[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 12256-12259]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 MOTION TO INSTRUCT CONFEREES ON H.R. 3230, PAY OUR GUARD AND RESERVE 
                                  ACT

  Mr. BARBER. Mr. Speaker, I have a motion at the desk.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Holding). The Clerk will report the 
motion.
  The Clerk read as follows:

       Mr. Barber moves that the managers on the part of the House 
     at the conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses 
     on the House amendment to the Senate amendment to the bill 
     H.R. 3230 (an Act to improve the access of veterans to 
     medical services from the Department of Veterans Affairs, and 
     for other purposes) be instructed to--
       (1) recede from disagreement with section 701 of the Senate 
     amendment (relating to the expansion of the Marine Gunnery 
     Sergeant John David Fry Scholarship); and
       (2) recede from the House amendment and concur in the 
     Senate amendment in all other instances.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 7(b) of rule XXII, the 
gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Barber) and the gentleman from Florida (Mr. 
Miller) each will control 30 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Arizona.
  Mr. BARBER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I rise today in strong support of the Veterans' Access to Care 
through Choice, Accountability, and Transparency Act of 2014, which was 
passed by the Senate 93-7 on June 11 of this year.
  This critical piece of legislation is one that must be implemented 
immediately to provide solutions to the many problems that have been 
discovered at the Department of Veterans Affairs and to provide the 
necessary care and assistance that our veterans deserve. We must move 
immediately on an agreement with the Senate and not further delay the 
long overdue care that our veterans need and have earned.
  The most expeditious way to do this would be to move forward with the 
Senate bill, one, as I said, that was supported by 93 Senators--
Republican, Democrat, and Independent alike. I know that my colleagues 
in the House and Senate are committed to serving our veterans. Services 
for our veterans, I am pleased to say, is an issue of great importance 
and is one that continuously receives strong bipartisan support in both 
Chambers.
  I want to applaud Chairman Miller and the Veterans' Affairs Committee 
and Ranking Member Michaud for their hard work in bringing to light the 
many problems and the terrible corruption that we have discovered in 
the VA, and for working to improve the care for our veterans.
  I am here to fight for the veterans and the military families in my 
district and for those across the country. Mr. Speaker, this is a 
deeply personal issue with me. My father was a veteran of World War II. 
He joined the Army Air Corps, and probably lied about his age so he 
could go serve his country.

