[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 102 (Wednesday, July 24, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1322]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      VETERANS HEALTH CARE AND PROCUREMENT IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 2002

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                            HON. STEVE BUYER

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, July 22, 2002

  Mr. BUYER. Mr. Speaker, First, I want to thank our Full Committee 
Chairman Chris Smith and the Health Subcommittee Chairman Jerry Moran 
for all their hard work on the bills before us today.
  I rise in strong support of H.R. 3645, the ``Veterans Health Care and 
Procurement Improvement Act of 2002,'' introduced by Representative 
Lane Evans. H.R. 3645, as amended, would, among other things, provide 
for improved management of the purchasing of medical and surgical 
supply equipment through the Federal Supply Schedule as prescribed by 
the VA Procurement Task Force. The bill ensures that current and future 
VA-DOD sharing initiatives would not be impacted by passage of this 
measure. The legislation also increases health care benefits to certain 
World War If Filipino veterans; authorizes dental care and services for 
all former POWs; and provides the authority to allow DOD to purchase 
medical supplies through VA's revolving supply fund; provides for the 
renaming of the VA community outpatient clinic in New London, 
Connecticut by designating it as the John J. McGuirk outpatient clinic.
  There is one provision, in particular, that I would like to talk 
about. Section 7 of the bill provides for greater accountability for VA 
Research and Education Corporations. This provision is legislation I 
introduced, H.R. 5084, the ``Department of Veterans Affairs Research 
Corporations Accountability Act of 2002,'' which was incorporated into 
H.R. 3645. I introduced H.R. 5084 because we need to insure that the 
strictest set of accounting measures are in place to make sure we know 
how funding to these corporations is being administered. It's important 
to point out that these corporations were established by Congress in 
1988 to provide a flexible funding mechanism for approved research 
being performed at medical centers. Prior to giving VA this authority, 
any funding received from private sources,, such as pharmaceutical 
companies, was placed in a General Post fund. However, it became 
virtually impossible to track the funding stream. There was no way to 
identify the source of the funding, nor how the money was being spent. 
The impetus behind establishing the research corporations was to create 
an accounting mechanism whereby the VA would submit to Congress an 
annual report on the number and location of corporations established 
and the amount of contributions made to each such corporation.
  Earlier this year, the Subcommittees on Oversight and Investigations 
and Health held a hearing on VA Research Corporations. We heard from 
the VA's Assistant Inspector General for Auditing that during the years 
1994 through 1997, that his office published three reports which 
identified the need for stricter accountability and oversight with 
regard to the administration of funds by the Veterans Health 
Administration research corporations. For instance, in 1994, the IG 
audit of a million dollars of the $3.6 million in expenditures spent at 
three research corporations and identified approximately $625,000 that 
was spent on salaries of medical residents, staff travel not clearly 
related to research or administration. Funds were also spent for non-
research related conferences, honorary gifts, awards, entertainment, 
other than non-research expenditures. This is just one example of how 
money can be misspent when in this case the corporation is not held 
accountable.
  Under current law, the VA nonprofit research corporations are 
required to provide Congress with an annual report summarizing their 
activities and accomplishments. These reports have turned out to be 
nothing more than bare bones financial statements.
  The VA Research Corporation Accountability Act amends section 7366 of 
Title 38 of the United States Code to require each VA corporation to 
submit a detailed statement that includes the corporation''s 
operations, activities, and accomplishments during the preceding year 
to the Secretary of the VA. The report should include the amount of 
funds received along with the source of funding; and an itemized 
accounting of all disbursements. Those corporations with funding in 
excess of $300,000 must obtain an audit of the corporation for that 
year, corporations with funding totaling less than $300,000 must obtain 
an audit every three years. These audits must be conducted by an 
independent auditor and shall be performed in accordance with generally 
accepted Government auditing standards.
  The VA's Inspector General will be required to randomly review audits 
to determine whether or not they were carried out in accordance with 
the auditing standards outlined in the legislation. My bill would also 
extend the life of the corporations by providing authority to establish 
such corporations until December 31, 2006.
  The VA has made tremendous contributions in the field of medical 
research. I think we all recognize the many accomplishments made by the 
VA in discovering new drug therapies and developing medical devices 
that have benefited not only veterans but all Americans. For instance, 
the VA invented the implantable cardiac pacemaker, developed the 
nicotine patch, performed the first successful liver transplant, and 
the development of the first oral vaccine for smallpox.
  It is not my intention to prevent VA research from continuing to make 
great strides as it has in the past, but we must ensure that all 
research funds are directed with focus and accountability.
  I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of H.R. 3645, which was 
favorably reported by the full VA committee and has widespread support 
among our nation's veterans.

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