Lowey Statement at Markup on 2014 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Bill

The bill we are considering represents a good, reasonable approach and continues our long commitment to our veterans and our military facilities.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The bill we are considering represents a good, reasonable approach and continues our long commitment to our veterans and our military facilities.

As you know, Mr. Chairman, I have been critical of the House Majority's refusal to go to conference to forge a bipartisan agreement on the budget resolution—especially on the 302(a) allocation. This imperils this year's appropriations process, making it nearly impossible to move all twelve bills. Instead, we will likely see a few bills given reasonable allocations while others are left in limbo, indefinitely until we pass a CR.

MilCon/VA has received a reasonable allocation that meets the needs of our military and our veterans. As long as we don't attach any controversial "riders," it has a good chance of enactment.

Interestingly, the $73.3 billion provided largely mirrors the Administration's request and does not reflect sequestration. In fact, the differences between this bill and the Administration's request are relatively small: an adjustment of $1.05 billion due to bid-savings and other project adjustments and the misguided decision not to provide $185 million for the requested 2014 civilian pay raise.

Mr. Chairman, if the MilCon/VA bill assumes the sequester cuts have been replaced, why can't we assume it was addressed for other bills as well? That is what was presumed by both the Administration and the Senate.

Turning to individual accounts, I am pleased the committee is placing more emphasis on our female veterans both regarding the trauma of sexual assault and the increased need for prosthetics for our female service-members.

And the bill would take several steps related to the shameful veterans' claims backlog. The committee has previously provided VA with additional resources, and this bill would:

• Hire 94 additional claims processors;

• Provide $155 million for the Veterans Benefit Management System and $136 million for the Veterans Claims Intake Program to significantly speed up claims by converting old paper files into digital files;

• Restrict funds to force DoD and VA to have one seamless electronic health record; and

• Require VA to provide monthly reports.

I will not accept any further excuses; the VA must make progress.

This is a good bill that I hope we can preserve through full committee and on the floor. I also hope that my Chairman's optimism about sequestration, reflected in the allocation for this first bill, is proven true.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.