respected, less rewarded and less protected than others. the v.a. already struggles to attract the best and brightest to serve our nation's heroes. if this legislation passes, we'll make it even harder to recruit and retain the most qualified and best trained work force at the v.a. i know this because in las vegas, we face challenges to fully staff our brand new state-of-the-art hospital, and if the bill passes, we'll lose an important recruitment tool and our veterans will be the ones who will hurt. so let's not fool ourselves here. this is just another piece of the republican agenda to demonize public employees and privatize government services. today it's the v.a., tomorrow it will be another agency that they don't like. who knows, the e.p.a., the t.s.a. the f.a.a. the usda. i urge my colleagues to oppose this legislation. don't walkerize the federal

government. i yield back. . the chair: the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. miller: i recognize my colleague from florida, mr. bilirakis for two minutes. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. bilirakis: i rise today to support the v.a. accountability act. the brave women and men who return from serving our country should be able to receive timely access to quality care. our veterans have earned our respect and admiration. in general, i believe that most employees at the v.a. are dedicated to our nation's heroes. however a culture of mediocrity has permeated the v.a. too many employees who perform terribly are not fear thsmed bill before us today will allow the v.a. secretary to fire employees more easily. but the heart of this issue is about the quality of care for veterans. if bad actors stay at the v.a.,

that hurts veterans. opponents speak in hypotheticals but hypotheticals mean nothing in the face of overwhelming evidence. we know about the real negligence that goes on unpunished. s that disservice to those who have borne the battle. the "washington post" reported on the v.a. employee who took a veteran seeking treatment for drug abuse to a crack house in a government vehicle and left the veteran there overnight. sadly, it took over a year to fire that employee. inexcusable. according to the v.a., to v.a. data given to the committee, only three v.a. employees have been fired since the arizona wait time scandal. specifically for data manipulation. that is unreasonable. this bill is needed. because our nation's heroes deserve better. that's the bottom line. we must protect our veterans.

support this bill. i yield back, mr. speaker. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from florida reserves. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. miller: i would -- mr. takano: i would like to yield time -- mr. takano: i yield to the gentleman from new jersey, mr. cass past cell. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. pascrell: i want to commend the chairman and ranking member and the rest of the members of the veterans committee. i think you've done a good job and i don't say that -- i don't come up here and say that too often. because you made it bipartisan. now what possessed you to bring this bill to the floor and use the word accountability, i'm trying to figure that out. we want accountability. i'm a veteran. and i fought, i got a record for 18 years, in the forefront,

running point on veterans issues. from waiting online so long to get an appointment, the late etc. problems addressing the t.b.r. patients and post-traumatic -- t.b.i. patients and post-traumatic stress disorder patients. as a vet i was proud to support the bipartisan v.a. reform legislation that became law in response to last year. but this bill isn't about making the v.a. better or ensuring better care or treatment for our veterans this bill is about trying to score some political points. in an underhanded attempt to strip v.a. employees, and i don't think you want to do that, but that's the result. sure, -- can you give me a little more time?

mr. miller: did you vote for that? this doesn't take away the righteous say are taken away. mr. pascrell: may i respond? since it's my time? in the context of what we did a year ago, under the context of what is now under the guise of accountability is different to me. i read both bill the ones we voted on last year and this bill. there is important pork place protections that do not exist in this bill. and i -- that's my position system of we cannot start off by blaming unions, blaming the v.a., we've been through this before. there's some bad actors there, trying to get rid of them. i want to get rid of them faster than you want to get rid of them but i want to take down the whole group. we paint with a very wide brush. we've done this with other federal agencies. the reality is that the civil service protections available to these employees and all other federal employees actually

protect whistleblowers. that's in the law already. and allow them to come forward when they see wrongdoing without fearing retaliation. whistleblowers were how we discovered the problems mr. chairman, through the speaker, in the first place. that's how we found out about what was going on in phoenix and other places. correct me if i'm wrong i think you'll agree with me. i agree that poorly performing employees have no place at the v.a. or any other federal agency, for that matter. we agree on both sides of the aisle. we can't -- some say you're in favor of the vets and we're not in favor of the vets come on. we did that 15 years ago. that didn't work. i agree that poorly performing employees had no place at the v.a. or any other federal agency. not just this one this demonization of government employees that my colleagues are spearheading does not encourage productive work.

frankly, it's just plain wrong. i urge my colleagues to oppose this legislation. we're not going to make these folks any more accountable by demonizing the work. and by the way, just as you can't have community policing without police you've got to understand, you cannot have service without -- with thousands and thousands of positions being vacant buzz you don't want to send the -- spend the money. that's at one of the cores, may not be the most fundamental reason, but that's one of the reasons, at least, why we can't provide service. i yield back and i thank you. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the committee will rise informally to receive a message. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the chair will receive a message.

the messenger: a message from the president of the united states. the secretary: madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: mr. secretary. the secretary: i'm directed by the president of the united states to deliver to the house of representatives a message in writing. the speaker pro tempore: the committee will resume its sitting. the chair: the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. miller: i think i understand why the disparity in the vote. the senior executive level we passed last year is nonunionized. the people we are talking about today are unionized. with that, i recognize dr. phil roe of the first direct of tennessee for two minutes. mr. roe: thank you mr. chairman. it's a pleasure to join my colleagues on the house floor to speak in support of h.r. 1994, the v.a. accountability act as amended. i would like no begin by noting that most of the v.a.'s 300,000

folks are honest, hardworking folk who get up with the sole intention of going to work to help our veterans, just as they do at mountain home. the scandals at the v.a. medical centers, it's become evident there are more bad apples than we would like to believe. the v.a. accountability act would provide the accountability necessary for the v.a. to remove bad actors and send the message about the type of performance we expect for our veterans. additionally, this would provide frontline employees with increased whistleblower protections from retribution from superiors and colleagues to the office of special counsel. as a member of the veterans affairs subcommittee on oversight and investigation and as a veteran myself i understand how crucial it is for whistle blowers to continue coming forward with allegations

of mismanagement, misconduct, and outright nedges. if whistleblowers don't feel -- negligence. if if whistleblowers don't feel safe stepping forward, we'll never be able to fix the problems at the v.a. i think it's important to note that nothing in this bill requires the secretary to remove anyone. it simply gives the secretary the tools necessary to remove bad employees which would be a welcomed authority, i would think. mr. chairman we must change the culture at the v.a. as the second largest employeing department in the u.s. government ect only to the department of defense there are far too many hurdles in place to reasonably and responsibly manage it. just one thing about spending at the v.a., i've been on the veterans affairs committee since i've been in congress, 6 1/2 years. the budget is up 74%. we are spending the money.

we need to spend it more wisely. i urge my colleagues to support this legislation for our nation's veterans. thank you, mr. chairman, and i yield back. the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. tanaka: i'm glad my colleagues on the other side believe -- mr. takano: -- mr. takano: i'm glad my colleagues on the're side believe this. this bill makes whistleblowers less likely to come forward. with that, i yield two minutes to the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. cartwright. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. cartwright: i thank my colleague, mr. takano. i rise to oppose h.r. 1994, which seeks to transform 300,000 v.a. personnel to what we call at-will employees, capable of being fired based on anything. including their beliefs. and not their merit,

necessarily. it effectively destroys the civil service as it is and as we know it at the v.a. now, some jaded colleagues of mine would look at this bill and say it's just a clever attempt to drive a wedge between our nation's veterans, all of whom we ar dently support on both sides of the aisle, between those veterans and the civil servants who serve them at the v.a. and the unions that represent them. this bill strips due process rights away from every nonmanagement v.a. employee including over 100,000 veterans. so that's the key. there are 100,000 veterans themselves affected by this bill and they will lose rights as a result if this bill passes. now, h.r. 1994 will have a chilling effect on those willing to speak out and that's been

addressed amply heretofore. but i'm here to say it goes beyond whistleblowers. whistleblowers in this country have a lot of protections. but this goes beyond whistleblowers because remember, a lot of the bad actors at the v.a. that have led to the phoenix situation and others we have seen, are management people. think of that. if we take away the due process rights of employees, not only who would serve as whistle blowers to blow the whistle on bad management conduct, but we take away their rights to due process before they lose their jobs, what we're doing to them is that we are perpetuating this culture of tacit compliance with bad actors managers at v.a. so for example an employee simply doesn't want to go along with an improper and unethical practice, that a manager is asking him or her to do, that employee right now can say, no

