[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 170 (Tuesday, November 17, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11403-S11407]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     MILITARY CONSTRUCTION, VETERANS AFFAIRS AND RELATED AGENCIES 
                        APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2010

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will 
resume consideration of H.R. 3082, which the clerk will report.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 3082) making appropriations for military 
     construction, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and related 
     agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2010, and 
     for other purposes.

  Pending:

       Johnson/Hutchison amendment No. 2730, in the nature of a 
     substitute.
       Johnson amendment No. 2733 (to amendment No. 2730), to 
     increase by $50,000,000 the amount available for the 
     Department of Veterans Affairs for minor construction 
     projects for the purpose of converting unused Department of 
     Veterans Affairs structures into housing with supportive 
     services for homeless veterans, and to provide an offset.
       Inouye amendment No. 2754 (to amendment No. 2730), to 
     permit $68,500,000, as requested by the Missile Defense 
     Agency of the Department of Defense, to be used for the 
     construction of a test facility to support the Phased 
     Adaptive Approach for missile defense in Europe, with an 
     offset.
       DeMint (for Inhofe) amendment No. 2774 (to amendment No. 
     2730), to prohibit the use of funds appropriated or otherwise 
     made available by this Act to construct or modify a facility 
     in the United States or its territories to permanently or 
     temporarily hold any individual held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
       Feingold/Sanders amendment No. 2748 (to amendment 2730), to 
     make available $5,000,000 for grants to community-based 
     organizations and State and local government entities to 
     conduct outreach to veterans in underserved areas.

  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. President, I am pleased to report that we are 
getting into the home stretch for the MILCON-VA appropriations bill. We 
have been on this bill 6 days now--I believe a record for the MILCON/VA 
bill. I thank my ranking member, Senator Hutchison, for her help in 
clearing amendments last evening which has put us within striking 
distance of completing this bill today.
  The first amendment we are scheduled to vote on today is an amendment 
I have offered that will provide $50 million for the VA to renovate and 
use empty buildings sitting on VA medical campuses to provide housing 
with supportive services for our homeless vets.
  The VA Secretary and the President have made eliminating homelessness 
among vets a top priority. The amendment is fully offset by redirecting 
$50 million over the President's budget request provided in this bill 
for DOD's Homeowners Assistance Program which the Pentagon has 
determined is not currently required.
  This amendment is supported by 16 vets and homeless service 
organizations, including the VFW, the Vietnam Veterans of America, and 
Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.
  I ask unanimous consent to have letters in support of my amendment 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                                November 13, 2009.
     Senator Tim Johnson,
     Chairman, Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Military 
         Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies, 
         Washington, DC.
       Senator Johnson: As organizations working to end 
     homelessness among veterans in America, we are writing to 
     express our strong support and gratitude for your Amendment 
     (SA 2733) to the Fiscal Year 2010 Military Construction, 
     Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. The 
     amendment would shift $50 million to renovate and convert 
     Department of Veterans

[[Page S11404]]

     Affairs' buildings into housing with supportive services for 
     homeless veterans. We believe this proposed allocation is 
     greatly needed, will be well spent, and ultimately will help 
     save the lives of many brave veterans who have fallen upon 
     hard times.
       Far too many veterans are homeless in America: 
     approximately 131,000 on any given night, which represents 
     between one-fourth and one-fifth of all homeless people. 
     Convergent sources estimate that between 23 and 40 percent of 
     homeless adults are veterans. The U.S. Department of Veterans 
     Affairs estimates that over the course of the year, 336,627 
     veterans experience homelessness.
       Community organizations around the country are eager to 
     assist homeless veterans achieve stability, but a shortage of 
     capital, operating and supportive services funding restricts 
     the amount of good work they can do. The allocation provided 
     in your amendment will help provide critical capital funding 
     for housing homeless veterans on VA campuses. We also commend 
     the Committee's proposed funding for the HUD-VASH program, 
     the Grant and Per Diem program and for homeless prevention. 
     Combined, these investments will allow the Department to 
     increase its efforts to ensure every veteran has a safe place 
     to sleep and call home.
       We are heartened by the Administration's stated commitment 
     to zero tolerance for veterans' homelessness and strong 
     Congressional support for programs that will help accomplish 
     this goal. While the funding allocated by your amendment is 
     an important contribution to fight against homelessness, we 
     encourage your leadership in doing even more to provide safe 
     and affordable housing for all the men and women who wore the 
     uniform.
           Sincerely,
       Corporation for Supportive Housing.
       AMVETS.
       Common Ground.
       Disabled American Veterans.
       Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.
       Jewish War Veterans of the USA.
       National Alliance to End Homelessness.
       National Association of Black Veterans.
       National Coalition for Homeless Veterans.
       National Health Care for the Homeless Council.
       National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty.
       National Leased Housing Association.
       National Policy and Advocacy Council on Homelessness.
       Paralyzed Veterans of America.
       Vietnam Veterans of America.
                                  ____

