mr. runyan: thank, mr. speaker.ne of the top duties of the committee on veterans affairs is to help enforce and improve service members civil relief act or scra, as it is designed to relieve economic burdens on military personnel on active duty status. it is designed to postpone or suspend certain obligations during their period of active duty and does this in part by regulating certain legal actions against military personnel. h.r. 1263, as ameppeded, makes several changes to strengthen the current protections as it may -- and it is my pleasure to recognize for as much time as he may consume, mr. stutzman, chair of the subcommittee, to discuss these. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. stutzman: i thank the gentleman from new jersey for yielding. i want to thank ranking member filner and mr. braley for helping us move this piece of legislation to improve the service members civil relief act. earlier this year, allegations surfaced of mortgage violations of the scra. it was alleged that they were unlawfully

mr. runyan: i would like to yield as much time as he may consume, dr. roe. mr. roe: i want to thank my friend, mr. walz for his leadership on this important issue which is long overdue. i think both sides of the aisle is an injustice that has gone far too long. when you take the oath, you put on the service uniform of our country and you serve your obligation and honorly discharged and a veteran, as much a veteran who served as i am. congressman walz and others he has mentioned were in germany before we flew home and saw a national guardsman flying planes home to bring our wounded warriors home. i knew this legislation was coming tonight and i felt compelled after meeting these young men and women who are doing an incredible job that they be offered this status of veteran. this bill rights a long-standing wrong and i urge very strong support of this much-needed legislation and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. filner: i have no further spe

mr. runyan. it also was worked in collaboration with the ranking member of that subcommittee, mr. mcnerney. i would like to recognize mr. runyan to describe h.r. 2349, as amended. i yield such time as he might consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. . mr. runyan: madam speaker, i rise in support of h.r. 2349 as ameppeded. there are several components to this legislation and they're all aimed toward ensuring veterans' benefits process is more efficient, accountable and fair for all veterans and their families. the first piece of this legislation addresses the minimalist approach the v.a. has adopted in complying with employees' skills certification mandate this section will reverse the current trend within the v.a. of using the employment certification process solely to increase an employee's pay grade by introducing a pilot program to conduct a biannual assessment for all claims processors and managers. the key to this will be individualized mediation. this will facilitate individual accountability of employees while addressing disparities in

mr. runyan. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and i would like to thank the chair and the ranking member for taking us to rock island. it was a very interestinged a vetch tour for someone -- adventure for someone from hawaii to see a working foundary. i want to start first with mr. downey. i was reviewing your publication, defense investment, finding the right balance, and you say things like, how much is enough? which is an interesting concept. how much is enough? but i think the problem that i see that we are having is the fact that when we talk about the defense industrial base, we have -- some of us think about things like r & d because we know the big seven or the big five in 1993, 30 companies went down to five in essence. and then we forget the other component of it is truly an industrial base. like the foundary, who is the manufacturer? then we have this conflict, how do we decide what is going to be manufactured because of what we're developing, and it comes down to really a sense of, what is, from our perspective, the d

mrs. connally ] you can't take my fios away. [ male announcer ] fios. a network ahead. ♪ >> new this noon and eight-real leukemia survivor hands over thousands of dollars to help other sick children. today, runyanarby donated $87,000 to georgetown university's pediatric oncology fund. darby, a bethesda native, was treated at that hospital. his foundation just trying it raises money for kids with cancer. the donations will help families with their emergency needs. coming up at 5:00, we will have darby's personal recovery and more on how he raised money to help soak many others. amazing story. >>> the girl scouts are entering the digital age in just in time for the scouting organizations 100 to anniversary next year. the girls got adding some new badges, including patches for digital filmmaking website and production design, and also, local food awareness among others. it is the first major update in more than 20 years. the organization is also tossing a badges for fashion and for make up. >>> finally, it is here. facebook releasing its application for the apple ipad. it has been subject to rumors for weeks. it has a familiar facebook features. facebook application exists yet for the android tabl