[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 162 (Tuesday, October 15, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H8129-H8130]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
ESTABLISHING A GRANT PROGRAM FOR CEMETERY RESEARCH AND PRODUCING
EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS
Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 2385) to permit the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to
establish a grant program to conduct cemetery research and produce
educational materials for the Veterans Legacy Program, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 2385
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. GRANTS FOR CEMETERY RESEARCH AND THE PRODUCTION OF
EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS.
(a) Grants Authorized.--
(1) In general.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs may
establish a grant program to conduct cemetery research and
produce educational materials for the Veterans Legacy
Program.
(2) Eligible recipients.--The Secretary may award a grant
under this section to any of the following entities:
(A) An institution of higher learning.
(B) A local education agency.
(C) A non-profit entity that the Secretary determines has a
demonstrated history of community engagement.
(D) Another recipient the Secretary determines to be
appropriate.
(3) Use of funds.--A recipient of a grant under this
section may use the grant amount to--
(A) conduct research related to national, State, or Tribal
veterans' cemeteries;
(B) produce education materials that teach about the
history of veterans interred in national, State, or Tribal
veterans' cemeteries; and
(C) promote community engagement with the histories of
veterans interred in national, State, or Tribal veterans'
cemeteries.
(4) Maximum amount.--A grant awarded under this section may
not exceed $500,000.
(b) Regulations.--If the Secretary establishes a grant
program under this section, the Secretary shall prescribe
regulations regarding--
(1) the evaluation of applications for grants under the
program; and
(2) administration of the program.
(c) Report Required.--Not later than two years after the
Secretary establishes a grant program under this section, the
Secretary shall submit to the committees on Veterans' Affairs
of the House of Representatives and the Senate a report
regarding the determination of the Secretary whether the
grant program is a financially effective means to promote the
purposes in subsection (a)(3).
(d) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) The term ``Veterans Legacy Program'' means the program
of the National Cemetery Administration that is responsible
for providing engagement and educational tools and
opportunities to the public regarding the service and
sacrifice of veterans interred in national, State, or Tribal
veterans' cemeteries.
(2) The term ``institution of higher learning'' has the
meaning given that term in section 3452(f) of title 38,
United States Code.
(3) The term ``local educational agency'' has the meaning
given that term in section 8101 of the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801).
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
California (Mr. Takano) and the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. David P.
Roe) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California.
General Leave
Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and
to insert extraneous material on H.R. 2385, as amended.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from California?
There was no objection.
Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2385, as amended. This bill
was introduced by Representative Conor Lamb, vice chair of the
Committee on Veterans' Affairs. It would permit the Secretary of the VA
to use grants rather than Federal contracts to fund cemetery research
programs and produce educational materials as part of the Veterans
Legacy Program. Switching to a grant program would ease many
administrative burdens associated with Federal contracts, allow for
more timely payment, and broaden the reach of the program to smaller
organizations.
The Veterans Legacy Program was launched by VA's National Cemetery
Administration in order to resurrect the stories of veterans interred
at national cemeteries, to educate future generations, and to honor the
legacy of our Nation's heroes.
This program is a broad collection of public history materials that
tell the story of America's veterans buried in national cemeteries. It
supports the National Cemetery Administration's mission to honor and
memorialize our veterans by creating educational materials that local
educators can use to teach their students and others about the veterans
buried in local cemeteries.
Currently, the National Cemetery Administration awards Federal
contracts to colleges, universities, and other institutions to support
the Veterans Legacy Program. These contract awards are used to develop
specific curricula.
Eligible recipients of these contracts include institutions of higher
learning, local education agencies, nonprofit entities the Secretary
determines have a demonstrated history of community engagement, or any
other recipient the Secretary deems appropriate.
Contract funds can also be used to conduct research related to
national, State, or Tribal veterans' cemeteries and produce educational
materials about or promote community engagement with the history of the
veterans interred at those cemeteries. The maximum contract amount is
$500,000. Presently, 16 separate contracts have been awarded, which
have produced an impressive array of digital and nondigital resources.
Cemetery directors say that they are pleased to see students visiting
the cemeteries as part of their studies. This renewed interest, by the
young and old alike, revives the lives and stories of American
veterans.
However, the National Cemetery Administration and the institutions of
higher education that most often receive and utilize these contracts
tell us that working with grants is much more efficient and easier for
them to administer than contracts.
For instance, grants allow an award cycle that more closely aligns
with the academic calendar of schools and colleges. Administrators of
the Veterans Legacy Program said grant programs would help increase the
reach of the program beyond large universities to smaller groups that
want to become involved.
A grant program also allows for faster funding. Contracts involve a
onetime payment for work at the end of the project. A grant
configuration, however, would allow for fluid and regular payments
throughout the course of the work.
Memorializing veterans is a primary responsibility of this committee,
and we need to support innovative ideas for bringing energy and
interest into national veterans' cemeteries. The Veterans Legacy
Program is just that.
[[Page H8130]]
Those currently working with the program at the National Cemetery
Administration, in institutions of higher learning, and in community
groups tell us that a grant program, as opposed to a Federal contract
program, would solve most, if not all, of the administrative problems
related to accessing funds in a consistent and flexible way.
