[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Pages 18003-18007]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    MILITARY CONSTRUCTION AND VETERANS AFFAIRS AND RELATED AGENCIES 
                        APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2016

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will 
resume consideration of H.R. 2029, which the clerk will report.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 2029) making appropriations for military 
     construction, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and related 
     agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2016, and 
     for other purposes.

  Pending:

       Kirk/Tester amendment No. 2763, in the nature of a 
     substitute.
       Kirk amendment No. 2764 (to amendment No. 2763), to clarify 
     the term ``congressional defense committees.''

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the time until 11 
a.m. will be equally divided in the usual form.
  The Senator from Utah.


                 Unanimous Consent Request--S. REs. 312

  Mr. LEE. Madam President, I rise today to support and to request the 
Senate's approval of this resolution, which would designate the second 
week of November as National Pregnancy Center Week in honor of the 
lifesaving and life-affirming work of America's community-supported 
pregnancy centers.
  I am asking for my colleague's unanimous consent because there is 
absolutely nothing contentious about this resolution, S. Res. 312, nor 
is there anything contentious about the pregnancy resource centers 
commemorated by this resolution.
  There are approximately 2,500 pregnancy resource centers in America. 
Every single day they serve an average of 65,000 women and men faced 
with challenging pregnancy decisions, providing them with a wide array 
of resources. That includes, at many centers, health care services such 
as pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, and testing for STDs and STIs. It 
includes emotional and educational support such as options counseling 
and parenting classes. It includes material and logistical assistance 
to help new moms and dads deal with all the little things that easily 
add up to big obstacles in the first few weeks and months of 
parenthood.
  America's pregnancy resource centers aren't out to make a profit nor 
are they out there to push a particular political agenda. They are just 
there to help and to do so in a way that is compassionate, considerate 
of individual privacy, and respectful of the equal dignity of all human 
life.
  Any way you look at it, America's pregnancy resource centers deserve 
our recognition and they deserve our respect and our gratitude. The 
real measure of their significance isn't in the words of a floor speech 
in the Senate or the outcome of a vote, it is in the thousands of lives 
they help save from the pain of abortion every year and in the millions 
of teachers, soldiers, nurses, neighbors, friends, and spouses whose 
lives and contributions to our communities we might never have known 
had it not been for the unassuming heroes down at the local pregnancy 
center who give their time to keep the lights on, answer the phones, 
and help young women find the hope and the courage to choose life.
  Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to 
the immediate consideration of S. Res. 312, submitted earlier today; 
that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the 
motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with 
no intervening action or debate.

[[Page 18004]]

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from Washington.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, reserving the right to object, I would 
ask the Senator to modify his request and offer a resolution that 
actually helps to move women's health and rights forward.
  Simply put, the resolution that the Senator has offered is more of 
the same. It is another effort to pander to the extreme Republican base 
by using women's health and constitutionally protected rights as a 
political football. Unfortunately, it makes it clear for the umpteenth 
time that when it comes to improving access to affordable health care 
for women, some Republicans are determined to stand in the way of 
progress.
  I expect that some of my Republican colleagues will say this 
resolution shows how much they care about women's health. The truth is 
it shows the opposite. It shows once again that the Republican Party 
wants to interfere in a woman's medical decision. Strengthening women's 
health care doesn't start with telling women what they should and 
should not do with their own bodies, but that is exactly what that 
resolution does.
  If my Republican colleagues really want to support women's 
reproductive care, they would work with Democrats on improving access 
to affordable birth control under the Affordable Care Act, including 
emergency contraceptives, ensuring women and families make their own 
decisions about their health care--not their bosses--and fighting back 
against efforts across the country to undermine women's 
constitutionally protected health care rights.
  It is time for Republicans to drop the political attacks on women's 
health and instead join Democrats to focus on these priorities and more 
like them, so that women--not politicians, not insurance companies, not 
CFOs or CEOs--are in control of their health care, as it should be.


