[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 7]
[House]
[Pages 9616-9618]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      SCHERTZ VETERANS POST OFFICE

  Mr. FARENTHOLD. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 771) to designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service located at 1081 Elbel Road in Schertz, Texas, as the ``Schertz 
Veterans Post Office''.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                                H.R. 771

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SCHERTZ VETERANS POST OFFICE.

       (a) Designation.--The facility of the United States Postal 
     Service located at 1081 Elbel Road in Schertz, Texas, shall 
     be known and designated as the ``Schertz Veterans Post 
     Office''.
       (b) References.--Any reference in a law, map, regulation, 
     document, paper, or other record of the United States to the 
     facility referred to in subsection (a) shall be deemed to be 
     a reference to the ``Schertz Veterans Post Office''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Farenthold) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Cuellar) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Farenthold).


                             General Leave

  Mr. FARENTHOLD. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their 
remarks and to include extraneous material on the bill under 
consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Texas?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. FARENTHOLD. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 771, introduced by my friend and 
colleague, the gentleman from south Texas (Mr. Cuellar), would 
designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 
1081 Elbel Road in Schertz, Texas, as the Schertz Veterans Post Office.
  This bill is cosponsored by the entire Texas delegation, and I'm a 
proud cosponsor myself, Mr. Speaker. It's altogether fitting and proper 
that we designate this post office in Schertz to honor those who have 
sacrificed so much for this Nation--our veterans.
  Mr. Speaker, I'd like to commend my colleague from Texas for 
introducing this legislation and also commend him for introducing H.R. 
1318, the South Texas Veterans Health Care Expansion Act. I'm a proud 
original cosponsor of this legislation as well, which is vitally 
important to the veterans all over south Texas.

                              {time}  1750

  H.R. 1318 would expand health care for the more than 117,000 veterans 
who reside in far south Texas. Currently, without adequate medical 
facilities, many of these veterans are forced to drive over 6 hours to 
the nearest facility in order to receive needed medical care.
  This is unacceptable and we can do better.
  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to report that this legislation passed the 
House last week as part of the Military Construction and Veterans 
Affairs Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2012, and it

[[Page 9617]]

