our immediate attention, 
the state of our patient care facilities in the VA health care system.
  The Veterans Hospital Emergency Repair Act authorizes $550 million 
over the next 2 years for major VA medical facility construction 
projects.
  The Secretary of the Veterans Affairs will be given discretionary 
authority to improve, repair and renovate dilapidated patient care 
facilities, including some research centers.
  To ensure that the process selecting these construction projects does 
not get caught up in politics, I am pleased also to see the 
accountability provisions that have been placed into effect.
  The Secretary will be required to submit reports to Congress 
detailing which projects were funded and the criteria used to select 
these projects for funding purposes.
  There is no doubt that H.R. 811 is only a short-term solution to 
improving the VA infrastructure, which in this case is 50 years old. As 
the veterans' population gets older, their long-term health care needs 
become even more acute.
  It is imperative that the VA hospitals and the clinics be maintained 
to provide the quality of care our veterans need and deserve. Congress, 
therefore, must make a long-term financial commitment to address the VA 
construction and renovation needs.
  This is a first step. And I know we all recognize the importance of 
this step, but we also recognize how much farther we need to go.
  Mr. Speaker, and I want to take this opportunity in closing to 
congratulate the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), chairman of the 
Committee on Veterans' Affairs, on his efforts; and I know, in quoting 
the gentleman, that the infrastructure is crumbling, and there is need 
for more resources.
  I look forward to continuing to working with the chairman and also 
the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Evans), the ranking member on the 
Committee on Veterans' Affairs, as well as the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Filner) and the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Moran) on 
their efforts.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the 
gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman), a good friend.
  (Mr. GILMAN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. 
Smith) for yielding me the time.
  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today in strong support of H.R. 
811, the Veterans Hospital Emergency Repair Act, and I urge my 
colleagues to join in full support of this important legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to commend the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. 
Smith) our distinguished Chairman of the Committee on Veterans' 
Affairs, and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Evans), the ranking 
minority member on the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, for bringing 
this measure to the floor at this time.
  This bill authorizes $250 million in fiscal year 2002, $300 million 
in fiscal year 2003 to the Department of Veterans Affairs for major 
long overdue medical facility construction projects.
  Furthermore, it authorizes our VA Secretary to select patient-care 
projects for construction, which are not to exceed $25 million for any 
one project. The VA's Secretary is also authorized to improve the 
various high-priority special disabilities programs, which is so 
urgently needed.
  Over the last few years, the VA has found it increasingly difficult 
to obtain funding to update, to modernize, and repair its medical 
facilities as they treat a record number of veterans who are using the 
veterans medical facilities throughout the Nation. In order to address 
this problem, the VA initiated the Capital Assets Realignment for 
Enhanced Services, CARES, study to see how best VA services could be 
enhanced. However, this study is not going to be completed for several 
years and will not be able to enhance the VA budget for fiscal year 
2002.
  Recent annual budgets for VA health care have had little or no 
funding for major medical construction projects. Only one such project 
was requested in fiscal year 2001, and no funds were appropriated by 
the Congress for this period, despite the fact that $115.9 million was 
authorized for construction efforts.

[[Page H1142]]

