Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2015

Floor Speech

Mr. COURTNEY. Madam Chair, as ranking member of the subcommittee on Workforce Protections that has jurisdiction over this issue, I rise in opposition to the amendment offered by the gentleman from Michigan.

Earlier this year, Chairman Walberg and I raised bipartisan concerns with the Office of Federal Contract Compliance (OFCCP)'s enforcement activity with regards to TRICARE participants. Under the OFCCP's 2010 directive, there was very real concern that any hospital that participated in TRICARE would be considered to be a federal contractor under the OFCCP's jurisdiction. While I support the mission of the OFCCP, I shared the concern of many that application of the agency's contracting rules could disrupt the vital mission of providing quality health care for our active duty servicemembers, retirees and their families.

To this end, as a conferee on the FY2012 National Defense Authorization Act, I supported language clarifying that a TRICARE health care provider was not a federal contractor or subcontractor. Despite the clear congressional intent in that language, and the withdrawal of the 2010 directive that is the subject of this amendment, our recent hearings in the Workforce Protections subcommittee on the subject showed there was still a great deal of misunderstanding over the reach of OFCCP into TRICARE providers.

That is why I deeply appreciate the personal engagement of our Secretary of Labor, Tom Perez, in hearing out our concerns and taking action to address them. As the gentleman noted, Secretary Perez has already addressed this matter through Directive 2014-01 establishing a moratorium on the OFCCP's enforcement activity with regards to TRICARE participants, addressing many of the concerns raised on the floor here today. For instance, instead of a temporary one-year rider proposed through this amendment the Secretary's directive established a five year moratorium on applying OFCCP's jurisdiction to TRICARE providers--meaning that any open OFCCP audits of TRICARE providers will be terminated and no new enforcement activity will occur during that time.

I would also note for the record that, per Secretary Perez's written commitment to our subcommittee, the OFCCP withdrew its complaint against Florida Hospital of Orlando on March 28, 2014. This case was the source of much of the bipartisan concern regarding the application of OFCCP rules on TRICARE providers. I mention this point because the gentleman cited this enforcement action in his remarks in support of the amendment, but did not inform the House that in fact this case no longer exists.

Madam Chair, I strongly believe that the Secretary's moratorium is a good faith effort to heed our bipartisan concerns and provides the time needed for Congress and the Department to take another look at this issue. With the Secretary's quick and direct response to our subcommittee's concerns on this issue, this amendment is unnecessary, and arguably a step backwards from the action already taken.
I appreciate the opportunity to provide this information for the record, and I look forward to continuing to work with Secretary Perez, Chairman Walberg and our colleagues on the Workforce Protections subcommittee on this important issue.

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