[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 86 (Monday, June 17, 2013)]
[House]
[Pages H3660-H3661]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
VIETNAM VETERANS DONOR ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ACT OF 2013 AMENDMENT
Mr. BISHOP of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and
agree to the resolution (H. Res. 264) providing for the concurrence by
the House in the Senate amendment to H.R. 588, with an amendment.
The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
The text of the resolution is as follows:
H. Res. 264
Resolved, That upon the adoption of this resolution the
House shall be considered to have taken from the Speaker's
table the bill, H.R. 588, with the Senate amendment thereto,
and to have concurred in the Senate amendment with the
following amendment:
In lieu of the matter proposed to be inserted by the
amendment of the Senate to the text of the bill, insert the
following:
SEC. 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Vietnam Veterans Donor
Acknowledgment Act of 2013''.
SEC. 2. DONOR CONTRIBUTION ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AT THE VIETNAM
VETERANS MEMORIAL VISITOR CENTER.
Section 6(b) of Public Law 96-297 (16 U.S.C. 431 note) is
amended--
(1) in paragraph (4) by striking the ``and'' after the
semicolon;
(2) in paragraph (5)--
(A) by striking ``2014'' and inserting ``2018''; and
(B) by striking the period and inserting ``; and''; and
(3) by inserting at the end the following new paragraph:
``(6) notwithstanding section 8905(b)(7) of title 40,
United States Code--
``(A) the Secretary of the Interior shall allow the Vietnam
Veterans Memorial Fund, Inc. to acknowledge donor
contributions to the visitor center by displaying, inside the
visitor center, an appropriate statement or credit
acknowledging the contribution;
``(B) donor contribution acknowledgments shall be displayed
in a form approved by the Secretary of the Interior and for a
period of time commensurate with the level of the
contribution and the life of the facility;
``(C) the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund shall bear all
expenses related to the display of donor acknowledgments;
``(D) prior to the display of donor acknowledgments, the
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Inc. shall submit to the
Secretary for approval, its plan for displaying donor
acknowledgments;
``(E) such plan shall include the sample text and types of
the acknowledgments or credits to be displayed and the form
and location of all displays;
``(F) the Secretary shall approve the plan, if the
Secretary determines that the plan--
``(i) allows only short, discrete, and unobtrusive
acknowledgments or credits;
``(ii) does not permit any advertising slogans or company
logos; and
``(iii) conforms to applicable National Park Service
guidelines for indoor donor recognition; and
``(G) if the Secretary of the Interior determines that the
proposed plan submitted under this paragraph, does not meet
the requirements of this paragraph, the Secretary shall--
``(i) advise the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Inc. not
later than 30 days after receipt of the proposed plan of the
reasons that such plan does not meet the requirements; and
``(ii) allow the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Inc. to
submit a revised donor recognition plan.''.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Utah (Mr. Bishop) and the gentleman from the Northern Mariana Islands
(Mr. Sablan) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Utah.
General Leave
Mr. BISHOP of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all
Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks
and to include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Utah?
There was no objection.
Mr. BISHOP of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
There comes a point in time when we are always asking the Senate to
do something, and when they finally get around to doing something, they
decide to mess it up by making it questionable by trying to expand it.
This is a similar case in which we gave them a simple and good bill.
They have sent us back something that is questionable and expanded, and
we are going to give it back to them so that they just do it right the
second time around.
With that, I would like to yield such time as he may consume to the
sponsor of the original bill, the gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young).
Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, over a month ago, the House passed the Vietnam Veterans
Donor Acknowledgment Act by a resounding vote of 398-2. Unfortunately,
a couple of weeks ago, the Senate substantially changed this bipartisan
and noncontroversial piece of legislation. Instead of only allowing
donor recognition at a soon-to-be-built Vietnam Veterans Education
Center, the Senate changed the bill to allow donor recognition, across
the entire Mall, on all future commemorative works. While I am not
fundamentally opposed to this idea, neither the House nor the Senate
has done any hearings to consider the implications of this issue. In
fact, neither the House nor the Senate has done a markup on this issue
to allow Members to add their input.
Mr. Speaker, put simply, this is just a poor legislative process, and
the American people deserve better.
Today, we are here to undo what the Senate has done and to, once
again, send the Senate a bipartisan and noncontroversial bill. Today's
resolution
[[Page H3661]]
merely strikes the Senate language that allows donor recognition across
The Mall and reinserts my original language from H.R. 588. This
language has been through the full committee process and is sound
legislative text.
However, not all of the Senate additions are bad. In this bill, we
will keep one portion of the Senate's language, which extends the
legislative authority to construct the Vietnam Veterans Education
Center from 2014 until 2018.
{time} 1710
It is unfortunate that we must provide this extension, though. Our
Nation's Vietnam veterans have waited too long for this education
center. It is a shame that a long line of political gamesmanship has
delayed its construction.
Mr. Speaker, after the Vietnam War, many of our Nation's bravest were
welcomed home not with joyous cheers or words of thanks, but dirty
looks and snide remarks.
