[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 83 (Friday, May 30, 2014)]
[House]
[Pages H5059-H5060]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  RESIGNATION OF VA SECRETARY SHINSEKI

  (Ms. BROWN of Florida asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to thank Secretary 
Shinseki for his service.
  When you are born you get a birth certificate and when you die you 
are going to get a death certificate, and that dash in between is what 
you have done to make this a better place.
  I have served on the Veteran Affairs' Committee for 22 years, and I 
know that my colleagues in the House and in the Senate talk a good 
talk. We talk about what we want to do for veterans. But talking and 
walking and rolling, I know for a fact that not until we had a 
Democratic House, a Democratic Senate, and a Democratic President, we 
got the largest funding in the history of the United States for the 
veterans.
  This Secretary opened up the system so that all the Vietnam veterans 
could come in without proving one by one. So it is a lot of work that 
we have got to do--not what we have got to do, not just the VA, but 
what we have to do to make sure that we have the kind of service the 
veterans deserve.

    Corrine Brown Grateful for the Service of VA Secretary Shinseki


                       He Is a True American Hero

       Washington, DC.--Congresswoman Corrine Brown released the 
     following statement today:
       As a senior member of the House Veterans' Affairs 
     Committee, I am disappointed in the resignation of VA 
     Secretary Shinseki. While he felt he would have been a 
     distraction going forward to resolve the issues brought to 
     light by Phoenix, I feel Secretary Shinseki was the person 
     most capable of fixing these issues. I am grateful for his 
     service both as a soldier and a veteran.
       Since being sworn in as the seventh Secretary of Veterans 
     Affairs in 2009, Secretary Shinseki has brought reform and a 
     new way of thinking to the VA. As a former Chief of Staff of 
     the Army, Secretary Shinseki knew what the young men and 
     women protecting our freedoms overseas were going though and 
     wanted to make sure they did not have to fight a bureaucracy 
     to get the services they earned.
       The young men and women coming back and the veterans from 
     previous wars shared more than battlefield wounds when they 
     returned home, they shared a difficulty in getting care and 
     benefits for their signature wounds. For the Vietnam 
     veterans, it was exposure to Agent Orange; for veterans of 
     Iraq and Afghanistan, it was Traumatic Brain Injury.
       Secretary Shinseki made the decision in 2009 to establish 
     service connection for Vietnam Veterans with three specific 
     illnesses that, based on the latest scientific evidence, have 
     been associated with exposure to the herbicides referred to 
     as Agent Orange--Parkinson's disease, ischemic heart disease, 
     and B-cell leukemias.
       This was the right thing to do for Vietnam Veterans and, 
     thanks to this decision, Veterans who served in Vietnam 
     during the war and who have one of the ``presumptive'' 
     illnesses do not have to face another hurdle and prove an 
     association between their illness and their military service. 
     Thanks to this quick and decisive action VA has granted more 
     than 160,000 retroactive claims associated with these three 
     presumptive conditions, and awarded more than $4.5 billion in 
     retroactive benefits, with an average retroactive benefit 
     payment of nearly $27,000. Under Secretary Shinseki, the VA 
     continues to expand and improve its mental health programs, 
     adding more than 3800 mental health professionals to its 
     clinical staff. As part of VA's 2012 hiring initiative, VA 
     has hired 1,600

[[Page H5060]]

     mental health clinicians for newly created positions and 800 
     Peer Specialists and Peer Apprentices.
       Since 2009, Congress has increased the mental health care 
     budget by 42 percent and VA has treated 1.4 million Veterans 
     with specialty mental health services in fiscal year 2013 
     (FY13) alone. Under Secretary Shinseki's leadership, the VA 
     has expanded access to mental health services with longer 
     clinic hours, telehealth capability to deliver services, and 
     standards that mandate rapid access to mental health 
     services.
       In July 2010, VA published a historic change to its rules, 
     streamlining the process and paperwork needed by combat 
     Veterans to pursue a claim for disability pay for PTSD.
       After Secretary Shinseki made it easier for those claiming 
     Agent Orange and PTSD injuries, the claims backlog had major 
     increases. With his work to have overtime and sharing of 
     records, the claims backlog has been reduced by more than 50% 
     in the past 14 months. The VA has shown an unwavering 
     commitment to improving the delivery of benefits to Veterans. 
     With input from all of it veteran partners, the VA created 
     and is implementing a comprehensive plan to end the Veterans 
     disability benefits claims backlog.
       When Secretary Shinseki took office, he set a goal of 
     ending Veterans homelessness by 2015. The VA, along with 
     local, state, and federal partners has decreased the number 
     of homeless Veterans on a given night by 24 percent since 
     2010 and are continuing to work to keep bringing this number 
     down.
       The VA provides quality and timely healthcare and benefits 
     to our veterans. We have a duty to make sure that all those 
     who have defended this country when called upon receive the 
     care they have earned through their service. The VA is better 
     for Secretary Shinseki's service to our veterans.

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