[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 117 (Thursday, July 24, 2014)]
[House]
[Pages H6792-H6796]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
MOTION TO INSTRUCT CONFEREES ON H.R. 3230, PAY OUR GUARD AND RESERVE
ACT
Ms. BROWNLEY of California. Mr. Speaker, I have a motion at the desk.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk will report the motion.
The Clerk read as follows:
Ms. Brownley of California moves that the managers on the
part of the House at the conference on the disagreeing votes
of the two Houses on the House amendment to the Senate
amendment to the bill H.R. 3230 (an Act to improve the access
of veterans to medical services from the Department of
Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes) be instructed to--
(1) recede from disagreement with title V of the Senate
amendment (relating to health care related to sexual trauma);
and
(2) recede from the House amendment and concur in the
Senate amendment in all other instances.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 7(b) of rule XXII, the
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Brownley) and the gentleman from
Colorado (Mr. Lamborn) each will control 30 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from California.
Ms. BROWNLEY of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as
I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my strong support for the
military sexual trauma provisions that were included in the Senate-
passed H.R. 3230 and to urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on the
motion to instruct conferees to accept these provisions.
As you know, the statistics on military sexual assault are
staggering. In 2012, a Pentagon survey estimated that 26,000 women and
men were sexually assaulted. However, the Pentagon only received 3,374
formal allegations. Clearly, there remains a deep-seated cultural
problem in the military that discourages our servicemen and -women from
coming forward to report cases of sexual assault.
Nonetheless, if one counts those cases reported, more and more men
and women are currently leaving the military with PTSD from sexual
assault. This cannot continue. Military sexual assault is the ultimate
violation of the basic principles of trust, respect, honor, and dignity
that is the bedrock of the principles our military men and women expect
and deserve, and they are principles our country rightly demands.
Changing culture, as anyone from the public or private sectors know,
and those of us dealing with issues at the Veterans Administration know
all too well, changing culture is very difficult. But the culture of
our military must change, and we, my colleagues, need to accelerate
that change, from the military chain of command to reforms of our
military justice system.
Clearly, preventing military sexual assault in the first place is
critical, but it is equally critical that we provide servicemembers
leaving the military who have suffered from sexual assault, to make
access to care at the VA easier and safer, to make sure survivors get
the benefits and services they need, and to ensure that the VA provides
the very best treatment possible.
Compassion and care are a critical part of healing for those who have
been sexually assaulted. We need an environment where it is safe to
speak up and where we would never find anyone's story unjustly
dismissed or treated with indifference, which would only make the
trauma and the wound even deeper.
[[Page H6793]]
We have a bill before us that provides relief not only for those who
have endured sexual assault, but for so many of the issues facing our
veterans at this very moment.
I deeply appreciate the leadership from our chairman on the
committee, who has done a tremendous amount to help our veterans, and
he continues to do so. But the time to act is now. The crisis is clear.
We have a path to address it. We have veterans who deserve it, and we
have a Congress willing to provide the resources needed.
We have said time and time again in our hearings we need big change
and big ideas. We need real transformation, and, most importantly, we
need a VA whose sole purpose and mission is to serve our veterans with
the same vigor and sacrifice that our veterans have served our country.
Mr. Speaker, our veterans must come first in everything we do. There
is a lot of work ahead of us that the VA needs to do, and our committee
must continue to do so. Persistent and consistent oversight every step
of the way on our part will leverage the leadership and the strategic
plan from within the VA to ensure that we deliver timely and quality
health care with a compassion that our veterans and their families have
earned and deserve.
I have no doubt that the leadership of the chairman has been
instrumental to our committee's being able to work together in a
bipartisan fashion to get us to this point, and it is imperative that
we continue to work in a bipartisan fashion. Our veterans are counting
on us, and our country is counting on us.
As ranking member of the House Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on
Health and someone who has respected all of the work of the committee
on these issues, it is my belief that our veterans simply cannot and
should not wait another day.