i'm not going to do it. we pass this bill and they refuse to it, they can be fired for not doing it. this is not a way to serve our nation's veterans. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. miller: thank you very much mr. chairman. i now recognize the subcommittee chairman of the health subcommittee, dr. benishek, for two minutes. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. benishek: thank you, mr. chairman. today i rise in support of h.r. 1994 legislation to allow the v.a. secretary to fire employees because of poor performance or misconduct. i want to thank chairman miller for his strong leadership on this bill. the v.a. committee has been relentless in our pursuit of answers and accountability for our veterans since the wait time scandal first surfaced, yet the v.a. has only held three individual responseable for these unacceptable failings. i'm the father of a veteran. i served our returning heroes as

a doctor in the iron mountain v.a. hospital for 20 years. i know exactly the quality of our veterans and they deserve so much better. in northern michigan, we all know if you don't do your job you get fired. it's that simple. the v.a. needs to remember, it's not their to serve the v.a. it's there to serb our veterans. until we focus the v.a. on this fundamental and sacred mission, we will continue to have the issues of mismanagement and incompetence that have plagued the department. this bill takes an important step in that direction and i'm pleased to support it and i urge my colleagues to do the same. i yield back the remainder of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the mr. takano: many of us voted for the choice act. i want to reiterate, the courts

whether a law we passed comports with the constitution. in hindsight, we should have given that provision closer scrutiny. we might have reacted a bit too hastily to the phoenix scandal. we were unified in our outrage. however, that provision is now working that way to the court system and is very well possibly going to be overturned. i would like to -- i would like to reserve my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. miller: i yield to mr. huelskamp from the 1st district of kansas, two minutes. mr. huelskamp: i appreciate the opportunity to speak in support of our legislation. in the last year, there has been

a lot of talk about accountability at the v.a. and unfortunately though, there hasn't been enough action or change by the v.a. under this administration. this bill provides much needed tools to ensure the v.a.'s secretary has the authority and the responsibility to remove corrupt or incompetent employees. as a member of congress, i'm tired of hearing stories about employees placed on administrative leave or getting early retirement with full benefits for offenses that should get them fired if we really cared about the veterans. ultimately, here is the purpose of this bill. ending the culture of nonaccountability at the v.a. my bill the whistleblower testimony travel act is included and provides protections for whistleblowers who testify before congress about the shortfalls of this agency. it might be hard to believe but

currently, if a v.a. whistleblower is invited to testify before congress, they are required to use personal vacation time and personally cover all their own travel expenses. this bill would ensure brave employees who report to congress and the public on what is broken can do so on official time and be compensated by the v.a. for travel costs. ultimately, this legislation is about protecting our veterans and making sure our veterans are treated with dignity and respect and about making certain that our brave veterans have a v.a. that works for them, not the other way around. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from florida reserves. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. takano: may i inquire of the time remaining? the chair: the gentleman has 12 minutes remaining. mr. takano: as of last year under the current due process

regime in effect at the v.a., 872 permanent employees were removed. 4878 more resigned in lieu of being fired and 958 probationary employees were terminated. it is indeed very possible under the current due process regime for employees to be disciplined and dismissed. we need to work with the v.a. to empower managers to utilize the current processes in place. i would like now to yield three minutes to the the gentlewoman from maryland, mrs. edwards. the chair: the gentlewoman is recognized for three minutes. ms. edwards: i rise in strong opposition, the so-called v.a. accountability act. i'm a daughter of a veteran and i was outraged at the findings that wait time records were falsified. i have to tell you and has been said on the other side, my

father actually received good care and services in v.a. as hundreds of thousands of veterans do all across this country and that is by the hundreds of thousands of veteran employees and workers at the v.a. i recall that in my state, 10% of our population in maryland are veterans and we are a small state. we care about veterans and the care they receive. just before adjourning last year, congress passed and i voted for and the president signed the veteran access choice and accountability act and gave the v.a. secretary expanded authority to fire or demote service employees and capped the amount of bonuses and required the v.a. to establish penalties for employees who knowingly submit false wait time data. enough already. almost one year later republicans are not only skipping town early with a whole bunch of unfinished business but

spending this day on an ideological bill aimed to disparage federal employees. there are mechanisms that are in place to enforce standards for all federal employees including those at the veterans administration. the main provision of the bill would single out nonmanagement v.a. employees, including 100,000 veterans to be fired or demoted. we work closely with our employees at the baltimore regional office and the washington, d.c., medical center. these people many veterans themselves are dedicated and care about the patients they serve and the nation of the administration. this legislation is nothing more than a last-minute attempt by house republicans to terminate and unfairly blame federal employees and shrink the government until it can't do anything for the american people. i'll work with like-minded members of congress who want to

provide oversight but this is not the answer and would destroy the merit-based civil service system. this is not about accountability , not about whistleblowers or improving services for our nation's veterans. this bill is nothing more than union busting. it's union busting and needs to be stopped. the house republicans should be ashamed by using v.a. employees and federal employees for their own political gain. and with that, i yield. the chair: the gentleman from recognized. mr. miller: i would remind the gentlelady she voted at the last-minute for the veterans access choice and accountability act. the same language is in there now and it didn't cover union employees. this one does. i recognize the gentleman from 6th district of colorado for two minutes. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. coffman: i rise in strong

support of h.r. 1994 v.a. accountability act. you don't have to look any further than my hometown of aurora, colorado, to see that the v.a. is in desperate need of fundamental reforms. what happens when the v.a. burst its budget on a single construction project by over $1 billion? nobody gets fired nobody gets disciplined nobody's at fault. of course that's not technically true. the v.a. was willing to fire one person involved, a whistleblower attempting to warn v.a. leaders early on of the growing problems with the project. to make matters worse, the v.a. just didn't fail to discipline the people in charge of the aurora project, they awarded the construction chief with over $600,000 in bonuses and let him retire with a full pension. there is a culture of

bureaucratic incompetence and corruption within the v.a. which is hurting our nation's veterans and wasting billions of taxpayer dollars. the v.a. accountability act is an important step in the right direction. and i urge its full support. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from florida reserves. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. takano: i yield at this time two minutes to the the gentlewoman from florida, the ranking member member of the veterans committee, ms. brown. the chair: the gentlewoman from florida is recognized for two minutes. ms. brown: thank you, mr. speaker. let me say first of all, i have been on this committee for the entire time i have been many congress, 23 years. and what i have always enjoyed about this committee, the bipartisan nature of this committee. but let me just tell you this bill 1994, i do not support.

and the chairman, would he yield to a question? and i control the time because you have said repeatedly that we voted for this provision in the choice act. and the only reason we did it was because these were union people and not union people? i wept to every single meeting -- i went to every single meeting and conference and this provision that you're talking about, the devil is always in the details and then we need to make sure we read every bill closely because i was not -- yes, the secretary has the authority to fire people, but we want to make sure that they have due process. now, no one on this floor where we are voting to give the v.a. additional resources they need to do away with the backlog, would you respond to that,

because none of us was voting -- none of us was voting for bill 1994. bad year for congress, bad year for the american people. mr. miller: i would ask the gentlelady if she would ask a question and i would be more than happy to answer her question. ms. brown: mr. chairman, you have said repeatedly that this provision that you have was in the base bill of the choice program and that we all knew that we was voting to give the secretary additional authorities to fire people. mr. miller: that is correct. ms. brown: are you saying -- the chair: the gentlewoman's time has expired. mr. miller: i appreciate. i would now recognize ask the gentlelady from the state of indiana, the 2nd district.