                 Unanimous Consent Request--S. Res. 37

  That is why I ask the Senator to modify his request and instead ask 
unanimous consent that the HELP Committee be discharged from further 
consideration of S. Res. 37, and the Senate proceed to its immediate 
consideration; that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed 
to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the 
table with no intervening action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Will the Senator so modify his request?
  Mr. LEE. Madam President, reserving the right to object, there is 
nothing divisive about this resolution I have offered today, nothing 
divisive whatsoever.
  This simply seeks recognition of the great work that is performed by 
the men and women who staff these pregnancy centers. There is nothing 
about it that is a political football, nothing about it that is 
designed to drive a wedge.
  Unlike our resolution, the resolution I submitted today, S. Res. 312, 
which mainly commends community volunteers around the country for 
helping young mothers and their children--hardly divisive--the 
Senator's counterproposal is divisive and controversial. My cosponsors 
and I only wanted to recognize the life-affirming and lifesaving work, 
the kind of work that brings families and communities together the 
counterproposal would only pull Americans further apart and further 
away from the more humane and compassionate society that all Americans 
deserve.
  If calling for recognition of these brave and noble men and women who 
serve people at pregnancy centers around the country is divisive, we 
have significant problems, but the fact is, it is not. I would 
encourage anyone within the sound of my voice to read S. Res. 312, and 
they will discover it is not the least bit divisive and doesn't discuss 
anything that is the least bit controversial.
  On that basis, I can't agree with the modification, and I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard to the modification.
  Is there objection to the original request?
  Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I object to the original request.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  The Senator from Maryland.


                   Armed Services Authorization Bill

  Ms. MIKULSKI. Madam President, I rise to speak as in morning business 
in terms of the bill we will be voting on at 11:20 a.m. today, the 
armed services authorization, as well as what we are going to be voting 
on this afternoon, which is veterans health care. They actually go hand 
in hand and what a great set of votes in a symmetry that shows our 
support for national security, our support for our U.S. military, our 
support for our U.S. military who are on Active Duty today, and then 
also for our veterans who in their hearts are always on Active Duty.
  Today we have the ability to actually show we can govern, we can pass 
bills on a bipartisan basis that will help our country be able to 
defend itself, show our support to the U.S. military, and honor our 
commitment to the veterans. I am looking forward to voting on the armed 
services authorization because it does give the tools we need to be 
able to defend ourselves. I commend Senators McCain and Jack Reed for 
their excellent work.
  Madam President, I wish to speak now as the vice chair of the 
Appropriations Committee. I am so excited that we are bringing the 
MILCON-VA bill to the Senate. I have been voting for veterans ever 
since I have come to Congress. Veterans are our Nation's heroes. They 
put their lives on the line to fight for our freedom. They have made 
tremendous sacrifices for our country. Whether it is veterans who are 
still alive from World War II, those who fought on Pork Chop Hill 
during the Korean war, the Vietnam war at Mekong Delta, and of course 
Desert Storm, Iraq, and Afghanistan, we owe our veterans a debt of 
gratitude. We want to show our gratitude not only with words and yellow 
ribbons but with deeds. I believe the best deed is to make sure we 
adequately fund the Veterans' Administration to end the backlog for 
disability benefits--if you fought on the frontlines, you shouldn't 
stand in line to get your disability benefits--and to robustly fund 
veterans health care, along with other benefits this Congress has so 
authorized.
  We have accomplished a lot over the years working for our veterans, 
and we will have a lot to do with what is in our legislation. I wish to 
commend the subcommittee chair, Senator Mark Kirk, and our vice chair, 
Senator Jon Tester, for the work they have done. As we were working on 
our bill this summer and through the spring, veterans told me and they 
told them that the Senate funding was too spartan; that we were 
underfunding our veterans and not just by a few dollars but by $850 
million. So we held it up, not as a parliamentary ping-pong, not as a 
parliamentary temper tantrum but as a way of saying our veterans need 
more money.
  As a result of the budget agreement, we are able to do this. We are 
on the floor today where an amendment will be offered by Senators Kirk 
and Tester to add $2 billion for veterans health care, $2 billion to be 
determined by the Secretary.
  What do we look forward to? Well, lifesaving drugs. One of course is 
this issue of being able to pay for hepatitis C; the other, while we 
are looking at actual hands-on medical care, we want to reduce the wait 
times. There is too much waiting at the Veterans' Administration, 
whether you are waiting for your disability claim or you are waiting to 
see your doctor or your mental health counselor or your 
ophthalmologist. We need to be able to reduce the wait times, and this 
is what part of this $2 billion will do.
  Then there are those who are not only chronically ill from the wounds 
of war but are chronically and devastatingly injured. So we looked at 
those who are unable to care for themselves but are being cared for at 
home by loved ones. This will add more funds to be able to help those 
caregivers who are stepping up for their responsibility. So they are 
taking family responsibility, but we have to take USA responsibility. 
That is what we fought for in the $2 billion.

