Bob Filner: “Mr. Speaker, we have heard about how necessary this construction is for the VA and how critical the construction needs…”

“Mr. Speaker, we have heard about how necessary this construction is for the VA and how critical the construction needs are for our health facilities. There has been a gross underfunding of VA facilities for the past decade, and this is meant to start to catch up. The average age of our VA facilities is over a half century old. An aging infrastructure, like aging bodies, needs more than a band-aid and an aspirin. So this would allow the VA to carry out 10 major construction projects. I was pleased to know that 3 of these are in California, as the chairman of the Subcommittee on Health of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs said, in San Francisco and Los Angeles and in my hometown of San Diego, and I am pleased and relieved that we are able to do this for the San Diego Medical Center in San Diego County. In fact, this is one of the 6 health care facilities that will be authorized to meet safety codes in the event of an earthquake.”