We have a bill that the Senate has passed and that we know the House
would pass. We are currently scheduled by the Speaker to recess next
Thursday. If the Speaker keeps to that timeline, we need to accept what
is on the table: a bill that we know can pass both Houses and that we
know the President will sign so that our veterans receive the care they
deserve. We must include the provisions to improve VA treatment for
survivors of military sexual trauma.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on the motion to
instruct conferees, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LAMBORN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this motion to
instruct and yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, the motion to instruct would require the House to recede
to the Senate amendments to H.R. 3230. As Chairman Miller has stated
during debate on nearly identical motions to instruct last week and
again last night, the foremost goals of the House and Senate conference
committee are, one, to improve timely access to high-quality health
care for veterans who have been waiting for weeks, months, or even
years; and, two, to improve the accountability and overall operations
of the Department of Veterans Affairs health care system. This was the
central charge to the conferees at the beginning of the conference and
remains so today. I have no doubt that my colleague from California,
Congresswoman Brownley, the ranking member of the Subcommittee on
Health, shares these goals. However, this motion does not further our
pursuit of them.
Tonight, our attention is best spent devoted to finding a true
compromise--one that best serves our Nation's veterans and taxpayers
and lays the foundation for correcting the departmental deficiencies
that have brought us here--and not tying the conference committee's
hands with an unnecessary, unhelpful, unbinding, and time-consuming
motion to instruct.
As the gentlewoman knows, because she was in the Veterans' Affairs
Committee hearing with the acting VA Secretary, this morning, Chairman
Miller offered a proposal that would largely agree with nearly
everything in the Senate bill, with a few minor exceptions.
Chairman Miller's proposal would accept title I through title VII of
the original Senate bill, with amended language to include all 27
leases authorized by the House last December in H.R. 3521 rather than
the 26 that the Senate approved; provide VA with $102 million for
fiscal year 2014 to address the Department's internal funding
shortfalls; provide $10 billion of no-year, mandatory, emergency
funding to cover the cost of the Senate's choice provisions, with the
remaining Senate provisions subject to appropriations.
Mr. Speaker, I am supportive of Chairman Miller's proposal because it
is a fair, commonsense approach that ensures Congress is able to
continue its oversight to ensure that taxpayers' funds are spent
wisely.
As we all know, recently, Senator Sanders, chairman of the Senate
Veterans' Affairs Committee and cochair of the conference committee,
has indicated his desire to expand the scope of the conference to
include VA's recent request for an additional $17.6 billion. We call
that an airdrop. Unfortunately, there is virtually no parachute in the
form of detailed justification for this request, and to a great extent,
Congress' acceptance of unsubstantiated funding requests in the past
have helped get us to where we are today.
This summer, the House Veterans' Affairs Committee has held multiple
full committee oversight hearings to discuss the access and
accountability failures VA has been subjecting our veterans to. These
hearings have confirmed that the problems VA is facing today require
long-term and large-scale reform. Adding more money, more people, and
more infrastructure to a system that has not proven itself able to make
effective use of its existing resources that it has been provided
without first implementing underlying reforms does not serve our
veterans well and will not prevent them from continuing to face
unacceptably long patient waiting times.
It has been proven time and time again by the VA inspector general,
the Government Accountability Office, the administration, and others
that VA has been suffering from widespread data manipulation and a
systemic lack of integrity.
Given that, what confidence do we have that the $17.6 billion
resource request that VA is now making is based on data that is valid
or reliable, particularly given that the committee has received very
little analysis, justification, or verification of these numbers?
Before Congress can contemplate devoting such a significant amount of
taxpayer money, it is imperative that VA provide a full accounting of
each additional dollar that is being requested. The resource request
the Department has put forward so far is not the well thought-out and
thoroughly justifiable position that our Nation's veterans and our
taxpayers deserve. Rather, it is an unsubstantiated guess put together
in the back room of a massive bureaucracy.
Mr. Speaker, I truly believe we could have already come to an
agreement if Senator Sanders would not have insisted on moving the
goalposts so dramatically. The House has passed almost a dozen bills
reforming the VA that have waited months for Senate consideration. The
Senate could pass those bills and send them to the President to become
law today.
I would remind Ms. Brownley that one such bill, H.R. 2527, would
extend VA's military sexual trauma counseling, along with care and
treatment programs, for veterans for sexual trauma that occurred during
Active Duty or Active Duty for training to veterans who experienced
such trauma during inactive duty training.
