[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 13122-13126]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




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

  Ms. BROWNLEY of California. Mr. Speaker, I have a motion at the desk.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk will report the motion.
  The Clerk read as follows:

       Ms. Brownley of California 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 title V of the Senate 
     amendment (relating to health care related to sexual trauma); 
     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 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Brownley) and the gentleman from 
Colorado (Mr. Lamborn) each will control 30 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from California.
  Ms. BROWNLEY of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as 
I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my strong support for the 
military sexual trauma provisions that were included in the Senate-
passed H.R. 3230 and to urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on the 
motion to instruct conferees to accept these provisions.
  As you know, the statistics on military sexual assault are 
staggering. In 2012, a Pentagon survey estimated that 26,000 women and 
men were sexually assaulted. However, the Pentagon only received 3,374 
formal allegations. Clearly, there remains a deep-seated cultural 
problem in the military that discourages our servicemen and -women from 
coming forward to report cases of sexual assault.
  Nonetheless, if one counts those cases reported, more and more men 
and women are currently leaving the military with PTSD from sexual 
assault. This cannot continue. Military sexual assault is the ultimate 
violation of the basic principles of trust, respect, honor, and dignity 
that is the bedrock of the principles our military men and women expect 
and deserve, and they are principles our country rightly demands.
  Changing culture, as anyone from the public or private sectors know, 
and those of us dealing with issues at the Veterans Administration know 
all too well, changing culture is very difficult. But the culture of 
our military must change, and we, my colleagues, need to accelerate 
that change, from the military chain of command to reforms of our 
military justice system.
  Clearly, preventing military sexual assault in the first place is 
critical, but it is equally critical that we provide servicemembers 
leaving the military who have suffered from sexual assault, to make 
access to care at the VA easier and safer, to make sure survivors get 
the benefits and services they need, and to ensure that the VA provides 
the very best treatment possible.
  Compassion and care are a critical part of healing for those who have 
been sexually assaulted. We need an environment where it is safe to 
speak up and where we would never find anyone's story unjustly 
dismissed or treated with indifference, which would only make the 
trauma and the wound even deeper.
  We have a bill before us that provides relief not only for those who 
have endured sexual assault, but for so many of the issues facing our 
veterans at this very moment.
  I deeply appreciate the leadership from our chairman on the 
committee, who has done a tremendous amount to help our veterans, and 
he continues to do so. But the time to act is now. The crisis is clear. 
We have a path to address it. We have veterans who deserve it, and we 
have a Congress willing to provide the resources needed.
  We have said time and time again in our hearings we need big change 
and big ideas. We need real transformation, and, most importantly, we 
need a VA whose sole purpose and mission is to serve our veterans with 
the same vigor and sacrifice that our veterans have served our country.
  Mr. Speaker, our veterans must come first in everything we do. There 
is a lot of work ahead of us that the VA needs to do, and our committee 
must continue to do so. Persistent and consistent oversight every step 
of the way on our part will leverage the leadership and the strategic 
plan from within the VA to ensure that we deliver timely and quality 
health care with a compassion that our veterans and their families have 
earned and deserve.
  I have no doubt that the leadership of the chairman has been 
instrumental to our committee's being able to work together in a 
bipartisan fashion to get us to this point, and it is imperative that 
we continue to work in a bipartisan fashion. Our veterans are counting 
on us, and our country is counting on us.
  As ranking member of the House Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on 
Health and someone who has respected all of the work of the committee 
on these issues, it is my belief that our veterans simply cannot and 
should not wait another day.
  We have a bill that the Senate has passed and that we know the House 
would pass. We are currently scheduled by the Speaker to recess next 
Thursday. If the Speaker keeps to that timeline, we need to accept what 
is on the table: a bill that we know can pass both Houses and that we 
know the President will sign so that our veterans receive the care they 
deserve. We must include the provisions to improve VA treatment for 
survivors of military sexual trauma.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on the motion to 
instruct conferees, and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LAMBORN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this motion to 
instruct and yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, the motion to instruct would require the House to recede 
to the Senate amendments to H.R. 3230. As Chairman Miller has stated 
during debate on nearly identical motions to instruct last week and 
again last night, the foremost goals of the House and Senate conference 
committee are, one, to improve timely access to high-quality health 
care for veterans who have been waiting for weeks, months, or even 
years; and, two, to improve the accountability and overall operations 
of the Department of Veterans Affairs health care system. This was the 
central charge to the conferees at the beginning of the conference and 
remains so today. I have no doubt that my colleague from California, 
Congresswoman Brownley, the ranking member of the Subcommittee on 
Health, shares these goals. However, this motion does not further our 
pursuit of them.
  Tonight, our attention is best spent devoted to finding a true 
compromise--one that best serves our Nation's veterans and taxpayers 
and lays the foundation for correcting the departmental deficiencies 
that have brought us here--and not tying the conference committee's 
hands with an unnecessary, unhelpful, unbinding, and time-consuming 
motion to instruct.
  As the gentlewoman knows, because she was in the Veterans' Affairs 
Committee hearing with the acting VA Secretary, this morning, Chairman 
Miller offered a proposal that would largely agree with nearly 
everything in the Senate bill, with a few minor exceptions.
  Chairman Miller's proposal would accept title I through title VII of 
the original Senate bill, with amended language to include all 27 
leases authorized by the House last December in H.R. 3521 rather than 
the 26 that the Senate approved; provide VA with $102 million for 
fiscal year 2014 to address the Department's internal funding

