Wasserman Schultz statement at subcommittee markup of FY 2019 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill

Mr. Chairman, since my first day as Ranking Member, you have set a very collegial and cooperative tone, and I want to thank you for continuing to be inclusive as we work through this process.

I believe the Chairman has worked very hard, and with an extremely limited amount of time, to get us to this point.

First, I am pleased with several aspects of the bill. The MilCon portion of the bill is up by $241 million dollars over last year’s enacted level. In my opinion, the FY 2019 request adequately provides funding for both the Active and Reserve Components.

I was also pleased to see that for the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) account, the bill provides $54 million above the FY 2019 budget request, which will help expedite the clean-up of former Defense Department sites.

For the Department of Veterans Affairs, Title II is $3.9 billion dollars above the FY 2018 enacted level — a 5% increase over FY 2018 enacted level.

The mark also fully funds the FY 2018 “second bite” of the apple ($500 million) which brings the total amount provided for VA medical care to $71.2 billion dollars, which is a 2 percent increase over FY 2018 enacted level. 

Mr. Chairman, I am also pleased the bill rejects the Administration’s proposal to combine the Medical Services and Community Care accounts into one enormous account.

Maintaining the old structure of two accounts offers the most transparency for the Committee, to both monitor and control spending in these two areas.

This bill also honors the Budget Deal and includes $2 billion for infrastructure improvements, allocated between $750 million for seismic corrections, and $800 million for non-recurring maintenance.

It includes $100 million for major Construction for National Cemetery Administration projects, and $350 million in Minor Construction for Veterans Health Administration projects. This funding is vital to helping the VA address its infrastructure issues.

Mr. Chairman, while I believe this is a good allocation for the FY 2019 MilconVA Bill, there is one problem that needs to be addressed as we move through the process. 

The bill includes $69 million dollars for  a High-Value Detention Facility at Guantanamo Bay Naval Station. Mr. Chairman, there are 41 detainees at GTMO. This works out to a cost of $1.7 million dollars per detainee.

In my opinion this is a huge waste of resources, especially when balanced against the needs of our own military service members. And so I strongly oppose the inclusion of this project.

I’ll have more to say about the Chairman at full committee but it has been an absolute pleasure to serve with you. Chairman Dent and I came in together in the Class of 2004 and he has been a class act, a statesman and a steady, reliable and strong voice for his constituents; a badly needed voice of reason during difficult times, but most of all, I’ve been proud to call you a friend all these years and I wish you all the best in your next exciting chapter. Thank you Mr. Chairman and I yield back.