Providing for Consideration of H.R. Guard and Reserve Gi Bill Parity Act of Providing for Consideration of H.R. Ensuring Veterans' Smooth Transition Act; and for Other Purposes
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. RESCHENTHALER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I thank my good friend from Colorado for his kind words and also for yielding me the customary 30 minutes.
Madam Speaker, before I get into debate, I do want to talk about my good friend from Colorado. I know that he may be moving on in some months. I want to say I truly am looking forward to working with my good friend for the next few months. He is a gentleman and a good friend both on and off the floor.
Madam Speaker, the rule before us today makes in order two pieces of legislation, H.R. 1836, the Guard and Reserve GI Bill Parity Act of 2020 and also H.R. 4673, the EVEST Act.
As a former Navy JAG, I am deeply committed to supporting the military men and women who make sacrifices every day to protect our freedoms, both at home and abroad.
And that is why I am incredibly disappointed that neither of these measures received a legislative hearing in the House Veterans' Affairs Committee this Congress.
Without input from the VA, VSOs, and other stakeholders, it is absolutely unclear the impact these bills would actually have, let alone whether these are actually workable bills.
Take for example H.R. 1836. Republicans agree that we must address the benefit and equity for our National Guardsmen and simplify the law so that any time spent on Active Duty for service other than training would count towards GI Bill eligibility. But unfortunately, the broad expansion of benefits in H.R. 1836 could have very real impacts on retention in both the Reserves and Active Duty.
Additionally, it would be helpful to hear from VSOs and other stakeholders about the impact that increased interest fees would have on veterans' access to housing. This is a real problem, and I don't think we have properly addressed it or debated it.
These are issues that could have been explored. They could have been explored during a legislative hearing. They could have been explored to ensure a final product that meets the needs of our guardsmen and our veterans.
At the same time, while I agree that we must support transitioning servicemembers and we must do it by connecting them with VA hospital care and medical services, this has been an incomplete legislative process that makes H.R. 4673 completely problematic.
According to the VA 2022 Budget documents, 9.2 million veterans are enrolled for care and medical services while 7.1 million veterans actually receive treatment at VA or community care facilities. So given that the budgets are determined by historical enrollment versus actual utilization, increasing enrollment without understanding the impact on the VA healthcare system could create an imbalance between the budgetary needs and what reality will show. It would also be helpful to understand H.R. 4673's potential impacts on access to care for current veterans and the ability of VA staff and facilities to handle the influx of the new enrollees.
To that end, last Congress we passed the Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act of 2019. This required the VA to submit a strategic plan to provide a healthcare plan to any veteran during the 1-year period following their discharge or release from Active Duty service. This strategic plan is currently expected to be released early in 2022. So it would make a lot more sense to wait until we receive the strategic plan before we move forward with a legislative solution.
Again, Madam Speaker, these are issues that could have been discussed at a legislative hearing. These issues could have helped ensure a veteran-focused approach to enrollment eligibility for VA healthcare. Instead, the majority is moving forward without a true understanding of the real-world impacts of these measures. I, therefore, urge my colleagues to oppose this rule.
Madam Speaker, during my opening statement, I referenced the strategic plan that the VA is undertaking that we are supposed to get in early 2022. And the reason for that is we typically need data before we legislate, but we do have data on another topic, and that is the damage that our children are facing by being kept out of school.
Madam Speaker, we have nearly 2 full years of data that show that keeping kids out of classrooms has caused massive learning loss, a mental health epidemic, particularly among our youth, and stressful situations for millions of families. Recently, children in Chicago have been forced to endure virtual hearings after the Chicago Teachers Union refused to do their jobs and show up for in-person classes.
House Republicans believe schools should be open and that our children come first. In some municipalities, bowling alleys have opened before our schools. It is shameful.
Madam Speaker, that is why if we defeat the previous question, I will personally offer an amendment to the rule to immediately consider H.R. 682, the Reopen Schools Act.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. RESCHENTHALER. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Iowa (Mrs. Hinson), my good friend, the legislation's author, here to explain the amendment.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. RESCHENTHALER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I appreciate my good friend from Texas talking about suicide. If we want to talk about suicide, let's look at the youth of this country. Here is the statistic:
The number of ER visits for suspected suicide attempts by 12- to 17- year-old girls rose by 51 percent in 2021 compared to 2019. Suicide attempts are up 51 percent. So let's talk about suicide and let's talk about the effect that these shutdowns are having on our youth.
I know my good friend from Colorado said this is just an issue in Chicago when we were talking about Chicago. Chicago is just an example of the shutdowns.
There are over 4,500 schools across the country that chose to begin the week of January 2 by shutting down, which clearly disrupted learning.
This isn't just a Republican stat. I have a New York Times article that has even more facts on this. Remember, it was President Biden who promised that he was going to shut down the virus, not shut down the economy and not shut down schools. He has actually done the exact opposite.
Here is another statistic. More Americans have died from COVID-19 in 2021 than in 2020. That is under President Biden's watch.
We can hear excuses all day long about what can be done, but the fact is this: This is a crisis that Joe Biden and the other party across the aisle own. There is no excuse. They control the White House and the Senate, and they have the majority in the House. This has been done on their watch.