{time} 1800
Mr. Speaker, we are continually trying to work out a deal with the
Senate, but I would submit to this body these motions to instruct are
unproductive, are slowing down the conference process, and have become
nothing more than a political ploy to distract from the true issues
facing our veterans and the conference committee.
So with that, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the motion to
instruct.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. BROWNLEY of California. Mr. Speaker, I just want to recognize my
colleague, the gentleman from Colorado. He has worked hard on this
committee. I want to make clear that what we are talking about today is
the bill that passed the Senate 93-3. So we are not talking about an
airdrop or moving the goalpost; we are talking about the bill that
passed out of the Senate 93-3.
[[Page H6794]]
At this time, Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from
Nevada (Ms. Titus) who has been a leader on this issue and introduced
the Military Sexual Trauma Claims Administration Reform and Eligibility
Act.
Ms. TITUS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from
California for yielding to me, and for addressing this important issue
of coverage for victims of sexual assault in the National Guard.
I rise in support of the Brownley motion to instruct. As you have
heard described, this proposal addresses an unacceptable gap in current
law that effectively leaves some victims of military sexual assault
without the support and treatment they need.
Members of the National Guard and other reserve components of the
armed services have fought bravely for our country, many completing
numerous tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. Since the attacks on
September 11, more than 50,000 guardsmen and guardswomen have been
called to service both at home and abroad. We recognize the value of
their service, of the National Guard, and of other reserve components,
and we thank them for their sacrifice.
Unfortunately, some guardsmen and -women, like other members of the
armed services, are victimized by sexual assault while on Active Duty.
If that happens, they are provided all of the VA resources and services
they need to recover and heal, physically and emotionally. These
benefits, however, are not offered to members of the National Guard or
other reserve components who experience sexual assault while on
inactive training missions. For example, members of the Guard are
required to participate in training missions one weekend a month and
two weeks a year, but benefits and services, such as counseling and
medical care, do not extend to victims sexually assaulted during those
mandatory training missions. This oversight is simply unacceptable and
leaves so many who have served our country so bravely without
assistance or support during a devastating time.
On May 28, the House unanimously agreed to a solution to this problem
by passing legislation I introduced last year, the bipartisan National
Guard Military Sexual Trauma Parity Act. This legislation is supported
by a number of the leading veterans service organizations.
The National Guard Military Sexual Trauma Parity Act would fix this
omission and clarify that all victims of sexual trauma in the National
Guard or other reserve components have access to the care they need to
help them recover from acts of sexual trauma while they are on inactive
or reserve duty.
The Senate wisely included this language in the VA reform bill that
passed their body 93-3, and it is important that this provision, which
has been passed by the House already, be included in the final version
of the bill. I was pleased to hear it mentioned by our colleague from
Colorado, so I am glad that there is support for keeping it in the
conference report.
I encourage my colleagues to support the Brownley motion to instruct
to ensure that all victims of sexual assault, regardless of what kind
of duty they are on, have access to the care they need.
Mr. LAMBORN. I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. BROWNLEY of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the
gentlewoman from New Hampshire (Ms. Kuster), a valued and insightful
member of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee.
Ms. KUSTER. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Brownley for her
friendship and for her commitment to our Nation's veterans.
I rise to support the Brownley motion to instruct the conferees on
H.R. 3230. It has been one of the most humble honors for me to serve on
the Veterans' Affairs committee, one of the most bipartisan committees
in this Congress.
This week I had the honor to join my constituent, Sergeant Ryan
Pitts, as he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Honor at the White
House, and my husband and I joined Ryan and his wife, Amy, and their
son, Luke, at the Pentagon as he was inducted into the Hall of Fame. He
honored his colleagues, the chosen few who lost their lives in
Afghanistan, and on his behalf and on their behalf it is a tremendous
privilege for me to continue to work with my colleagues on both sides
of the aisle in service to our Nation's veterans.
Mr. Speaker, we were all shocked and outraged when our committee
uncovered long wait times, secret wait lists, and manipulated records
at the Veterans Administration. When our men and women in uniform
return home after fighting for our freedom, they should never ever have
to fight just to receive the medical care that they have earned and
they deserve. That is why I was proud to work with Republicans and
Democrats to pass commonsense reforms to hold VA leaders accountable
and increase access to care for our veterans.