                              {time}  1300

  He served in World War II. He went on to serve in Korea and Vietnam, 
and when he left the Air Force, he extensively used the services of the 
veterans administration.
  Were he alive today, I know he would be enraged by what has been 
discovered about the neglect, misconduct, and manipulation of the VA 
waiting lists, so that top executives could receive financial rewards 
and bonuses.
  The 85,000 veterans I work for in southern Arizona--and countless 
more nationwide--deserve better from us and from the Department of 
Veterans Affairs than they have been getting.
  I have been pressing for better access to health care for our 
veterans since I first came to Congress in 2012. One of the first bills 
I introduced was the Veterans Health Access Act, to ensure that 
veterans could get the health care they needed in their communities, 
without long commutes and even longer wait times, and I am pleased that 
the House and Senate are now working to address this issue.
  We must improve the quality and timeliness of care to our veterans, 
and that is why, today, Mr. Speaker, I stand before you to call on my 
colleagues in the House and the Senate to support the Senate bill that 
increases access to care and takes many more steps to improve services 
and support for our veterans and their families.
  Included in the Senate-passed bill is the expansion of the Marine 
Gunnery Sergeant John David Fry Scholarship, so that surviving spouses 
may have a chance to further their education and take care of their 
families.
  The Marine Gunnery Sergeant John David Fry Scholarship is a current 
education benefit for the surviving children of our fallen military 
servicemembers. It has sent many sons and daughters of fallen heroes to 
college and given them the opportunity to get the American Dream.
  However, it is important that we also offer this benefit to the 
spouses who are left widowed and must singlehandedly care for their 
families. This scholarship could provide many spouses an opportunity to 
get the education they need and the jobs that will help them succeed 
and support their family.
  This scholarship was originally created in memory of John David Fry, 
who was a leader of marines from Lorena, Texas. Gunnery Sergeant Fry, a 
member of the explosive ordnance disposal community, demonstrated true 
service to his country and to his fellow marines in Iraq.
  With only 1 week left on his tour in 2006, he injured his hand and 
was given the option to return home early with a Bronze Star. Fry 
declined the offer and volunteered to go on one last patrol, to defuse 
bombs for his fellow servicemembers.
  Sadly, Gunnery Sergeant Fry was killed that day by an improvised 
explosive device in Anbar province, Iraq, leaving behind his wife and 
three small children.
  Mr. Speaker, this type of courage and sacrifice has been witnessed 
countless times in the past 13 years by our men and women in uniform. 
For example, just recently, on May 12, a soldier from my district with 
29 years of military service succumbed to the wounds he received in 
Afghanistan.
  Command Sergeant Major Martin R. Barreras of Tucson was the enlisted 
leader of his infantry battalion in Harat province and was on his sixth 
deployment to Afghanistan.
  While on patrol with his soldiers, Gunny--as his family likes to call 
him and remember him--was fatally wounded by small-arms fire while 
leading his troops into battle.
  This was not the only time this respected leader saw combat. In 2003, 
Sergeant Major Barreras helped rescue former prisoner of war Jessica 
Lynch from an Iraqi hospital. At the time, he was the enlisted leader 
of the Army battalion that conducted the mission.
  He personally handed Lynch to another soldier to transfer her to the 
helicopter that evacuated her from the area and to safety. According to 
reports, he then fended off multiple attacks to retrieve all nine 
bodies of the other U.S. soldiers missing in action.
  Everyone in our country owes all of our fallen heroes, such as 
Gunnery Sergeant Fry and Command Sergeant Major Barreras, a debt of 
gratitude for their service and their courage, but we must also 
remember the silent courage of spouses of our servicemembers who must 
cope with the rigors of military life and who must live with only the 
memory of their fallen husband or wife.
  These unsung heroes are the ones who maintain the homefront for our 
deployed men and women in uniform. They are the ones who maintain the 
morale of our troops. They are the ones who unite with other military 
families to develop a support network for those spouses and children 
while their loved ones are in harm's way.
  They are the ones who live with constant worry of their 
servicemember's safety, and they are the ones who must bear the burden 
in the absence of their husband or wife.

[[Page 12257]]