                                          Veterans of Foreign Wars


                                         of the United States,

                                Washington, DC, November 13, 2009.
     Hon. Tim Johnson,
     U.S. Senate,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Congressman Johnson: On behalf of the 2.2 million 
     members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States 
     and our Auxiliaries, I would like to offer our support for SA 
     2733, the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related 
     Appropriations Act.
       Your important amendment would provide $50,000,000 to VA 
     for the construction of housing with supportive services for 
     homeless veterans. This construction would take unused VA 
     buildings and convert them into housing for our homeless 
     veterans.
       Your important amendment provides housing and supportive 
     services, two crucial things that our homeless veterans 
     desperately need. A man or woman who has selflessly served in 
     the armed forces should never have to sleep on the streets of 
     the country they fought for. Your legislation looks to 
     address this tragedy in our country and we applaud your 
     efforts.
       We thank you for introducing this valuable legislation that 
     would greatly assist our nation's heroes. We look forward to 
     working with you to help pass this legislation into law.
           Sincerely,
                                                 Eric A. Hilleman,
                           Director, National Legislative Service.

  Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. President, according to the VA, there are 131,000 
homeless vets on any given night. This is shameful. This amendment will 
allow the VA to put to good use buildings on VHA campuses currently 
sitting empty. It would allow private and nonprivate groups to operate 
homeless vet shelters in close proximity to the medical and mental 
health services these vets need in order to rebuild their lives.
  I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.
  Mr. President, I yield to Senator Hutchison for any remarks she has.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.
  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I thank Senator Johnson.
  We have worked very well to accommodate the requests of our 
colleagues to the extent we could. We will have the first vote on his 
amendment. I am going to support Senator Johnson's amendment on 
homeless veterans. Secretary Gates and Secretary Shinseki are at this 
very moment practically working on a way to better accommodate veterans 
who are homeless. It is not right for there ever to be a homeless 
veteran in our country because every one of them has done so much to 
protect our freedom.
  We do have $500 million in the bill. This would take $50 million that 
the Department says they do not need for other housing assistance for 
veterans and put it into the homeless sector so there can be a 
concerted effort to build facilities that would give care, as well as 
shelter, to these veterans. I support that.
  I hope in conference we will be able to consolidate all of this into 
a program that will meet the needs of our veterans.
  It has been great working on this bill. I am very pleased we could do 
it today rather than last week when so many of us in the Senate were at 
Fort Hood trying to show the great respect and sympathy for the 
community at Fort Hood and for all of our armed services, which meant 
we had to delay the bill from last Tuesday to this Tuesday. I think 
that was the right thing to do. I thank my colleague.
  I thank our great staffs who worked all this week to clear 
amendments. To the extent we could, I think we have certainly 
accommodated our other colleagues in the Senate for their priorities.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from South Dakota.
  Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the vote 
sequence prior to the caucus recess period, with respect to amendments 
remaining in order to H.R. 3082, be as follows: Johnson amendment No. 
2733; Feingold amendment No. 2748; Cochran amendment No. 2763; that the 
Inouye amendment No. 2754 be modified with changes at the desk, and 
once modified, the McCain amendment No. 2776 be withdrawn, the Inouye 
amendment, as modified, be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be 
laid upon the table; further, that an Inouye-Levin colloquy be inserted 
in the Record upon the adoption of the amendment; that after the first 
vote in any sequence of votes today, the remaining votes be 10 minutes 
in duration; and that prior to the vote on passage of H.R. 3082, each 
manager control 2 minutes; provided further, that the other provisions 
of the November 16 order remain in effect.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from Texas.
  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I wish to ask the Senator if we could 
voice vote Senator Cochran before we take up the record vote we will 
take on Senator Johnson's amendment.
  Mr. JOHNSON. That would be very good.
  Mrs. HUTCHISON. I have no objection.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. With that qualification, without objection, it 
is so ordered.
  The amendment (No. 2754), as modified, is as follows:


