Statements On Introduced Bills And Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS -- (Senate - April 12, 2007)

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By Mr. CORNYN (for himself, Mr. Craig, Mr. Akaka, and Mrs. Hutchison):

S. 1096. A bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to provide certain housing benefits to disabled members of the Armed Forces, to expand certain benefits for disabled veterans with severe burns, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, for the past several months, our Nation has focused on the tragic stories of the shameful conditions our wounded soldiers have faced as outpatients in Building 18 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and the stories of the difficulty they faced as they tried to navigate the military and veterans health care and benefits systems following their return from Afghanistan and Iraq.

This morning, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the ranking member--the committee on which I serve--as well as the Veterans' Affairs Committee had further hearings and detailed the work we have to do to bring down another wall, and that is the wall that separates our wounded warriors from the benefits they have earned by their noble service.

Today I introduce the Veterans Housing Benefits Enhancement Act of 2007 that will provide immediate and tangible assistance to our wounded servicemembers and their families by strengthening our current law.

This legislation provides explicit VA housing and automobile grant eligibility to servicemembers and veterans with burn injuries, enhanced eligibility for grant assistance during the Department of Defense-to-Veterans' Administration transition, and requires the Secretary of the Veterans' Administration to report on possible improvements to the current law that would cover others with special disabilities, such as those with traumatic brain injuries.

I am pleased to say the chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, Senator DANNY AKAKA, and the ranking member, Senator LARRY CRAIG of Idaho, have joined me as original cosponsors of this legislation, as well as my senior Senator from Texas, Mrs. Hutchison.

I grew up in a military family. My dad served for 31 years in the Air Force. I saw firsthand the importance of treating our veterans in a fair and equitable manner. The sacrifices our men and women in uniform make every day must not be forgotten when they take that uniform off or when they leave their active-duty military service. No veteran should ever be left behind. The fundamental agreement--I would say even sacred covenant--between our men and women in uniform and our Government does not end when a servicemember is wounded or separates from the active-duty military service and becomes a veteran.

Let there be no question about it, the conditions of these outpatient housing facilities at Walter Reed were absolutely unacceptable. But perhaps the story of that unacceptable condition has led us to finding a way to serve our wounded warriors and their families better. The U.S. military and the Department of Veterans Affairs must conduct a top-to-bottom investigation of our entire military health system and take immediate steps to address any and all problems that might exist.

It is sobering to know--as Senator Craig quoted during this morning's hearings in the Senate Armed Services Committee and Veterans' Affairs Committee--that the conclusions reached by GEN Omar Bradley some five decades ago were not fundamentally different from those that are tentative conclusions today about how we can improve that transition, and still we know problems exist.

The President's Commission on Care for America's Returning Wounded Veterans, led by Senator Bob Dole and Secretary Donna Shalala, is an important component of this ongoing effort, which will not be a task for the short-winded. We have an obligation and a duty to ensure that the men and women who are serving and who have served in our military are receiving the very best treatment and benefits for themselves and their families. We cannot and we should not tolerate anything less. We have to do whatever it takes, including providing both the necessary resources and cutting the bureaucratic redtape, to best meet the medical and other needs of those who have so nobly defended our Nation's freedom.

In my State of Texas, my home of San Antonio, Brooke Army Medical Center stands at the forefront of modern army medicine, second to none in the world. Without a doubt--and this is a personal judgment, and I know my colleagues will indulge me--it is Brooke Army Medical Center that is the crown jewel of modern military medicine. I have seen firsthand the magnificent job our men and women are doing at Brooke Army Medical Center to care for our servicemembers, and they deserve all the credit and our firm support.

When I made my most recent visit to Brooke Army Medical Center, on March 10, I had the chance to not only visit soldiers and their families but I chaired a roundtable of hospital administrators, veterans service organizations, and veterans themselves because I wanted to learn from them what we needed to do here in Washington, DC to craft the laws and policies of this Nation to serve them better. I appreciate the strong opinions and advice expressed by these people who participated in the roundtable, and others who have been a source of information and feedback to me as I try to do what I can in my capacity as their elected representative to accomplish these goals. The care and support our Nation provides to these wounded warriors is a direct reflection of the level of respect we have for both our military, our military families, and our veterans, and will, in many ways, shape the armed services, the all-volunteer services, for many years to come. They depend not only on recruitment but retention.

