mr. lee zeldin of new york. mr. zeldin: ambassador mull, you referenced earlier historic verification and monitoring regime. have you yet read the verification regime outlined between the iaea and iran? ambassador mull: i'm not aware. which side deal? mr. zeldin: the deals between the iaea and iran to decide how the jcpoa will be implemented. what governs the verification of the iran nuclear deal. ambassador mull: iran and the iaea have a confidential safeguards agreement just like every member of the iaea. mr. zeldin: have you read that? ambassador mull: no, sir. mr. zeldin: i would offer you for you for secretary kerry, it's difficult to vouch for a historic verification and monitoring regime when you don't know what the historic verification and monitoring regime is. all you know is what's contained in the jcpoa. but you don't know what's included in the agreement between the iaea and iran especially when we read about how iran might be collecting their own soil samples. responsible for inspecting some of their nu

mr. lee zeldin of new york. mr. zeldin: ambassador mull, you referenced earlier historic verification and monitoring regime. have you yet read the verification regime outlined between the iaea and iran? ambassador mull: i'm not aware. which side deal? mr. zeldin: the deals between the iaea and iran to decide how the jcpoa will be implemented. what governs the verification of the iran nuclear deal. ambassador mull: iran and the iaea have a confidential safeguards agreement just like every member of the iaea. mr. zeldin: have you read that? ambassador mull: no, sir. mr. zeldin: i would offer you for you for secretary kerry, it's difficult to vouch for a historic verification and monitoring regime when you don't know what the historic verification and monitoring regime is. all you know is what's contained in the jcpoa. but you don't know what's included in the agreement between the iaea and identify rafpblet especially when we read about how iran might be collecting their own soil samples. responsible for collecting som

mr. zeldin. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized for five minutes. mr. zeldin: thank you, mr. speaker. thank you to the gentleman from texas, mr. ratcliffe, mr. thompson as well, for both speaking in favor of this legislation, h.r. 1887. plum island's not for sale. the whole purpose of this legislation is to prevent the sale of plum island by the federal government to the highest bidder. situated at the gateway of long island sound, plum island is treasured by my local community . as a critical resource for research, approximately 90% of the land on plum island has been sheltered from development , offering long island a diverse wildlife and ecosystem and critical habitat for migratory birds, marine mammals and rare plants. with a recorded history dating back to the 1700's, plum island is also an essentialal cultural and historical resource as well. since world war ii, plum island has been utilized as a research laboratory. the facility, which has been under federal jurisdiction since 1899, has since grown to become what is known today as the plum island

mr. zeldin. mr. zeldin: i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible with berty and justice for all. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will entertain up to 15 requests for one-minute speeches on each side of the aisle. for what purpose does the gentleman from south carolina seek recognition? mr. wilson: permission to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. i'm grateful to hold a competition for students throughout the 2nd congressional district of south carolina. the smiling faces, beautiful placeses a competition received over 125 submissions where the students described their favorite moment in south carolina history. helen miller, a third grade student in columbia, wrote a winninges a on the revolutionary battle of charleston. that took place in 1780. jack hinchey, a third grade student, wrote the winninges a on the pirate blackbeard. i appreciate the schools that submittedes a

mr. zeldin, for five minutes. mr. zeldin: thank you, mr. speaker. as a nation supporting our veterans must always be one of our highest priorities. these brave men and women who willingly and selflessly put their lives on the line while defending our country deserve the highest quality of life and care once they return home. according to the suffolk county veteran service agentcy, there are 83,254 veterans who live in my home county of suffolk. with the highest population of veterans by county in new york state and one of the highest populations in the country, there is a significant need for increased care options for our veterans in suffolk. there are so many options of quality care for veterans, but too often their choices are limited. quality care can also come at great expense. in an effort to expand access to care for our veterans, i recently introduced party legislation in congress, h.r. 2460, which would ensure that 70% or more service connected disabled veterans are able to receive adult day health care, a daily program for disabled veteran

mr. zeldin, for five minutes. mr. zeldin: thank you, mr. speaker. the growing heroin and opioid crisis has hit especially home in my district in suffolk county, new york. there was a 2005 report issued in new york state that showed out of all 62 counties in new york, that it was my home county that was hit the hardest by the rise of heroin and opioid abuse. we had the highest number of heroin related overdose deaths of any county in new york. as a member of the bipartisan task force to combat the heroin epidemic, i have spoken with effective -- affected families directly. addiction is a truly devastating disease that shatters lives, families, and communities. it's a disease that only continues to spread at rapid rates, and more can and must be done to counteract the damage it has done and prevent its rapid advancement. working closely with my local community, i have been pursuing a more localized solution to address this crisis. hosting multiple drug task force round tables in suffolk county, i have been able to bring together local officials, law e

