Debbie Wasserman Schultz: “I will address the tail end of the previous colleague's comments that represented a fundamental misunderstanding of the…”

“I will address the tail end of the previous colleague's comments that represented a fundamental misunderstanding of the way privatized military housing works. The privatized companies aren't taking over housing that the government built. They actually enter into a contract with the military, and they build the housing brand new themselves. The problem is that for decades, they have neglected it. They have neglected the housing. They are terrible about follow-up on maintenance and making sure that the housing is well cared for. They are leaving people in mold, filth, vermin, and lead paint, and it is unacceptable. Let's just be clear that the gentleman's reference to privatized companies coming and rescuing government housing that has declined is not correct. The privatized family housing program and the barracks are new construction that the privatized companies build, and then they neglect taking care of it and neglect taking care of our servicemembers, which is why we need to be careful about our approach in the future to privatized family housing and privatized housing for unaccompanied servicemembers. This amendment is not controversial, and I am not opposed to it. It supports medical care for veterans who reside in U.S. territories and Freely Associated States, which both Mr. Carter and I have gone together to see and to communicate about. Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.”