[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 129 (Friday, September 21, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1605]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


VA MAJOR CONSTRUCTION AUTHORIZATION AND EXPIRING AUTHORITIES EXTENSION 
                              ACT OF 2012

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. CORRINE BROWN

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 19, 2012

  Ms. BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of this 
long overdue legislation. Among many worthy projects included in this 
legislation, this bill authorizes the uncompleted construction on the 
operating rooms at the Miami VA Medical Center.
  Every month this construction is delayed, the VA has to pay an 
additional $500,000 for a portable operating room. Since this was first 
brought to our attention in May, that will be over $2.5 million as of 
the end of this month. That is $2,500,000 that could better be spent on 
the veterans of Florida for their care and comfort.
  This project is over 95 percent completed. This bill needs to be 
passed now.
  I want to thank the Chairman of the Veterans' Committee, Mr. Miller 
for his help in getting the issue included in a vehicle that could pass 
both the House and the Senate. There is a dire need for this Medical 
Center to be whole, with veterans from all over the State of Florida 
traveling there for treatment.
  The original plan for this project was to divide the operating room 
in half and renovate it in stages. When I visited the Medical Center in 
June, I heard directly from the administrators of the facility about 
the project. The planners on the ground realized soon after the 
construction began that patients could have been put at risk due to 
contamination of the operating room by the construction on the other 
side of the room.
  Veterans health was being put at risk, and rather than let that 
happen, it was decided, by those who know veterans health the best, 
those at the health facilities, to combine the projects into one and 
rent the portable operating rooms.
  It is time for Congress to pass this bill and finish the construction 
in Miami that our veterans deserve through their service protecting the 
freedoms this nation hold so dear.

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