Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act of 2011

Floor Speech

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Ms. MOORE. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

My amendment is very straightforward. It would exempt our Nation's veterans from the burdensome layers and hurdles that H.R. 10 imposes and adds to the administrative rulemaking process and would specifically remove veterans from the bill's so-called ``reining'' provisions that require a joint resolution of Congress before an agency puts forth a major rule to help our men and women in uniform when they become veterans and after they return home from service.

Many of my colleagues and I disagree with this bill for a variety of reasons, including the author's premise that reducing the administration's ability to regulate and promulgate rules will result in job creation. But whether or not we agree on the direction and approach to best help and promote America's future, we all agree on some things. We all agree that the last thing we want to do is to pass legislation that will delay assistance to those veterans who have selflessly chosen to fight for our country and deserve every ounce of assistance we can provide them when they come back home.

Veterans deserve educational opportunity, rehabilitation for sometimes very severe disabilities, Mr. Chairman, mental health treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder, employment opportunities, and housing opportunities. Delaying rulemaking authority will have dire consequences for our veterans.

For example, Mr. Chair, one very disturbing issue for me has been the high rate of suicides among our servicemembers. We can't delay this kind of assistance. In fact, last year there were more deaths among our troops from suspected suicide than deaths from hostile combat.

We're facing an epidemic here at home, too. A recent report from the Center for New American Security noted that 1 percent of the population has served in the military, and yet those servicemembers represent 20 percent of all of the suicides in the United States.

Resources for the military are sparse. According to a recent Veterans Health Administration survey of mental health providers, 40 percent responded that they could not schedule a new appointment at their clinic within 14 days; 70 percent of surveyed facilities cited an inadequate number of staff to treat veterans; and 70 percent said that they just simply lacked space.

We also know that there's a serious unemployment barrier among our veterans as they return to civilian life. The unemployment rate among vets who served in Iraq and Afghanistan since 9/11 is 12.1 percent, substantially higher than the national average that we're so concerned about now. Unemployment among vets will spike as we end the war in Iraq. The last 20,000 troops are expected to arrive by the end of the year from Iraq. We can expect about an additional 10,000 veterans from Afghanistan to come home before the end of the year, and 23,000 by the end of 2012.

We just can't delay assistance to our veterans. This has been an area, Mr. Chairman, where Democrats and Republicans have typically come together and agreed. Yet H.R. 10, the REINS Act, will have unintended consequences and dangerous consequences for veterans who, of course, have received our undying gratitude and support.

I ask my colleagues to consider this amendment and support my amendment because this is not an area where we want to delay services to them. We don't want to subject our vets to the politics of Washington and a gridlocked, hyperpartisan Congress that struggles even to extend unemployment insurance in a recession or the payroll tax to middle class people, let alone a credit default by something ``so historically difficult'' as raising the debt ceiling.

I just think that Americans will agree with me that our Nation's veterans deserve to be excluded from the gridlock that this will invariably cause. Let's come together once more to adopt this amendment, Mr. Chair, not just for the troops that need help, but for the troops that will be here in the near future.

I reserve the balance of my time.

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Ms. MOORE. I thank the gentleman for responding, even though he doesn't agree with me. I'm just looking at about at least 14 rules that have been implemented very expeditiously on behalf of our veterans since September 11. It is chilling to think about the delays that may be caused by an extra process.

With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

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