[[Page 18005]]

  I urge my colleagues to move ahead and be able to vote for this bill. 
I do believe this legislation, by adding the money and the kind of 
excellent work that has been done by our authorizers, the insistence of 
good provisions being put into the bill--we are going to shrink that VA 
backlog. Also, we are going to do something else. We are going to 
advance funding for mandatory veterans' benefits. So no matter what 
government means, if we ever get into more shutdown, slamdown, slowdown 
politics due to us, the veterans' benefits will go forward.
  I have been working on this backlog for a long time. By the time we 
got to March 2013, we were at a national standoff. There were over 
600,000 claims pending. In Maryland we had one of the worst claims 
offices in my own hometown of Baltimore. I couldn't believe it. When I 
met with my Veterans Advisory Board and stories poured out of the kinds 
of calls that were coming into my Constituent Services Offices, not 
only were they waiting in line--this isn't like just standing in line 
at the supermarket, this is for disability benefits, for people who are 
in danger of losing their homes and other kinds of things. So we went 
to work on a bipartisan basis. I am proud of what we did. I am proud of 
our authorizers.
  I see Senator Isakson from Georgia is on the floor. He was a big part 
of the reform effort. It shows our military knows how to win wars, but 
we need to know how we can govern so they don't have to fight a war 
with the VA bureaucracy. We hope we will be able to make these reforms. 
We are not going to throw money at it. We are going to insist on 
metrics.
  The last point I wish to talk about is the advance appropriations. 
People will say: Aren't VA benefits mandatory? They are unless we get 
into one of our parliamentary ping-pong debates.
  So I worked with the Disabled Veterans of America and a coalition of 
several voluntary veterans service organizations--great groups: the 
American Legion, Vietnam Veterans and Iraq and Iran Veterans of 
America. They asked me to add advance appropriations to the omnibus 1 
year in advance--making sure we funded things 1 year in advance--
protecting them from shutdown and slamdown politics. We were able to do 
that again, and I hope we can do that again this year.
  I know I have other colleagues on the floor who wish to speak now, 
but I wish to say we can really show we not only know how to fight for 
America and its security, but we know how to fight for those who do the 
fighting.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maine.
  Ms. COLLINS. Madam President, I rise on the eve of Veterans Day to 
urge my colleagues to support the fiscal year 2016 Military 
Construction and Veterans Affairs appropriations bill.
  This marks the first time in 2 years that we have had the opportunity 
to debate, amend, and vote on this important legislation on the Senate 
floor. It is vital to those who serve and to those who have served our 
Nation.
  I first learned to honor our veterans from my father. My father is a 
World War II veteran who was wounded twice in the Battle of the Bulge 
and earned his Purple Heart and his Bronze Star. It was he who would 
take me to the parades on Veterans Day and on Memorial Day and boost me 
high on his shoulders. From the best vantage point in the parade, I 
would watch our veterans march by. He taught me of their sacrifice and 
that we have a never-ending obligation to thank those who wore the 
uniform of our country.
  Passing this bill fulfills important obligations that we owe to our 
Nation's 22 million veterans, 127,000 of whom live in the great State 
of Maine. It sends an important message to our veterans: We will honor 
the sacrifices that you made and are making on our behalf. It would be 
a mistake to send the opposite message by further postponing or 
delaying consideration and final passage of this important bill before 
we celebrate our veterans, honor, and remember them tomorrow.
  As a member of the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs 
Subcommittee, I know this bill before us now is the result of 
bipartisan compromise. I commend the leadership of Chairman Kirk and 
Ranking Member Tester, who have worked hand in hand to craft the 
managers' amendment that they will be bringing before us today.
  In May of this year, the Appropriations Committee reported this 
funding bill by a strong vote of 21 to 9. Since then the Bipartisan 
Budget Act has been enacted, which provides needed additional resources 
to fund vital national priorities and that will be reflected in the 
managers' amendment. The managers' substitute would provide a total of 
$79.7 billion in funding, which I would note represents more than $1 
billion more than the President's budget request.
  This bill increases funding for our veterans in areas where they need 
it most, including mental health care and benefit claims processing, 
two issues which the Senator from Maryland has been so active in 
resolving. This bill also includes funds aimed at reducing veterans 
homelessness. This is a special priority of mine as the chairman of the 
Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations 
Subcommittee. I worked with Senator Murray on this issue, and we have 
made real progress--exciting progress--in reducing the number of 
homeless veterans across this country through the VASH Program, but 
there is still more work to be done. In addition, this bill includes 
$270 million in funding for the Office of Rural Health, through which 
the Access Received Closer to Home or the ARCH Program is funded. In 
five pilot States in which it operates, ARCH ensures that rural 
veterans, who often have a very difficult time accessing the regular VA 
health care system--particularly the VA hospitals--can receive care 
closer to where they live and where their families live.
  I will never forget the story shared with me by a Maine veteran who 
broke his hip during a terrible snow storm and needed urgent care. The 
ARCH program, located at Cary Memorial Hospital in Caribou, ME, ensured 
he could receive the care he needed in his community and close to his 
family, rather than enduring a 4-hour drive over bumpy winter roads 
during a ferocious snow storm to the Togas VA Medical Center in 
Augusta, ME. ARCH has made a tremendous difference for our veterans and 
continues to help those who live in rural communities and who are 
facing similar challenges and emergencies.
  The managers' substitute also increases Veterans Affairs medical 
services by nearly $2 billion, including $10 million for programs 
supporting caregivers. We all know of the wonderful work that Elizabeth 
Dole has done in this area, and I have been very pleased to join with 
my colleague Senator Patty Murray in introducing the Military and 
Veteran Caregiver Services Improvement Act. The bill before us is going 
to help provide benefits for those who shoulder the responsibilities 
associated with long-term care for critically injured veterans. This 
bill would expand comprehensive caregiver benefits for those who take 
on those responsibilities.
  I would note, Madam President, that the Senator from Wisconsin, 
Senator Baldwin, and I have a broader bill dealing with caregivers that 
the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions is considering 
and I hope will be approving shortly.
  In addition to the vital funds for veterans programs, this bill also 
funds military construction projects, which unfortunately had been 
adversely affected--cut, delayed, deferred--as a result of the budget 
caps and the impact of sequestration. Therefore, I am particularly 
pleased this bill includes $7.2 million in funding needed to repair, 
renovate, and upgrade the 101st Air Refueling Wing's fire and crash 
rescue station in Bangor, ME. This is funding for which I have strongly 
advocated, and I thank the managers for including it the bill. The 
101st ``MAINEiacs'' provide critical 24/7 air and ground refueling 
services that support local military operations, and this funding will 
strengthen their capabilities.
  I would note, Madam President, that I recently met with General 
Breedlove, our NATO commander, and he told me he refueled at Bangor, 
ME, on his way back from Europe recently.

