[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 120 (Tuesday, July 29, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5005-S5007]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
MAKING EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING
SEPTEMBER 30, 2014--MOTION TO PROCEED
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I now move to proceed to Calendar No. 488,
S. 2648, the emergency supplemental appropriations act dealing with the
border crisis.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will report the motion.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 488, S. 2648, a bill
making emergency supplemental appropriations for the fiscal
year ending September 30, 2014, and for other purposes.
Schedule
Mr. REID. Following my remarks and those of the Republican leader,
the Senate will be in a period of morning business until 12 noon, with
Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each, with the
Republicans controlling the first half and the majority controlling the
final half.
At 12 noon, the Senate will proceed to executive session to consider
Robert Alan McDonald to be Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
The Senate will recess from 12:30 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. to allow for
weekly caucus meetings.
At 2:45 p.m. there will be a rollcall vote for confirmation of the
McDonald nomination, followed by several voice votes to confirm the
Andre, Hoza, and Polaschik nominations.
Upon disposition of the Polaschik nomination, the Senate will
consider the Highway and Transportation Funding Act. Senators should
expect five rollcall votes this evening in relation to Wyden-Hatch,
Carper-Corker-Boxer, Lee, and Toomey amendments and on passage of H.R.
5021, as amended, if amended. Senators will be notified when those
votes are scheduled.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Booker). The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call
be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Measures Placed on the Calendar--S. 2673 and H.R. 3393
Mr. REID. There are two bills at the desk due for second readings.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will read the bills by title for the
second time.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
A bill (S. 2673) to enhance the strategic partnership
between the United States and Israel.
A bill (H.R. 3393) to amend the Internal Revenue Code of
1986 to consolidate certain tax benefits for educational
expenses, to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to make
improvements to the child tax credit, and for other purposes.
Mr. REID. I would object to any further proceedings of these two
matters.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
The bills will be placed on the calendar.
Veterans' Care
Mr. REID. Almost 2 years ago, within a few days 2 years ago, we were
in Las Vegas to dedicate this beautiful new veterans facility.
Taxpayers' money spent on it was about $700 million. It is beautiful.
It is the second one we have been able to do in southern Nevada. We
built a nice little hospital with a joint venture between the Veterans
Administration and the Air Force.
But with the wars in Iraq, and Afghanistan, we ran out of room to
accommodate the influx of veterans.
It became very difficult for veterans. We have a huge veterans
population in southern Nevada. We have all kinds of military bases
there that they are stationed in. They come, and they decide they want
to live in southern Nevada.
So the veterans in southern Nevada found themselves in a difficult
situation. When this new hospital was dedicated--it took 7 years of
work to get this done. I worked hard, as did others, to obtain this
money. It was a state-of-the-art facility, 100 inpatient beds, a
nursing home unit, and an ambulatory care center. It was a state-of-
the-art facility. It was unquestionably, probably without exaggerating,
the finest veterans hospital in the country. It was brandnew. But, more
importantly, it was a precious resource to veterans throughout the
State of Nevada.
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We have a facility in northern Nevada. It has been there for many
decades. To the credit of Senator Mikulski from Maryland, she came and
visited it a number of years ago and said: This is wrong. In that
facility we couldn't get the modern equipment down the halls and into
the bedrooms. We had to renovate, so it is in good shape. So the
veterans in northern Nevada had a facility long before southern Nevada.
But in spite of all this happy talk about what a wonderful facility
this is, veterans depending on VA care have been stunned. Why? Because
they are waiting 50 days. If you are a new patient, you call and they
say: Well, we will see you in a couple of months. Come on in. About
2,000 patients have been waiting 90 days in order to even get an
appointment. This is unacceptable.
It is not a problem only in Las Vegas, it is all over the country: a
nationwide, systemic problem where these combat veterans and other
veterans have been languishing on some nonexistent waiting list.
When I learned that Bernie Sanders from Vermont and Congressman
Miller had worked out something, I was stunned. I was so happy. I got a
call from Senator Sanders on Saturday telling me: I think we have got
it done. That is wonderful. That is truly remarkable, what they have
done.
I don't need to go through the bill, what it does, but it provides
billions of dollars for emergency funding to hire new doctors and
nurses. It will authorize 27 new medical facilities around the country,
allowing the VA to grow as it needs to grow.