the chair: the gentleman will reserve. the gentleman from california? mr. takano: i yield an additional minute to the gentlewoman. the chair: the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. ms. brown: yesterday in the committee i heard someone say that the goal is to close all of the v.a. facilities and privatize it. let me be clear that that is not the goal of the members on the democratic side. and with that, i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentlewoman yields back. the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. miller: i would also say that h.r. 4031 was a stand-alone bill that dealt specifically with firing senior executive level individuals, same language that's in here now for the rest of the v.a., the democrats

unanimously supported that language in the choice and accountability act. with that, i now recognize the gentlelady from the state of indiana for two minutes. the chair: the gentlewoman is recognized. mrs. walorski: i rise in support of the veterans accountability act and i thank chairman miller for his work to reform the department of veterans affairs. wasn't long ago that news reports of v.a. mismanagement made headlines, reports surfaced of veterans dying due to mismanaged wait times and senior executives receiving bonuses for knowingly allowing this negligence to occur. over the past year, the veterans affairs committee has continued to uncover instances of mismanagement or misconduct. we discover the v.a. does not hold the employees accountable. when they attempt to take disciplinary action, the process is so complicated and lengthy that such action rarely occurs.

in may v.a. deputy secretary admit demted it was difficult to fire bad employees. taxpayers have been footing the bill to provide substandard care to our veterans. only in government, are special protections put in place to protect those who cannot appropriately do their job. i recognize there are individuals in the v.a. that do a great job for our veterans. this legislation builds on last year's law that gave the v.a. secretary the authority to remove employees for poor performance or misconduct. the v.a. accountability act expands that power further to the entire v.a. work force giving the secretary increased authority to remove employees who are not meeting the standards of service that veterans deserve. the legislation protects whistleblowers, would shorten the appeal period and end what veterans believe is a never-ending process to remove employees that may be damaging the department's reputation.

this bill takes those steps to ensure our servicemen and women receive the care they deserve. i urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this bill because our veterans deserve nothing but the best. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman from california is recognized. . mr. takano: we keep coming back to this point that everybody voted for the provision that is now being extended but i want to remind my colleagues, that provision was part of a large, large conference report that included $10 billion to address the problems we had in phoenix there were 1,500 graduate medical education slots there was a a huge, huge bill. there were a number of people who did have concerns about the provision that affected the employees but given the enormity of the situation, we were trying

-- situation we were trying to address, i believe that many folks believed it was the best thing to do to come together on a bipartisan basis and pass a bill that addressed the situation in phoenix. i also want to address another issue. h.r. 1994 does not protect whistleblowers to the extent that whistleblowers are protected now under the current regime. in fact, it creates extra hurdles for whistleblowers. i bring this point up because we could not know about the terrible egregious situation in phoenix without whistleblowers coming forward. what do i mean by that? this bill does nothing prevent thing of a whistle blower who has not yet filed an official complaint before the opportunity to report danger to patient safety wrongdoing malfeasance or discrimination this bill will encourage bad employees to file for whistleblower status to

prevent themselves from being feared and they will burden these bad employees will burden, overburden the office of special counsel with frivolous complaints. now if you're an at-will employee and you are under threat of immediate dismissal, your immediate threat to your livelihood that's more of an intimidation for you to -- that's more of an intimidating situation for that employee not to want to come forward as a whistleblower system of mr. chairman, i believe that this bill actually worsens the situations for whistleblowers and does not protect them more, it protects them less. it gives them extra burdens. i now reserve my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. miller: i would say that the statutory definition of whistleblower means a complainant of an employee by the department to disclose a

violation of any law regulation, rule, abuse of authority or substantial and specific danger of public health and safety. i would now yield to dr. abraham, able bodied member of our committee and i yield him two minutes. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. abraham: thank you mr. speaker. thank you, mr. chairman, for bringing up this bill which will be life-saving for some of our nation's heroes. i rise in support of the v.a. accountability act of 2015. i'm a proud original co-sponsor of the bill. i believe the slegs vital in rooting out the pervasive bureaucracy that plagues the federal government that is a direct result of the broken system. we have seen instances where a v.a. employee took a patient to a crack house to get a fix. it took an entire year for that employee to be fired. an entire year. as a direct result of this

broken system, we have seen senior employees caught participating in retaliation against whistleblowers, only to remain on the job. as a direct result of this broken system we have seen employees who are caught manipulating vet reens disability claims you know what happened to employees, they were promoted. they received bonuses. this is unacceptable on so many levels and it's time for it to stop. we have to make the v.a. work for the veterans. the current law protects those who have forgotten they work for the veteran, not the other way around. even the veterans affairs department' own deputy secretary, sleen gibson, as you heard before recently admitted that it's too hard to fire someone at the v.a. there's no excuse for those who fail to do their job and then

get promoted. none. h.r. 1994 is a giant step forward in ensure that good employees are protected, ensuring that whistleblowers are protected, and most importantly that our nation's heroes are protected. i urge my colleagues to stand up for the veterans who have to stand up for us by supporting v.a. accountability act of 2015. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from florida reserves. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. takano: i reserve. the chair: the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. miller: i yield to the gentleman from the sixth district of pennsylvania two minutes, mr. costello. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. costello: thank you, mr. speaker. should the secretary of the v.a. be allowed to remove or demote

an employee of the department for poor performance or misconduct? that's the question as i see it. common sense to me dictates that if an employee is poorly performing or has demonstrated incompetence or dishonesty as we've seen at v.a.'s in philadelphia and across the country we need to be able to get rid of them. common sense. i hear those who are speaking about due process violations implicit, or explicit, in this legislation and i simply just don't see it. for one, there was a law passed last congress, i wasn't here then, but it was it was part of a larger broader bill that brought more money to the v.a. and with more money, there

should be more accountability. i think that's common sense. but here's the example. poorly performing employee employee who misbehaves, demoted or terminated. under this bill, that employee, within seven days, gets to file an expedited appeal with the merit systems protection board and then the mspb would have to make a final decision within 45 days. you get fires if you get demoted if you think that that was wrong, there's a process that's in place to address that. this comes on the heels of a lot of problems in the v.a. we need more accountability and we need more transparency and we hear that all the time. this bill addresses that. this bill also provides more protections to whistleblowers. it is the courageous whistleblowers through their

tenacity that have brought a lot of the problems forward. this bill seeks to protect them. i want to thank the chairman for his leadership. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. takano: i wish to address this issue of the appeals process that takes place post facto. the supreme court digs and case law make very clear that federal employees are entitled to due process on the front end. and that this bill clearly does not meet that front, that up front, front loaded due process moment. clearly 45 days the board that makes the decisions if they don't make a decision, the decision for the firing stands. so they do not have to make an informed decision. and there's no appeal. there's no appeal, that decision

is final. i want to remind my colleagues that the secretary of the v.a. hopefully is always appointed by the president with a sense of merit but i remind you that these are political appointees confirmed by the senate, as are the top appointees in any federal department. you do away with due process rights you do away with the very cornerstone of a merit based civil service system, you subject it long-term to becoming a spoil system to be dismissed rehired at the whim of any incoming administration. with that, i reserve my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. miller: my bill provides all employees an appeal to mpsb. post deprivation is not an issue. regarding predeprivation due process, my bill provides the same protections as the choice act which the supreme court has

held does not violate the due process claim. with that i yield time to the gentlelady a new member of our committee, from the island of american samoa, ms. ama ta rad wee began for one minute. ms. radewegan: thank you. for too long, our veterans, including the large number i represent in american samoa have been subjected to improper treatment long wait times and other serious matters yet to be addressed this commonsense legislation of which i'm proud to be a co-sponsor will enable the v.a. to hold those who do not perform their indicts accountability which -- accountable, which will surely lead to better services for our veterans. no longer should our veterans come segget -- second to lifelong bureaucrat who was gamed the system while our veterans have suffered. i want to be clear.

i believe that the vast majority of those v.a. employees who serve our veterans do so honorably and are dedicated to making sure that those they serve are awarded the services and benefits they have so rightfully earned. however, it is clear that there are some bad apples in the v.a. and we must not let them continue to ruin the bunch. mr. chairman, i want to once again thank chairman miller for his work on this bill and i look forward to seeing it signed into law. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman's -- gentlewoman's time has expired. the gentleman from florida. mr. miller: before i reserve i'd like to ask how much time is remaining. the chair: the gentleman from florida has 1/2 minutes. the gentleman from california has two minutes. the gentleman from florida reserves, the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. takano: i want to remind my colleagues that the front end provisions that were accorded to

the employee well, stripped them completely of the front end due process. only with the regulatory move by the v.a. itself instituted a five-day procedure of due process because they didn't -- they too believed that case law required at least some front end. and that was over the objections of many of my colleagues. over the -- that rile was over the objections of many of my colleagues. this bill strips away, 1994, strips away front end due process for all 348, 28 employees of whom 114,740 are veterans. before we paint them as faceless bureaucrats. one of our -- one of every three v.a. employees is a veteran who has laid their life on the line for our country.

