Making Continuing Appropriations During a Government Shutdown

Floor Speech

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Mr. MARKEY. Mr. President, Massachusetts is the Bay State, but we are also the ``Brave State.'' But being first in freedom is not enough if we don't put our veterans, their families, and the families of the fallen first as well.

There are more than 388,000 veterans in Massachusetts. But too many of our bravest return home unable to find a job. They suffer from homelessness, mental health, and substance abuse. Too often, they end their lives in suicide. Twenty-two veterans kill themselves every day.

This March, not one servicemember died in action in Afghanistan or Iraq, but almost 700 veterans took their own lives. Of the 8,500 Massachusetts National Guard, six of them have committed suicide in the last year and a half.

We need to treat these unseen wounds, and give our veterans a better life, where they are employed, appreciated, and supported.

We have a sacred obligation to honor and care for our service men and women for their bravery and sacrifice.

On the battlefield, the military pledges to leave no soldier behind. As a nation, we must ensure that when warriors return home, we leave no veteran behind.

In recent years, we have provided historic budget increases for veterans, expanded access to VA health care, improved health services for all veterans, and modernized benefits earned by America's servicemembers.

But what is clear today is that hasn't been enough. The problems at the VA are unacceptable and they dishonor our veterans and their families who have sacrificed so much.

Anyone who contributed to the careless treatment of our veterans should be held fully accountable, and I mean anyone.

And so our work must continue. We must address the emerging needs of veterans, as well as those needs that have lingered for years.

Our returning veterans, and those who served in previous wars, always should get the best services, including medical care.

Unfortunately, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, VA, is facing a crisis. The Department of Veterans Affairs inspector general reports showed that thousands of veterans have been trying to see a doctor but were never on the VA list to see a doctor. These veterans were forgotten and lost in the scheduling process. VA leadership significantly understated the time new patients waited for their primary care appointment in their performance appraisals in part because that affected their bonuses and salary increases. Mr. President, 57,000 veterans have been waiting 90 days or more for their first VA appointment. Mr. President, 64,000 veterans have fallen through the cracks and have never received an appointment after enrollment.

These deficiencies at the VA are unacceptable.

What is clear is that we need a full-scale reform of how the VA does business. Too many men and women are falling through the cracks. We need to fully fund the VA and modernize the agency and its facilities to appropriately address the new needs of returning soldiers and their families.

All veterans are heroes, but sometimes heroes need help.

The Veterans' Access to Care through Choice, Accountability, and Transparency Act of 2014 allows the immediate firing of incompetent high-level officials who broke the trust of our veterans by leaving them behind. It also includes appropriate provisions to prevent the abuse of these new powers.

The bill allows VA to lease 26 new medical facilities that would expand access to care, including $4.8 million for the VA Worcester community-based Outpatient Clinic.

It authorizes the hiring of new medical personnel for hospitals and clinics that are facing a shortage of doctors and other health professionals.

It would allow veterans living more than 40 miles from a VA hospital or clinic to go to a private doctor.

It develops an independent commission to update the VA's scheduling appointments process and another to help spur the construction of new VA facilities.

It would allow all recently separated veterans taking advantage of the post-9/11 GI bill to get instate tuition at public colleges and universities. Finally, it would extend post-9/11 GI bill education benefits to surviving spouses of veterans who have died in the line of duty.

This bill is an important first step to dealing with the crisis at the VA. However, more needs to be done. We need to make sure the Massachusetts VA hospitals in Brockton, West Roxbury, Jamaica Plain, Bedford, and Northampton can continue to provide the care that our veterans deserve, including the latest in health care for traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other injuries.

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