[[Page 13123]]

shortfalls; provide $10 billion of no-year, mandatory, emergency 
funding to cover the cost of the Senate's choice provisions, with the 
remaining Senate provisions subject to appropriations.
  Mr. Speaker, I am supportive of Chairman Miller's proposal because it 
is a fair, commonsense approach that ensures Congress is able to 
continue its oversight to ensure that taxpayers' funds are spent 
wisely.
  As we all know, recently, Senator Sanders, chairman of the Senate 
Veterans' Affairs Committee and cochair of the conference committee, 
has indicated his desire to expand the scope of the conference to 
include VA's recent request for an additional $17.6 billion. We call 
that an airdrop. Unfortunately, there is virtually no parachute in the 
form of detailed justification for this request, and to a great extent, 
Congress' acceptance of unsubstantiated funding requests in the past 
have helped get us to where we are today.
  This summer, the House Veterans' Affairs Committee has held multiple 
full committee oversight hearings to discuss the access and 
accountability failures VA has been subjecting our veterans to. These 
hearings have confirmed that the problems VA is facing today require 
long-term and large-scale reform. Adding more money, more people, and 
more infrastructure to a system that has not proven itself able to make 
effective use of its existing resources that it has been provided 
without first implementing underlying reforms does not serve our 
veterans well and will not prevent them from continuing to face 
unacceptably long patient waiting times.
  It has been proven time and time again by the VA inspector general, 
the Government Accountability Office, the administration, and others 
that VA has been suffering from widespread data manipulation and a 
systemic lack of integrity.
  Given that, what confidence do we have that the $17.6 billion 
resource request that VA is now making is based on data that is valid 
or reliable, particularly given that the committee has received very 
little analysis, justification, or verification of these numbers?
  Before Congress can contemplate devoting such a significant amount of 
taxpayer money, it is imperative that VA provide a full accounting of 
each additional dollar that is being requested. The resource request 
the Department has put forward so far is not the well thought-out and 
thoroughly justifiable position that our Nation's veterans and our 
taxpayers deserve. Rather, it is an unsubstantiated guess put together 
in the back room of a massive bureaucracy.
  Mr. Speaker, I truly believe we could have already come to an 
agreement if Senator Sanders would not have insisted on moving the 
goalposts so dramatically. The House has passed almost a dozen bills 
reforming the VA that have waited months for Senate consideration. The 
Senate could pass those bills and send them to the President to become 
law today.
  I would remind Ms. Brownley that one such bill, H.R. 2527, would 
extend VA's military sexual trauma counseling, along with care and 
treatment programs, for veterans for sexual trauma that occurred during 
Active Duty or Active Duty for training to veterans who experienced 
such trauma during inactive duty training.

