[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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