Protecting Business Opportunities for Veterans Act of 2019

Floor Speech

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Mr. BERGMAN. Madam Speaker, I give special thanks to the chairman and ranking member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee because we are here for the right reasons, and that is to serve veterans and enable them to be productive in their lives after their service to our country.

My bill, H.R. 561, the Protecting Business Opportunities for Veterans Act, gives the VA the tools it needs to fix a persistent problem in contracting that is labeled improper passthroughs. These abuses occur when a small business obtains a contract under set-aside award conditions, but gives all, or substantially all, of the work to a large company while collecting profit for doing absolutely nothing. This practice has long been prohibited by law and wastes taxpayer dollars, but, unfortunately, in reality, agencies up until this point have had little ability to stop it.

As a veteran and a small business owner myself, I know how much work and dedication goes into building a successful company. The VA provides unparalleled opportunities for veteran-owned small businesses, but these opportunities are, unfortunately, wasted when unethical companies exploit loopholes to rip off the American taxpayer.

I am very proud of VA's Vets First Program which directed contracts worth $6.3 billion to veteran-owned small businesses last year alone. However, bad actors have been taking away contracts from law-abiding veteran business owners in the Vets First Program for way too long.

My bill, the Protecting Business Opportunities for Veterans Act, requires all bidders on these contracts to certify that they will perform the percentage of work that the law already requires. The bill also directs the VA to work with the Office of the Inspector General in a more effective way to find, stop, and, where appropriate, punish these improper passthroughs.

H.R. 561 addresses the gaps in implementation of existing law without adding new bureaucracy at the VA. I repeat: no additional new bureaucracy at the VA.

Madam Speaker, I strongly urge all my colleagues to support H.R. 561.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Madam Speaker, just for the record, a lieutenant general, in case there are those who don't know what that is, has three stars. I salute this marine. Even though I was in the Army, I have to salute the general over here.

Before I close in support of this bill, Madam Speaker, I want to express my disappointment that we are not considering another bill, S. 3084, this afternoon as well.

S. 3084 would correct a technical error in current law that unless swiftly addressed will jeopardize the financial security of certain current and former senior leaders across the VA healthcare system and make it harder for VA to recruit and retain the necessary talent to serve our Nation's veterans.

In short, a provision of the Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2010--and I remember that--is intended to raise the salary cap for employees serving our senior executive services- equivalent positions in the Veterans Health Administration. However, due to a recently realized error in the law, VA will have to cut pay and issue debts for 30 current and 10 former senior leaders in those positions unless Congress acts to make the necessary corrections which S. 3084 will do.

This was no fault of the Members. All of the employees who are impacted by this technical error serve in high-level, mission-critical leadership positions working on issues like suicide prevention, mental health, women's health, and more. We should be encouraging and supporting these leaders, not leaving them in limbo.

What is more, our failure to address this issue in a timely manner is actively making it harder for VA to recruit candidates to fill important vacancies across the country.

Madam Speaker, S. 3084 passed the Senate on January 16. We could have taken it up and passed it many times over by now. If we had, those leaders would be resting a lot easier, and those vacancies could have been filled. I urge Speaker Pelosi and Chairman Takano not to delay any longer and to schedule S. 3084 for floor time as soon as possible.

Madam Speaker, I want to thank Chairman Takano for his leadership on all these bills we brought here. They are all very needed, and I appreciate the gentleman bringing them up in a timely fashion. I absolutely endorse all of those today, and I encourage my colleagues to support H.R. 561, as amended.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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