Cloture Motion

Floor Speech

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Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. President, I rise today to emphasize the importance of the MILCON-VA and Zika conference bill. As a member of the conference committee that crafted this report and a member of the subcommittee that drafted the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs appropriations bill, I cannot overstate the significance of this legislation.

Sadly, we have watched the Senate Democrats play politics with critical funding for our military, our veterans, and funding to combat Zika. In my view, this stunt--and I call it a stunt because that is what it is--is both dangerous and disheartening. It is an insult to the men and women who sacrifice so much to keep us safe. It is a reckless game to play with our veterans and public health across this country.

The conference report includes record-level funding for America's veterans. It fully funds the VA's request for veterans' medical services and provides an overall increase of nearly 9 percent for our veterans programs. It includes measures for the Department of Veterans Affairs to improve access and efficiency for military services. We certainly know we have a long way to go before we get satisfaction there. We have a long way to go to reduce the backlogs in claims processing, strengthen our whistleblower protections, and improve information technology in medical research.

The drug epidemic plaguing our Nation has unfortunately hit our veterans community particularly hard, especially in my home State of West Virginia. The overdose rate in my State is more than twice the national average. With almost 40 percent of our State's veterans using the VA health care system, it is vital that we strengthen the VA's ability to help treat opioid addiction.

Whether our veterans are recovering from injuries obtained during their service or tending to their daily health needs, this bill provides funding to give veterans a new lease on life. This includes supporting the VA's Opioid Safety Initiative--something I have been very involved with--which improves pain care for those who have a higher risk of opioid-related overdoses. It also encourages the VA to continually expand treatment services and better monitor our at-risk veterans.

Another thing we can do for our veterans is ensure they have ample employment opportunities as they transition into civilian life--another problem we have identified. In West Virginia, where the majority of our veterans live in rural areas--and as many of you know, almost the whole State is rural--the unemployment rate is almost 2 percent higher than the overall national average.

I recently witnessed something that was great to see: an innovative agritherapy program that helps our veterans cope with PTSD. It has also helped to arm our veterans with skills they can use to start a business. I met several veterans who were suffering from PTSD who have embarked on an agritherapy program using bees and beekeeping. At Geezer Ridge Farm in Hedgesville--yes, it is Geezer Ridge--I saw veterans use beekeeping to overcome PTSD. To date, the program has helped create 150 new veteran-owned farms.

The benefits of agritherapy have been acknowledged by publications such as Psychology Today and Newsweek. However, we need research to further explore the benefits of this type of treatment. That is why I offered a provision in this bill calling for a pilot program at the VA to better understand agritherapy, and I am excited about what we learned.

While I was out there, I met a veteran who was suffering from PTSD and who was seeing a therapist once a week because he was having such difficulty coping at the VA, and he got interested in beekeeping. He began to grow a business, to learn about bees, pollen and honey, the queen bee, and all those kinds of things. He said that now he only sees a therapist every other month. He has such relief, and it gives him such a positive outlook for his future, just by having this type of therapy available to him.

This bill also prioritizes a full range of programs to ensure that we honor our commitment to our men and women in uniform and that we deliver the services our veterans have dutifully earned.

Let's talk for a moment about a growing public health threat facing us, and that is the Zika virus. We have all heard about it, and we have seen pictures of children who were born from mothers who were infected by Zika. It is very disheartening, sad, and difficult to see and to think about those young families starting out.

This conference report includes $1.1 billion to tackle Zika. With every conversation I have and every statistic and article I have read, I grow more concerned. I think everybody does. I spoke to a group of young students just the other day. Young students are tuning in to this difficult problem.

After hearing testimony before the Appropriations Committee and meeting with the CDC Director, I understand the immediate need to provide funds for research, prevention, and treatment. We are all vulnerable to what the CDC Director told me is an unprecedented threat.

We must act to protect ourselves and prevent the spread of this deadly virus. We must do it smartly, efficiently, and without wasting our taxpayers' dollars. This conference report that is stalled, that is stuck in this stunt, does just that. It takes the necessary and responsible actions to protect Americans from an outbreak.

The $1.1 billion allocated in this conference report is the same amount the Democrats supported just last month when an amendment addressing Zika funding passed out of the Senate. It doesn't make sense. Their reasoning for opposing this funding lacks merit. The conference report does not prohibit access to any health service. In fact, it provides the same access to health services that was in the President's request. The conference report even expands access to services by boosting funding for our community health centers, public health departments, and hospitals in areas most directly affected by Zika. The safety and health of Americans should be our No. 1 priority. Sadly, the other side has chosen to prioritize politics over the American people.

We will have another opportunity to vote on this conference report, and I am hopeful that my Democratic colleagues will do the right thing. Rather than blocking critical funding for veterans and the Zika response, we need to join together to send this conference report to the President's desk as soon as possible.

Thank you.

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