[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 82 (Thursday, May 14, 2026)]
[House]
[Pages H3466-H3467]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            ROSEBURG VA HOME

  (Ms. Hoyle of Oregon was recognized to address the House for 5 
minutes.)
  Ms. HOYLE of Oregon. Mr. Speaker, in March, I testified in front of 
the Appropriations Committee in support of the $600 million 
appropriations funding request for the Veterans State Home Grant. This 
is a program that funds the Roseburg State Veterans' Home.
  The Appropriations Committee came back with $171 million request 
instead. That is a $104 million cut from the 2026 enacted amount and an 
insult to those who served our country and who have earned the right to 
live out the rest of their lives in dignity.
  There is a huge backlog of projects that need funding from the VA 
State Home Grant, including the Roseburg State Veterans' Home, totaling 
over $1 billion--$1 billion. That is less than we spend in day on the 
war in Iran.
  Veterans in my district have been advocating for this home since 
2011. Oregon has done its part. The State first set aside matching 
funds for this project in 2011 when Representative Cliff Bentz and I 
served in the State legislature and again in 2024.
  Unfortunately, the Federal Government has not held up its end of the 
bargain, and the need is clear. My district is home to more veterans 
than any other district in Oregon, and many live in rural communities 
with limited access to long-term care options.
  The Roseburg State Veterans' Home would house more than 150 veterans 
and be a model for community-based care. Our veterans have waited long 
enough to receive the care they deserve. The Federal Government needs 
to step up and ensure these projects, like the Roseburg State Veterans' 
Home, can finally move forward.
  This isn't just about Roseburg, Oregon, but throughout this country 
we should all be united in ensuring our veterans, who put their lives 
on the line to protect and serve our country, get the benefits that 
they earned and deserve.


                         The Right Thing to Do

  Ms. HOYLE of Oregon. Mr. Speaker, first and foremost, I want to 
congratulate the Eugene Emergency Physicians for their hard-fought and 
won contract with PeaceHealth, the only level 2 trauma hospital between 
Corvallis, Oregon, and Crescent City, California.
  Now, for those who don't know, the PeaceHealth hospital leadership 
decided to replace our local emergency physician group, 41 medical 
professionals who live in our community and who have served our 
emergency medical needs with distinction for 35 years, with a 
management-run, venture capital-funded medical group out of Georgia.
  Fortunately, Oregon passed a law restricting corporate ownership and 
the Corporate Practice of Medicine law that restricts MSOs from owning, 
controlling, or directing medical decisionmaking for professional 
medical entities.
  It prevents MSOs from using a friendly physician amendment to 
circumvent ownership laws, and it voids noncompete, nondisclosure, and 
nondisparagement for medical professionals.
  Now, if this law were not in place, then our community would have 
been left a lot less safe and less able to respond to a natural 
disaster or large emergency medical need before the July 4 weekend, 
which is traditionally the highest E.R. usage period in the year, and 
before what everyone agrees will be a devastating wildfire season.
  We won this battle in Oregon. However, there is no national law that 
prohibits the corporate ownership and

[[Page H3467]]

practice of medicine where the highest priority is profits to the 
shareholders instead of providing quality, affordable, and appropriate 
healthcare.
  We can and should fix that, and it shouldn't be partisan. We should 
all agree that large insurance companies, hedge funds, and venture 
capital firms should not be able to buy up healthcare systems, driving 
up costs while limiting service to everyone but their shareholders.
  That is why I have introduced the people over profits bill to prevent 
squeezing every bit of profit out of a medical care system at the 
expense of our constituents when they are at their most vulnerable. We 
need this law so we can have more wins like the one I am so proud 
Eugene Emergency Physicians won last week. We need that all across this 
great country. It is the right thing to do, and I hope my colleagues 
will join me in supporting this very, very important legislation.

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