That is wonderful news. That is the way we should be legislating. We
couldn't find two more politically different people than Bernie Sanders
of Vermont and Chairman Miller. They are very different people; they
have very different views. But they know we have sent hundreds and
hundreds of thousands of people to Iraq and Afghanistan, when these
veterans come home, they need help. We took care of the war efforts,
and rightfully so. The military needed every penny they have to fight
these wars, but we haven't been as generous in taking care of these
people when they come home from these wars.
The main point I want to make is that Chairman Miller and Senator
Sanders understand we owe America's veterans.
It is good we are talking about this, rather than an impeachment of
the President or suing the President. Look in the papers today. The
American people are totally opposed. We shouldn't be off on these
tracks of impeachment, suing the President. We should be legislating.
An exemplary standard of that is what I hope will be completed this
week when the conference report comes to us from the House to complete
this legislation. It is truly a good day for the American veterans and
the American people.
Recognition of the Minority Leader
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Republican leader is recognized.
Veterans Health Care
Mr. McCONNELL. America makes a promise to every man and woman who
puts on the uniform. In exchange for their service, our country pledges
they will be well trained, well equipped, and treated with the dignity
and respect they deserve.
It is the least we can offer to the brave soldiers, sailors, airmen,
and marines who put everything on the line so we can live in freedom.
It is a solemn pact, and that is why the American people were so
shocked to read some of the headlines we have seen over the past few
months, headlines such as: ``Veterans languish and die on a VA
hospital's secret list.'' Then, as the Obama administration tried to
cover its tracks, a headline such as: ``Veterans Affairs spies,
stonewalls on people investigating it.''
It is a national disgrace, ailing veterans being put off for months
by a hospital system that should be rushing to their aid, and veterans
dying while waiting for care.
According to the government's own report on these failures, we also
know these problems were so systemic that they spread to more than
three-quarters of the VA facilities surveyed, literally to every corner
of the country, including Kentucky.
Kentuckians heard shocking news stories such as the one about a
Harrodsburg veteran who was being treated at the VA facility in
Lexington. The staff there declared him dead. Yet when the veteran's
wife came to say her final good-byes, she found her husband breathing--
with a pulse.
I was glad to hear this veteran is now back home with his family and
recovering. But no veteran and no spouse should ever have to go through
such a horrific ordeal. Yet I continue to receive letters from Kentucky
veterans who have been denied the care they deserve, such as this one
from a disabled veteran in Gradyville. This is what he had to say:
I have had some of the most frustrating of times trying to
receive the quality of health care that anyone deserves.
Not only has it taken me months to be seen, but I have been
told by a primary care physician that ``He did not need to
see me until my 6 month checkup''. . . . I simply no longer
have the time and money to invest in the run around I receive
in trying to make an appeal. . . . I gave up 4 years of my
life and proper use of my right arm in this nation's defense.
I would have given my life without question to protect a
country that I love. It breaks my heart to no longer be a
part of an institution I so lovingly became a member [of].
Our nation's veterans deserve so much more.
Well, he is certainly right. Thousands of Kentuckians have had to
wait for more than a month at VA facilities in Louisville and
Lexington.
So the Obama administration needs to use every tool available to
address the systemic failures of the VA, and it needs to work with
Congress on reforms that can help address these challenges too.
Initially, the Obama administration was slow to respond to the
crisis. The White House tried to treat it as some PR predicament to get
beyond rather than the true tragedy that it was--a tragedy that
required bipartisan action to investigate and address.
Ultimately, pressure from Republicans and revulsion from the American
people forced the White House to take this crisis seriously. Audits
were conducted. Management changes were undertaken. And the necessity
of serious reform was accepted--eventually.
I was proud to support bipartisan VA reform legislation that passed
the Senate last month, and I am encouraged by the progress of the
conference committee toward completing a final compromise that can pass
Congress and be signed into law. The compromise legislation would
introduce some much-needed accountability into the VA system and help
increase patient choice. In fact, the compromise appears to include two
initiatives I specifically pressed with the President's nominee to head
the Veterans Affairs Department when I recently met with him.
One, I said we need to make it easier to fire VA bureaucrats who fail
our veterans; and, two, I said we need to allow veterans to seek care
outside the VA if they face long wait times or if they do not live near
a VA facility.