                    Amendment No. 2754, As Modified

       On page 27, between lines 3 and 4, insert the following:
       Sec. 128. (a)(1) The amount appropriated or otherwise made 
     available by this title under the heading ``Military 
     Construction, Defense-Wide'' is hereby increased by 
     $68,500,000, with the amount of such increase to remain 
     available until September 30, 2014.
       (2) Of the amount appropriated or otherwise made available 
     by this title under the heading ``Military Construction, 
     Defense-Wide'', as increased by paragraph (1), $68,500,000 
     shall be available for the construction of an Aegis Ashore 
     Test Facility at the Pacific Missile Range Facility, Hawaii.
       (b) Of the amount appropriated or otherwise made available 
     by title I of the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs 
     Appropriations Act, 2009 (division E of Public Law 110-329; 
     122 Stat. 3692) under the heading ``Military Construction, 
     Defense-Wide'' and available for the purpose of European 
     Ballistic Missile Defense program construction, $69,500,000 
     is hereby rescinded.

  The amendment (No. 2754), as modified, was agreed to.


                        European Missile Defense

  Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I rise to engage in a colloquy with 
Senator Levin, chairman of the Armed Services Committee to discuss 
amendment No. 2754, which has been cosponsored by Senators Johnson and 
Cochran, to reallocate unobligated fiscal year 2009 military 
construction funding to support President Obama's new European missile 
defense plan.
  Mr. LEVIN. I would be pleased to enter into a colloquy with the 
distinguished chairman of the Appropriations Committee.

[[Page S11405]]

  Mr. INOUYE. I thank the chairman. Funding was appropriated in last 
year's MILCON/VA appropriations bill for the European missile defense 
sites but now can no longer be spent. This amendment will enable the 
Missile Defense Agency to meet the President's timelines for defending 
Europe and the United States sooner against Iranian missiles. In order 
to meet the timelines set out by the President to deploy a capability 
in Europe in the 2015 timeframe, General O'Reilly, Director of the 
Missile Defense Agency, MDA, has requested the Congress support the use 
of $68.5 million to construct an AEGIS Ashore Test Facility at the 
Pacific Missile Range Facility in Hawaii. The funding would come from 
the now unneeded funds for the two sites in Europe.
  Mr. LEVIN. I want the chairman to know that I am also fully 
supportive of the administration's new approach to defending Europe 
from the threat of shorter range Iranian missiles based on the standard 
missile-3 both on ships and ashore, as well as the use of fiscal year 
2009 funding that is no longer required for this purpose.
  Mr. INOUYE. This amendment responds to that request from MDA, but was 
originally offered with some reservation because it would circumvent 
the normal order of business in the Senate. Under ordinary 
circumstances this project should have been authorized in the fiscal 
year 2010 National Defense Authorization Act and then appropriated in 
the Military Construction bill. But, President Obama only publicly 
announced his European missile defense strategy on September 17 of this 
year. This announcement came well after the House and Senate Armed 
Services Committees began the conference negotiation process. In order 
to implement the President's new plan, General O'Reilly made the 
request to Congress for an AEGIS Ashore Test Facility on October 7, the 
same day that the House and Senate completed the conference agreement 
on the Defense authorization bill. The conferees were not able to 
consider this late request from the administration. Thus, an amendment 
on the fiscal year 2010 Military Construction appropriations bill was 
the best path to get the facility started in order to meet the 
administration's timelines.
  Mr. LEVIN. While I agree that the funding previously authorized and 
appropriated for the European sites in fiscal year 2009 should be the 
source of funding for this project, I also feel that the project should 
be vetted in a manner similar to any other MILCON request. I believe we 
also have the time to authorize the project. As I understand the 
current timeline the Missile Defense Agency has sufficient planning and 
design funding to initiate design of the project and also has 
sufficient funding to begin the required environmental work. It is also 
my understanding that construction won't actually begin until late 
summer of 2010. I would expect that the preliminary nature of the 
current funding request would mature in time to support a timely 
authorization.
  Mr. INOUYE. I understand that the chairman intends to introduce a 
separate authorization bill for this project that will precede the 
normal fiscal year 2011 national Defense authorization bill process.
  Mr. LEVIN. That is correct. I will introduce a separate bill today 
along with Senator McCain. The committee will expedite consideration of 
this bill provided that we can get the normal assurances that the 
project is supported by the Secretary of Defense and that the proposed 
construction costs and timelines are accurate and up to the standards 
we would normally expect in a similar MILCON project request.