H.R. 2385 does that by simply allowing the VA to provide grant
funding to the Veterans Legacy Program.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time
as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2385, as amended. This
bill, which is sponsored by Congressman Conor Lamb from Pennsylvania, a
United States Marine Corps veteran, would authorize the Department of
Veterans Affairs to award grants instead of contracts to educational
organizations that research the lives of those who are interred in our
Nation's cemeteries.
I thank Chairman Takano for the amendment he offered during the
committee markup of this bill to include report language to ensure that
Congress has the information needed to determine whether this grant
program is financially sound.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 2385, as amended,
and I reserve the balance of my time.
{time} 1645
Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from
Pennsylvania (Mr. Lamb), my good friend and vice chairman of the House
Committee on Veterans Affairs, a veteran himself and author of H.R.
2385.
Mr. LAMB. Mr. Speaker, I begin by thanking Chairman Takano and
Ranking Member Roe for their support getting this bill through
committee, and my Republican colleague, Brian Fitzpatrick, for
cosponsoring it with me.
I rise tonight in support of H.R. 2385.
Mr. Speaker, we are here on the 75th anniversary of D-Day, and it
always struck me, an American general who said, if anyone ever needed
proof that the United States of America fought for a cause and not for
conquest, it is that when we invaded another continent halfway around
the world, the only soil we ever asked to maintain was enough to bury
our own dead.
It has been true, throughout generations, that veterans ask very
little recognition or very little thanks for their service. I have it
on good authority that, when they built the monument to World War II
here in Washington, D.C., throughout that whole year, there were a
number of veterans who approached the construction site after hours or
early in the morning, and they handed their dog tags to the people who
were working there and just asked them to throw them down in the pit
underneath those big stone pillars that they were putting in the
monument.
Anyone who has ever served understands that feeling, that total
commitment to the cause and lack of desire for recognition. But we do
programs like the Veterans Legacy Project because we need to
communicate that same spirit of sacrifice to the next generation, and
that is what this project can do.
The graves in these national cemeteries and the memorials that we
find there cause young people, especially, to slow down in a world that
is speeding up, and they express a confidence in the thing it is that
they memorialize. They tell young people that there are things that are
permanent in this world, as hard as that is to believe, and that there
is nothing more permanent than the sacrifices that these men and women
have made.
They also tell them that there is one thing that is not permanent,
which is the freedom that we all live under every single day, and that
it has to be refreshed and renewed with the sacrifices of people in
each generation.
So by expanding this program, making it more accessible to more high
schools and more colleges and more community groups, we can spread that
spirit of sacrifice, of permanence, of total commitment to the cause of
freedom throughout the next generation, and I can't think of any time
when that has been more needed.
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues for supporting this bill.
Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I have no further
speakers, and I am prepared to close.
Mr. Speaker, I once again encourage all Members to support H.R. 2385,
as amended, and I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
In closing, I do want to mention a couple of important stories
related to the Veterans Legacy Program.
Earlier this year, Professor Hedge Coke of the University of
California, Riverside presented testimony supporting H.R. 2385, as
amended.
Her research on the veterans buried at the Riverside National
Cemetery--by the way, the largest national cemetery in terms of its
geography in my district. She developed teaching curricula for local
teachers. She has remarkable energy in the remarkable attention that
she has brought to the cemetery. Her students use her educational
programs to revitalize the stories of the men and women buried there.
And, Mr. Speaker, at our hearing, Professor Hedge Coke told us that
the Veterans Legacy Program doesn't just bring students and community
members to the cemeteries; it takes the history of the cemeteries back
to the classrooms. Undergraduates, graduate students, and recent alumni
of UC Riverside go to local classrooms, from kindergarten through high
school, to foster this programming.
She said that in almost every classroom, a good third of the students
have significant ties to the cemetery they didn't know anything about.
This allows discovery of family and neighborhood ties and encourages
cultural development within the community.
To date, her program has produced dozens of lesson plans, and she has
worked with over 2,700 students in local public schools, including the
Sherman Indian High School.
I also want to say that one of the heroes that is buried at that
cemetery, Riverside National Cemetery, is Ysmael ``Smiley'' Villegas
from Casa Blanca, who earned the Medal of Honor by charging enemy
foxholes in World War II. He was killed 1 day short of his 21st
birthday.
Smiley Villegas' neighborhood, Casa Blanca, is a small neighborhood
of about 225 families; yet this neighborhood of 225 families sent 254
troops to serve in World War II.
Mr. Speaker, the Veterans Legacy Program helps to memorialize
veterans like Smiley and the enormous contributions of minority
communities like Casa Blanca.
The program recently created an interactive web app and digital
mapping of Riverside National Cemetery. It includes gravestone tributes
from local students, along with information about the cemetery's
construction, history, and notes of interest, such as Native American
and indigenous American veterans buried there.
In Professor Hedge Coke's words: ``The Legacy Program delivers this
terrific meeting of story and culture to the university, K-12 schools,
and the surrounding cultures and communities that make up our region.''
Mr. Speaker, I wholeheartedly encourage all of my colleagues to join
me in passing H.R. 2385, and I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from California (Mr. Takano) that the House suspend the rules
and pass the bill, H.R. 2385, as amended.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
Mr. TAKANO. 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 motion will be postponed.
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