i think we need to talk about our v.a. employees with respect and even my good friend the chairman of the v.a. committee has said, the vast majority of the employees are good, hardworking, confident, good intentioned people. they deserve to be treated fairly, they deserve to be treated with respect and certainly our frontline employees, our frontline employee well, need to protect them from a capricious politically motivated manager who will fire them at will and intimidate them into not being a whistleblower. with that, i reserve. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. miller: thank you, mr. chairman. i'd like to recognize mr. rothfus for one minute. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. rothfus: mr. chairman i rise in strong support of the v.a. accountability act. in his recent remarks at the v.f.w. national convention in

pittsburgh, president obama discussed the outbreak of of legionnaire's disease that killed six veteran and sickened many more. the office of the inspect junior general -- inspector general determined that systemic failures were to blame the outbreak and the president stated unequivocally that then -- that whenever there are in missteps there is no excuse. that's the essence of the v.a. accountability act. there's no longer any excuse for chronic dysfunction at the v.a. there's no reason for the v.a. to keep employees or reward them with lave irk bonuses. there's no excuse for the v.a. to look the other way when there's retaliation against whistleblowers. it ensures there's no excuse for the v.a. failing our veterans and their families anymore. i thank the committee for its hard work on this legislation, i urge my colleagues to support this bill and i yield back. the chair: the gentleman from california is recognized.

the gentleman from california has 30 seconds remaining. mr. takano: i have no further speakers and i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. miller: thank you, mr. chairman. there's been a lot said today about lack of due process. i want to remind my colleagues that in cleveland board of education vs. loudermilk in 1985 it states that if post deprivation due process includes a full hearing on appeal, the supreme court has long held that predeprivation due process need only include notice of charges, explanation of evidence and an opportunity to present their side of the story. in the merit service protection board rule, the administrative law judge in the hellman case basically said, i do not find the response period was so short it was five day was so short as to constitute on its face a due process violation. i.e. lack of meaningful opportunity to respond to the

charges. there's been a lot said so far, i'm sure there will be more that will be said on the floor as amendments are brought but i encourage my colleagues to support h.r. 1994 as amended and i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the chair: pursuant to the rule the bill shall be considered for amendment under the five-minute rule and shall be in order to consider as an orange bill the amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the committee on veterans affairs printed in the bill. the committee amendment shall be considered as read. no amendment to the committee amendment in the nature of a substitute shall be in order except those printed in house report 114-234. each such amendment may be offered only in the order printed in the report by a member designated in the report shall be considered read, equally divided and controlled by the proponent and opponent,

shall not be subject to amendment or subject to demand of the question. it is in order to consider amendment number 1. for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan seek recognition? mr. benishek: i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 1 printed in house report 114-234 offered by mr. benishek of michigan the chair: the chair recognizes the gentleman from michigan. mr. benishek: i yield myself such time as i may consume. mr. chairman we have a real opportunity to inject accountability to the v.a.'s culture of mismanagement. the amendment would help ensure when a v.a. inspector general identifies a problem and offers recommendations, that changes are made and the job gets done. today, the i.g. regularly issues reports on problems at the

department. and most of the time the v.a. agrees with the recommendations and promises a change. problem is no manager is named as responsible for making those changes. when no one's in charge nothing gets done and there is no one to hold responsible. this amendment makes key changes that will give the report teeth and bring to the v.a. solutions that our veterans deserve. it increases transparency and allows the public to see the i.g. report. it also requires the release of any motorcycleses that the v.a. has asked the i.g. to make. it also requires the i.g. to identify specific managers responsible for fixing the problems identified in the report. the names will not be released but allow congress and the v.a. to know who is responsible for fixing the problem. those individuals would not receive a bonus until the i.g. certifies that the problem is resolved.

finally reduces the burden on a supervisor and if necessary to fire a bad employee. supervisor cannot manage if their hands are tied. this amendment has bipartisan support passing by a stand-alone bill in the last congress and garnered the support of the american legion, v.f.w. and the paralyzed veterans of america. i thank my colleague and friend congresswoman sinema. and i thank you for the support. chairman miller has been an incredible voice and advocate for our veterans. i reserve. the chair: the gentleman from michigan reserves. does any member -- for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? mr. takano: i rise in opposition. i thank my good friend for offering his amendment. i rise in opposition to the

amendment offered by him and representative sinema. this would require to identify problems at the v.a. and prohibit giving performance pay. i believe this amendment could compromise the integrity of the v.a. inspector general to investigate whistleblower complaints and bring to light problems at the v.a. the amendment would force the i.g. to concentrate efforts to identify bad managers by name rather than recommending solutions to problems. requiring the i.g. to forward anything submitted to the v.a. would interject congress in the very manner in which the i.g. drafts and finalizes reports. this would call into question the integrity of the investigations that congress relies on. i believe this amendment is vaguely drafted and raises more questions than it seeks to answer. i urge my colleagues to oppose the amendment and at this time,

i reserve my time. the chair: the gentleman from california reserves. the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. benishek: i yield one minute to the chairman of the committee, mr. miller. mr. miller: members who saw this go through regular order last year through the committee and passed the full house and now in opposition, i rise in support of dr. bean she can's amendment. he has been the chairman of the subcommittee on health since he came to congress in the 113th, a position i offered to him based on his dedication to our nation's veterans. his amendment to the accountability act of 2015 contains the text of his built. demanding accountability for veterans act is a bipartisan piece of legislation that is supported by many veteran service organizations and this amendment would require the inspector general to be transparent with congress about the reports that are written about v.a. facilities and programs and the changes that are being made to those reports

at v.a.'s behest and would require to provide the name of the employee who is responsible for recommendations issued by the i.g., to direct that employee to prohibit v.a. from paying a bonus or performance award if appropriate action is not taken. in the most recent report to congress, the v.a. inspector general reported 1,150 recommendations were left open by the department of veterans affairs. that is not acceptable. the chair: the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. takano: i now yield time to the the gentlewoman from arizona ms. sinema. i yield 90 seconds. the chair: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. sinema: thank you, mr. takano and chairman miller, for your efforts to improve the quality of care and services delivered to our veterans.

this amendment is a commonsense amendment that will bring accountability. the amendment based on a bill that dr. bean she can and i introduced called the demanding accountability for veterans act requires the v.a. to address problems identified by the v.a. office of inspector general and ensures individual managers are held accountable if issues remain unresolved. our amendment requires the secretary of the v.a. assign managers assigned to fixing the problems identified in the report. the secretary must give responsible managers appropriate counseling and plans of action to resolve each covered issue. bonuses cannot be paid if an issue remains unresolved and how the manager responds will be included in the performance evaluation. it is unacceptable that issues raised by the i.g. over and over from wait times to medical

staffing remain unresolved by the v.a. this will hold the v.a. secretary and senior management for ensuring these warnings are not ignored again. we have a long way to go to change the system and culture at the v.a. and i'll continue working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to ensure that veterans come first. thank you to chairman miller, chairman benishek and mr. takano for your leadership and your work on veterans' issues. thank you, mr. benishek for your thoughtful bipartisan approach to this amendment. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. benishek: how much time do i have remaining? the chair: two minutes remaining. the gentleman from california has 2 1/4 minutes remaining. mr. benishek: i yield one minute to mr. costello. >> this measure has significant politic contact to the problems

associated with the v.a. and i'm going to speak to the oversight efforts related to the philadelphia v.a. office. it has been a year since problems were reported. we have an i.g. report. we have egregious allegations that have been proven true but as a member of congress representing tens of thousands of veterans who rely on the philadelphia v.a. for benefits and services, i still don't have answers. we still don't know who is responsible, nor all of the specific misconduct and behaviors nor the repercussions for the employees responsible. our tools for providing oversight over the v.a. need to be updated that there must be transparency when disciplining bad employees. this amendment and this bill moves us in the right direction towards accountability and transparency. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan reserves. the gentleman from california is recognized.

