[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 9160]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    VETERANS AFFAIRS ACCOUNTABILITY AND WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTION ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Kansas (Mr. Marshall) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take a moment and 
recognize an important piece of legislation that is scheduled for a 
vote on the House floor today, the Veterans Affairs Accountability and 
Whistleblower Protection Act.
  This bipartisan legislation will reform the VA by allowing the 
Secretary to fire underperforming employees, ensure appropriate 
protections for whistleblowers, and authorize the Secretary to directly 
appoint folks to critically important positions that need filled 
quickly. This legislation has already passed the Senate, and I look 
forward to its passage in the House, and to send it to the President 
for his signature this week.
  Those that serve our Nation are honored heroes. Unfortunately, the VA 
bureaucracy hasn't always provided the care, respect, and honor they 
deserve. I look forward to this vote and to bringing our valued 
veterans one step closer to the care they deserve.


              Kinsley, Kansas, Summer Food Service Program

  Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. Speaker, last weekend I was honored to join the 
Kinsley, Kansas, Summer Food Service Program at the Kinsley-Offerle 
Junior-Senior High School. It always makes my day when I walk into a 
room filled with children I delivered in the past decade and their 
moms.
  Like those programs in communities in my district and around the 
country, these folks serve free breakfast and lunch, and the program is 
sponsored by the school district. It is great to see this local 
partnership, this community coalition coming together to help their 
children.
  We live in the most prosperous country in the world, where we have 
annually produced a tremendous abundance of food, yet it continues to 
amaze me that we have the level of hunger that we do, especially among 
our own children.
  Good nutrition is too important for the development of these young 
minds not to ensure, through the communities and programs like these, 
that they are well fed. Whether you are in the largest ag-producing 
district in the country, like mine in Kansas, or a city on the coast, 
we have no excuses.
  I thank programs like these for their role in raising a healthy 
generation.


                     National Teachers Hall of Fame

  Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. Speaker, in the last 2\1/2\ centuries, 119 of our 
Nation's educators have tragically lost their lives while serving both 
their students and their communities, a terrible sacrifice they didn't 
expect when they followed their calling to help our young people.
  The National Teachers Hall of Fame in Emporia State University, in my 
district, built a memorial honoring those who have lost their lives 
while pursuing their educational calling. Founded in 2014, the memorial 
was built to honor those who had taught students, ranging from 
kindergarten to 12th grade, and has now been expanded to honor fallen 
educators at all academic levels.
  While the National Teachers Hall of Fame is regionally recognized, 
our country still lacks a national memorial for those that have lost 
their lives while serving our students. By recognizing this memorial, 
we don't have to spend a dime of Federal funding, but we have a place 
to remember these men and women.
  I have introduced a bill, H.R. 2711, that will do just that. I 
encourage my colleagues to support this bill.

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