[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 94 (Tuesday, June 24, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1343-E1344]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          TRIBUTE TO BOB STUMP

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 24, 2003

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I am deeply saddened by the 
loss of a former colleague, friend, and mentor, the Honorable Bob Stump 
of Arizona. My thoughts and prayers are with his wife Nancy, his 
children, Karen, Hoot, and Bruce, as well as his grandchildren, other 
family members and friends who loved him.
  From his enlistment in the Navy during World War II at the age of 16, 
to his extraordinary leadership as chairman of the Veterans' Affairs 
and Armed Services Committees in the House of Representatives, Bob 
Stump was a true American hero.
  Bob Stump served with distinction in Congress for 26 years, including 
6 years as chairman of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, and 2 years 
as chairman of the committee on Armed Services. Chairman Stump used his 
influence to promote responsible legislation to assist and honor our 
nation's veterans.
  Under Bob Stump's leadership, Congress increased funding for veterans 
health care; expanded access to long term care for aging veterans, 
including nonhospital alternative care; reformed eligibility standards 
for access to VA health care; extended the national cemetery system, 
including Arlington National Cemetery; increased assistance to disabled 
veterans and their survivors; and strengthened the Montgomery GI Bill 
that has helped millions of veterans fulfill their educational and 
career goals.
  A modest man who preferred to shun the spotlight, Bob Stump's life 
and his legacy will continue to shine brightly for generations of 
service men and women to come.
  Mr. Speaker, Bob Stump was the chairman of the Committee on Veterans' 
Affairs from 1995-2000, and its ranking minority member for the 2 
previous years. He served as a member of the Committee for a total of 
14 years. During his tenure as chairman, he compiled a distinguished 
record of legislation that is a major part of his legacy of public 
service. As his successor as chairman of the Veterans' Affairs 
Committee, I particularly know and appreciate all that he did for our 
Nation's veterans, servicemembers and their families by working on a 
bipartisan basis in cooperation with veterans' service organizations. I 
want to take this opportunity to recall the major veterans' legislation 
he authored, because Bob Stump was not one to trumpet his 
accomplishments.
  In 1996, Chairman Stump initiated and Congress passed important 
health care eligibility reforms for veterans that removed barriers to 
outpatient care and allowed greater flexibility to the Department of 
Veterans Affairs (VA) in paying for care closer to veterans' homes. The 
savings generated by shifting away from inpatient care and budget 
increases Bob supported were used to increase ambulatory care visits in 
fiscal year 2000 to more than 40 million total outpatient visits 
nationwide, an increase of 5.3 million outpatient visits per year over 
1997. As a result of this legislation, the VA established hundreds of 
new community-based outpatient clinics throughout the Nation to improve 
veterans' access to health care.
  In 1998, Bob Stump initiated and Congress passed the largest benefits 
expansion for veterans since the Persian Gulf war, including: allowing 
spouses of veterans who died from a service-connected disability to 
resume receiving assistance under the Dependency and Indemnity 
Compensation program if their subsequent remarriage ended; increasing 
adaptive housing and automobile allowances; increasing the monthly 
pension benefit for disabled veterans in need of the full time aid and 
attendance of another person by $600 per year; and increasing the 
monthly Montgomery GI Bill payment from $440 to $528, a 20-percent 
increase.
  Then in 2000, our former chairman initiated and Congress passed the 
landmark Veterans Millennium Health Care and Benefits Act, popularly 
known by many veterans as the Millennium Act, the most comprehensive 
benefits improvement legislation in decades. Some of its more 
significant provisions included: mandating nursing home and long-term 
care for seriously disabled veterans; allowing the VA to pay for 
emergency care for veterans lacking access to other health care plans; 
improving priority health care access for Purple Heart recipients and 
military retirees; improving benefits for surviving spouses of disabled 
veterans; and increasing programs providing employment and housing 
assistance to homeless veterans.
  Also, Bob Stump greatly appreciated the value of education, and 
initiated Montgomery GI Bill benefits enhancements that increased the 
value of the monthly education benefit for veterans by nearly $100 per 
month to $650. The resulting 4-year total basic benefit of $23,400 for 
a full-time student at a 4-year institution in the year 2000 was almost 
50 percent higher than it was in 1997. This law also contained 
provisions that allowed servicemembers to contribute more up front to 
achieve an $800 per month benefit, and it provided active duty 
servicemembers a new opportunity to convert their post-Vietnam Era 
Veterans Educational Assistance Program benefits to the Montgomery GI 
Bill if they had not done so before or had withdrawn all the funds from 
their VEAP accounts.
  Bob Stump had a particular interest in the national cemetery system, 
and worked for its expansion. Thanks to his efforts while he was 
chairman, five new national veterans' cemeteries were opened, adding 
approximately 835,000 gravesites to our national cemetery capacity. 
Additionally, legislation he sponsored was enacted to require the VA to 
plan 6 new

[[Page E1344]]

national cemeteries in Atlanta, Miami, Pittsburgh, Oklahoma, 
Sacramento, and Detroit. He also authorized legislation to expand the 
boundaries of Arlington National Cemetery, extending its useful life 
beyond the projected closing date of 2025 so that in-ground burials of 
veterans can continue until approximately the year 2041.
  Mr. Speaker, this impressive record of legislative accomplishment has 
resulted in immeasurable good for veterans, servicemembers and their 
families. Bob Stump's leadership was the strongest kind--leadership by 
example. His lifetime of service to America left this country a better 
place, and I am honored to have served in the House with our departed 
colleague, Bob Stump.

                          ____________________