Mr. Chair, I demand a recorded vote. The Acting CHAIR. Pursuant to clause 6 of rule XVIII, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from Minnesota will be postponed. Amendment No. 3 Offered by Mr. Takano The Acting…

Mr. Chair, this amendment really changes nothing favorably, from our point of view, in H.R. 5620. It does not cure the fundamental flaws in the bill which relate to its possible unconstitutionality, and, therefore, I will oppose the…

Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, for all of the foregoing arguments that were made today, I urge all of my colleagues to vote ``no'' on H.R. 5620. I yield back the balance of my time.

The letter reads: ``The drastic reductions in due process rights for every frontline VA employee proposed by this bill represents another familiar attempt to weaken the VA by weakening its dedicated workforce. ``Changes proposed by H.R…

Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I think it is important that we consider the impact our actions will have on the hardworking frontline VA employees, many of whom are veterans themselves and even whom my friend from…

The quotation was from that letter. I want to clarify that letter from the Office of Special Counsel was in support of Mrs. Kirkpatrick's amendment, not in support of the entire bill H.R. 5620, and I am pleased that the majority joins us…

Yes, September 13. And it is regarding pending legislation to protect VA whistleblowers?

Mr. Chairman, I yield to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Miller) to ask him a question. Was the quotation the gentleman read from this letter of the special counsel to Mrs. Kirkpatrick?

Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers. I simply want to urge my colleagues to join me in passing H.R. 5985, as amended. I want to thank, sincerely, the work that we have done together with Chairman Miller on this legislation. I am so…

We are here as part of our ongoing responsibility to oversee the Department of Veterans Affairs to investigate how the people's money is being spent by the VA and why.

I also wonder what type of message that VA is sending to other good employees when they allow bad employees to settle for thousands of dollars just because it would be too expensive or possibly embarrassing to litigate.

I want to make sure, as we all do, that settlement agreements between the VA and whistleblowers do not preclude accountability for bad supervisors.

Instead, the majority has once again introduced a partisan bill that violates the due process rights of VA employees and includes several provisions that are likely to be overturned by our justice system, which is why the Department of…

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Adams).

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Davis).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Nolan). I thank him for his leadership on CTE and all his work for the students and employers of his district and our country.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Langevin), without whose leadership and expertise this legislation wouldn't be in the wonderful form that it is today, and we are very grateful for his role.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott), the distinguished ranking member of our committee.