[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 109 (Tuesday, July 31, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Page S8478]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. CLELAND:
  S. 1280. A bill 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; to the Committee on Veterans' 
Affairs.
  Mr. CLELAND. Mr. President. I am very proud to be a Vietnam veteran 
and to have served as director of the Department of Veterans Affairs, 
VA, from 1977 to 1980. The VA has continued to provide high quality 
health care to our Nation's veterans and is a health care system leader 
on patient safety tracking, long-term care, Post-Traumatic Stress 
disorder treatment and dozens of other innovative health care programs. 
The VA Health Care System has also enhanced its access to veterans with 
the development of approximately 600 community-based outpatient 
clinics, CBOC's, across the Nation.
  But as I visit the VA medical centers in Georgia and across the 
Nation, I am very alarmed to see patient care areas which look as if 
they have not been renovated or upgraded in decades. These VA medical 
centers serve as the hub for all major health care activities and can 
not be compromised without affecting veterans' care. The president's 
annual budget for the VA has not requested crucial funding for major 
medical facility construction. The VA is currently reevaluating their 
present VA facility infrastructure needs through a process known as 
CARES or the ``Capital Assets Realignment for Enhanced Services.'' 
Veteran health care and safety may pay the price as this process may 
take years to complete. With the increasing numbers of female veterans, 
many inpatient rooms and bathrooms continue to be inadequate to provide 
needed space and privacy. Many VA facilities, like the VA Spinal Cord 
Injury Center in Augusta, Georgia, which serves veterans from Alabama, 
Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Tennessee have long waits 
for care. At least 25 VA construction projects across the Nation would 
be appropriate for consideration. A Price Waterhouse report recommended 
that VA spend from 2 to 4 percent of its plant replacement value, PRV, 
on upkeep and replacement of current medical centers. Based on a PRV of 
$35 billion, for fiscal year 2001, VA would need approximately $170 
million to meet these basic safety and upkeep needs. The VA health care 
system is the largest health care provider in the nation, yet we are 
not maintaining these essential medical centers. I urge my colleagues 
to support the Veterans Hospitals Emergency Repair Act and to provide 
the crucial assistance needed now for our veterans. This proposal would 
give the VA Secretary limited authority to complete identified medical 
facility projects thus helping to preserve the VA health care system 
until the CARES process can be completed.
  I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 1280

       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.
       (2) Projects carried out under this section are not subject 
     to section 8104(a)(2) of title 38, United States Code.
       (b) Purpose of Projects.--A project carried out pursuant to 
     subsection (a) may be carried out only at a Department of 
     Veterans Affairs medical center and only for the purpose of 
     improving, renovating, and updating to contemporary standards 
     patient care facilities. In selecting medical centers for 
     projects under subsection (a), the Secretary shall select 
     projects to improve, renovate, or update facilities to 
     achieve one or more of the following:
       (1) Seismic protection improvements related to patient 
     safety.
       (2) Fire safety improvements.
       (3) Improvements to utility systems and ancillary patient 
     care facilities.
       (4) Improved accommodation for persons with disabilities, 
     including barrier-free access.
       (5) Improvements to facilities carrying out specialized 
     programs of the Department, including the following:
       (A) Blind rehabilitation centers.
       (B) Facilities carrying out inpatient and residential 
     programs for seriously mentally ill veterans, including 
     mental illness research, education, and clinical centers.
       (C) Facilities carrying out residential and rehabilitation 
     programs for veterans with substance-use disorders.
       (D) Facilities carrying out physical medicine and 
     rehabilitation activities.
       (E) Facilities providing long-term care, including 
     geriatric research, education, and clinical centers, adult 
     day care centers, and nursing home care facilities.
       (F) Facilities providing amputation care, including 
     facilities for prosthetics, orthotics programs, and sensory 
     aids.
       (G) Spinal cord injury centers.
       (H) Facilities carrying out traumatic brain injury 
     programs.
       (I) Facilities carrying out women veterans' health programs 
     (including particularly programs involving privacy and 
     accommodation for female patients).
       (J) Facilities for hospice and palliative care programs.
       (c) 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 an independent 
     board within the Department of Veterans Affairs 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, and 
     updates patient care facilities of the Department in 
     accordance with this section.
       (2) In selecting projects to be carried out under the 
     authority of 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 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 the 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).

     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 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 the 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.
       (4) Any other matter that the Secretary considers to be 
     appropriate with respect to oversight by Congress of capital 
     facilities projects of the Department.
                                 ______