VA Accountability First and Appeals Modernization Act of 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Chair, I thank my colleague, Representative Ben Ray Lujan from New Mexico, for yielding.

I urge my colleagues to support this legislation to ensure our veterans are fully taken care of.

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Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Chairman, as the designee of the gentleman from New York (Mr. Sean Patrick Maloney), I offer amendment No. 15.

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Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Chairman, as this body works to find ways to ensure that the VA is meeting the needs of the veteran community, we must ensure that we do not rob them of critical tools which have already helped the VA to address its claims backlog.

This amendment, based on Representative Sean Patrick Maloney's standalone legislation, the Disabled Veterans Red Tape Reduction Act, ensures that the VA has one more tool in its toolkit in order to meet its mission. It accomplishes this by allowing veterans to have their medical examinations done by physicians outside the VA system to help process veterans' disability claims faster.

In the past, we have been able to work across party lines in order to keep in place this essential tool the VA needs to address the backlog. This important authority is due to expire at the end of the year; and without timely action from Congress, the VA would be even more overburdened.

This program works; that is why we need it. The fact that Congress would otherwise let this expire, when our VA system is already overburdened, is just unconscionable.

I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.

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Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Chair, at this time, I would like to use the remaining time I have on this amendment to make the following statement.

I would like to take a moment to recognize Chairman Miller, who will be retiring at the end of this Congress.

I have only been acting ranking member for a couple of months, but I have enjoyed working with him as a member of the committee for the last 4 years. He is a dedicated public servant. He is charming and wily, and, with a smile, he can convince anyone across the table from him that his way is the right way, even though it is not.

I consider him a friend, but also a worthy adversary. Although we are at odds today on this underlying bill, I have enjoyed the bipartisan nature of the Veterans' Affairs Committee. I think we set an example for the American people that Congress can come together and get things done.

With all this talk about Congresswoman Dina Titus' Appeals Modernization bill, I am reminded of another Titus bill. I worked with the chairman to include language in the Choice Act that increased the number of graduate medical education slots at the VA--1,500, to be exact. It was one of my proudest moments as a legislator, and I will look back fondly on the experience of working with Chairman Miller. We did right by veterans, and we did right by the American people.

Mr. Chairman, I thank you for your service, and I wish you the best of luck with your retirement.

I urge my colleagues to support my amendment.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

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Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Chairman, I fully support the gentleman's amendment, and I encourage my colleagues to do the same.

Mr. O'ROURKE. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from Texas for yielding me 30 seconds. Mr. Chairman, I fully support his amendment, and I encourage my colleagues to do the same.

Mr. O'ROURKE. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Chairman, as the designee of the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Walz), I offer amendment No. 19.

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Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the amendment, which would provide deserved recognition for the National Guard and Reserve retirees.

The National Guard and Reserve component retirees who have served less than 180 straight days of Active Duty are not able to call themselves veterans due to the legal definition. This is despite their 20 years of service to their State and their Nation and despite their service in emergencies like floods, fires, and other natural disasters.

The amendment allows these National Guard and Reserve retirees to say ``I am a veteran,'' the ability to get a license plate showing their veteran status and to go to the store and buy a hat that says ``Proud Veteran'' without feeling guilty. It is simply a way to honor the men and women who have served in and retired from our National Guard and Reserve forces. It has no cost, and it already passed the House last by a vote of 407-0. I urge my colleagues to support the amendment.

Mr. Chairman,

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Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Chairman, I have no further speakers, and I urge all my colleagues to support the amendment.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

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Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Chairman, as the designee of the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Walz), I offer amendment No. 20.

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Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the amendment, which would allow the VA flexibility in providing equipment to help injured veterans recover through adaptive recreation. Specifically, it allows the Secretary of the VA to furnish rehabilitative equipment to veterans entitled to prosthetic appliances or modify nonrehabilitative equipment owned by a veteran. For example, this bill would allow a veteran with a prosthetic to bring his or her bike in and have it fitted to work with their prosthetic.

Currently, the VA can purchase new recreational equipment to support healing for the veteran, but sometimes a veteran just wants to use his or her own equipment; they want a return to normal after a major life- changing event that led to their need for a prosthetic.

This bill has no cost since the VA already has the equipment and the people to do this. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

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Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition, though I am not opposed to the amendment.

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Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Chair, I am prepared to support the amendment, and I urge my colleagues to do the same.

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Chair, I demand a recorded vote.

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