OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2017

Floor Speech

Date: Sept. 28, 2016
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Defense Veterans Infrastructure Health and Health Care Government Budget and Spending

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Mr. BISHOP of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, division A of the MILCON/VA portion provides robust funding for military construction and provides adequate funding for both the Active and Reserve components.

I was pleased the bill provides $35 million above the FY17 budget request to help speed up the cleanup of former Defense Department sites within the Base Realignment and Closure Account.

The bill provides $74.4 billion, $3 billion above the FY16-enacted level in discretionary funding for VA programs. I believe that these resources will have a profound impact on the lives of our Nation's veterans. A couple of VA items that I want to highlight are the $1.5 billion for hepatitis C treatment, which is $840 million above the President's request.

In addition, the bill includes $78 million for the Veterans Crisis Line and, overall, $173 million for suicide prevention. Furthermore, language is included that requires certain professional standards for the suicide hotline. This is a topic that many Members on both sides of the aisle were concerned about, and I think that we have taken some important steps for it to function better.

Mr. Speaker, the funding provided will help the Department of Veterans Affairs provide better care and better service to our veterans. I believe that the resources provided in the bill will help lead to the elimination of a claims backlog, which is now under $75,000, down from a high of $650,000. The bill includes healthy funding for the Board of Veterans' Appeals.

Furthermore, Mr. Speaker, the bill carries the authorization for several major construction projects that were previously funded. I believe it is past time to get these projects going because the demand on the VA is going to grow.

As I stated earlier, the MILCON/VA portion of this package is a good one and is one that I think we can all be proud of.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank Chairman Rogers, Ranking Member Lowey, and my colleague and friend Chairman Dent for their hard work on this bill. I couldn't have asked for better partners in conducting our business and fashioning a bipartisan bill.

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