[[Page 18006]]

  Madam President, I could go on and on about the important programs 
and priorities in this bill. They are essential to providing what we 
owe to our servicemembers and our veterans: safe and reliable 
infrastructure so that our troops can complete the missions they are 
assigned, access to medical care, earned compensation and benefits, and 
assistance to help our veterans successfully transition to their 
civilian lives.
  Tomorrow, on Veterans Day, our Nation will pause to honor all those 
who served. Today, we have the opportunity to say to the American 
people, to our veterans, and to those who are considering military 
service to our Nation that no matter what partisan issues may divide 
us, we stand united in fulfilling our commitment to those who serve and 
those who have served.
  We can send that message by passing this measure and sending to the 
President a funding bill that takes care of our servicemembers, our 
veterans and their families, and that honors their service to our great 
country.
  Madam President, I yield the floor.
  (At the request of Mr. McConnell, the following statement was ordered 
to be printed in the Record.)
 Mr. VITTER. Madam President, I wish to support the Military 
Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations 
Act. This bipartisan bill provides critical resources for our active 
military, veterans, and their families.
  The courage and sacrifice that define our soldiers, sailors, airmen, 
marines, coastguardsmen, and all servicemembers over the years cannot 
be understated. Major chapters in our Nation's rich history have been 
and continue to be written by our brave servicemen and women, many of 
whom hail from Louisiana.
  The very least we can do in return is keep our commitments to them. 
It is our obligation to fund veterans' health care and benefits, and 
this bill does just that while also making necessary reforms to the 
scandal-plagued Department of Veterans Affairs.
  Our Louisiana veterans have waited a long, long time to have 
efficient access to effective health care, and they deserve much better 
than what has been handed to them. That is why I have worked for years 
to authorize new VA clinics and build interim clinics in southwest 
Louisiana, including one in Lake Charles, LA, that is expected to open 
before the Thanksgiving holiday.
  The latest National Defense Authorization measure has been revised to 
reflect the recent budget deal, which modified the spending caps for 
both base and war defense spending. In light of these changes, I firmly 
believe the administration should honor past statements that current 
military reductions are due to defense budget cuts stemming from 
sequestration, which have now been postponed for 2 years.
  It is critically important to recognize that the newly revised 2-year 
budget deal provides necessary relief for the Department of Defense and 
allows a much-needed opportunity to avoid further cuts to the Active-
Duty Army's troop strength. Since 2013, the U.S. Army alone has 
decreased troop strength 21 percent. That is both dangerous and 
unacceptable.
  I have fought against dangerously steep drawdowns and was proud to 
fight this issue on the Senate floor last year. The United States 
cannot afford continued troop cuts at a time when military leaders say 
that we are facing an unprecedented number of threats.
  I urge my colleagues to support our military and to support this 
bipartisan bill.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in 
morning business for 5 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                              Veterans Day

  Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, this Veterans Day we pause to honor the 
men and women in our military who stepped up to fight for our freedom 
and to protect our families. In my home State of Washington, we have a 
lot to be thankful for. More than 600,000 of our friends, our 
neighbors, and our family members have bravely served their country.
  As the daughter of a World War II veteran, I know the sacrifice it 
takes to keep our country safe and protect our values. Thanks to my 
father and the countless other veterans I have had the honor of 
meeting, I believe that when brave individuals sign up to serve our 
country, we must fulfill our promise to support them when they come 
home. We should honor our veterans by showing them we have their backs 
long after the war is over.
  While I would like to stand here and say that our country is doing 
everything we can for the people we owe the most to and that we are 
fulfilling the promise we made to them when we sent them off to fight 
for us, I believe our work is far from over. Though Congress passed a 
sweeping bill last year to provide new resources and add more 
accountability to the VA, I continue to hear from veterans across my 
home State of Washington about care that is falling short. Despite 
structural changes at the VA, veterans are still waiting on surgeries 
and MRIs and oncology appointments, mental health screenings, you name 
it. Our veterans have already fought for our country. They should not 
have to fight to get their health care or the benefits they were 
promised, so we have to fight on their behalf.
  As the senior member of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, I am 
committed to making this country work better for our veterans. Even 
though there are challenges, there is hope. Just 2 weeks ago, we 
successfully passed the Homeless Veterans Services Protection Act out 
of the Senate to make sure a VA policy change doesn't cut off services 
and force veterans onto the street. That bill cleared one hurdle; now I 
call on my colleagues in the House to get this done.
  I am also fighting to end the VA's outdated ban on fertility services 
for veterans so they can start families. There is absolutely no reason 
to deny this service for members of our military, especially when they 
are injured while fighting for our country. And I believe we must 
extend the critically important military caregiver support services 
program to veterans of all eras--a program that enables injured 
veterans to recover and stay in their homes with their families instead 
of being in a hospital or a nursing home.
  Madam President, these aren't the only things I am working on. 
Because our veterans kept their end of the bargain, we have to keep 
ours. That means they should have access to mental health care to help 
deal with the often invisible wounds of war. That means a solid path to 
a college degree. That means job training programs and transitional 
services so that veterans have a path to good careers after their 
military service is complete. These things aren't about going above and 
beyond; they are the bare minimum of what our country should be doing 
to fulfill its promise to care for our veterans.
  So as our country recommits to that promise this Veterans Day, I want 
to let veterans know in my home State of Washington and across the 
country that I will not stop fighting for them. I again want to express 
my heartfelt thanks to all the veterans around the country who have 
served and for all who are still serving today.
  I call on all of my colleagues and fellow citizens to honor our 
veterans every day of the year with the kind of action that shows them 
we are grateful for their service.
  Madam President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Georgia.
  Mr. ISAKSON. Madam President, I want to thank Senator Kirk and 
Senator Tester for their outstanding work on this appropriations bill; 
Senator Murray for her cooperation and help on caregivers and so many 
programs in the committee; and Senator Collins and her work on MILCON. 
I want to encourage all my fellow Members of the Senate to vote 
favorably on this legislation when it comes before us later today.
  I want everyone to stop, take a deep breath, and think about three 
things: No. 1, today is the 240th anniversary of the United States 
Marine Corps--the strongest veterans we have, veterans who fought and 
died for us around the

