Asa Hutchinson: “Mr. Speaker, I want to be the second person to publicly express my sadness at the decision of the ranking member, the…”

“Mr. Speaker, I want to be the second person to publicly express my sadness at the decision of the ranking member, the gentleman from Mississippi, Sonny Montgomery, longtime chairman of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, not to seek reelection. There surely will be no Member more missed around this place than Sonny Montgomery, a great champion of veterans and a great patriot. Mr. Speaker, I strongly support H.R. 1384. I commend the chairman, the gentleman from Arizona [Mr. Stump], for bringing this bill to the floor this morning. I also want to thank the ranking member on our subcommittee, the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Edwards], for his assistance. Mr. Speaker, I support this legislation which I introduced to exempt certain VA health care professionals from restrictions on remunerated outside professional activities, and urge its immediate passage. This legislation would lift the moonlighting ban on professional registered nurses, physicians' assistants, and dental auxiliaries. This outdated law, enacted in 1946, nearly 50 years ago, was written at a time when nurses were expected to be on call 24 hours a day.”