[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 31 (Wednesday, February 26, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E289]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.J. RES. 2, CONSOLIDATED APPROPRIATIONS 
                            RESOLUTION, 2003

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                          HON. CHARLES F. BASS

                            of new hampshire

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 25, 2003

  Mr. BASS. I have come to the floor today to compliment the Committee 
on an excellent job balancing all the very important programs in the 
Omnibus Appropriations bill and particularly the Chapter of the bill 
that includes the matters that relate to the jurisdiction of the VA/HUD 
Subcommittee. I know the spending limitations necessarily imposed on 
the Subcommittee do not permit the Chairman and other members to 
address each and every issue as fully as they would like, but 
nonetheless the chairman has achieved a balanced and good result. I 
want to extend this praise to Chairman Walsh and the other members of 
the subcommittee.
  Earlier this year, a number of Members contacted the Subcommittee to 
express the view that the Veterans Health Administration be as 
proactive as possible to help ensure that disabled veterans have the 
most advanced prosthetic and sensory aids devices made available to 
them, as would be medically appropriate. I want to strongly associate 
myself with those views and in that regard, I was pleased to see that 
the committee approved the Administration's fiscal year 2003 budget 
request for $739.1 million for prosthetic and sensory aids devices 
providing an increase of $60.3 million over last year's level. I am 
also most appreciative of the report language the committee included on 
this subject.
  One of the exciting new prosthetic and sensory aids devices known as 
the IBOT was invented in my home State of New Hampshire. It is a 
mobility device that climbs stairs, traverses all-terrain, and balances 
the seated user at standing eye-level. It would be my view that some 
portion--at least 1 percent--of the approximately 25,000 veterans with 
service-connected spinal cord injuries should have access to this 
advanced mobility device. In fact, at the request of Congress, the VHA 
conducted a study of this mobility device last year that concluded with 
the finding that ``the subjects were unanimous in their recommendation 
that the Veterans Health Administration should provide IBOTS to 
veterans'' and that ``the IBOT could improve integration and work 
performance.'' Additionally as Secretary Principi has established a 
priority of ``restoring the capability of disabled veterans to the 
extent possible'' it is my expectation that such devices will be 
actively considered and provided to disabled veterans as medically 
appropriate.
  It is my view and the view of Members who I have discussed this 
matter with the Department should aggressively pursue making this 
mobility device and other state of the art assistive technologies 
available to veterans with disabilities as medically appropriate. I 
should state further that it is my intention to work with the 
Department and with Chairman Walsh over the next year to ensure that 
the Department does pursue this matter appropriately.

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