  Our military spouses play a pivotal role in our Nation, and it is one 
that we must never forget. This is a good way to honor that service, by 
providing a scholarship in memory not just of Gunnery Sergeant Fry and 
Command Sergeant Barreras, but all of the servicemembers who died for 
our country and have left behind a loving family.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to 
support this motion to instruct, to support the expansion, with no 
limitations, of the Gunnery Sergeant John David Fry Scholarship.
  I further urge swift passage to pass the Veterans' Access to Care 
through Choice, Accountability, and Transparency Act of 2014 in its 
entirety. We must act now to enact this legislation and get our 
veterans the care that they deserve.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the 
motion to instruct and yield myself such time as I may consume.
  As we have already heard, the motion to instruct would require the 
House to recede to the Senate amendment to H.R. 3230.
  Solving the problem of timely access to health care and imposing the 
rule of accountability is absent at VA, and I think that is our first 
and most important obligation because it is the source of many of the 
problems that exist within the Department, many of the problems that 
were uncovered because of the oversight from both Republicans and 
Democrats on the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
  We are making good progress with our negotiations with our Senate 
colleagues, and now is not the time to try to tie the hands of the 
negotiators with what I believe is a partisan ploy.
  Moreover, yesterday, Senator Sanders indicated that he wanted to 
expand the scope of the conference committee's work far beyond what the 
Senate bill itself had encompassed, by adding VA's request for an 
additional $17.6 billion into the mix.
  So today, I say to my colleagues I am not even sure that the Senate 
could recede to the Senate amendment because they keep moving the 
goalposts.
  As I said yesterday, on the last motion to instruct, the inspector 
general and the GAO have both stated on multiple occasions during our 
hearings that they do not have confidence in VA's numbers.
  Moreover, at every VA budget hearing, the Secretary has been asked: 
Do you have the dollars you need to take care of the veterans that you 
are tasked with taking care of? Invariably, we get the answer, every 
single time, yes.
  So why should we believe that, suddenly, VA sees the need to add an 
additional $10 billion to hire 10,000 new clinical staff and $6 billion 
in new construction without having those numbers vetted?
  When our staff was briefed yesterday on this request for $17.6 
billion--actually, I don't even know if it is a request yet, but when 
the Secretary talked about it, they came to brief our staffs, and they 
brought three sheets of paper to justify a $17.6 billion number.
  To the Members on both sides of the aisle, I caution that, despite 
the urgency of the current crisis, we have got to root out the cause 
that has been affecting timely access to care and accountability, not 
secondary issues, many of which we all support, including the Fry 
Scholarship fund expansion.
  If we don't, those of us fortunate enough to be here years from now 
will be right back where we are, debating, once again, how things went 
wrong at the VA.
  I would point out again, as I did yesterday, there are dozens of 
bills sitting, languishing in the Senate, including the authorization 
of 27 clinics. The motion to instruct yesterday talked about receding 
to the Senate bill that had 26 clinics.
  The House bill was passed in December of last year--27 clinics. If 
the Senate would just bring it up, pass it, send to it the President, 
we could immediately make a difference.
  I also talked about the expansion of the Fry Scholarship program. 
That is something that we certainly should look at, but it will do 
nothing, nothing to increase the care and break the backlog, the lines 
that our veterans are waiting in now to get the health care that they 
have earned.
  So I would ask the Senate to pass the dozen bills that sit over there 
on their side, send them to the President today, and I would also point 
out that I am willing to discuss--and I think most Members on our 
side--the Fry Scholarship issues, but we don't think that they are in 
the scope of the emergency that exists today.
  Part of the reason that I believe that, section 701 of the Senate 
bill does not address timely access to care or the cultural corruption 
that exists within the Department.
  A surviving spouse--as my colleague, Mr. Barber has already said--who 
has a spouse that was killed on active duty is already entitled to 
receive financial benefits that include 45 months of GI Bill-type 
education benefits, $500,000 in death benefits, and $1,215 in monthly 
dependency and indemnity compensation benefits.
  In short, I don't believe it is time for us to be talking about 
expanding the benefits without expressing them through regular order 
here on the House floor, especially in the face of what I now 
understand is the Senate's new effort to move the goal line in our 
conference committee work.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BARBER. Mr. Speaker, could you advise me on how much time 
remains?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Arizona has 22 minutes 
remaining.
  Mr. BARBER. Mr. Speaker, I want to introduce a series of Members who 
would like to speak to this issue, but before I do, I would just say 
this: I have been here now a little bit more than 2 years, and I have 
learned a few things.
  One of those things I have learned is that, when you have the 
public's attention and when you have this Chamber's attention and when 
you have the Senate's attention on an issue of importance like this, 
you act, and you do as much as you can to not only take care of the 
corruption, the systemic problems within the VA, but other issues that 
have been pending for a long time. To that end, I hope that we will, in 
fact, recede to the Senate version of the legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to my colleague from Arizona (Mrs. 
Kirkpatrick), ranking member on the Oversight Subcommittee of the 
Veterans' Affairs Committee, who has been a strong fighter for our 
veterans her entire time in Congress.
  Mrs. KIRKPATRICK. Mr. Speaker, I support this motion to instruct the 
conferees. The Senate amendments go beyond a short-term solution to 
solving the patient access crisis at the VA.
  As a member of the conference committee, I continue to push for the 
provisions in the Senate amendments because they are good for veterans 
and their families.
  We must seize this opportunity to pass meaningful reforms at the VA. 
Our veterans and their families deserve better than piecemeal, short-
term fixes, especially with report after report of veterans struggling 
to receive timely care and benefits and struggling to find good-paying 
jobs.
  One provision in the Senate amendment will give post-9/11 GI benefits 
to surviving spouses of servicemembers who have given the ultimate 
sacrifice for our country.
  We cannot forget about surviving spouses. A surviving spouse 
struggles with the loss of a loved one and often struggles with a 
financial loss that can make it difficult to provide for the family 
left behind.
  Servicemembers are able to transfer GI Bill benefits to their spouses 
and children, but the benefits and the ability to transfer this benefit 
are based on time served on active duty.
  We can all agree that surviving spouses should not be cut out of 
receiving full bill benefits if they lose a loved one before that loved 
one has served 36 months on active duty.
  The Post-9/11 GI Bill will give surviving spouses the opportunity to 
receive education and training so they

