Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2019

Floor Speech

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Mr. CARTER of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to be here as the newly appointed chairman of the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Subcommittee.

I arrived post-midstream and I have a lot to learn. But I have served on this subcommittee before and I have got a great base to start with. Charlie Dent and Debbie Wasserman Schultz developed such a good bill that it was approved by a 47-0 vote in the full committee.

The Military Construction and Veterans Affairs bill provides generously for our servicemembers, our veterans, their families, and our monuments and cemeteries. Chairman Frelinghuysen and Ranking Member Lowey have provided strong support for this bill. I appreciate their leadership, as well as the participation of all of the members of the subcommittee, and I especially want to thank my ranking member, Ms. Wasserman Schultz.

The bill contains $96.9 billion in budget authority, an increase of $4.2 billion over last year's level. The funding recommendation includes:

$11.3 billion for military construction, which is a $412 million, or 3.8 percent, increase over the fiscal year 2018 level. The bill includes $10.3 billion in base funding and $921 million in overseas contingency operations funding. The level is $131 million below the request.

$85.3 billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is an increase of nearly $4 billion, or 4.8 percent over the FY18 level, and the same as the budget request. Of the $85.3 billion provided for VA, $71.2 billion is for medical care for 7 million veterans. We make important investments in many VA programs, including: mental health treatment and suicide prevention; development of the VA electronic health record; prevention of opioid abuse; and disability claims processing.

And $2 billion is provided as the second year of the budget deal commitment for infrastructure funding for VA facilities.

This bill supports our troops with the facilities necessary to maintain readiness and morale at bases here in the United States and around the world.

In addition, the bill funds our veterans healthcare and benefits systems to ensure that our promise to care for those who have sacrificed in defense of our Nation is met as those men and women return home.

This is a strong bill, and I urge everyone to support it.

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