                Amendment No. 2763 to Amendment No. 2730

  Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. President, I understand there is no objection to the 
Cochran amendment No. 2763. Therefore, on behalf of Senator Cochran, I 
call up his amendment and ask that the amendment be considered and 
agreed to and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from South Dakota [Mr. Johnson], for Mr. 
     Cochran, proposes an amendment numbered 2763 to amendment No. 
     2730.

  The amendment is as follows:


                           amendment no. 2763

     (Purpose: To provide for the modification of a restriction of 
     alienation of certain real property in Gulfport, Mississippi)

       At the end of title II, add the following:
       Sec. 229. (a) Modification on Restriction of Alienation of 
     Certain Real Property in Gulfport, Mississippi.--Section 
     2703(b) of the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for 
     Defense, the Global War on Terror, and Hurricane Recovery, 
     2006 (Public Law 109-234; 120 Stat. 469), as amended by 
     section 231 of the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs 
     and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2009 (division E of 
     Public Law 110-329; 122 Stat. 3713), is further amended by 
     inserting after ``the City of Gulfport'' the following: ``, 
     or its urban renewal agency,''.
       (b) Memorialization of Modification.--The Secretary of 
     Veterans Affairs shall take appropriate actions to modify the 
     quitclaim deeds executed to effectuate the conveyance 
     authorized by section 2703 of the Emergency Supplemental 
     Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror, and 
     Hurricane Recovery, 2006 in order to accurately reflect and 
     memorialize the amendment made by subsection (a).

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, the amendment is agreed to 
and the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table.
  The amendment (No. 2763) was agreed to.
  Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                           Amendment No. 2733

  Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays on the 
Johnson amendment.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There is a sufficient second.
  If all time is yielded back, the question is on agreeing to the 
amendment. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. Byrd) 
is necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 98, nays 1, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 346 Leg.]

                                YEAS--98

     Akaka
     Alexander
     Barrasso
     Baucus
     Bayh
     Begich
     Bennet
     Bennett
     Bingaman
     Bond
     Boxer
     Brown
     Brownback
     Bunning
     Burr
     Burris
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Chambliss
     Cochran
     Collins
     Conrad
     Corker
     Cornyn
     Crapo
     DeMint
     Dodd
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Ensign
     Enzi
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Franken
     Gillibrand
     Graham
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hagan
     Harkin
     Hatch
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Inouye
     Isakson
     Johanns
     Johnson
     Kaufman
     Kerry
     Kirk
     Klobuchar
     Kohl
     Kyl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     LeMieux
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     Lugar
     McCain
     McCaskill
     McConnell
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Mikulski
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Nelson (NE)
     Nelson (FL)
     Pryor
     Reed
     Reid
     Risch
     Roberts
     Rockefeller
     Sanders
     Schumer
     Sessions
     Shaheen
     Shelby
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Thune
     Udall (CO)
     Udall (NM)
     Vitter
     Voinovich
     Warner
     Webb
     Whitehouse
     Wicker
     Wyden

                                NAYS--1

       
     Coburn
       

                             NOT VOTING--1

       
     Byrd
       
  The amendment (No. 2733) was agreed to.
  Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.
  Mr. CARDIN. I move to lay that motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.