In conjunction with my most recent visit to Brooke Army Medical Center, I heard from many soldiers, families, and veterans about their individual experiences, as I know the current occupant of the chair has when he has traveled back to Colorado, and as all of us have when we go back to learn more from our constituents about how we can improve our response. I learned in particular of challenges that burn victims and their families have faced because they have not received enough special care and assistance for that particular type of injury in the area of VA housing grants and automobile enhancements.

In particular, I want to recognize two women, heroes in my eyes, and I am sure in the eyes of their families, people such as Christy Patton, whose husband, U.S. Army SSG Everett Patton, is undergoing treatment at Brooke Army Medical Center. He was wounded and badly burned by an IED, an improvised explosive device, in Iraq while with the 172nd Stryker Brigade from Alaska. The Pattons have five children.

Then there is Rosie Babin, whose son Alan, a corporal, a medic, was shot while serving in the 82nd Airborne combat team in 2003, now medically retired and living at home with his parents outside Austin, TX. These two women--Christy Patton, who sought me out and explained to me the difficult challenges that her husband and her family of five children are having transitioning and dealing with these wounds and transitioning from the military medical care into retirement and the veterans system; as well as Rosie Babin, on behalf of her son Alan--are the most fervent and effective advocates anyone could ever want to have on your side. They have helped me a great deal as I have tried to craft legislation which I have introduced today to help not only them, because I know they didn't come to me advocating just for a solution for their husband or their son, they came to me because they thought we could craft a solution for wounded warriors and their families yet to come. These families, though, are facing unique challenges as they deal with the injuries of their loved ones, and we have a responsibility to ensure they do not go it alone and that they get all the resources and assistance our country can offer them so they can recover to the maximum degree possible.

The intent of the legislation which I have introduced today, along with my cosponsors, is pretty straightforward. Let me describe briefly what it does.

It would strengthen the present code to provide for the specific needs of burn victims for housing and automobile grants. It would ensure that wounded servicemembers and veterans with other specific needs, such as traumatic brain injuries, are also covered by these kinds of grants, if required. It would further strengthen the Department of Defense-to-Veterans' Administration transition.

As the occupant of the chair knows, that has been one of the real problems we have identified early on, is transitioning people from active-duty military service into the Veterans' Administration, with the duplicate bureaucracies and redtape and the different standards for disability determination and the like. But this bill, in particular, would strengthen the Department of Defense-to-Veterans Administration transition by providing partial housing grants for those veterans residing with a family member to cover servicemembers still on active duty awaiting their final VA disability rating.

I have to say a word here about the family members. When I have been to Walter Reed and when I have been to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, I have seen young spouses, mostly women, who are attending to their injured warrior husbands, or in the case of Rosie Babin, a mother, a loving mother attending to the needs of her son, who was also injured in 2003. It was brought home to me on a very human level what these wounds mean not just to those who receive them but to the family members, who basically sacrifice everything in order to attend to and care for their loved ones. So we ought to do everything we can for our warriors, such as Alan Babin, who are living in their parents' home, to make sure these housing grants will cover servicemembers still on active duty who are awaiting their Veterans' Administration disability rating.

This legislation will also require the Veterans' Administration to report on the need for a permanent housing grant for wounded veterans who reside with family members; and, finally, it will adjust current law to provide home improvements and structural alteration housing grants to Department of Defense servicemembers who are awaiting final VA disability ratings.

As a direct result of the care and concern of military family members, such as Christy Patton and Rosie Babin, we now have a concrete response to the very real concerns they have raised and ways that we can, working together, strengthen the current law. I hope my colleagues will support this legislation so we can work together on a bipartisan basis, in unison, to support our wounded servicemembers and their families better, particularly people such as the Babins and the Pattons. With continued attention to our veterans, we can fashion a revised system that best supports them and their families. I know we all agree that they deserve nothing less. They are the very finest our Nation has to offer.

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