                              {time}  1800

  Mr. Speaker, we are continually trying to work out a deal with the 
Senate, but I would submit to this body these motions to instruct are 
unproductive, are slowing down the conference process, and have become 
nothing more than a political ploy to distract from the true issues 
facing our veterans and the conference committee.
  So with that, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the motion to 
instruct.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. BROWNLEY of California. Mr. Speaker, I just want to recognize my 
colleague, the gentleman from Colorado. He has worked hard on this 
committee. I want to make clear that what we are talking about today is 
the bill that passed the Senate 93-3. So we are not talking about an 
airdrop or moving the goalpost; we are talking about the bill that 
passed out of the Senate 93-3.
  At this time, Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from 
Nevada (Ms. Titus) who has been a leader on this issue and introduced 
the Military Sexual Trauma Claims Administration Reform and Eligibility 
Act.
  Ms. TITUS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from 
California for yielding to me, and for addressing this important issue 
of coverage for victims of sexual assault in the National Guard.
  I rise in support of the Brownley motion to instruct. As you have 
heard described, this proposal addresses an unacceptable gap in current 
law that effectively leaves some victims of military sexual assault 
without the support and treatment they need.
  Members of the National Guard and other reserve components of the 
armed services have fought bravely for our country, many completing 
numerous tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. Since the attacks on 
September 11, more than 50,000 guardsmen and guardswomen have been 
called to service both at home and abroad. We recognize the value of 
their service, of the National Guard, and of other reserve components, 
and we thank them for their sacrifice.
  Unfortunately, some guardsmen and -women, like other members of the 
armed services, are victimized by sexual assault while on Active Duty. 
If that happens, they are provided all of the VA resources and services 
they need to recover and heal, physically and emotionally. These 
benefits, however, are not offered to members of the National Guard or 
other reserve components who experience sexual assault while on 
inactive training missions. For example, members of the Guard are 
required to participate in training missions one weekend a month and 
two weeks a year, but benefits and services, such as counseling and 
medical care, do not extend to victims sexually assaulted during those 
mandatory training missions. This oversight is simply unacceptable and 
leaves so many who have served our country so bravely without 
assistance or support during a devastating time.
  On May 28, the House unanimously agreed to a solution to this problem 
by passing legislation I introduced last year, the bipartisan National 
Guard Military Sexual Trauma Parity Act. This legislation is supported 
by a number of the leading veterans service organizations.
  The National Guard Military Sexual Trauma Parity Act would fix this 
omission and clarify that all victims of sexual trauma in the National 
Guard or other reserve components have access to the care they need to 
help them recover from acts of sexual trauma while they are on inactive 
or reserve duty.
  The Senate wisely included this language in the VA reform bill that 
passed their body 93-3, and it is important that this provision, which 
has been passed by the House already, be included in the final version 
of the bill. I was pleased to hear it mentioned by our colleague from 
Colorado, so I am glad that there is support for keeping it in the 
conference report.
  I encourage my colleagues to support the Brownley motion to instruct 
to ensure that all victims of sexual assault, regardless of what kind 
of duty they are on, have access to the care they need.
  Mr. LAMBORN. I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. BROWNLEY of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the 
gentlewoman from New Hampshire (Ms. Kuster), a valued and insightful 
member of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee.
  Ms. KUSTER. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Brownley for her 
friendship and for her commitment to our Nation's veterans.
  I rise to support the Brownley motion to instruct the conferees on 
H.R. 3230. It has been one of the most humble honors for me to serve on 
the Veterans' Affairs committee, one of the most bipartisan committees 
in this Congress.
  This week I had the honor to join my constituent, Sergeant Ryan 
Pitts, as he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Honor at the White 
House, and my

[[Page 13124]]