Let us end these political games. I call upon my colleagues in the
House, but especially on my colleagues in the Senate, to quickly pass
this resolution so this education center can finally be built. I think
we can all agree that this legislation and this center are a long time
coming.
Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
This is a very important issue before us today. The Senate amended
H.R. 588 to allow any new memorial in D.C. to acknowledge donors.
The original bill passed by the House only allowed donor
acknowledgement for the Vietnam Memorial Visitor Center. The Senate
amendment also provided a 4-year extension of the legislative authority
for the Vietnam Memorial Visitors Center.
The resolution before us today would narrow the Senate language back
to apply only to the Vietnam Memorial Visitor Center while continuing
to provide the visitor center with a 4-year extension of their
authorization.
Mr. Speaker, our preference would be to send a bill to the President
to sign today; however, the majority is insisting on amending the
Senate legislation and sending this bill back to the Senate instead of
to the President. While we do not object to a policy of allowing donor
acknowledgement, we are concerned that amending the Senate amendment
will unnecessarily delay enactment of this legislation.
Given this is the only option we have to support the Vietnam Memorial
Visitor Center, we support passage of this bill, and I reserve the
balance of my time.
Mr. BISHOP of Utah. At this time, I reserve the balance of my time as
I will be the last speaker.
Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, at this time I yield as much time as he may
consume to a Vietnam War veteran, the distinguished gentleman from
American Samoa (Mr. Faleomavaega).
(Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA asked and was given permission to revise and extend
his remarks.)
Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Utah and
the gentleman from the Northern Mariana Islands for their management of
this important legislation. I certainly want to pay a special tribute
to my good friend, the gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young), for his
authorship of this bill.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of this resolution to
amend the Senate amendment to H.R. 588, the Vietnam Veterans Donor
Acknowledgement Act of 2013.
I want to thank my good friend again, Congressman Don Young from
Alaska, for his leadership on this very important issue. He has always
been a strong supporter of our military servicemembers and veterans and
has been instrumental in moving forward to building the Education
Center at the Wall that will educate the millions of visitors to the
Vietnam Veterans Memorial about its history and purpose.
Mr. Speaker, last month the House, with overwhelming support, passed
H.R. 588, the Vietnam Veterans Donor Acknowledgement Act of 2013. As we
all know, H.R. 588 is supported by all the major veterans'
organizations throughout the country. Unfortunately, during its
consideration, the Senate significantly amended the bill, which has
drastically altered the original intent of the bill. Much of the
additions to H.R. 588 have not been evaluated or considered by way of
markup, by either the Senate or the House, which is critical in
considering any legislation. For this reason, my colleague today offers
this resolution to reinstate the original bipartisan language.
Mr. Speaker, as a Vietnam veteran myself, I strongly believe that my
fellow soldiers and I have waited long enough for the construction of
this important educational center. It will benefit the many tourists
that visit our Nation's capital and educate and inform many of those
who question why the thousands of names are engraved on such an
extraordinary memorial.
Mr. Speaker, it is so beautiful to see that our veterans coming from
the Gulf War are being praised by the American public, which is great.
Unfortunately, those of us who were part of the Vietnam legacy of the
war that occurred at that time did not have a very sweet welcoming home
I can say, Mr. Speaker, being called ``baby killers'' and
``warmongers'' and all of this. To this day I'm still very bitter in
terms of the treatment of our soldiers and veterans who come from that
terrible war that our country was involved in.
This education center is so critical to educate the American people--
to educate America for that matter--so that they will understand and
better appreciate the sacrifices and the contributions that our
veterans and those who wore the armed services uniform made in
protection of this country.
Again, I thank my dear friend, Mr. Young from Alaska, and I urge my
colleagues to support this bill.
Mr. BISHOP of Utah. I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I yield back
the balance of my time.
Mr. BISHOP of Utah. I appreciate the comments that were given by the
gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young), the gentleman from the Northern
Mariana Islands (Mr. Sablan), and I especially respect and appreciate
the comments by the gentleman from American Samoa, who has done so
much, and I appreciate all of those. In everything that we are doing,
in fact, their comments were right on; that what we are trying to do is
ensure that what we do here is to return to the cliche of the House,
which is regular order, which means we go through a legitimate process
of trying to look at something instead of just flying by the seat of
our pants.
Therefore, because this was changed significantly in the Senate
without much input at all, we are simply doing two things. First of
all, we'll be removing the provisions effected by the Senate changes so
that the Vietnam Visitors Center can move forward under this bill
without any delay, and it will enhance the ability to raise their
private funds, but also we want to give careful and due consideration
to the Senate-added provisions.
So the text of the Senate language affecting future memorials is
being introduced today as a standalone bill in the House. We will have
a public hearing. We will go through the process, to be held very soon
on this particular bill, and then further action by the committee will
follow. Once again, this is our process to re-ensure regular order.
I urge my colleagues to vote for this particular resolution, and I
yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Utah (Mr. Bishop) that the House suspend the rules and
agree to the resolution, H. Res. 264.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the resolution was agreed to.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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