[[Page 12258]]

are better able to provide for themselves and their families. It would 
be wrong of the conference committee and Congress to pass up this 
opportunity to give surviving spouses this benefit.
  We cannot delay passing meaningful veterans legislation. If we do not 
take this opportunity now, then Congress will once again fail all the 
American people, veterans, and their families by refusing to act.

                              {time}  1315

  Passing VA reform legislation in a meaningful way that gives GI Bill 
benefits to surviving spouses should be an easy decision for every 
Member of Congress.
  For those who are holding up the progress of this legislation, how 
will you go home to your district in August and explain to veterans and 
constituents why Congress was unable to pass something as simple as 
giving GI benefits to surviving spouses?
  I know that all of my colleagues sincerely wish to help veterans and 
their families, but it is not enough to pay lip service to our military 
and veterans. Congress must act now. At the very least, the conference 
committee should agree to this provision in the Senate amendments.
  Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I hope that the last speaker did 
not imply that anybody on the conference committee from the House was 
trying to delay the progress on this particular bill.
  With that, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BARBER. Mr. Speaker, next I would like to yield 3 minutes to the 
gentlewoman from Nevada, Congresswoman Dina Titus, a member of the 
House Veterans' Affairs Committee, who has introduced legislation here 
in the House, H.R. 3441, the Spouses of Heroes Education Act, which 
would expand this scholarship.
  As a university professor at UNLV for more than 30 years, 
Congresswoman Titus understands the importance of education and has 
been a strong leader in education issues both in Nevada and here in 
Washington, as a former member of the Education and Labor Committee.
  Ms. TITUS. I thank the gentleman from Arizona for yielding to me.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of a provision that has been 
highlighted by my colleague from Arizona in his motion to instruct and 
was also discussed by the chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee.
  As a member of that committee, I am working hard to ensure that our 
veterans in Las Vegas and throughout the country have access to high-
quality health care in a timely fashion. So it is critical that this 
conference committee quickly finishes its work so we can send a reform 
package to the President for his signature.
  The gentleman from Arizona's amendment highlights a critical piece of 
the Senate proposal, which is identical to the legislation I introduced 
along with Senator Jeff Merkley from Oregon just last year, H.R. 3441, 
the Spouses of Heroes Education Act. Our important legislation amends 
the post-9/11 GI Bill to expand the Fry Scholarship, which you have 
heard described most eloquently by the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. 
Barber), by making surviving spouses of the members of the armed 
services eligible for this education benefit program.
  The scholarship provides full instate tuition, fees, a monthly living 
stipend, and a book allowance to children of servicemembers who have 
died in the line of duty. Our change would allow spouses to receive 
those same benefits.
  When a servicemember tragically loses his or her life on the field of 
battle, we owe it to their spouses to do all we can to support them and 
their families--not just in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, but 
going forward. We can ensure that they have all the educational 
opportunities they need because this will enable them to further their 
careers and increase the financial stability of that family.
  I was pleased that the Senate included this bicameral, bipartisan 
legislation in the McCain-Sanders agreement that passed 93-3, and it is 
very important that our conferees continue to fight to maintain that 
provision. I was also very glad to hear the chairman say that he is so 
supportive of our looking at that provision here in the House as a 
stand-alone bill, and I hope to see that move also. So I thank them for 
their work on this important issue.
  Mr. MILLER of Florida. I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BARBER. Mr. Speaker, next I would like to yield 3 minutes to my 
colleague from Arizona, Congresswoman Kyrsten Sinema. If you know 
Congresswoman Sinema, you know that when she gets her dander up, she 
fights like hell for whatever the issue is, and that has certainly been 
true in the fight that she has waged on behalf of our veterans.
  As you know, the first evidence of corruption and misdeeds was 
discovered in Arizona at the VA in Phoenix, and from the very 
beginning, Congresswoman Sinema has been on that issue. So I am very 
proud and pleased to yield to her to speak on this bill.
  Ms. SINEMA. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Arizona (Mr. 
Barber) for offering this motion to instruct and for his leadership and 
work on behalf of veteran and military families in Arizona.
  This motion urges conferees to expand the Marine Gunnery Sergeant 
John David Fry Scholarship to include spouses of fallen servicemembers. 
Currently, the scholarship covers the children of servicemembers who 
are killed in the line of duty. After their tragic loss, the surviving 
spouse is frequently left to provide for her or his family. It is 
important that Congress take action to expand this benefit to spouses 
and to help these military families begin to rebuild.
  It is also important that Congress and the Department of Veterans 
Affairs take action to get veterans the care they need. Veterans in my 
district, which is home to the Phoenix VA, are still waiting for 
Congress to produce a bipartisan VA reform bill to send to the 
President's desk. But in Arizona, we are not waiting idly for 
Washington to take action; we are doing it ourselves.
  In Phoenix, we have established a working group of community 
providers, veterans service organizations, and the local VA to work 
together to improve access to services. We also recently cohosted our 
Veterans First Clinic, which brought together community providers, the 
Phoenix VA, and over 20 veteran-serving organizations to help veterans 
in a variety of ways. Approximately 400 veterans and their families 
attended and got the care that they earned and that they deserve.
  These are examples of the good that results when we set aside 
partisanship and focus on putting veterans first to help meet their 
needs, but more action is required.
  I appreciate the bipartisan leadership and work the House--especially 
Chairman Miller and Ranking Member Michaud--has done on this issue, and 
I call on the conferees to move quickly to produce a bipartisan bill 
and get it on the President's desk. By working together, we can address 
this crisis and create a VA system that our veterans deserve.
  Let's get this done for our veterans.
  Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, might I inquire as to whether or 
not the gentleman from Arizona has any further requests for time?
  Mr. BARBER. I have no further requests for time, but I do have some 
closing remarks.
  Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, again, I would urge my colleagues 
to not support this motion to instruct. And I would also remind my 
colleagues that even though the number 93-3 has been used for the 
passage of the Senate bill, the House bill, itself, which was much more 
narrowly tailored to actually deal with the crisis that exists today, 
with access to care, passed unanimously, 426-0, in this House. Just 
prior to the final vote, there was a motion to recommit that did, in 
fact, want the House to recede to the Senate amendment.
  The problem is, again, the goalposts are changing. The House has been 
working with the Senate. We have made an offer on our particular side. 
We are waiting for the Senate to return a counter. Things changed 
yesterday,