The conference report, fortunately, appears to include both. I thank
Senators Burr, McCain, and Coburn for steadfastly fighting for the
veterans choice part of the conference agreement that will allow our
deserving veterans the option of accessing care in hospitals when VA
facilities are not available.
As for the President's nominee to run the VA Bob McDonald, we all
know he has a tough job ahead of him after his confirmation. I made
clear my expectations for dramatic change when I met him. But if Mr.
McDonald is willing to work in a collaborative and open manner with
Congress--and I expect he will--he will find a constructive partner on
this side of the aisle.
Look, we know there is much we can and should do to address this
crisis together. So I am hopeful because when veterans are denied care,
it is a priority deserving of bipartisan attention, and the government
needs to start living up again to the promises it made to our veterans.
We certainly owe them no less.
Emergency Supplemental Appropriation
Mr. President, Israel's military campaign against the terrorist
organization Hamas has a clear-cut objective: to restore Israel's
security by eliminating rockets, shut down these infiltration tunnels
from which Hamas is launching its attacks against Israel, and, indeed,
to demilitarize Gaza. That is Israel's objective.
This is clearly justified in the face of more than 2,300 rocket
attacks into
[[Page S5007]]
Israel from Gaza since early July. I strongly support Israel's recent
efforts through Operation Protective Edge to defend itself and to end
the threat of additional rocket and infiltration attacks by Hamas.
Operation Protective Edge also serves a larger purpose, and its
resolution has broader implications for the future of the Palestinian
people.
If Hamas declares victory by keeping its weapons stockpile, by
continuing to undermine Israel's security, and by turning away from
Egypt's efforts to forge a reasonable cease-fire, the net result will
be a relative weakening of the Palestinian Authority and of those in
the West Bank who have worked toward a peaceful resolution of the
overall conflict.
So I support any effort which brings this campaign to an end in a
manner that increases Israel's security. That means specifically that
Hamas cannot be left with a large stockpile of missiles and rockets and
cannot be left with infiltration tunnels. They must be destroyed. Hamas
cannot be allowed to aggressively rest, refit, and build up a weapons
stockpile. That weakens Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
Here is what I oppose. I oppose any efforts--any efforts by the
international community, especially the United Nations--to impose a
cease-fire on Israel that does not meet these military objectives and
that therefore risks actually rewarding Hamas for a campaign of terror
and that seeks to make additional concessions to Hamas such as easing
security along the borders of Gaza.
An unfavorable settlement, especially one that left the terrorist
group Hamas with a stockpile of weaponry, would create incentives for
Hamas to continue smuggling arms from Iran and, of course, to return to
violence. An unfavorable settlement would also undermine the leadership
of the Palestinian Authority, which has attempted to negotiate with
Israel through peaceful means.
So let's be clear. The terror tactics employed by Hamas show contempt
for human life, whether Israeli or Palestinian. By employing rockets
and mortars as weapons of terror against Israel's civilian population
or by using its own schools within Gaza as weapon depots, Hamas has
shown a gross disregard for civilians.
The Prime Minister of Israel put it very well when he said:
``[Israel] uses missiles to protect our people. They (Hamas) use their
people to protect their missiles.''
There is no moral equivalency--none whatsoever. These tactics should
be loudly and widely condemned, and Israel's right to defend itself
should be affirmed.
As I noted last week, Secretary Hagel wrote to the majority leader
seeking urgent funding for components of the Iron Dome missile defense
system. I and others support this request, as Iron Dome has afforded
Israel some real protection from these indiscriminate rockets.
This morning some of my colleagues will further explain the
importance of Iron Dome and the need for the Israeli Defense Forces to
press on and finish the job in destroying the infiltration tunnels and
weapons stockpiles. Republicans are united in our support of Israel's
defense, and this morning my colleagues will explain our opposition to
any effort to force a cease-fire on Israel that does not further its
security objectives.
In a situation such as this, Israel only has one dependable friend.
The United States should not be trying to pressure Israel to make a bad
deal that leaves Hamas in a position to continue these attacks against
Israeli civilians.
No one has been more active on this issue than my colleague from
South Carolina. I see him on the floor now. Therefore, I yield the
floor.
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