[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 80 (Thursday, May 31, 2012)]
[House]
[Page H3277]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                              {time}  1110
                  ONGOING TROUBLES AT VETERANS AFFAIRS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Florida (Mrs. Adams) for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. ADAMS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to bring attention to the 
ongoing troubles at the VA and its apparent inability to effectively 
manage major construction projects, specifically, the new veterans 
hospital at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Orlando, Florida, in 
my congressional district.
  Our Nation's veterans have served our country honorably, putting 
everything on the line to protect our freedoms. After all they have 
done for us, it is Congress' duty to ensure that our veterans' service-
connected medical needs are taken care of.
  The American people were told that for $665 million they would 
receive a state-of-the-art medical facility to care for the hundreds of 
thousands of veterans in central Florida, which is one of the most 
underserved veteran populations in this country. This project is 
desperately needed in our community. Our veterans cannot wait any 
longer, nor can hardworking taxpayers afford more expensive delays.
  Recently, Chairman Miller held a hearing with the Veterans' Affairs 
committee to examine these delays. During the hearing, it became clear 
that incompetence and a lack of leadership from the VA is to blame for 
the egregious amount of errors with this project. Those errors include 
forgetting to order medical equipment, designing incompatible power 
sources in patient rooms, and designing doorways too small for the 
equipment that needs to get through them. These basic design errors are 
absolutely unacceptable, and we must hold the VA accountable for them.
  While I am not a member of the committee, I felt it was my duty, as 
the Representative for central Florida veterans, to participate in the 
hearings and conduct the oversight necessary to get answers and move 
the project forward.
  Having toured the hospital construction site recently, I knew that 
the project was behind schedule and over budget. Listening to the 
hearing testimony, coupled with seeing the site firsthand, reinforced 
the fact that the VA has fallen down on the job and is failing our 
veterans.
  Veterans in my district have to drive hundreds of miles in some cases 
to get the cure and the care they need and have been promised--they've 
been promised--in return for their service to our Nation. These are 
often elderly men and women who cannot afford the trips. And we have 
young veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who have sustained 
injuries that make those long trips incredibly painful.
  This is not the best we can offer; and we should be ashamed, in the 
VA, that those brave warriors have to travel long distances with the 
vague hope of getting the care they need. The VA can do better. We can 
do better.
  Today's consideration of the Military Construction and Veterans 
Affairs Appropriations Bill helps put the VA's feet to the fire and 
will spur them to return the focus to our veteran population and not on 
bureaucratic mismanagement and political infighting.
  The language of the bill makes it clear that, while the hospital 
construction remains fully funded, it is no longer an open-ended 
construction project with bills to be paid years into the future. The 
legislation states quite clearly that funds obligated to complete 
construction have to be spent within 5 years. The message should be 
heard loud and clear by the VA: get your management in gear and finish 
this hospital.
  Mr. Speaker, the delays at this hospital are despicable, and the 
inability of the VA to provide what our veterans have been promised is 
unacceptable. Our veterans and their families have put everything on 
the line to defend our country. Making sure their service-connected 
needs are taken care of is the very least we can do to repay our 
Nation's heroes.

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