I also partnered with the gentlewoman from Arizona (Mrs. Kirkpatrick)
to cosponsor legislation that puts forward even stronger VA reforms and
which has already passed in the Senate. Both Chambers of Congress have
passed bipartisan bills in response to the scandal at the VA, and now
it is time to finish the job and reconcile this legislation.
We owe it to our veterans to stay right here in Washington and to
work together until we can send a final bill to the President's desk to
improve care for all our veterans. And we must ensure that this final
legislation contains strong protections for veteran survivors of sexual
trauma.
Mr. Speaker, sadly, sexual assault in our military is a full-blown
epidemic. According to the Department of Defense, an estimated 26,000
servicemembers have suffered unwanted sexual contact in just 2012
alone. This is an outrage. When a young woman or a young man signs up
to serve our country, they know that they may face danger in combat,
but it is unacceptable that so many of these brave Americans are
attacked every year by their own colleagues.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.
Ms. BROWNLEY of California. I yield an additional 30 seconds to the
gentlewoman.
Ms. KUSTER. It is unacceptable that so many of our brave Americans
are attacked every year by their own colleagues. And when survivors
come forward, which only happens a fraction of the time, our flawed
military justice system often turns a blind eye.
Mr. Speaker, I was proud to work across the aisle with our
colleagues, Jackie Walorski, Loretta Sanchez, and many others to pass
strong whistleblower protections into law and help prevent retaliation
against those who bravely report these crimes. We need to continue to
work together, and I implore our colleagues to join us in voting
``yes'' on the motion to instruct and to guarantee that our veterans
will be protected.
I again partnered with Representative Walorski to introduce
legislation to extend VA travel benefits to veterans travelling to seek
treatment for injuries resulting from sexual trauma.
Republican and Democrat alike, so many of us fought to reform our
military justice system and transfer authority to independent
prosecutors.
And together, this House passed the Ruth Moore Act to help ensure
that veterans suffering from sexual trauma have access to the services
they need.
In a Congress bogged down by gridlock and partisanship, this issue
has united both parties.
When working to rid our military of sexual assault, and to better
serve its survivors, we have proven that Congress can still find common
ground and solve problems.
So let's build on that progress and pass this motion, which would
agree to Senate-passed language to expand VA services for the treatment
of military sexual trauma.
In addition, this motion would improve coordination between the VA
and Department of Defense.
These are goals that we can all support.
So I implore our colleagues--join us in voting yes, and let's
continue the important work of protecting our service members from
sexual assault, and guaranteeing only the best care for those veterans
who suffered from these crimes.
Mr. LAMBORN. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my
time.
Ms. BROWNLEY of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the
gentlewoman from Massachusetts (Ms. Tsongas) who has been an
extraordinary leader and champion, and also
[[Page H6795]]
the cochair of the Military Sexual Assault Prevention Caucus.
Ms. TSONGAS. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congresswoman Brownley for allowing
me to speak on this very worthwhile motion, and I rise in support.
Statistics from the Department of Veterans Affairs indicate that as
many as one in five women are sexually assaulted while serving in the
military. But receiving benefits from the VA remains a challenge.
Last year, the Service Women's Action Network, the Yale Law School
Veterans Legal Services Clinic, the ACLU, and the ACLU of Connecticut
released a report showing that veterans who experience sexual assaults
have their benefits claims denied more than veterans with other types
of PTSD. The report also found the rate of granting these claims varied
greatly depending on the particular VA regional office. The St. Paul,
Minnesota, office granted only 26 percent of the military sexual trauma
claims they received, while the office in Los Angeles granted more than
88 percent of the claims they received.
Anyone who has seen the powerful documentary ``The Invisible War''
has anguished along with Kori Cioca. Kori survived a horrific sexual
assault while serving, and suffered severe injuries to her face and jaw
incident to the assault. She waited for years for an answer from the VA
on the jaw surgery she needed, but her claim was ultimately and
shockingly denied.