[[Page 12259]]

unfortunately, because of the additional $17.6 billion that was brought 
forward by the Department themselves.
  So we continue to stay focused. Our intent is to complete this bill 
and get it to the President's desk before we leave in August.
  I appreciate my colleague's comments today.
  With that, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. BARBER. Mr. Speaker, could I ask for the balance of time 
remaining.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Arizona has 13\1/2\ 
minutes remaining.
  Mr. BARBER. Mr. Speaker, let me just close with these thoughts.
  I came here, as you well know, following the resignation of 
Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, for whom I worked, when she was a 
Member. Her commitment to veterans was complete and deep. I am pleased 
to have picked up that mission and have tried to move forward with it 
in every way possible.
  I also came here in the spirit of bipartisanship, looking for 
partners on both sides of the aisle to move important legislation for 
our country, and I am very pleased to say that I have found 
bipartisanship in full measure in the manner with which we have worked 
together to ensure that our veterans are properly served. Now I call on 
my colleagues, the conferees, to move quickly to bring our two bills 
together, to strike now while the opportunity presents.
  Back home, when I meet with veterans, they say, What are you waiting 
for? We need you to act, and act now.
  I urge our colleagues to adopt the motion to instruct so that we can 
get this job done expeditiously and in full measure.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. All time for debate has expired.
  Without objection, the previous question is ordered on the motion to 
instruct.
  There was no objection.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion to instruct.
  The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that 
the noes appeared to have it.
  Mr. BARBER. 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 question will be postponed.

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