mr. takano: i have no further speakers at this time and i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. benishek: thank you, mr. chairman. i yield a minute to my colleague from louisiana, mr. boustany. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. boustany: i rise in full support of this amendment. for far too long, the v.a. has condoned a culture for employees to ignore their duties. last year staff at division 16 which includes my home state of louisiana admitted to inappropriately denying hundreds of medical care claims. when my office asked how many claims were being inappropriately denied, we were met with excuses. completely unacceptable. one important provision of this amendment would prevent bonuses and performance awards that fail to fix these problems. this provision is similar to an amendment to the v.a. appropriations measure this past

april. no small business in louisiana would survive by allowing employees with poor success rates to earn bonuses. this is one of the most effective ways we can enforce accountability on this overly bureaucratic agency. i thank the chairman for the efforts. i urge my colleagues to adopt this amendment and hold the v.a. accountable for their unacceptable performance. the chair: the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from michigan. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it and the amendment is agreed to. it is now in order to consider amendment number 2 printed in house report 114-234. for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? mr. takano: i rise in support of my amendment in the nature of a substitute. the clerk: amendment number 2 printed in house report 114-234

offered by mr. takano of california. the chair: the gentleman from california mr. takano and a member opposed each will control 10 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from california. mr. takano: thank you, mr. chairman. in congress, we can all agree that greater accountability is needed within the department of veterans affairs. we are all outraged that v.a. employees whose misconduct has harmed veterans have remained in their jobs. last summer, we were all horrified that the v.a. medical centers in phoenix and elsewhere manipulated patient wait times. and this spring in denver, we were frustrated by the huge cost overruns with no real accountability. i agree with my republican colleagues that v.a. must do a better job of using its existing

authorities to hold bad employees such as these accountable. and unfortunately this lack of accountability has overshadowed the excellent work of the vast majority of v.a. employees over a third of them, veterans themselves, whose genuine caring and tireless efforts honor veterans' service to our nation. but i believe it is wrong to assume v.a. employees are guilty until proven innocent. i believe that h.r. 1994 is the wrong way to achieve greater accountability at the v.a. this afternoon, i am offering an amendment in the nature of a substitute to h.r. 1994. the text of my amendment is based on my bill, h.r. 2999 the fair v.a. accountability act, and i urge all my colleagues to

support it today. my substitute would provide real accountability at the v.a. in a manner that preserves the important due process rights of v.a. employees and protects our veterans. and my substitute would improve the status quo by giving v.a. an additional accountability mechanism. it would allow v.a. to immediately fire without pay any v.a. employee whose misconduct precepts a clear and present danger to public health and safety while providing adequate due process on the back end for such employees. . this standard comes from supreme court precedent regarding constitutional due process for federal employees and mirrors a similar department of defense provision. my substitute would mean that if a v.a. employee's behavior

threatened veterans' health or safety, v.a. could immediately fire that employee. current law only allows v.a. to ask such an employee to leave work while still receiving pay. my substitute would also cap paid administrative leave at 14 days, so v.a. employees would not sit at home and collect a paycheck while fighting a disciplinary action. my substitute would shield our bold v.a. whistleblowers by protecting existing laws and requiring the v.a. to back pay any whistleblower unjustly fired for reporting wrong doing. in sum, my substitute would provide the v.a. with the tools it needs to remove dangerous employees immediately and protect the health and safety of veterans and others. and my bill does so in a way

which preserves important concepts of due process for v.a. employees. these employees live in our communities and states. they are our friends and neighbors and sometimes our family members. ensuring basic american notions of fairness is what my amendment, in the nature of a substitute provides and what h.r. 1994 does not. thank you and i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from california reserves the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? >> i claim time in opposition. the chair: the gentleman from florida is recognized for five minutes. or 10 minutes, excuse me. >> i thank the gentleman for his amendment in the nature of a substitute but at this time i have to oppose it. i appreciate that mr. takano does believe that we need to provide real accountability at the department of veterans affairs, but as i said at our committee markup, when he offered an almost identical amendment, the substitute fails to achieve true accountability. mr. miller: i'm supportive of

section 3 of his amendment, which would limit administrative leave for all v.a. employees to 14 days, and i agree with its commonsense policy. but i would note that this limitation language is already included in my bill, h.r. 1994. my main concern with the substitute lies within section 2, which would dramatically change the standard and the process set up in my bill of removing v.a. employees. the substitute would only give the secretary the authority to remove an employee if they represent a, quote, clear and direct threat to public health or safety end quote. which is almost an unobtainable, if not immeasurable, bar to reach. this undefined standard would make it almost impossible for the secretary to remove any employee under this new authority, thereby ensuring that current stalemate that exists -- exists with the civil service rules would continue. unfortunately as i said moments ago, maintaining the status quo is not acceptable. i would submit that the

standard of a clear and direct threat to public health and safety would not apply to those employees involved with many of today's ongoing scandals at the v.a. the cost overruns at the denver hospital, the budget shortfall that we're going to vote to fix later today, a $3 billion budget fix, the manipulation of data at the philadelphia regional office. the allegations of inappropriate use of government purchase cards to the tune of $6 billion. the allegations of employees at the los angeles regional office once again, inappropriately shredding veterans' claim information and the many other egregious actions that continue to come to light at the v.a. almost every single day. members, these are the very type of employees that our constituents and our veterans expect to be held accountable. but the standard proposed in this substitute would not give the secretary the authority to provide the accountability we

all know that v.a. desperately needs. i also have some concerns with the procedures that are laid out in the substitute to actually remove these employees. i believe that unlike the procedures that i've laid out in my bill, which set definitive timelines to remove someone while maintaining the due process and maintaining appeal rights the procedures laid out in this substitute could allow an employee to be on indifficult knit suspension for months -- on indefinite suspension for months, if not years awaiting the secretary's final decision. it's been mentioned several times by my colleagues on the other side that passage of h.r. 1994 would return to a spoils or and at-will employment system. not cog further from the truth. but -- nothing could be further from the truth. but let me compare a spoils or at-will system to the protections offered in 1994. first, a spoils system would allow the party in power to hire anyone, usually partisan

supporters, that they want to reward for their political support with a federal job. in contrast, h.r. 1994 has no effect on the current hiring process. second, a spoils or a patronage system makes all employees at will and subject to firing for any or even no reason. again, that is hardly the case in my bill. h.r. 1994 requires proof in the form of poor performance or misconduct. additionally my bill requires the secretary to report the reasons for any such removals to congress within 30 days. third, in a spoils system, a fired employee has no right of appeal. in contrast, under h.r. 1994 fired employees still have due process rights, including 45 days to appeal their firing to the merit systems protection

board. fourth in a spoils system, there is no such thing as paid administrative leave. you are fired gone, with no pay. under civil service rules, a poor performing employee can be placed on administrative leave for essentially an unlimited time, as we have seen with several miscreents identified during our investigations. h.r. 1994, on the other hand would limit the secretary's authority to put someone on paid administrative leave to 14 days, at which time the secretary must bring that person back to active duty. fifth, in a spoils system, there are no protections for whistleblowers. in and at-will system, employees may or may not be covered by whistleblower protection, employee discrimination, etc., type laws, depending on the type of employer. however, under h.r. 1994 employees are protected by both

of these types of laws, plus the procedures and additional protections created under section 4 of my bill. employees cannot be removed without o.s.c. approval, if an open case exists, and employees cannot be removed or demoted if they have an open case under the new process that is laid out in section 4 until the office of accountability review makes a final determination. so ultimately, not only does this amendment set a standard for removal that is not relevant to a majority of the issues that we see at the department, it keeps in tact the long and arduous timeline before a final approval is complete. this is not fair to veterans, to the department or to the employee in question. to re-emphasize, i also have issues with the whistleblower protections that are laid out in this substitute, or the lack of protections in this substitute. the only mention of whistleblower protections made