The VA has a long way to go when it comes to granting benefits for
survivors of military sexual trauma. The Senate provisions in section
503 of the Senate bill would make sure that Congress is better informed
on how the VA is treating military sexual trauma.
Section 503 would also address what the VA is doing for male victims
of sexual assault. According to the Defense Department, by the numbers,
men in the military are more often victims of sexual assault than
women.
Yesterday, Senator Gillibrand of New York screened a documentary on
Capitol Hill called ``Justice Denied.'' In it, male victims tell the
heart-wrenching stories of being sexually assaulted, and too often
being ignored by their commands after they reported an attack and
isolated by their fellow servicemembers for doing so. We must do a
better job--a much better job--of protecting these men and taking care
of them after these incidents. The Senate bill allows us to start to do
that.
Finally, section 501 expands eligibility for counseling services
which are so important to people healing. About 2 years ago, a woman
veteran came to my office to talk to me about being sexually assaulted
while she was in the military. She hadn't spoken to many people about
what had happened to her before, and it was difficult to do so. But she
had just come from a summit where she had met a number of survivors
just like her who had had similar experiences. This opportunity to meet
people with similar stories and share their experiences strengthened
her. She was similarly strengthened through counseling and group
therapy. She has become more and more comfortable speaking about her
story because of the treatment she has received. I have now seen her
bravely telling her story to a rapt audience after a screening of ``The
Invisible War.''
I urge a ``yes'' vote on this very important motion that will help to
improve care to so many servicemembers.
Mr. LAMBORN. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my
time.
Ms. BROWNLEY of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Speier) who has been instrumental in
reforming the Uniform Code of Military Justice in her role on the House
Armed Services Committee.
Ms. SPEIER. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from California, whom I
am honored to serve with and who I want to compliment for bringing
recognition to this issue and a spotlight on the importance of
providing this service to veterans when they are no longer in Active
Duty.
The reason why this particular section 503 is so critical is because
so few of these survivors ever come forward when they are on Active
Duty to speak about their sexual assault. In fact, the military in many
respects encourages them not to come forward because oftentimes the
result is, when you do come forward, you are labeled as having a
personality disorder and then honorably but involuntarily discharged
from the military.
The stories I have heard over the last 3 or 4 years are really very
disturbing because it makes the case over and over again that the
military does not really want to deal with this issue.
{time} 1815
So 26,000 sexual assaults or sexual harassments that take place to
members of the military every year. 5,000--only 5,000 of them report
them, only 500 of them go to court-martial, and only 250 see any kind
of time in jail or prison.
There are many of these victims who upon retiring, upon being
discharged from the military, are into drugs and alcohol, and all of a
sudden find out that what is really driving their conditions is the
fact that they were raped when they were in the military.
I had the opportunity just last week to spend some time at the MST
program in Menlo Park, California, with five survivors who were in an
inpatient program. They were all extraordinarily grateful for the
opportunity they had to participate in that program.
They found it to be a lifesaver, literally a lifesaver. They were all
on the brink before being admitted into this particular program and for
the first time feel that they are getting their lives back, but one of
the great eye-opening parts of that experience was that, of the five
women, four of them would be homeless upon leaving this in-treatment
program, which went on for about 45 days.
On top of everything else that we are learning about MST, I think it
is important to recognize that survivors, particularly women
survivors--but I believe it is true of men survivors as well--need to
be in programs that are single-sex because they have so many issues
associated with it and that we have got to find housing for them after
they leave.
With that, I support the motion.
Mr. LAMBORN. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my
time.
Ms. BROWNLEY of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the
gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee), who has also been a leader
and advocate for justice for our survivors in the Judiciary Committee.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, let me add my appreciation to Ms.
Brownley for her leadership on this issue and for the women that are on
the floor who are members of the Veterans' Affairs Committee and
members of the Armed Services Committee, who really have led this
issue, which I believe all of America understands.
Let me thank Mr. Lamborn, who is from Colorado and a member of the
Veterans' Affairs Committee, and as we debate this motion to instruct,
a personal plea to Mr. Lamborn, that this is truly a reasoned response
to the heinous number of women and some men in the United States
military who have experienced traumatic sexual assault and trauma.
This is a simple motion to instruct. It asks us to cede to the
provision in the Senate, which allows for the care, health care, under
the veterans health care system, of those who have experienced sexual
trauma.