  Mr. Speaker, it is critical that we act swiftly to address the 
immediate funding shortage within the VA for capital construction 
projects. Accordingly, for that reason, I strongly support this bill 
and I urge its immediate passage.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. 
Smith) for bringing it to the floor at this time.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Cunningham).
  Mr. CUNNINGHAM. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 811, 
and I am happy to see it is in a bipartisan fashion. It is so much more 
to come to the well when we are not throwing slings and arrows at each 
other.
  Secretary Principi is from San Diego, and he knows full well the 
problems we have with seismic problems in the State of California. This 
will go a long way, but I would like to thank the gentleman from New 
Jersey (Mr. Smith), chairman of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs and 
the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Evans), the ranking member for working 
on this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I would also have a plea to my colleagues that 
subvention for our veterans TRICARE are merely still Band-Aids, 
especially if you live in a rural area. I feel that if we work on an 
FEHBP bill that gives access to all veterans, it will be much better 
off.
  Since I am not on the committee, I would also like to speak to the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) that we once had a male-dominated 
military force, and since then, it is men and women, especially women 
at a much higher rate, which means our facilities need to be upgraded 
with the increased number of women serving in our Armed Forces that are 
retiring; that health care is important and there is especially needs 
to that.
  I would like to mention one other area that I hope the committee 
addresses. Over 50 years ago, and I think this is also in a bipartisan 
fashion, General MacArthur promised our fellow Filipino Americans they 
would have health care. That promise has not been held.
  My colleagues on both sides of the aisle are working currently with 
Filipino health care from a time of Corregidor and Baguio when they 
gave their lives for the Filipino Islands and for the United States and 
their service to the United States, I think it is fair time that we 
bring that forward.
  There is other things that help them, Impact Aid, COLAs for the 
veterans in active duty and a partnership that we have in San Diego 
where the Children's Hospital with UCSD working with our current VA 
medical facility, those kinds of things are helping, but I still feel, 
Mr. Speaker, we still have a long way to go in supplying and providing 
our veterans with adequate health care.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  First of all, let me just again thank the gentleman from Illinois 
(Mr. Evans) and all the Members who have helped fashion this 
legislation.
  I especially want to thank our staff: Pat Ryan, our general counsel 
and staff director; Kingston Smith; Jeannie McNally; Darryl Kehrer; 
Paige McManus; John Bradley; Sarah Shigley; Michael Durishin; Debbie 
Smith; Todd Houchins; Beth Kilker; Susan Edgerton; Mary Ellen McCarthy; 
Sandra McClellan; and Jerry Tan. I hope I did not miss anybody, but it 
really does make a difference to have staff and Members working so well 
together.
  These two pieces of legislation, in all candor, would not be possible 
without the good work of our very professional staff, and I want to 
thank them very deeply; all the veterans are better served because of 
the expertise, as well as the compassion of our staff. I want to thank 
them for their work.
  Mr. CRENSHAW. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of two important 
bills under consideration today, both of which are important to 
maintaining our commitment to our nation's veterans.
  The first, the Veterans' Opportunities Act makes great strides in 
improving the benefits we provide to veterans. Whether they are for 
disability or housing or education or burial, these benefits are but a 
small token of the gratitude that we owe them for their service to our 
nation. H.R. 801 runs the gamut of these programs, addressing 
inadequacies in pensions and transitional programs, education and work-
study programs, and burial and funeral allowances.
  By maintaining good benefits, Mr. Speaker, we also help our armed 
services to recruit and retain the very best. We must never forget that 
for all the expensive weaponry and high-tech gadgetry, the men and 
women who wear the uniforms are the backbone of our military.
  In that respect, perhaps the most important provision of this bill is 
one that makes retroactive an increase in the maximum annuity available 
to servicemembers' families through the Servicemembers' Group Life 
Insurance (SGLI). Though this increase was signed into law on November 
1, 2000, the effective date of this increase is not until April 1, 
2001. Regrettably, for many of our servicemembers and families--most 
notably, the 21 National Guard members killed in a plane crash earlier 
this month, the 17 sailors killed in the terrorist bombing of the 
U.S.S. Cole, and personnel lost in training accidents in Hawaii and 
Kuwait--this is too late.
  For all these reasons, I urge my colleague to support H.R. 801. But, 
I also rise in strong support, Mr. Speaker, of the second veterans' 
bill on the floor today, the Veterans' Hospital Emergency Repair Act.
  The Veterans' Health Administration operates the largest federal 
health care delivery system in the country with 172 medical centers, 
409 domiciliaries, 132 nursing homes, and 829 outpatient clinics. In 
1999, these providers treated 3.6 million veterans.
  Just as our veterans have been aging, so too has the infrastructure 
this grateful nation established to care for them. So many of the 
hospitals and facilities to which these veterans must go for care are 
simply unsafe or clearly distressed. We must not sacrifice the health 
and welfare of our veterans in such facilities.
  The Veterans' Hospital Emergency Repair Act would complement an 
ongoing review within the Veterans' Health Administration, the Capital 
Asset Realignment for Enhanced Services (CARES). To borrow a phrase 
from the President's address to Congress last month: Our veterans 
health vision should drive our veterans health budget.
  Congress made an informed decision in its last session to move the 
veterans' health system into the 21st century by enacting the Veterans' 
Millennium Health Care and Benefits Act. CARES, is a realistic way to 
determine how we move from the old system of medicine that revolved 
around hospital-based care to the new which relies upon outpatient and 
community-based care without sacrificing quality and without sinking 
dollars into infrastructure that we can reasonably expect to fall by 
the wayside. H.R. 811 can help to make that happen.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Veterans' Committee Chairman Chris Smith 
and Ranking Member, Lane Evans, for their leadership in moving both 
H.R. 801 and H.R. 811 to the floor so quickly. I urge my colleagues to 
support both these bills.
  Mr. REYES. Mr. Speaker, as an original cosponsor and strong supporter 
of H.R. 811, the Veterans Hospital Emergency Repair Act, I am pleased 
that this bill is being considered today. Like any large organization, 
the Department of Veterans Affairs has many facilities which, as they 
age, require periodic repairs to assure that patients are cared for in 
an appropriate, safe, accessible setting.
  Our Nation's veterans need to be assured that their care will not be 
jeopardized because funds are not available to make necessary and 
appropriate emergency repairs. This bill will provide that assurance.
  I thank Chairman Smith and our Ranking Democratic Member Mr. Evans, 
as well as the Chairman and Ranking Democratic Member of the 
Subcommittee on Health, Mr. Moran and Mr. Filner for this timely bill. 
I urge my colleagues to support it.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of 
H.R. 811, Veteran's Emergency Hospital. This legislation cures a 
shortfall in funding that should have been allocated to veterans last 
year.
  No funding was provided through the appropriation process for 
Veterans Affairs Department (VA) major construction in FY 2001, despite 
Congress having authorized $116 million for four major projects. This 
occurred partly because the appropriators chose to wait for the VA's 
``Capital Assets Realignment for Enhanced Services,'' or CARES 
initiatives, to deliver a plan for alternative uses of un-needed VA 
facilities. That plan, however, may take a number of years to complete. 
In the meantime, the VA is funding its building projects by using the 
minor-construction, minor-miscellaneous and non-recurring maintenance 
accounts.
  H.R. 811 basically authorizes as much as $250 million in fiscal year 
2002 and $300 million in fiscal year 2003 to fund various major medical 
facility construction projects. The measure actually authorizes the VA 
to select patient care projects for construction and cap

[[Page H1143]]

project costs at $25 million for any single project, except for seismic 
corrections. The bill specifies that the authorized funds should 
improve, replace, renovate or update facilities, including research 
facilities that need to be upgraded.
  The measure also requires the VA to consider recommendations of the 
department's independent board for capital investments in selecting 
projects; to permit it to use the Advance Planning Fund to design 
projects selected under this bill; and requires the VA and the General 
Accounting Office to report to Congress on projects selected under the 
new authority, their purposes and costs, the results of the 
authorization process, and recommendations for changing this authority 
as needed.
  I urge my colleagues to support the legislation.

                              {time}  1515

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for 
time, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Bass). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) that the House 
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 811, as amended.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds of 
those present have voted in the affirmative.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and 
nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

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