in this amendment says that a whistleblower may receive back pay if the merit system protection board ultimately decides they were removed for blowing the whistle. not only does this not provide any protections on the front end it would also strip out all of the whillle -- whistleblower protections i have included in section 4 of my bill. we all know that the secretary has a tall task to restore trust and to rebuild the v.a. and we have to give him every tool possible to complete that mission. this amendment does not come close to giving him the tool that he needs today. so once again i urge members to support change, stand with veterans, not the bureaucrats and the special interest groups and the status quo. i urge members to oppose the takano substitute and reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. takano: thank you, mr. chairman. mr. chairman my good friend and colleague chairman miller,

of the veterans affairs --' -- veterans' affairs committee, has implied that my clear and present danger standard in the substitute that i've offered is too narrow and won't address -- does not give the secretary enough tools to dismiss bad employees. i respectfully disagree. particularly in the case of the phoenix v.a. the hospital's director clearly posed a threat to the health and safety of veterans. and under my substitute, she would have been immediately removed. similarly, many of the speakers on the other side of the aisle cited a crack house case where a v.a. employee took a veteran to a crack house. now, my substitute and the clear and present standard, the standard -- the health and safety standard that we've put forward, would clearly have

addressed that employee and would have made that employee immediately dismissble. -- dismissable. let me remind you again that v.a. does have current title 5 procedures that they have been using to remove poor performing employees. we should include -- encourage the v.a. to use them better, to use the tools that they have. and i remind my colleagues that last year 872 permanent employees were removed, 487 more resigned in lieu of being fired. and 958 probation ary employees were terminated -- pro beags -- probation ary employees were terminated -- probation ary employees were terminated -- probationary employees were terminated. the current civil service protections, the due process

protections afforded those employees the security to move forward and to come forward as whistleblowers. again, my amendment, in the form of a substitute, fixes thedy efficiencies -- the deficiencies of my good friend chairman miller's, bill. i've said before that i believe his bill puts extra barriers in front of whistleblowers in coming forward. it complicates and makes more cumbersome their ability to come forward. if you are an employee who is under threat of dismissal and immediately losing your livelihood, that is a huge, huge barrier to your coming forward as a whistleblower. and that is exactly what his bill would do it would make everyone in the v.a. and at-will employee. i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. miller: i now recognize the chairman of the subcommittee

that has jurisdiction over the v.a. budget, mr. dent two minutes. the chair: the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized for two minutes. mr. dent: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to thank chairman miller for his leadership on this and i rise to oppose the substitute amendment. i want to express my gratitude to the chairman for the work he has done in the veterans' are' affairs committee, -- veterans' affairs committee, all the work they have put into this legislation, to making sure that the choice act funds we appropriated last year can be used for related veterans community care expenditures. this bill will ensure that no veteran hospital or care for any veteran will be jeopardized due to the v.a.'s continuing mismanagement of the influx of patients that followed last year's passage of the choice act. once again, congress is providing the v.a. with all the resources they require to provide timely, quality care to our veterans and their loved ones. it was only about a month ago that we were informed by the department that there was a shortfall of the magnitude of almost $3.4 billion. here we are today remedying

this problem. but the bill also proposes something that is sorely needed. the son -- the consolidation of the myriad programs that the v.a. uses to provide care outside of their facilities. veterans are confused v.a. employees are confused, doctors are confused. and reimbursement rates are not standardized. we need to make sure that the non-v.a. care program is thriving so that patients can get the high quality care they deserve in their homes in their home communities, right where they live. as chairman of the military construction veteran affairs appropriation subcommittee, i'll continue to devote time and attention to pinpointing the v.a.'s needs and maintaining vigilant oversight over their appropriated taxpayer dollars. the v.a. must develop systems that give us accurate and on-time information and engage with congress in a transparent and timely manner. we cannot and should not continue to lurch from one v.a. funding crisis to another. what we have seen is terrible, terrible management and a terrible disservice to our veterans by the v.a. in many of these case.

we need to fix it -- cases. we need to fix it. the taxpayers deserve better and our veterans most assuredly do. i urge passage of this bill and i would yield back the balance of my time. thanks to the leadership, to the chairman of the committee. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from florida reserves. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. takano: mr. chairman, i wish to yield two minutes to my colleague, the ranking member of the veterans' affairs committee, ms. brown of florida. the chair: the gentleman from florida is recognized for two minutes. . ms. brown: thank you, mr. chairman. let me just be clear. i am just amazed that on the last day of this session we're spending the entire afternoon discussing 1994, a bill that the senate will not pick up, and if by some miracle it passed, the president would veto it. when there are so many other things we could be discussing, how about addressing h.r. 3266,

which would give the secretary the authority to run the v.a. like a business which is what we keep saying? but i support the substitute amendment. the accountability substitute is offered today because it brings real accountability to the v.a. while maintaining constitutionality due process protection for civil service employees. at the veterans' committee over the past two years, we have learned of widespread mismanagement and, let me emphasize, lack of training at the v.a. the problems that the v.a. -- at the v.a. has gone back many years, maybe 30. if we adequately funded the v.a. maybe they would have fewer problems. the majority has introduced 1994, which attempts to increase accountability by

allowing v.a. to immediately fire any employee for misconduct with only limited due process. the substitute increases accountability by allowing v.a. to immediately suspend without pay any employee whose misconduct posed a direct threat to veterans' health and safety. unlike 1994, the substitute provides sufficient due process rights to meet constitutional requirements by providing accused employees with a fair chance to tell their side of the story. i urge my colleagues to vote for the substitute and vote against 1994. a bad year for congress and a bad year -- the chair: the gentlewoman's time has expired. the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. miller: i'd ask how much time is remaining on my side? the chair: both sides have one

minute remaining. mr. miller: thank you very much. i believe the gentleman has the right to close. the chair: the gentleman from florida has the right to close. mr. miller: then i'll reserve my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. takano: mr. chairman, i respectfully yield back the balance of my time, but before i do, i encourage all of my colleagues to vote for my amendment in the nature of a substitute. the chair: the gentleman from california yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. miller: thank you very much, mr. chairman. what this amendment does is basically gut h.r. 1994, which is an accountability bill that the secretary desperately needs, a tool in order to hold people accountable in the department. i'd like to read the 10 veteran service organizations that supports the removal authority -- american legion, veterans of foreign wars, iraq and afghanistan veterans, paralyzed veterans of america, the vietnam veterans of america, student veterans of america, military order of the purple heart, military officers association of america, reserve

officers association, concerned veterans of america and amvets. that may be 11. reminding members that v.a. has only successfully removed three v.a. employees for reasons related to the wait time manipulation in the v.a. scandal that was brought to everybody's attention back in april. those that oppose the accountability bill, the american federation of government employees, the national -- there is the treasury employees union. so again, on opposition, the unions on support the veterans' service organizations. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from california. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the noes have it. mr. takano: mr. chairman, i ask for a recorded vote. the chair: the amendment -- mr. takano: mr. chairman, i ask for a recorded vote. the chair: a recorded vote has

been requested. pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18 further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from california will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? mr. miller: mr. chairman, i request that the committee do now rise. the chair: those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. accordingly, the committee rises. mr. speaker the committee of the whole house on the state of the union having had under consideration h.r. 1994 directs me to report that it has come to no resolution thereon. the speaker pro tempore: the chairman of the committee of the whole house on the state of the union reports that the committee has had under consideration h.r. 1994 and has come to no resolution thereon. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognize recognition?