is my hope that the Senate will act swiftly on this measure and that 
the President will soon sign this important bill into law.
  The VA estimates nearly 49,000 veterans currently reside in the 27th 
Congressional District, which I am honored to represent. This makes up 
much of far south Texas, along with the district Mr. Cuellar and Mr. 
Hinojosa represent. According to the VA, Texas has an estimated 1.7 
million veterans, and there are approximately 22.5 million veterans all 
across our Nation.
  To the men and women who have served, thank you for all you have done 
and for the countless sacrifices that you have made. I am truly 
grateful for your service and for the hardships you and your families 
have endured. I am proud to stand in this Chamber and to honor you here 
today with both bills, that of renaming the post office and our 
veterans' bill for south Texas. I urge all Members to join me in strong 
support of H.R. 771.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. CUELLAR. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  First of all, I want to thank my good friend and colleague from south 
Texas, along with Congressman Ruben Hinojosa, and then on the Senate 
side, both Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison and Senator Cornyn. All of us 
have been working as a team, and have been working to improve the 
access to veterans in south Texas. I think my friend said it ably, that 
there is a need out there, and we are working together to make sure in 
a bipartisan way that we provide that health care to the veterans. And 
I certainly want to thank Mr. Farenthold for all the leadership that he 
has provided. Thank you very much.
  H.R. 771 will designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service located at 1081 Elbel Road in Schertz, Texas, as the Schertz 
Veterans Post Office to honor those who have served in our Nation's 
defense. Many of us know someone who has served in the military: a 
friend, a family member, a parent, or a neighbor. Nearly 2 million 
veterans, almost 10 percent nationwide, call Texas home, and I thank 
them for their service. Our veterans have given full measures of 
devotion, sacrificing their time, their youth, in some cases their 
health, and in all cases time with their families. The Schertz Veterans 
Post Office will be located in the city of Schertz in Guadalupe County, 
which is connected with the military presence of Randolph Air Force 
Base nearby, which I represent.
  Guadalupe County, in which Schertz resides, has the second-highest 
concentration of veterans in my district. Thousands and thousands of 
them live there in Guadalupe County. This legislation will name a 
landmark to serve as both a reminder and as a sincere ``thank you'' to 
the veterans at home and abroad. I urge the passage of H.R. 771 for all 
the brave men and women who have fought for our country.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to my good friend, 
the gentleman from Texas, Congressman Lloyd Doggett.
  Mr. DOGGETT. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  I thank both of my colleagues from Texas for using this as an 
opportunity, not only to herald this important bill, but as well the 
importance of health care for our veterans in south Texas.
  As a sponsor myself, through several sessions of this effort to 
strengthen health care in south Texas, I am pleased we are finally 
making some progress on it. We need to continue to redouble our 
efforts, whether it is there or at Audie Murphy, or at the burn center, 
or at Lackland, or, as with our success last Friday in Austin, Texas, 
where we broke ground on what will become the largest veterans' 
outreach clinic to provide outpatient care for our veterans of any 
place in the entire United States.
  Of course, what brings us principally here today is the bill that 
Congressman Cuellar introduced and that I am a sponsor of, the bill to 
salute the veterans of Schertz, Texas, by renaming this as the Schertz 
Veterans Post Office. With so many in the Schertz area who have 
contributed so much to our Nation's freedom, there just aren't enough 
public buildings in Schertz to name all of them for the individual 
sacrifice that has occurred, so this bill very practically approaches 
the heroism and the contribution of so many veterans and their families 
in Schertz by renaming this building the Veterans Post Office.
  Schertz' connection to our Armed Forces is a proud and storied 
history. Most of the community's growth began going back to a general 
store in the last century, in the 20th century. It began in the 
twenties and thirties with the Army's construction of what was then 
called in Hollywood and elsewhere the West Point of the Air, then 
Randolph Field before the Air Force was even formed.
  Today, Randolph Field may be called Randolph Air Force Base and 
Schertz, Texas, may have had since 1990 a tripling of its population, 
but some things have not changed. One of those, since World War II--
1946 and the end of that war, as the veterans were returning--has been 
the chartering and the continuation of the Veterans of Foreign War 
Post, commanded by Mike Espinola, and it is still a thriving heartbeat 
of community activities. Families are also still coming to Schertz, 
Texas. They're coming in droves. Even CNN recognized it as one of the 
best places to live anywhere in America.
  So often, rapid change will divide rather than unite, and that could 
be especially true when you have people coming from, literally, all 
over the world to a community practically adjacent to a military base 
and otherwise filled with many commuters. But unlike so many other 
parts of our country, where folks return to the same street without a 
sense of neighborhood, the people in Schertz have maintained a 
community spirit that is reflected at the Schertz Family YWCA, which 
recently got the Strong Community award; at the many events families 
attend at Pickrell Park; or at a football game at Samuel Clemens High 
School. This renamed Veterans Post Office will help maintain that 
community spirit and will serve as an anchor and as a reminder of where 
Schertz came from, how it has grown, and the road ahead.
  A while back, I stood at this very microphone to speak up for the 
renaming of a post office in south Austin on South Congress, which is 
the street that once connected San Antonio and Austin, for Sergeant 
Henry Ybarra, III, who was killed in Iraq. I remember the dedication 
service that we had there, joined by the Catholic War Veterans, the 
American GI Forum, LULAC, and The Knights of Columbus Council, in 
addition to the family and friends of Sergeant Ybarra. It meant a great 
deal to them, and I believe that the same thing, the same kind of 
inspiration which they feel every time they go into that hub of 
community activity, will be realized as well in Schertz, Texas.
  Our veterans, whether they wore uniforms last week or decades ago, 
understand a fundamental truth: That our military is the strongest in 
the world because of the spirit and the bravery of the men and women 
who put on that uniform. As a grateful Nation, we must continue to 
honor their service by meeting their health care needs and by taking 
steps like today in the renaming of the Schertz Veterans Post Office. I 
think it's a step in the right direction.
  Mr. FARENTHOLD. I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. CUELLAR. I want to thank the gentleman from Texas, my good friend 
and colleague, Mr. Lloyd Doggett, for his dedication, his passion, and 
his commitment to the veterans. For many years, he has been supporting 
the veterans, and has worked very hard. If there is anybody who works 
very hard for the veterans, it is my friend Mr. Lloyd Doggett, and I 
certainly want to thank you for cosponsoring this legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back 
the balance of my time.
  Mr. FARENTHOLD. I too would like to thank the gentlemen from Texas 
for their ongoing and continuing support for the veterans.
  There is not too much that we can do for the men and women who 
sacrifice time and again for our country. They

[[Page 9618]]

sacrifice their time; they sacrifice their work; and sadly, in some 
cases, they are asked to sacrifice their lives. I stand in strong 
support of this bill, and urge my colleagues to pass H.R. 771, renaming 
the post office in Schertz, Texas, the Schertz Veterans Post Office.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Farenthold) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 771.
  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. FARENTHOLD. 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 and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

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