Thank you for yielding Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, as I said at our subcommittee markup, you have set a very collegial and cooperative tone, and I want to thank you for continuing to be so inclusive as we work through this process.
I regret to say, I am disappointed this collaboration has not extended to the Full Committee process, as we have yet to see 302B allocations for any other bills, and the MilCon VA 302B remains a partial estimate.
Again, I believe the Chairman has worked very hard with an extremely limited amount of time, to get us to this point.
Even with this short time period, this bill addresses many members’ concerns as well as critical issues impacting our veterans and active and reserve servicemembers.
The MilCon portion of the bill is up by $241 million dollars over last year’s enacted level. In my opinion, the FY 2019 request adequately provides funding for both the Active and Reserve Components.
I was also pleased to see that for the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) account, the bill provides $54 million above the FY 2019 budget request, which will help expedite the clean-up of former Defense Department sites.
One item I want to point out is the new fund for Enhancing Security and Safety. The Bill includes $150 million for enhancing force protection and safety at military installations.
Too often, access control points, air traffic control towers, fire stations, and Anti-Terrorism/Force Protections deficiencies, compete with big ticket items and never make it into the request. These additional funds should help the Defense Department address important security and safety shortfalls.
For the Department of Veterans Affairs, Title II is $3.9 billion dollars above the FY 2018 enacted level - for a 5% increase over the FY 2018 enacted level.
The mark also fully funds the FY 2018 “second bite" of the apple ($500 million) which brings the total amount provided for VA medical care to $71.2 billion dollars, which is a 2 percent increase over FY 2018 enacted level.
Mr. Chairman, I am also pleased the bill rejects the Administration’s proposal to combine the Medical Services and Community Care accounts into one enormous account.
Maintaining the old structure of two accounts offers the most transparency for the Committee, to both monitor and control spending in these two areas.
Specifically for Healthcare, the bill includes $196 million dollars for Suicide Prevention. With over twenty veterans tragically taking their own lives each day, this funding is critical.
The VA portion of this bill also provides $732 million dollars, which is $10 million above the enacted level, for medical research; which will fund essential efforts such as those to address TBI and PTSD, develop state-of-the-art prosthetics, care for victims of military sexual trauma, and treat veterans suffering from mental illness.
The bill also continues to fund important programs to combat veterans’ homelessness, provide all of our veterans with effective and timely health care, and improve the veterans benefits application and appeals process.
I’m also extremely grateful for the Chairman’s support for in vitro fertilization and coverage for assisted reproductive technologies for veterans who have sustained a service connected injury that impacts their fertility.
This issue is personally very important to me, and to so many service members. All veterans deserve to be able to start families.
Moreover, providing access to IVF is consistent with the VA’s goal to support veterans and improve their quality of life. The bill before us today continues the same, bipartisan approach, from the FY 2018 bill.
This bill continues to address the issue of breast cancer awareness and prevention as well. We need to make sure that women veterans have the same access to health care as women in the private sector.
This bill also honors the Budget Deal and includes $2 billion for infrastructure improvements, allocated between $750 million for seismic corrections, $800 million for non-recurring maintenance, $350M minor construction; and $100M for cemetery major construction. Between the regular account and the initiative, it includes $1.2B for seismic corrections.
This funding is vital to helping the VA address its infrastructure issues.
One last item, funding wise, is the increase in funding for Arlington National Cemetery: the bill is $74 million over the budget request to continue the Southern Expansion.
The Chairman was also able to do this by shifting money that was requested - for the unnecessary courthouse for the Court of Appeals - and shifting this money to Arlington. The expansion is vital to increasing the life of the cemetery by 30 years.
As you can see this bill does a lot of things we all support. And while I believe this is a good allocation for the FY 2018 MilconVA Bill, there is one item that I am particularly concerned about.
The bill includes $69 million dollars for a High-Value Detention Facility at Guantanamo Bay Naval Station. Mr. Chairman, there are 40 detainees at GTMO. This works out to a cost of more than $1.7 million dollars per detainee.
Also keep in mind sustainment costs for the entire facility (including the Joint Task Force), over the last three years have averaged $21.3 million dollars per year. And this average includes a spike (of $27.5 million) for a major repair in 2016. The total funding included for this unnecessary project could sustain the entire base for three years.
This is a huge waste of resources, especially when balanced against the needs of our own military service members. And so I strongly oppose the inclusion of this wasteful and irresponsible project. It is for these reasons that I will offer an amendment to strike it.
Mr. Chairman, these mark-ups represent the first step in a long process. Democrats stand ready to work with you to address these issues as we move forward in the appropriations process.
I want to thank the staff for all their hard work: from the Committee, I want to thank Sue Quantius, Sarah Young Kiya Batmanglidi, Tracy Russell, and Caitlin Wilson from Mr. Dents personal office. I heard Catlin is a Patriots fan, and for that, I am sorry.
Now turning to my second issue with this bill, it is the departure of my 2004 Classmate. To say he is a class act does not properly convey how I feel about Chairman Dent.
Charlie Dent is a statesman and a steady, reliable and strong voice for his constituents; a badly needed voice of reason during difficult times, but most of all, I’ve been proud to call you a friend all these years.
I will miss your delusions about Penn State being a great sports program, as we all know the Florida Gators are the sports program all others must measure themselves against. I will also really miss your love for all Philadelphia sports teams.
And on a serious note, I want to wish you, my friend, all the best in your next exciting chapter. I can’t wait to see what it is.
Thank you Mr. Chairman and I yield back.
Source: U.S. Department of HCA