                    Amendment No. 2748, as Modified

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wisconsin.
  Mr. FEINGOLD. I ask unanimous consent that my amendment be modified 
with the modifications I send to the desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, the amendment is so 
modified.
  The amendment, as modified, is as follows:


[[Page S11406]]


       On page 52, after line 21, add the following:
       Sec. 229.  Of the amounts appropriated or otherwise made 
     available by this title, the Secretary shall award $5,000,000 
     in competitively-awarded grants to State and local government 
     entities or their designees with a demonstrated record of 
     serving veterans to conduct outreach to ensure that veterans 
     in under-served areas receive the care and benefits for which 
     they are eligible.

  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I understand the amendment will now be 
accepted.
  Mr. JOHNSON. It is accepted.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the amendment.
  The amendment (No. 2748), as modified, was agreed to.
  Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.
  Mr. LEAHY. I move to lay that motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.


                           Amendment No. 2763

  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, to comply with rule XLIV, I ask 
unanimous consent to have printed in the Record a letter from Senator 
Cochran in relation to his amendment.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                                  U.S. Senate,

                                 Washington, DC, November 5, 2009.
     Hon. Daniel Inouye,
     Chairman, Committee on Appropriations, U.S. Senate, 
         Washington, DC.
       Dear Dan: In my letter to Senators Johnson and Hutchison 
     dated May 21, 2009, regarding the Fiscal Year 2010 Military 
     Construction, Veterans Administration, and Related Agencies 
     Appropriations Bill, it was my intent that the item titled 
     ``Aircraft Maintenance Administration Facility'' read as 
     follows:
       Name: Aircraft Fuel Systems Maintenance Facility
       Location: Columbus Air Force Base, MS
       Purpose: To provide adequate facilities for aircraft fuel 
     systems maintenance, conforming with applicable safety and 
     environmental standards. ($10,000,000)
       I certify that neither I nor my immediate family has 
     pecuniary interest in the congressionally directed spending 
     item that I have requested, consistent with the requirements 
     of paragraph 9 of Rule XLIV of the Standing Rules of the 
     Senate. I also certify that I have posted this request on my 
     website.
       Please feel free to call on me if you have any questions 
     about this request. Adam Telle, a member of my staff, is also 
     available as the committee staff considers this issue.
       Thank you for your consideration.
           Sincerely,
                                                     Thad Cochran,
                                                     U.S. Senator.

  Mrs. HUTCHISON. I thank the Chair and suggest the absence of a 
quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. President, I note that the second vote has been 
voiced, and so Members are free to leave.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.
  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, we are working on the managers' 
package, and probably in the next 15 minutes we will clear what has 
been cleared for the managers' package. There are a couple of people 
working with objections. But by 12:15, we will clear the managers' 
package so that following that, in accordance with the previous 
unanimous consent agreement, at 2:15 we will vote on the Inhofe 
amendment, after which we will then vote on final passage. So we will 
have two votes starting at 2:15, and the second vote will be the final 
vote on Veterans Affairs-Military Construction.

  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Gillibrand). The Senator from Maryland.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in 
morning business for the purposes of introducing a very poignant bill.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  (The remarks of Ms. Mikulski pertaining to the introduction of S. 
2781 are printed in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced 
Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')
  Ms. MIKULSKI. I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. JOHNSON. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


     Amendments Nos. 2775, as Modified; 2777; and 2783, as Modified

  Mr. JOHNSON. Madam President, we have agreed to a final group of 
amendments in a managers' package.
  I ask unanimous consent that the following amendments be called up en 
bloc and that the amendments be considered and agreed to and, if 
modified, that the amendment as modified be agreed to and the motions 
to reconsider be laid upon the table en bloc:
  Amendment No. 2775, to be modified; amendment No. 2777; and amendment 
No. 2783, to be modified.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Madam President, I have no objections to those 
amendments. I want to clarify that for amendment No. 2775, the 
modifications are at the desk. The same goes for amendment No. 2783; am 
I correct?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is correct.
  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Again, I have no objection.
  The amendments (No. 2775, as modified; No. 2777; and No. 2783, as 
modified) were agreed to, as follows:


                    Amendment No. 2775, As Modified

   (Purpose: To require a study on the capacity of the Department of 
      Veterans Affairs to address combat stress in women veterans)

       At the end of title II, add the following:
       Sec. 229. (a) Study on Capacity of Department of Veterans 
     Affairs To Address Combat Stress in Women Veterans.--The 
     Inspector General of the Department of Veterans Affairs shall 
     carry out a study to assess the capacity of the Department of 
     Veterans Affairs to address combat stress in women veterans.
       (b) Elements.--In carrying out the study required by 
     subsection (a), the Inspector General shall consider the 
     following:
       (1) Whether women veterans are properly evaluated by the 
     Department for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), 
     military-related sexual trauma, traumatic brain injury (TBI), 
     and other combat-related conditions.
       (2) Whether women veterans with combat stress are being 
     properly adjudicated as service-connected disabled by the 
     Department for purposes of veterans disability benefits for 
     combat stress.
       (3) Whether the Veterans Benefits Administration has 
     developed and disseminated to personnel who adjudicate 
     disability claims reference materials that thoroughly and 
     effectively address the management of claims of women 
     veterans involving military-related sexual trauma.
       (4) The feasability and advisability of requiring training 
     and testing on military-related sexual trauma matters as part 
     of a certification of Veterans Benefits Administration 
     personnel who adjudicate disability claims involving post-
     traumatic stress disorder.
       (5) Such other matters as the Inspector General considers 
     appropriate.
       (c) Reports.--
       (1) Interim report.--Not later than 180 days after the date 
     of the enactment of this Act, the Inspector General shall 
     submit to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and to the 
     appropriate committees of Congress, a report setting forth 
     the plan of the Inspector General for the study required by 
     subsection (a), together with such interim findings as the 
     Inspector General has made as of the date of the report as a 
     result of the study.
       (2) Final report.--Not later than one year after the date 
     of the enactment of this Act, the Inspector General shall 
     submit to the Secretary, and Congress, then the Secretary 
     shall make recommendations for legislative or administrative 
     action.
       (3) Appropriate committees of congress defined.--In this 
     subsection, the term ``appropriate committees of Congress'' 
     means--
       (A) the Committees on Appropriations and Veterans' Affairs 
     of the Senate; and
       (B) the Committees on Appropriations and Veterans' Affairs 
     of the House of Representatives.


                           AMENDMENT NO. 2777

   (Purpose: To require a study to identify the improvements to the 
  information technology infrastructure of the Department of Veterans 
 Affairs that are required to furnish health care services to veterans 
                      using telehealth platforms)

       On page 52, after line 21, add the following:
       Sec. 229. (a) Study on Improvements to Information 
     Technology Infrastructure Needed to Furnish Health Care 
     Services to Veterans Using Telehealth Platforms.--The 
     Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall carry out a study to 
     identify the improvements to the infrastructure of the 
     Department of Veterans Affairs that are required to furnish 
     health care services to veterans using telehealth platforms.
       (b) Availability of Funds.--The amounts appropriated or 
     otherwise made available by

[[Page S11407]]

     this title under the headings ``Departmental Administration'' 
     and ``information technology systems'' shall be available to 
     the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to carry out the study 
     required by subsection (a).


                    Amendment No. 2783, As Modified

   (Purpose: To make available from Medical Services, $1,000,000 for 
education debt reduction for mental health care professionals who agree 
          to employment at the Department of Veterans Affairs)

       On page 52, after line 21, add the following:
       Sec. 229.  Of the amounts appropriated or otherwise made 
     available by this title under the headings ``Veterans Health 
     Administration'' and ``medical services'', $1,000,000 may be 
     available for education debt reduction under subchapter VII 
     of chapter 76 of title 38, United States Code, for mental 
     health care professionals who agree to employment at the 
     Department of Veterans Affairs.

                          ____________________