husband and I joined Ryan and his wife, Amy, and their son, Luke, at 
the Pentagon as he was inducted into the Hall of Fame. He honored his 
colleagues, the chosen few who lost their lives in Afghanistan, and on 
his behalf and on their behalf it is a tremendous privilege for me to 
continue to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in 
service to our Nation's veterans.
  Mr. Speaker, we were all shocked and outraged when our committee 
uncovered long wait times, secret wait lists, and manipulated records 
at the Veterans Administration. When our men and women in uniform 
return home after fighting for our freedom, they should never ever have 
to fight just to receive the medical care that they have earned and 
they deserve. That is why I was proud to work with Republicans and 
Democrats to pass commonsense reforms to hold VA leaders accountable 
and increase access to care for our veterans.
  I also partnered with the gentlewoman from Arizona (Mrs. Kirkpatrick) 
to cosponsor legislation that puts forward even stronger VA reforms and 
which has already passed in the Senate. Both Chambers of Congress have 
passed bipartisan bills in response to the scandal at the VA, and now 
it is time to finish the job and reconcile this legislation.
  We owe it to our veterans to stay right here in Washington and to 
work together until we can send a final bill to the President's desk to 
improve care for all our veterans. And we must ensure that this final 
legislation contains strong protections for veteran survivors of sexual 
trauma.
  Mr. Speaker, sadly, sexual assault in our military is a full-blown 
epidemic. According to the Department of Defense, an estimated 26,000 
servicemembers have suffered unwanted sexual contact in just 2012 
alone. This is an outrage. When a young woman or a young man signs up 
to serve our country, they know that they may face danger in combat, 
but it is unacceptable that so many of these brave Americans are 
attacked every year by their own colleagues.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.
  Ms. BROWNLEY of California. I yield an additional 30 seconds to the 
gentlewoman.
  Ms. KUSTER. It is unacceptable that so many of our brave Americans 
are attacked every year by their own colleagues. And when survivors 
come forward, which only happens a fraction of the time, our flawed 
military justice system often turns a blind eye.
  Mr. Speaker, I was proud to work across the aisle with our 
colleagues, Jackie Walorski, Loretta Sanchez, and many others to pass 
strong whistleblower protections into law and help prevent retaliation 
against those who bravely report these crimes. We need to continue to 
work together, and I implore our colleagues to join us in voting 
``yes'' on the motion to instruct and to guarantee that our veterans 
will be protected.
  I again partnered with Representative Walorski to introduce 
legislation to extend VA travel benefits to veterans travelling to seek 
treatment for injuries resulting from sexual trauma.
  Republican and Democrat alike, so many of us fought to reform our 
military justice system and transfer authority to independent 
prosecutors.
  And together, this House passed the Ruth Moore Act to help ensure 
that veterans suffering from sexual trauma have access to the services 
they need.
  In a Congress bogged down by gridlock and partisanship, this issue 
has united both parties.
  When working to rid our military of sexual assault, and to better 
serve its survivors, we have proven that Congress can still find common 
ground and solve problems.
  So let's build on that progress and pass this motion, which would 
agree to Senate-passed language to expand VA services for the treatment 
of military sexual trauma.
  In addition, this motion would improve coordination between the VA 
and Department of Defense.
  These are goals that we can all support.
  So I implore our colleagues--join us in voting yes, and let's 
continue the important work of protecting our service members from 
sexual assault, and guaranteeing only the best care for those veterans 
who suffered from these crimes.
  Mr. LAMBORN. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my 
time.
  Ms. BROWNLEY of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the 
gentlewoman from Massachusetts (Ms. Tsongas) who has been an 
extraordinary leader and champion, and also the cochair of the Military 
Sexual Assault Prevention Caucus.
  Ms. TSONGAS. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congresswoman Brownley for allowing 
me to speak on this very worthwhile motion, and I rise in support.
  Statistics from the Department of Veterans Affairs indicate that as 
many as one in five women are sexually assaulted while serving in the 
military. But receiving benefits from the VA remains a challenge.
  Last year, the Service Women's Action Network, the Yale Law School 
Veterans Legal Services Clinic, the ACLU, and the ACLU of Connecticut 
released a report showing that veterans who experience sexual assaults 
have their benefits claims denied more than veterans with other types 
of PTSD. The report also found the rate of granting these claims varied 
greatly depending on the particular VA regional office. The St. Paul, 
Minnesota, office granted only 26 percent of the military sexual trauma 
claims they received, while the office in Los Angeles granted more than 
88 percent of the claims they received.
  Anyone who has seen the powerful documentary ``The Invisible War'' 
has anguished along with Kori Cioca. Kori survived a horrific sexual 
assault while serving, and suffered severe injuries to her face and jaw 
incident to the assault. She waited for years for an answer from the VA 
on the jaw surgery she needed, but her claim was ultimately and 
shockingly denied.
  The VA has a long way to go when it comes to granting benefits for 
survivors of military sexual trauma. The Senate provisions in section 
503 of the Senate bill would make sure that Congress is better informed 
on how the VA is treating military sexual trauma.
  Section 503 would also address what the VA is doing for male victims 
of sexual assault. According to the Defense Department, by the numbers, 
men in the military are more often victims of sexual assault than 
women.
  Yesterday, Senator Gillibrand of New York screened a documentary on 
Capitol Hill called ``Justice Denied.'' In it, male victims tell the 
heart-wrenching stories of being sexually assaulted, and too often 
being ignored by their commands after they reported an attack and 
isolated by their fellow servicemembers for doing so. We must do a 
better job--a much better job--of protecting these men and taking care 
of them after these incidents. The Senate bill allows us to start to do 
that.
  Finally, section 501 expands eligibility for counseling services 
which are so important to people healing. About 2 years ago, a woman 
veteran came to my office to talk to me about being sexually assaulted 
while she was in the military. She hadn't spoken to many people about 
what had happened to her before, and it was difficult to do so. But she 
had just come from a summit where she had met a number of survivors 
just like her who had had similar experiences. This opportunity to meet 
people with similar stories and share their experiences strengthened 
her. She was similarly strengthened through counseling and group 
therapy. She has become more and more comfortable speaking about her 
story because of the treatment she has received. I have now seen her 
bravely telling her story to a rapt audience after a screening of ``The 
Invisible War.''
  I urge a ``yes'' vote on this very important motion that will help to 
improve care to so many servicemembers.
  Mr. LAMBORN. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my 
time.
  Ms. BROWNLEY of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Speier) who has been instrumental in 
reforming the Uniform Code of Military Justice in her role on the House 
Armed Services Committee.

