Encouraging the Connecting of Members of the Armed Forces in the United States to Support Structures Necessary to Transition From the Battlefield

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise to express my support for H. Res. 848, encouraging the connecting of members of the Armed Forces in the United States to support structures necessary to transition from the battlefield.

While I support this resolution and urge my colleagues to vote in support of it, I must register my disappointment that this is one of only two veteran- or servicemember-related measures that House leadership has chosen to work on this week, the week following Veterans Day.

The resolution asks members of the public to join Congress in thanking and supporting servicemembers in their transition out of the military into civilian life. That is worthwhile, but it does not come with any concrete action.

Our committee has favorably reported several bills to help our most vulnerable veterans. Those bills are waiting for action and have been for months now. If we really wanted to honor servicemembers and veterans, we would be voting on those bills this week.

Mr. Speaker, we know that homeless veterans are eight times more likely to die by suicide, so we urgently need to get homeless veterans housed before the coldest and cruelest months of the year come upon us. Every day we fail to act, more disabled and elderly veterans are forced into the care of nursing homes and other institutional long-term care settings, even though they would prefer to be taken care of at home surrounded by their loved ones.

Let me also point out that while I find it telling that while jurisdiction over this resolution about servicemember transition lies primarily with the House Armed Services Committee, the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs is here managing floor time. I am glad for this because our committee has been pushing to take primary oversight responsibility for the administration of the TAP program for years.

We hear from countless veterans that the administration of TAP by DOD falls flat. DOD is focused on readiness and making sure that servicemembers are focused on their mission of protecting our country, as they should be. Nevertheless, the bookend to that mission is helping servicemembers find success as civilians.

Because DOD has not focused on that transition, too many servicemembers separate from the military without a full picture of the earned benefits available to them as veterans, and it leaves them more vulnerable at an already stressful time.

I believe that it would make more sense for us to have primary jurisdiction over the TAP program to make sure the transition from the military to civilian life is as smooth as possible. We work with VA on healthcare and benefits delivery every single day, and we are better positioned than the Armed Services Committee to ensure veterans understand what life will look like out of the military.

Mr. Speaker, I am glad to see House leadership acknowledging our leadership role in the transition of servicemembers. I will continue to advocate that TAP be included as primarily within the Veterans' Affairs Committee's jurisdiction in the future.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Van Orden for introducing this resolution, and I hope we can continue working together on continued improvements to the TAP program.

I urge this House to bring up additional veterans bills. We should not only thank veterans and servicemembers for their service. We should be backing up those thank-yous with action.

As we face yet another threat of a shutdown, I hope this Congress can stop operating from the brink and begin to do the work that is demanded of us. It is what we owe to veterans, and we should not abide by reneging on our promises.

Mr. Speaker, I support H. Res. 848, but let's act on more than the words of a resolution.

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Mr. TAKANO. What I would like to do on the floor today is not more bickering and arguing. It is a plea. It is a plea to the Speaker and the leadership of this House to bring the home act to the floor. It is a Republican bill. It is a bipartisan bill. We can do more than this resolution. With all due credit to my colleague from Wisconsin for this resolution, we can do more than words on a resolution. We can take action.

We can help veterans who are going to be forced out of aging at home and into a nursing home. We can help those veterans stay in their homes with the legislation offered by my colleague from California, Julia Brownley, the Elizabeth Dole act.

Mr. Speaker, let me respond to my colleague, the chairman. I did not bring up the issue of the lost time with a Speakerless House. I would reject the suggestion that the 21 days we lost of floor time was because Democrats voted to do what they would normally do, which is they vote for their own nominee for Speaker.

I am not even arguing about lost time. I am arguing that we do have time that could be better used.

Instead of endless 2-minute votes on amendments that both sides have voted against stacked on top of each other, we could have used that time to bring the HOME Act to the floor. We could have used that time to bring the Elizabeth Dole Home Care Act to the floor.

Both bills are bipartisan. Both bills have wide support by the veterans service organization community. I just say to the chairman-- and I know the chairman himself has urged the Speaker to do this--my question is, even with all of these useless votes on amendments, we had time this week. We had enough time to bring those bills to the floor. Let's bring them to the floor immediately. We need to get veterans housed before the winter sets in.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to vote in favor of the resolution, and

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Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I ask all my colleagues to join me in supporting the resolution, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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