Military Construction And Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act, 2008

Floor Speech

MILITARY CONSTRUCTION AND VETERANS AFFAIRS APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008 -- (House of Representatives - June 15, 2007)

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Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. Chairman, I rise today to offer a bipartisan amendment highlighting the importance and need for an Office of Rural Health within the Department of Veterans Affairs.

I'd like to commend the chairman and the ranking member for their good, solid, hard work on this bill and the tribute it pays to America's veterans. I would also like to thank Mr. Salazar of Colorado and Mr. Smith of Nebraska for their work on this bipartisan amendment.

I was pleased that language was included in the legislation that was signed into law by the President last year calling on the Department of Veterans Affairs to create an Office of Rural Health within the Office of the Under Secretary for Health. However, the Department has yet to make any progress towards establishing this very important office.

This is a simple amendment that should encourage the Department to make the Office of Rural Health fully operational as expeditiously as possible, and provide them with the resources needed to do so by rerouting $5 million in the Medical Services Account to help fund the Office of Rural Health, thus making it revenue neutral.

Rural Americans face different and unique challenges than our fellow citizens who reside in urban and suburban areas, and this is no different for our veterans and their ability to seek the services and the treatments that they need. For some rural veterans, a simple trip to the doctor can often involve hours of travel to reach the appropriate facility within the veterans health facilities health system.

It is my hope that the Office of Rural Health will shed light on many of these challenges, and will be a resource with many new and creative ideas for methods to help our rural veterans receive their much-deserved benefits in a manner that is efficient, and allowing them to stay as close to home as possible.

One of the great challenges we are beginning to face is the number of servicemen and -women returning from Iraq and Afghanistan who have sustained a traumatic brain injury. The Department of Veterans Affairs has four large polytrauma centers, in Richmond, Tampa, Minneapolis and Palo Alto, California. These facilities provide first-class treatment for veterans suffering polytrauma, and also provide inpatient rehabilitation services.

Despite the services provided at these facilities, many veterans will eventually return to their homes in the rural areas of America, but they will still need care and treatment. The Office of Rural Health will be the basis for new ways to provide rural veterans with polytrauma with the care that they need.

Another development within the Department of Veterans Affairs that has been going on for a while are the Community-Based Outpatient Clinics, or CBOCs. Often serving rural areas, CBOCs are a tremendous asset to the delivery of care for veterans, allowing them to seek treatment closer to their home. Unfortunately, underserved areas still remain in the rural areas. Again, the Office of Rural Health will be an excellent resource for new ways to provide primary outpatient care.

Mr. Chairman, I urge passage of this commonsense amendment so that the rural veterans concerns can be appropriately addressed.

Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

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