Extending and Modifying Certain Authorities and Requirements Relating to the Department of Veterans Affairs

Floor Speech

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Mr. BOST. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 2795) to amend title 38, United States Code, to extend and modify certain authorities and requirements relating to the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

The text of the bill is as follows: S. 2795

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. TWO-YEAR EXTENSION OF TEMPORARY CLARIFICATION OF LICENSURE REQUIREMENTS FOR CONTRACTOR MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS TO PERFORM MEDICAL DISABILITY EXAMINATIONS FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS UNDER PILOT PROGRAM FOR USE OF CONTRACT PHYSICIANS FOR DISABILITY EXAMINATIONS.

Section 2002(a)(4) of the Johnny Isakson and David P. Roe, M.D. Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act of 2020 (Public Law 116-315; 38 U.S.C. 5101 note) is amended by striking ``three years'' and inserting ``five years''. SEC. 2. TWO-YEAR EXTENSION OF PERIOD OF APPLICABILITY OF CERTAIN RELIEF FOR RECIPIENTS OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE WHO ARE AFFECTED BY CLOSURE OR DISAPPROVAL OF AN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION.

Section 3699(c)(2)(C) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by striking ``September 30, 2023'' and inserting ``September 30, 2025''. SEC. 3. EXTENSION OF AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.

Section 8117(g) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by striking ``2023'' and inserting ``2028''. SEC. 4. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS HOUSING LOAN FEES.

The loan fee table in section 3729(b)(2) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by striking ``November 14, 2031'' each place it appears and inserting ``November 15, 2031''.

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Mr. BOST. 2795.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of S. 2795, a bill that extends VA's expiring authorities.

The Veterans' Affairs Committee works on an extender bill every year. This year, it was introduced by my friends, Senators Tester and Moran.

The 2023 extender bill does three things.

It would extend VA's participation in the National Disaster Medical System for 5 years. VA has a mission to protect veterans and staff and support public health during disasters or emergencies.

Second, the bill would also allow medical professionals who are contracted to perform veterans' disability exams to continue practicing across State lines. Now, VA depends on the contractors to perform most of the disability exams, and the contractors depend on this authority. This bill would continue the authority for 2 more years.

Finally, the bill would continue to protect student veterans if their school closed or gets disapproved under the GI Bill. It would also allow the Secretary to restore the entitlement to education benefits for 2 more years.

I support this legislation because it gives VA important tools to take care of all of our veterans. Without extending these authorities, serious impacts to operations might mean VA's ability to protect Americans during disasters would be limited, veterans' claims for disability compensation would grind to a halt, and student veterans would be left out in the cold if they attended a college that closed due to fraud or mismanagement. We can't let that happen.

I once again thank Senators Tester and Moran for working on this legislation in the Senate, and I also thank Dr. Murphy for his work to lead and champion the legislation here in the House.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support S. 2795, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. BOST. Mr. Speaker, many people know that I was in the State legislature prior to coming to Congress, I was a foreleader there and I knew and could identify when, for some reason, whether it is leadership on one side of the aisle or the other side of the aisle, who wants to drag the debate out. So I am going to do whatever I can to help them out here.

Some things that were claimed here--I think it is amazing that the claims that actually cause fear through our Nation and through people who are providing services--we are going to try to work every way we can not to have a shutdown, but we have a responsibility, and that responsibility is to pass a budget.

That is not what we were supposed to be debating here at this time, but I am glad to do that. If you remember when we were working on the cap, where we would increase the cap, I think the other side of the aisle said we were going to cut benefits for veterans. Veterans were scared all over the United States because they claimed we were going to cut benefits for veterans.

Oh, and what happened?

I told that--not only I as chair, but the Speaker and others--we are not cutting benefits for veterans. Okay.

Let's see what actually--if the shutdown occurs, what actually is still covered at the VA? I think it is very important that the American people know.

Healthcare will not be cut. It won't even slow down. Compensation and pension benefits and processing of claims on appeals, they will still be done. The Veterans Crisis Line, it is most important, and I know both myself and the ranking member know it is vitally important to make sure that those veterans--the veteran numbers right now are 17 per day that are committing suicide--we want to make sure that is open.

Housing benefits for the homeless, open. National cemeteries and burial services and benefits, still going to be done. Essential IT functions, network data centers, cybersecurity operations, are still all going to be done with VA. The Office of General Counsel is still going to operate.

The financial accounting and debt management center, maintenance and management of VA facilities, VA customer service operations, workforce management for electronic health records, the modernization office, VA appeal court operations, small and disadvantaged veterans business support operations--all not cut. Why?

Because we have been working already with the Secretary of the VA to make sure those services remain in place.

Are there certain things that will slow down, paperwork and things like that? I hope we don't go into the shutdown, but those essential services we are going to make sure are provided for our veterans. Why?

Because our veterans deserve it.

We want to make sure that we don't have fearmongering and concern in that way.