mr. shuster: i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on h.r. 3236. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. for what purpose does the gentleman seek recognition? mr. shuster: mr. speaker, pursuant to house resolution 388, i call up the bill h.r. 3236. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 3236, a bill to provide an extension of federal-aid highway, highway safety, motor carrier safety, transit, and other programs funded out of the highway trust fund, to provide resource flexibility to the department of veterans affairs for health care services, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: the bill contains an emergency designation pursuant to section 4-g-1 of the statutory pay-as-you-go act of 2010. accordingly, the chair must put the question of consideration under section 4-g-2 under the statutory pay-as-you-go act of 2010. the question is will the house

now consider the bill. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the question of consideration is decided in the affirmative. pursuant to house resolution 388, the bill is considered as read. the bill shall be debatable for one hour equally divided among and controlled by the respective chairs and ranking minority members of the committees on transportation and infrastructure ways and means and veterans' affairs. the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. shuster, the gentleman from oregon, mr. defazio, the gentleman from wisconsin, mr. ryan, the gentleman from washington mr. mcdermott, the gentleman from florida, mr. miller, and the gentlewoman from florida, mr. -- ms. brown. the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. shuster: this is a three-month clean extension to the surface transportation legislation. it's the right thing to do. it gift the transportation and infrastructure committee and the ways and means committee the time to work out a long-term solution to the

surface transportation bill which we need to pass for the health of this country. and importantly, it gives the house the do its constitutional duty to be heard on important legislation that's important to all 50 states and all 435 congressional districts. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from oregon is recognized. mr. defazio: mr. speaker, i would direct anyone interested in this legislation to my remarks on the five-month bill and with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oregon yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. mr. dent: mr. speaker, i ask all 435 members of this house to support h.r. 3236 with a yes vote, and with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from wisconsin is recognized. mr. ryan: mr. speaker, i just want to echo the comments of the prior chair.

i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from wisconsin is recognized. mr. ryan: thank you. this is -- we think this is the right solution. this is very similar to the bill we passed earlier. we believe this gives us the time we need to try to put together a long-term highway solution. that's why we're in favor of this. is mr. johnson -- i'll reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from wisconsin reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from washington is recognized. mr. mcdermott: mr. speaker here we are with another short-term extension of the highway trust fund. it is silly. it is counterproductive. anybody who knows anything knows this is ridiculous. they say we got to have time to work out a compromise. how many years do you need

time? when i served at the state legislature in my home state of washington, a businessman once told me that business owners don't care what the rate is or how long. they just want to know how long they have to deal with something. now, how can businesses in -- do any kind of planning in this country when they get one and two and three-month extensions? this is the 25th time that we've done a short-term extension of the highway trust fund. put another way, this is the 25th time the congress has shirked its responsibility to the taxpayers and businesses to provide reliable transportation, infrastructure across this country. as i thought about this debate, i was reminded of a tube of toothpaste that lays in my bathroom. it's about one-third gone, and all of you have one of these at

home. it's laying there. and you know what you do, you keep squeezing it one more time. can i get one more brush out of this? will i get one more? can i get one more? and that's what we've been doing here. we're squeezing the tube for one more time, and we're going to be back. you save your toothpaste because it's going to be back, is going to be back in november or december. we're going to be right back down here squeezing to get a little bit. now, my belief is that it's time that we stop this. it's time for a long-term funding bill, and we should have done it this time. now, in order to make this bill even worse, they wrap in the toothpaste tube of the veterans administration. let's give a little bit of money here a little bit of money there and we'll see if we can kind of move it along and then stay out of trouble. we never fix anything here. this congress is the congress

of the half empty toothpaste tube, and i will probably vote with everybody else because you don't want the veterans administration to be in problems, and you don't want the hospital construction to stop so we'll vote for it, but it is foolish and it is a statement about the failure of the republican party to deal with major issues. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington reserves. the gentleman from wisconsin is recognized. mr. ryan: at this time i'd like to yield two minutes to the gentleman from texas, a member of the ways and means committee, mr. johnson. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized for two minutes. mr. johnson: thank you. thank you, mr. chairman. i come to the floor today to talk about our bill, h.r. 2514, the help veterans save for health care act, which is part of the legislation now before us. as a 29-year air force veteran and former p.o.w., it's no secret i'm a proud advocate for america's veterans. they bravely served our

country, they deserve the best care when they return home. unfortunately the veterans administration has failed to uphold its end of the bargain, and we've been working hard to fix it, but to add insult to injury the i.r.s. -- yes, the i.r.s. has also let down our veterans. right now the i.r.s. prohibits veterans from contributing to a health savings account for a period of time if they choose to get care at the v.a. these health savings accounts enable americans to save and pay for medical expenses, and yet here we have the i.r.s. standing in the way of veterans, keeping them from getting the care they want, need and deserve. that's wrong. bottom line, veterans shouldn't have to choose between getting care at the v.a. for a service-connected disability or being able to save for health care, including their families. so my bill would allow veterans to do both.

in closing, i thank my colleagues from both sides of the aisle for their support. i'd also like to thank the chairman for working with me on this, but most importantly, i want to personally thank each of our veterans who faithfully serve to protect this -- served to protect this great nation. let's get this done. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from wisconsin reserves. the gentleman from washington is recognized. mr. mcdermott: mr. speaker, i yield one -- two minutes to the gentleman from illinois, mr. davis. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from illinois is recognized for two minutes. mr. davis: thank you, mr. chairman. i want to thank the gentleman from washington for yielding. and i agree with him. i agree that we are squeezing and squeezing and extending and extending when we know better and we know the difference.

we know that we could have a meaningful solution to the problem that we face. we come and we kick the can a little bit, add a little bit more to it, and like how i'm going to vote for it, but i'm going to vote for it not because i think it's the best approach. i'm going to vote for it because i want to see construction crews continue to work. . i want to see families who are looking for paychecks to be able to continue to get them. i'm going to vote for it because i want to see roads and bridges and highways repaired. i want to see veterans be able

to go to the doctor and not wonder whether or not the doctor's going to be there to take care of them. so, yes, i will vote for it. and i'll look up and see that we'llen back -- we'll be back in december voting again. but we do what we have to do. we have to keep america working . i'll vote for it, to keep america working. i thank you, mr. chairman, and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from illinois yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from washington reserves. the gentleman from wisconsin is recognized. mr. ryan: we're prepared to close. does the gentleman from washington have any other speakers? the chair: the gentleman -- mr. mcdermott: mr. speaker, i will yield the balance of the time to myself. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from wisconsin

reserves. the gentleman from washington is recognized. mr. mcdermott: mr. speaker, let's review this week. we got -- when i got on the plane from seattle, we were supposed to be here on friday. by the time i landed they'd already given away friday. we're not going to have any votes on friday. now the week's one day short. and they continued to ineptly manage this place in such a way, mr. speaker, that they are now giving away thursday. now, they want to hurry out of here. they want to get out of here. they don't want the american people to see what they're really doing. if you look at this transportation issue and what is making us uncompetitive in the rest of the world is that everywhere else they're spending money on infrastructure. people nouveau to have roads, you have to have -- people know you have to have roads you have to have high-speed stuff in the ground that will carry a

little bit of message here and there. i mean, all of that wiring all that stuff that we could be doing we should be doing, we should be planning, but there isn't any state that can plan with this kind of a highway bill. now let's -- why aren't we doing the thing today that's right? well because the senate has come up with a great proposal. they have a six-year authorization but they come up with three years of money. what kind of -- how does a state plan with that? we're authorized for six years out to 20, whatever that would be and we're going to wibed up only getting money -- wind up only getting money for three years? how do we do bond issues in the state when we don't know what the feds are going to do? this kind of planning makes government fail. and it's what the republicans

want, is a government, a federal government that fails. now there was a guy named eisenhower, when he became president he came in and said, you know something, this country needs roads. and he created the entire system. he was a republican. from kansas, of all places. and he understood what the country needed to move forward. but you know, people said in the last election, what we need to do is elect republicans. my god, if we get republicans, we'll get what we need in this country. well, i don't know if they knew what they were voting for. but what they got is the senate and the house who can't come up with a highway bill. they've been here for eight months. everybody knows we need it. the sources of revenue are not mysteries. russell long used to say that taxation was, don't tax you, don't tax me, tax that guy behind the tree. we know there's nobody behind the tree, we're going to have to raise some taxes.