[[Page 18007]]

world for 2\1/2\ centuries. Tomorrow, at the eleventh hour, on the 
eleventh day of the eleventh month, we celebrate the armistice of World 
War I and Veterans Day in America. And today on the floor of the 
Senate, we are fixing some problems that have confronted our veterans 
for the better part of the last 10 years. As the Members of the 
committee who are on the floor know, the VA literally almost collapsed 
2 years ago. Health services in Phoenix, AZ, were a disaster. People 
were cheating on appointments and shortening veteran times to make 
themselves look better. The VA had a reputation of being the worst 
agency in the Federal government.
  Now, I don't take credit for it as chairman, but I will tell you what 
your committee members have done--members like Senator Tester and 
Senator Murray. Instead of complaining about people, instead of putting 
targets on the wall and saying they are the problem, we decided to be 
part of the solution. I want to recite for just a second what has 
happened in the last 10 months.
  No. 1, we passed the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American 
Veterans Act, and this bill funds it. It will help to reduce the number 
of suicides. Today, 22 veterans per day commit suicide, and we want 
that reduced to a perfect score of zero at some point in time. But you 
do that only by investing funds, hiring psychiatrists, and making a 
commitment. This Senate and the House have done so.
  We had an overrun of $1.428 billion--more than I can count to--in the 
Denver hospital the VA was trying to build. They were 13 years into 
construction and not even half finished. This committee said that will 
not stand. We passed legislation to complete the funding by taking the 
money out of VA without additional appropriations from the Congress, 
and more importantly we got the VA out of the construction business. We 
said: You guys are supposed to take care of the health of our veterans, 
not----
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority time has expired, Senator.
  Mr. ISAKSON. I ask unanimous consent to have 3 additional minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. TESTER. I just need about 1 minute, Johnny--sorry, the Senator 
from Georgia. You can have everything, but just give me 1 minute.
  Mr. ISAKSON. How much time remains?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Approximately 2\1/2\ minutes, Senator.
  Mr. ISAKSON. Well, let me just give you the closing, and I will leave 
all the juicy parts for later on. We will talk about those in the press 
release.
  The story that should be read about this appropriations bill is we 
are not letting our veterans down. We are uplifting our veterans, and 
we are seeing to it they get what they deserve. We are seeing to it 
that the problems we have seen illustrated in the papers of the United 
States of America are being fixed.
  The VA is a work in progress. There will still be problems but not 
because of attitude or lack of funding and not because of a lack of 
commitment by this Congress. We are going to do what our veterans did 
for us. We are going to stand ground, we are going to take the hill, we 
are going to hold the hill, and we are going to see to it that those 
who fought and died for the United States of America are rewarded, not 
only for themselves and for their health care but for their retirement 
benefits and for their loved ones as well.
  I commend Senator Tester on what he has done, Senator Kirk for what 
he has done, and all the members of the committee.
  I yield back the remainder of the time to the distinguished Senator 
from Montana, who can call me Johnny any time he wants to.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Montana.
  Mr. TESTER. Madam President, I thank the Senator from Georgia. I 
appreciate his comments and very much thank him for the compliments. 
This MILCON-VA appropriations bill is a critically important bill. Why? 
Because we are demanding a lot from the VA. In order to demand a lot, 
we need to give them the tools and resources they need to be 
successful. It would be totally unfair to put them on the line without 
the resources they need to take care of our veterans.
  That is important because today we have unprecedented demand. Not 
only are our Vietnam veterans getting older, not only do they need 
services like never before, but we have been at war for 15 years in the 
Middle East, and we have folks coming back with complex injuries. We 
have men and women who need help when they get back. Some of these 
veterans would not have survived if they had been in any other war but 
this one. So the pressure on the VA is incredibly important, and if we 
are going to fix the access problem, if we are going to serve our 
veterans in the way they need to be served, we need to pass this bill.
  Let me finish with a quick story. Not long ago a guy by the name of 
Henry--a Vietnam vet from Helena, MT--walked into my office. Henry 
fought in Vietnam. He was awarded four Purple Hearts for his combat and 
for his sacrifice. Henry walked into my office, sat down across from my 
staff member, and said: I can't live any more. Henry was in trouble. He 
had behavioral health problems that he needed professional help to get 
fixed. We were able to get him to the VA. The VA had a behavioral 
health professional who was able to help Henry, and Henry is living a 
good life today.
  Our veterans deserve no less than to make sure they get the help they 
need when they need it, and that is what this bill is about. So we will 
be voting on a managers' package soon, and then we will be voting on 
passing this bill and getting it to the President's desk. Hopefully, we 
can do it with a strong, healthy vote--a unanimous vote, as a matter of 
fact--because this is an important bill not only for military 
construction but also for veterans.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCAIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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