I think there are people that should be concerned about a shutdown. I am concerned about a shutdown. That is why we are going to be--and this is very important for the American people to know--I know for a fact that I am possibly going to be offering an amendment tonight somewhere around 1 o'clock in the morning.

We are going to work through the day and through the night. We are going to do it all this week to try to take care of the business of this Nation. People should feel secure that we are.

That is not why we were here today. We wanted to talk about this bill and the importance of it. Why?

Because these are essential services we must also pass by the end of the month. As you can see, we are going to continue to do the work. We are going to continue to work in this way, and I hope in a bipartisan manner that we are.

We can go out and do press conferences and stand on this floor and claim, oh, this isn't getting done or that isn't getting done. I understand that. I have been around this process a long time. But understand, we are here to do our job and we are going to do our job.

There are 435 Members in this Chamber, and all of them have opinions and all of them have ideas.

You know what? We are doing a thing called regular order because many people called for that.

You know what? There are two things in this life you should not watch being made because it ruins the taste of both--sausage and law. Now we are making law. We are coming together and running our heads together and arguing and debating.

We are debating on our side of the aisle with our own colleagues, we are debating on that side of the aisle with their colleagues, and we are debating together to come up with the answers that we need to for this Nation to do it right.

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Mr. BOST. Madam Speaker, may I request the time remaining for each side?

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Mr. BOST. Madam Speaker, I am so proud to be on this floor and for what we do for the people, but it is interesting to watch the debates that occur on this floor sometimes to try to stretch, as I said, and draw things out.

I actually had the opportunity earlier this afternoon during 5-minute speeches to talk about a friend of mine from the Illinois State legislature who did this very, very well. He was a floor leader in the State of Illinois. His name was William ``Bill'' Black. Bill was a great orator, and he could talk on every issue.

I explained during that time that because he was an educator and then the president of a community college, when he became a legislator, he knew how to explain the issues exactly the way they needed to be explained so that whether you were a scholar or just an average person on the street, you could understand what was going on.

Basically, he used a good southern Illinois term that said he would put the cabbage down where the hogs could eat it. Let me tell you, that is what I would like to do.

As we have listened here, going off and leaving the bill we were actually debating on, we have talked about everything that is going on around here. I said earlier that it will continue to go on. Why? Because we have been elected by the people to work through this process. We are going to work through this process.

I hope that there is not a shutdown. If there is a shutdown, is this the first time we have shut down? No, it is not. What we have to know is that we want to make sure we are getting it right. The American people want us to get it right.

What legislators discover once we are here, with the 435 districts, what is happening in the ranking member's district, quite often his people feel different than the people of the Illinois 12th District, which I represent. They feel different because they come from different cultures. It is our job to try to come up with something that is balanced and that can actually operate this Nation the way we need to have it operated.

Let me also say this: We also know that we can do a whole lot of things at the same time. Right now we are working on appropriation bills, and my colleague from the other side of the aisle said that we have not passed an appropriation bill. Well, we actually had one appropriation bill out, and there wasn't a single Democrat vote on it. It is kind of interesting to watch on this floor when somebody claims you haven't done anything. However, not a single vote came in from that side of the aisle. As we are moving forward, though, we do have the 12 budget bills to move.

Now, will there be a CR? I don't know. Let me tell you the first thing we are going to do is we are going to move rules because that is what we do. We are going to move the rule, and we are going to have debates. I thank the members of the Rules Committee who worked all weekend long to try to make sure that through this process they are crossing the T's and dotting the I's.

As I said in a speech on this floor earlier today, every comma, every dot, and every word matters. Every comma, every dot, and every word matters. Why? It matters because it is going to affect generations to come. It will affect people next week, next year, and 10 years down the road.

What we do here is serious business. I am getting concerned sometimes that the only thing people want to see is the rhetoric back and forth when they don't understand how much time we do spend working across the aisle together to having successful pieces of legislation that actually get things done.

We both knew, the Senate knew, with Senator Moran and Senator Tester, that this piece of legislation that we are working on today needed to be moved by the last of this month or these services would fail. Rightfully so, in a bipartisan manner, we have and we will move this tonight, and it will move on to the President so those vital services are not removed or even say a flaw in them where a problem could happen. Remember, all I said about the words and the dots and the commas: They aren't just words; they affect people's lives. That is why we have got to get it right, and we are going to work to get it right.

Madam Speaker, I am ready to close, but I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. BOST. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I thank him for the spirited debate. Once again, that is the rhetoric I was talking about, to think that people on this side of the aisle don't want to take care of our veterans and feed our veterans, don't want to make sure that SNAP programs are passed and that those people in need are taken care of, that is the rhetoric we have got to stop.

In this particular bill, this bill actually does provide and make sure that we can carry on these three areas of service in the VA that are vitally important. We want to make sure that our colleagues on both sides of the aisle support this legislation. I will encourage mine. I just heard the ranking member support and encourage his Members to support this legislation as well.

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

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