[[Page 13125]]


  Ms. SPEIER. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from California, whom I 
am honored to serve with and who I want to compliment for bringing 
recognition to this issue and a spotlight on the importance of 
providing this service to veterans when they are no longer in Active 
Duty.
  The reason why this particular section 503 is so critical is because 
so few of these survivors ever come forward when they are on Active 
Duty to speak about their sexual assault. In fact, the military in many 
respects encourages them not to come forward because oftentimes the 
result is, when you do come forward, you are labeled as having a 
personality disorder and then honorably but involuntarily discharged 
from the military.
  The stories I have heard over the last 3 or 4 years are really very 
disturbing because it makes the case over and over again that the 
military does not really want to deal with this issue.

                              {time}  1815

  So 26,000 sexual assaults or sexual harassments that take place to 
members of the military every year. 5,000--only 5,000 of them report 
them, only 500 of them go to court-martial, and only 250 see any kind 
of time in jail or prison.
  There are many of these victims who upon retiring, upon being 
discharged from the military, are into drugs and alcohol, and all of a 
sudden find out that what is really driving their conditions is the 
fact that they were raped when they were in the military.
  I had the opportunity just last week to spend some time at the MST 
program in Menlo Park, California, with five survivors who were in an 
inpatient program. They were all extraordinarily grateful for the 
opportunity they had to participate in that program.
  They found it to be a lifesaver, literally a lifesaver. They were all 
on the brink before being admitted into this particular program and for 
the first time feel that they are getting their lives back, but one of 
the great eye-opening parts of that experience was that, of the five 
women, four of them would be homeless upon leaving this in-treatment 
program, which went on for about 45 days.
  On top of everything else that we are learning about MST, I think it 
is important to recognize that survivors, particularly women 
survivors--but I believe it is true of men survivors as well--need to 
be in programs that are single-sex because they have so many issues 
associated with it and that we have got to find housing for them after 
they leave.
  With that, I support the motion.
  Mr. LAMBORN. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my 
time.
  Ms. BROWNLEY of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the 
gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee), who has also been a leader 
and advocate for justice for our survivors in the Judiciary Committee.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, let me add my appreciation to Ms. 
Brownley for her leadership on this issue and for the women that are on 
the floor who are members of the Veterans' Affairs Committee and 
members of the Armed Services Committee, who really have led this 
issue, which I believe all of America understands.
  Let me thank Mr. Lamborn, who is from Colorado and a member of the 
Veterans' Affairs Committee, and as we debate this motion to instruct, 
a personal plea to Mr. Lamborn, that this is truly a reasoned response 
to the heinous number of women and some men in the United States 
military who have experienced traumatic sexual assault and trauma.
  This is a simple motion to instruct. It asks us to cede to the 
provision in the Senate, which allows for the care, health care, under 
the veterans health care system, of those who have experienced sexual 
trauma.
  As Ms. Brownley has indicated, I am a senior member of the House 
Judiciary Committee, and we address these questions through the 
Judiciary Committee on issues of domestic violence and sexual assault 
and find ways, of course, to be able to respond to women who have been 
victimized.
  We took a long time to pass the Violence Against Women Act, but the 
whole idea was to include an infrastructure to protect women who are 
frightened to come forward and to acknowledge the criminality of 
domestic violence and violence against women.
  Can we do no less for the women in the United States military who put 
on the uniform and took an oath to swear allegiance to the United 
States and to extend their bodies on the front lines to be able to 