Madam Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Hern) to talk more about this topic.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. RESCHENTHALER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I am actually glad the economy came up because this is truly a disaster. We can talk about the stock market, but I can tell you that the people in my district don't care about Wall Street. They are focused on Main Street.
When everything they buy every day, whether it is bacon at the grocery store or gasoline at the gas station, costs more, it takes money out of their paychecks.
Don't take my word. Let's turn to some statistics.
The December jobs report was the worst of Joe Biden's Presidency, with the U.S. economy actually adding just under 200,000 jobs when it was projected to add roughly half a million jobs, grossly falling short of what all the economists were projecting.
The December jobs report was the worst of the Biden Presidency. The labor force participation rates decreased for the following demographics. African-American men 20 and older declined in job participation. African-American teenagers, Asian Americans, and Hispanic and Latino Americans all had falling numbers under the Biden economy.
Again, let's just look at inflation. Gasoline is up 58 percent. We haven't seen increases like this in gasoline since the last time that Joe Biden was in the White House. Car and truck rentals are up over 37 percent. As I referenced, bacon is up over 21 percent. Fish and seafood are up 10 percent. Eggs are up 8 percent. Coffee is up 7.5 percent.
What this means is the real wages of American workers, which have stagnated, are even worse than they were before this Presidency because everything the American worker buys costs more thanks to Joe Biden and thanks to the party across the aisle's economic policies.
I want to talk more about schools that were referenced. Let's talk about schools. I have a New York Times article. ``No Way to Grow Up'' is the title. American children are in crisis. It was published on January 4. This is a New York Times article.
Among third through eighth graders, math and reading levels were lower than normal this fall, according to NWEA, which is a research group.
Many children and teenagers are experiencing mental health problems aggravated by the isolation and disruption of the pandemic.
Three medical groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, recently declared a national state of emergency in children's health.
What is really shocking about this is the party across the aisle claims to be the party of science. I think the party across the aisle has forever forfeited the right to call themselves the party of science because nothing that they have done has been based on science--maybe political science, but not real science.
Here is the real science. Data now suggests that the many changes to school routines are of questionable value in controlling the virus' spread. Some researchers are skeptical that school closures actually reduce COVID cases in most instances.
Here we have the so-called party of science using unscientific rationale to shut down schools, which we know is damaging kids both from an education point of view and a mental health point of view, damaging kids while having zero science to back that up.
Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Moore).
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. RESCHENTHALER. Madam Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from Utah.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. RESCHENTHALER. Madam Speaker, again, I just want to reiterate that I have said if we defeat the previous question I will personally offer an amendment to the rule to immediately consider H.R. 682, the Reopen Schools Act, to help our children who are in school who are suffering. That is why this is now an issue.
To speak more on that, Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Tiffany).
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. RESCHENTHALER. Madam Speaker, I yield the gentleman from Wisconsin an additional 10 seconds.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. RESCHENTHALER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I am a veteran in the Navy. I was a naval officer. I deployed to Iraq. I will talk about veteran issues all day long, and we can start by talking about the VA loan that needs reform so veterans can actually use this loan in a hot market where sellers simply will refuse to accept that loan. I will sit up here and talk about that all day, and I have been talking about veterans' issues.
But let's just step back. We have had almost 1 year of one-party rule, one party controlling the White House, the Senate, and the House for 1 year.
And what has that given us?
It has given us an absolute crisis--a disaster--at the southern border. It has given us rampant COVID deaths that actually exceed what they were last year despite the fact that this President inherited from President Trump Operation Warp Speed which gave him three vaccines and a list of therapeutics that could be used. Despite all that, this is still an unmitigated disaster that Biden and his Democratic colleagues have created.
We also have inflation and stagnation. American workers have less money to buy the goods and services they need. We have Russia poised to invade Ukraine. We have Communist China daily invading the airspace of the free and independent nation state of Taiwan. And don't even get me started on the fact that we ceded Afghanistan to the Taliban after 18 months of stability in a nation that saw zero American fatalities and stability for our Afghan allies, and we handed it over to the Taliban.
That is what 1 year of one-party rule has given this country: an unmitigated disaster.
Now, getting back to schools, I know that my colleagues on the left want to say that this is just an issue for Chicago or some other city. Forty-five hundred schools shut down the first week of January is a national issue.
Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Louisiana (Ms. Letlow) to talk more about it.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. RESCHENTHALER. Madam Speaker, I would like my friend from Colorado to know that I have no further speakers and that I am prepared to close.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. RESCHENTHALER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Madam Speaker, as a former Navy JAG, I strongly support efforts to ensure our military men and women receive the care and benefits they deserve both during and after their periods of service. It is, therefore, incredibly disappointing to me that the two bills made in order under today's rule present numerous issues and numerous uncertainties that could have been addressed through what could have been just a robust discussion with the VA, VSOs, and other stakeholder groups.
I really hope that moving forward we can just work together to ensure that through the legislative process we address the needs of our Nation's veterans.
Again, I would urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the previous question so that I can offer the amendment to Reopen Schools Act.
So, again, Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the previous question and ``no'' on the rule, and I yield back the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. RESCHENTHALER. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. RESCHENTHALER. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source