Congressman Bishop Statement On FY 2017 MILCON/VA Appropriations Bill Passage

Statement

Today, Congressman Sanford D. Bishop, Jr. (GA-02), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies, issued the following statement regarding the passage of H.R. 4974, the Fiscal Year 2017 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations government spending bill. H.R. 4974 was approved by a vote of 295 to 129 and now goes on to the Senate for consideration.

"The Fiscal Year 2017 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations bill continues to demonstrate strong support for our service members and military construction, but also recognizes the serious challenges remaining in fulfilling our responsibility to veterans and moving the appropriations process forward using the limited resources we have been allocated.

"The bill maintains tough but fair reporting requirements for DoD-VA Electronic Health Records integration, prioritizes the elimination of the VA claims backlog, and includes healthy funding for the Board of Veterans Appeals. Additionally, the bill provides necessary funding for military maintenance and construction of military family housing, medical and prosthetic research, and medical facilities.

"One item of particular concern is the inclusion of bill language limiting performance awards to Senior Executives at the VA. As I have stated time and again, this language will not provide any solution in the short-term and, in fact, may have more long term consequences by compounding the very problem it attempts to address. By limiting such bonuses, the VA becomes a less attractive option than other agencies when it comes to recruiting and retaining quality executive leaders. Instead, we must do more to attract and retain exceptional talent to the Department in order to better serve the needs of our nation's veterans.

"Another item of concern was the defeat of an anti-discriminations amendment, leaving the door open for federal contractors to discriminate against LGBT employees. Finally, an amendment was added to strike language from the National Cemetery Administration Directive 3220 that allowed the Confederate flag to be displayed on a separate flagpole, subordinate to the U.S. flag, on Memorial Day and Confederate Memorial Day, in cemeteries operated by the Veterans Administration where Confederate veterans are buried in mass graves. While as a descendant of slaves I find the Confederate flag and the history it represents deeply offensive, I believe that the descendants of Confederate veterans should not be denied the privilege of honoring their dead ancestors two days of the year on a flagpole where their beloved are buried in mass graves.

"While not ideal, H.R. 4974 does maintain a strong reputation for finding bipartisan common ground as members work together to fund the construction of military facilities and strive to improve the quality of life and care afforded to our veterans and military families."

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