to do what's necessary. oh, well there's those guys that have that money overseas maybe we can get those guys who have that overseas money and bring it back and fund this. i guess they're behind the tree. but they also live here. so they're not really behind the tree. this argument is going to go on in december or whenever this thing ends. it doesn't really make any difference. we'll come back here and we'll get out our toothpaste tube and we'll squeeze a little bit more out of it just to see, can we brush our teeth one more time? that's what this is about. and we're -- we've done it on issue after issue here and somebody has to call the republican party on this. the american people should understand they are not serious about running government for the things that affect ordinary human beings. a transit system in a state is

absolutely important. and cities get crowded -- as cities get crowded, more crowded and more crowded, there's no parking, if you don't have a transit system that works, you can't have development. everybody wants development. where the heck are you going to put the development? out in the bushes? , no you're going to put -- no, you're going to put it in the city where the people live. but if they can't move around and get to the jobs, you have terrible problems. every city in everybody's district, if you've got a city over 50,000 you've got problems with traffic. and yet we can't get a transportation bill out of here that goes for more than three months. now, that is pathetic. and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from wisconsin is recognized. mr. ryan: i disagree with the gentleman. i think we should pass this bill. and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from florida is recognized. >> mr. chairman, we have no

speakers so at this time i would reserve to close. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida reserves. the gentlewoman from florida is recognized. ms. brown: that i thank you mr. chairman. i yield -- thank you, mr. chairman. i yield myself two minutes. first of all, i want to thank the chairman for his continued bipartisan work on the veterans' affairs committee. we all want to do what is best for the veterans and the chairman has continued to work toward that goal. on this past monday 62 years after the signing of the korean agreement, the committee laid a wreath at the tomb of the unknown at arlington cemetery in honor of the fallen military members. today we need to do more than a ceremony. we should honor our veterans now by passing h.r. 3236. i support this legislation because it addresses the $3

million shortfall for fiscal year 2015 at the v.a. and keeps the hospitals and medical facilities open for our veterans through the end of the fiscal year. let me repeat that. it would allow the v.a. to keep the hospitals and clinics open for our veterans through the end of this fiscal year. this legislation allowed the v.a. to use billions of dollars that was appropriated for the choice program to use nor non-v.a. care to pay for health care providers to veterans and family members under the program provided by non-v.a. providers from may 1 to october 1. 2015. v.a. has completed more than 56 million appointments between june 1, 2014, and may 31 2015. that's 2.6 million more than the same year -- time last year. h.r. 3236 allows the v.a. to

access $3 billion from the choice program and $348 million from other unobligated accounts. of that amount $500 million may be used for pharmaceutical expense related to the treatment of hepatitis c at the v.a. this is a cure that many of our veterans need, especially those who served in vietnam. three times in this fiscal year the secretary has testified before the v.a. committee that he has constantly been asked for the authority to run v.a. like a business. i'm going to -- i just reserve my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from florida reserves her time. the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. miller: reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from florida is recognized. ms. brown: i yield two minutes to my colleague from georgia,

-- from georgia. >> i thank membering -- ranking member brown and chairman dent. today this body's debating text within the highway bill to address the department of veterans affairs $3 billion budget shortfall for veterans health care in -- veterans' health care in f.y. 2015. without this legislation the v.a. could run out of money by september. costs have exploded by more than 10% in the last year as a result of higher demand while the budget increased by only 2.8%. mr. bishop: additionally, costs for treatments have increased. for example, due to the new life-saving hepatitis c medicine, costing as much as $1,000 for a single pill, the v.a.'s $700 million f.y. 2015 budget for hepatitis c has already been exceeded with more than two months left in the

fiscal year. this situation is a prime example of how the sequester caps imposed by the budget control act and locked in by the republican budget constrain our ability to deal with issues responsibly and in a timely manner. it is well past time that we come to the table to break the cycle of irresponsible funding levels that are short changing our veterans' health care. while the house-passed bill adds $970 million for v.a. medical care within the f.y. 2015 bill, the amount still remains $330 million below the v.a. request. most likely leading to another budget shortfall in f.y. 2016. today's bill is only a band-aid a temporary solution, because of budget caps. to be clear, if we continue to

ignore the new reality of increased demand and higher costs, delivery of health care services to millions of currently enrolled veterans will be devastated for the foreseeable future. if congress continues to function under these budget caps -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. ms. brown: i yield 30 more seconds to the gentleman. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for an additional 30 seconds. mr. bishop: if congress continues to function under these budget caps we will see more gaps in access, utilization and safety. and ultimately a lower standard of care. even further, the caps limit congress' options to create jobs. to keep our communities safe, to research life-saving medical treatments and to give our children a better education. i urge to you vote for this bill to ensure that veterans continue to receive the care which they've earned. but we cannot continue to govern in this fashion. today we must take the next step towards a more responsible budgeting process so we can eventually stop lurching from one crisis to the next. to do so, the budget caps must

be directly addressed in order to properly invest in our veterans' health care as well as advance other priorities assisting hardworking americans. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. miller: mr. chairman i reserve to close. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida reserves. the gentlewoman from florida is recognized. ms. brown: i yield two minutes to mr. blumenauer from oregon. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oregon is recognized for two minutes. mr. blumenauer: i appreciate the gentlelady's courtesy in permitting me to speak on this bill. it's a little frustrating as we watch these subjects lumped together on the floor with truncated debate. i want to speak to just one element that we're discussing here today and that deals with the extension of transportation funding. the passage of this bill will represent the 34th short-term

extension of the surface transportation bill. what country became great building its infrastructure eight months at a time six months at a time, a year at a time? it is a failure on the part of congress to be able to understand that you cannot pay for 2015 infrastructure needs with 1993 dollars. the last time we adjusted the user fee the gas tax, that supports the highway trust fund. i do see a little tiny glimmer of daylight with the three-month extension. i've personally been urging the president to indicate that this is the last extension that he will sign. the house ways and means committee could pass a funding measure in a week, if we'd roll up our sleeves. we have legislation there that is supported by the u.s.

chamber, afl-cio by truckers, transit, auto, the triple-a -- a.a.a., a wide array of people who say, step up, raise our user fee fund the transportation system and do it right. we used to have the finest infrastructure in the world, now we're about 25th in the world and falling further. if the ways and means if the ways and means would spend a week listening to the people who build, maintain use our infrastructure we could come to a resolution. ronald reagan's approach was to raise the user fee 125% in 1982. and if we did our job sending clear signals about transportation funding, the appropriating committee -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. ms. brown: i give the gentleman 30 more seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for an additional 30 seconds. mr. blumenauer: the

appropriating committee, the t and i could come forthwith a bill easily in two months so we wouldn't continue this charade. we could put hundreds of thousands of people to work at family wage jobs in every city around the country. we'd meet our obligations and we'd stop this shameful exercise of abrogating our responsibility to rebuild and renew america. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentlewoman from florida reserves. the gentleman from florida reserves. the gentlewoman from florida is recognized. ms. brown: how much time do i have sir? the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from florida has three minutes remaining. ms. brown: mr. speaker, i believe that the secretary needs that authority. in addition to solving the fiscal crisis that this bill will enable the secretary to run v.a. more like a business,

and that mr. speaker means a more efficient v.a. and better care for our veterans. in closing i urge my colleagues to support this legislation to ensure that our veterans are taken care of and with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from florida yields back the balance of her time. the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. miller: thank you very much, mr. speaker. only two weeks ago buried in a letter from the deputy secretary, the department of veterans affairs made a startling announcement. that announcement was that unless congress intervenes, the v.a. health care system would shut down in august due to a massive budget shortfall that resulted from larger than anticipated demand for non-v.a. care and increased cost for hepatitis c treatment. a v.a. health care system shut down would be an unprecedent event in these united states' history. possibility of a shutdown was

never mentioned even once during a hearing that i called in late june where v.a. first publicly admitted its budget troubles or during any of the four times that secretary mcdonald testified before congress this year or anywhere in the quarterly financial plan that v.a. submitted in march showing that v.a. was operating underbudget so far this fiscal year. once again this congress comes to rescue a misimagined -- mismanaged department of veterans affairs. with that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida yields back the balance of his time. all time for debate has expired. pursuant to house resolution 388, the previous question is ordered on the bill. the question is on engrossment and third reading of the bill. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. third reading. the clerk: a bill to provide an extension of federal-aid highway, highway safety, motor carrier safety, transit, and other programs funded out of the highway trust fund, to provide resource flexibility to the department of veterans affairs for health care services and for other

purposes. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on passage of the bill. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. ms. brown: mr. speaker, i ask for the yeas and nays on this bill please. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. those favoring a vote by the yeas and nays will rise. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]