Mark Takano: “I thank Ranking Member Walz for yielding me the time and his steadfast leadership on the Veterans' Affairs Committee. He…”

“I thank Ranking Member Walz for yielding me the time and his steadfast leadership on the Veterans' Affairs Committee. He has been tireless in his support of veterans and their families. I am, likewise, inspired by the gentleman from Texas' service to our country. I thank him for his service. Mr. Speaker, the bill before us today is the culmination of years of ongoing discussion about how to guarantee veterans have timely access to quality care. It streamlines existing programs that allow veterans to get care in the community, creates a process for aligning VA facilities to meet the changing needs of the veteran population, and it expands the Caregiver Support Program to all veterans. {time} 1615 It should come as no surprise that I have serious concerns with this bill. I voted against it when it was reported out of committee to signal that it is not a perfect bill and that there are still improvements to be made. One of my biggest concerns has to do with funding. In that regard, I share the concern of the ranking member. While previous funding for Choice came from emergency mandatory funding, moving forward, the program will receive discretionary funding and could break the budget caps that trigger sequestration. That is why I offered an amendment at the Rules Committee last night that guaranteed that moving community care funding to the discretionary side wouldn't count against the bipartisan budget caps we agreed to just a few short months ago.…”