As Ms. Brownley has indicated, I am a senior member of the House
Judiciary Committee, and we address these questions through the
Judiciary Committee on issues of domestic violence and sexual assault
and find ways, of course, to be able to respond to women who have been
victimized.
We took a long time to pass the Violence Against Women Act, but the
whole idea was to include an infrastructure to protect women who are
frightened to come forward and to acknowledge the criminality of
domestic violence and violence against women.
Can we do no less for the women in the United States military who put
on the uniform and took an oath to swear allegiance to the United
States and to extend their bodies on the front lines to be able to
protect this Nation, can we not do any less than to offer to them
simple health care when they come forward on sexual trauma?
Just a few years ago, I provided a PTSD center at one of my
nonveteran or nonmilitary hospitals. It was overwhelmingly received by
veterans who
[[Page H6796]]
were off campus and wanted to go to a place that was not as congested
as a veterans hospital, but I will tell you that PTSD is truly a health
phenomenon.
The distinctive sexual trauma that some of my colleagues have
mentioned that women have hidden and never spoken about for years
should not be rejected when they come forward finally because we have
opened the system to be able to secure health care. They should not be,
in essence, directed to a life of drug abuse and alcohol abuse because
they are fearing. They should be able to get health care.
So I ask my colleagues, 26,000 and growing and others who are also
involved, this is an important motion to instruct, and I congratulate,
again, Ms. Brownley. My heart breaks--as she served as the ranking
member on the Health Subcommittee on Veterans' Affairs--my heart breaks
that when you are abused, when your face is abused, when your body is
abused, that is a health crisis.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.
Ms. BROWNLEY of California. I yield an additional 30 seconds to the
gentlewoman from Texas.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Having just come back from my community where two
women and families have been killed through the violence of domestic
violence, they live no more--but what about those who are soldiers who
put on the uniform who are experiencing a lifelong experience of
injuries and psychological trauma?
Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to support this motion to instruct
offered by my colleague, Ms. Brownley. What more can we do or how much
less can we do for women and men who put on the uniform who are
suffering from sexual trauma? It must be part of the Veterans' Affairs
health reform.
Mr. LAMBORN. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my
time.
Ms. BROWNLEY of California. Mr. Speaker, might I inquire if the
gentleman from Colorado will have any additional speakers?
Mr. LAMBORN. Mr. Speaker, at this time, there are no plans to have
any additional speakers.
Ms. BROWNLEY of California. Then I am prepared to close.
Mr. LAMBORN. Mr. Speaker, I once again urge all Members to oppose the
motion to instruct, and I yield back the balance of my time.
Ms. BROWNLEY of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as
I may consume.
In closing, I would like to add that as ranking member of the Health
Subcommittee, I led a hearing last July to address VA care and
treatment for military sexual trauma survivors.
The subcommittee looked at the coordination of care and services
offered by the Department of Defense and the VA. I was truly saddened
to listen to the testimonies of those who spoke. Their pain and
suffering was evident in every word they spoke. I know it was hard for
all of them to share their stories, and I know all of us understand the
immense bravery it took for them to do so.
I know that all of us, including those who have come to speak today,
are dedicated to addressing military sexual assault. The Senate bill
takes an important step forward toward that end. It is but one very
important reason why I call on my colleagues to support this motion to
instruct.
Let's insist that the Department of Defense and the VA address the
epidemic of military sexual assault, which must include appropriate
care and treatment of trauma survivors, and let's adopt the language in
the Senate bill that addresses military sexual trauma.
We have a bill before us that was crafted by Members of Congress
whose dedication to our veterans is beyond question, but we are running
out of time. We have a bill that we know will pass both Houses, that we
know the President will sign, that we know will provide significant
relief to our veterans immediately.
We simply cannot negotiate any longer. Time is of the essence. We
should move forward. We should adopt the Senate bill.
I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on the motion to instruct
conferees, and, Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the previous question is
ordered on the motion to instruct.
There was no objection.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion to instruct.
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that
the noes appeared to have it.
Ms. BROWNLEY of California. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas
and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further
proceedings on this question will be postponed.
____________________