mr. runyan of new jersey.he gentleman from new jersey, mr. runyan. mr. runyan: thank you, madam speaker, and thank you, chairman miller. i rise in support of h.r. 1628, as amended. a bill regarding national -- arlington national cemetery. h.r. 1627 requires the placement for certain monuments within arlington national cemetery. it would limit the erection of monuments not containing interned remains. these changes bring requirements in better core with the primary purpose of the cemetery, to honor our fallen service members. h.r. 1441, which i have introduced, and included in h.r. 1627, as amended, would codify the regulations and policies barring reservations for burial at arlington national cemetery. after being informed by a constituent of potential problems of past mismanagement at the cemetery including laxed oversight, damaged graves, improper burials, i met with the superintendent of arlington seminary and the executive director of arlington -- of the army national cemetery's program in march who helped

mr. runyan: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. runyan: thank you for working with me on this amendment, it is an honor to work with the both of you. the commission on wartime contracting is an independent, bipartisan, legislative commission established to study wartime contracting in iraq and afghanistan. this eight-member commission was mandated by congress to study federal agency contracting for reconstruction logistical support of coalition forces and performance of security functions in support of operation iraqi freedom and operation enduring freedom. in the latee re-- in the latest report the c.w.c. found that contingency reports have stabilized, agencies have not shifted approaches to introduce much-needed competition into support contracts. competition is the key that we need to get our war fighters what they need through a fair and transparent contracting process and at the best value for the taxpayers' money. . my amendment would require the d.o.d. to establish goals for competition and contract award in support of contin

mr. richmond: thank you, congressman runyan. i yield time to the co-dell leader. >> i thank the gentleman for yielding to me and i thank him for organizing this hour to talk about our experience in afghanistan and to speak in honor of the nine people killed in afghanistan last week and as i mentioned earlier, that was the largest loss of life in the u.s. air force since the khobar towers. as my colleague mr. runyan talked about, the somber and powerful experience we had there at his memorial service at the ceremony. mr. shuster: it was really something to be there. i think we all were very, very grateful to be able to participate in the ceremony. again, nine people, we've talked about the one that was not a military person but a contractor. he served in the military but then came back to serve in afghanistan as a contractor and try to help develop and train the afghan air force. another one of those members that gave the ultimate sacrifice is lieutenant colonel frank c. bryant jr. he was born august 13, 1973, and is from knoxvil

mr. runyan of new jersey. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized for as much time as he wishes to consume. mr. runyan: thank you, mr. speaker, and thank you, chairman, for the time. i rise today in support of the manager's amendment to h.r. 1484, as amended, and the veterans appeals improvement act of 2011. the veterans disability claims policy is very complex and all of us at the veterans' affairs community are constantly seeking ways to improve the process for both our veterans and the v.a. this bill is a good first step in accomplishing the goal by improving upon the current process. specifically, section 2, which will work to simplify the process for submitting the evidence to the board of veterans' appeals by allowing veterans to keep their place in line at the board of appeals for veterans' claims when they submit new evidence in support of their claim. under current law if a veteran submitted new evidence to their case, the intention of the -- of expediting their adjudicati

mr. runyan. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. runyan: thank you. thank you, chairman mckeon, for your leadership on this issue. it is an honor to serve with both of you. mr. speaker, as a result of the 2005 budget, the installation in my district was made into one installation from three bases. currently a joint base which used to be -- the fort dicks and mcguire maces, and the lakehurst side, the people doing the same jobs are paid at a new york local rate. while they've indicated they want to resolve this issue, no change has been made. the language in the bill will work toward fixing this by requiring o.p.m. to work with the d.o.d. to make the recommendation with respect to the department of defense federal wage system employees working at all military installations. additionally i want to recognize my colleagues on the house armed services committee, congressman an truse and congressman lobiondo for their work on this issue, as well as congressman smith of new jersey who has been active in assisting employees a thelt joint base. thank you, chai

mr. runyan's remarks. his is a problem that should be fixed and i support his efforts to make sure we're doing it here. i thank mr. smith and mr. lobiondo for their efforts. i do want to add from page 232 and 233 from the mark about the homeowners assistance program. i appreciate what mr. warner and yourself have done to help us in this matter. i frankly think we need to do more and i hope that we can find a way to do more. the issue here is that when an active duty family receives a change in its permanent basing order, it has to go. not asking you to gop. they're telling you. and many of these families have encountered a situation because of the problems in the real estate market where the house that they bought near the base they were assigned to is worth less than the mortgage they have on it. so they're in a situation where what they have to do is sell the house for less than what the mortgage is worth and then buy another house or arrange for some other housing at the new base to which they have to be