protect this Nation, can we not do any less than to offer to them 
simple health care when they come forward on sexual trauma?
  Just a few years ago, I provided a PTSD center at one of my 
nonveteran or nonmilitary hospitals. It was overwhelmingly received by 
veterans who were off campus and wanted to go to a place that was not 
as congested as a veterans hospital, but I will tell you that PTSD is 
truly a health phenomenon.
  The distinctive sexual trauma that some of my colleagues have 
mentioned that women have hidden and never spoken about for years 
should not be rejected when they come forward finally because we have 
opened the system to be able to secure health care. They should not be, 
in essence, directed to a life of drug abuse and alcohol abuse because 
they are fearing. They should be able to get health care.
  So I ask my colleagues, 26,000 and growing and others who are also 
involved, this is an important motion to instruct, and I congratulate, 
again, Ms. Brownley. My heart breaks--as she served as the ranking 
member on the Health Subcommittee on Veterans' Affairs--my heart breaks 
that when you are abused, when your face is abused, when your body is 
abused, that is a health crisis.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.
  Ms. BROWNLEY of California. I yield an additional 30 seconds to the 
gentlewoman from Texas.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Having just come back from my community where two 
women and families have been killed through the violence of domestic 
violence, they live no more--but what about those who are soldiers who 
put on the uniform who are experiencing a lifelong experience of 
injuries and psychological trauma?
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to support this motion to instruct 
offered by my colleague, Ms. Brownley. What more can we do or how much 
less can we do for women and men who put on the uniform who are 
suffering from sexual trauma? It must be part of the Veterans' Affairs 
health reform.
  Mr. LAMBORN. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my 
time.
  Ms. BROWNLEY of California. Mr. Speaker, might I inquire if the 
gentleman from Colorado will have any additional speakers?
  Mr. LAMBORN. Mr. Speaker, at this time, there are no plans to have 
any additional speakers.
  Ms. BROWNLEY of California. Then I am prepared to close.
  Mr. LAMBORN. Mr. Speaker, I once again urge all Members to oppose the 
motion to instruct, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. BROWNLEY of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as 
I may consume.
  In closing, I would like to add that as ranking member of the Health 
Subcommittee, I led a hearing last July to address VA care and 
treatment for military sexual trauma survivors.
  The subcommittee looked at the coordination of care and services 
offered by the Department of Defense and the VA. I was truly saddened 
to listen to the testimonies of those who spoke. Their pain and 
suffering was evident in every word they spoke. I know it was hard for 
all of them to share their stories, and I know all of us understand the 
immense bravery it took for them to do so.
  I know that all of us, including those who have come to speak today, 
are dedicated to addressing military sexual assault. The Senate bill 
takes an important step forward toward that end. It is but one very 
important reason why I call on my colleagues to support this motion to 
instruct.
  Let's insist that the Department of Defense and the VA address the 
epidemic of military sexual assault, which

[[Page 13126]]

must include appropriate care and treatment of trauma survivors, and 
let's adopt the language in the Senate bill that addresses military 
sexual trauma.
  We have a bill before us that was crafted by Members of Congress 
whose dedication to our veterans is beyond question, but we are running 
out of time. We have a bill that we know will pass both Houses, that we 
know the President will sign, that we know will provide significant 
relief to our veterans immediately.
  We simply cannot negotiate any longer. Time is of the essence. We 
should move forward. We should adopt the Senate bill.
  I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on the motion to instruct 
conferees, and, Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. 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.
  Ms. BROWNLEY of California. 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.

                          ____________________