mr. zeldin, you're recognized. >> thank you, mr. chairman. dr. mccarthy, so i served four years on active duty. i've been in the reserves since 2007. i've lost more people i've known in the service due to ptsd than i have in combat. and it's impacted my home county pretty hard. i represent suffolk county. we not only have the highest veterans population of any county in the state, we're second highest of any county in the country. and there was some conversation earlier pretty much in your opening statements, you were getting at peer support. and i just want to get an idea of what kind of a model you may be considering if not doing already as far as peer support groups. >> so i'd like to turn to dr. kudler to describe this. >> thank you. thank you. v.a. has been hiring and training peer support specialists. the 990 or so we have doesn't include about 100 global war on terrorism outreach workers at vet center, at the 300 vet centers around the country. and we train them to run groups, to be in waiting rooms, to look for people who are agitated and

mr. zeldin, you're recognized. >> thank you, mr. chairman. dr. mccarthy, so, i served four years on active duty. i've been in the reserves since 2007. i've lost more people to -- and combat. it's impacted my home county pretty hard. i represent suffolk county. we not only have the highest veterans population, we're the second highest of any county in the country. there was some conversation pretty much in your opening statement, you were getting at peer support and i just want to get an idea of what kind of model yoi you may be considering if not doing already as far as peer support groups. >> i'd like to turn to dr. kaulder for this. >> thank you. va has been hiring and training peer support specialists. the 990 or so we have doesn't include the terrorist outreach workers we have at the 300 vet centers around the country. we train them to run groups, to be in waiting rooms, to be look for people who are agitated and anxious. in some places in emergency departments, for instance. at the phoenix va now has a peer support person in the ed to kind o

mr. zeldin, you're recognized. >> thank you. april 7th usa today story starts with supervisors instructed employees to falsify wait times at veteran affairs medical facilities in at least seven states. was that accurate? >> i've reviewed 72 ig reports. 11 of them were found to have intentional manipulation. so, that would be accurate but it's not representative of the majority of their findings. >> and of the supervisors, how many of them have been fired? >> we have four total of all of those ig reports. when i add up going across that, we have 29 individuals that have been disciplined. i think chairman miller before had said four had been fired. i'm aware of five who retired under investigation. so, rather than letting the investigation go forward, they decided to retire from federal service. >> when you reference the number of 29 disciplined, that is from this "usa today" story? >> from the 72 ig reports that i've reviewed. i sort of -- i manually counted them up as we went through each of the accountability actions. >> have a

mr. zeldin and others are co-sponsoring this legislation. but we absolutely need to get that done. i want to thank iava for really being a catalyst on this very important issue. let me just pivot to -- i have a real concern that we've had testimony before this committee before concerning -- concerning a drug-centric therapy. and a form of treatment, modality of treatment. in fact, we had testimony of veteran suicide, where i think a former service member was given a cocktail of drugs in response to treatment. and then moved, relocated. the prescriptions ran out. was unable to navigate the bureaucracy of vha to get the prescriptions refilled, and given the powerful nature of some of those drugs, took his own life. and then i think we've had testimony as well -- well, in fact, i was with congressman lamborn in his district in colorado springs where we had testimony from parents of a marine who had served tours of duty i think in iraq and afghanistan. had left the service. went to the va for mental health care. they gave him a very powerful drug that part of the -- part of the directi

mr. zeldin. oy rise in support of this bill which allows to have day-to-day attention in their daily lives. those that have a service-connected injury often require significant help from others to carry out basic tasks. despite care options for veterans, their choices are often limited and can come at great expense. one such program that is currently available is adult day health care. this program provides disabled veterans and their families to an alternative to nursing home care, providing quality outpatient services from those suffering from debilitating illnesses or -- and they provide a range of services such as bathing to full medical services like physical therapy. the focus of the program is on improving disabled veterans' quality of life through an individualized plan specific to their needs while still allowing them to maintain their independence. adult health care programs not only benefit the veteran, they also benefit the family members and caregivers as well. this model allows care

mr. zeldin: with the terrorist acts in paris, belgium and around the world, we're constantly reminded how dangerous this world can be. when these attacks occur, they are the ones who run head-on into the mayhem and chaos without fear. to do everything in their power to save as many people as they can. unfortunately today, we are witnessing shameful targeting of our first responders and police officers. their authority is constantly being questioned, making an already difficult job even more dangerous. it seems we cannot go a day without hearing on the news that police officers have been shot or even killed trying to do their jobs. we must unite around our police officers and first responders and support them just as they support us each and every day. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from colorado seek recognition? mr. polis: i ask permission to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. polis: mr. speaker, my friends, the time fo