H.R. 3082 Amendments

H.R. 3082 is being considered under a structured rule (H.Res. 622) making in order eight amendments.  Each amendment is debatable for ten minutes.  The Rule also allows the chair to reduce vote lengths to two minutes and prohibits demands for a division of the question.  Under the Rule, only the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee may make a motion to rise and motions to strike the last word are prohibited.

Following the Democrats' decision to shut down the amendment process, the Democrats are allowing only eight amendments to be offered.

Amendments Made in Order

1) Rep. Cohen (D-TN):  Increases funds by $1 million to the Medical Services account at the VA with an offset from the Veterans Health Administration General Operating Expenses account of the same amount.  This increase would be intended to enable the VA to increase the budget to its Education Debt Reduction Program (EDRP). 

2) Rep. Filner (D-CA)/Langevin (D-RI):  Increases funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of National Veterans' Sports Programs and Special Events by $3.5 million and decreases funding for the VA's Medical Support and Compliance account by the same amount.

3) Rep. Capito (R-WV):  Increases funding for the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims by $1 million for veterans' free legal services.  The amendment offsets the increase by reducing the Office of Inspector General Account by the same amount.

4) Rep. Garrett (R-NJ):  Increases funding for the Grants for Construction of State Veterans Cemeteries account by $4 million, and decreases funding for the Grants for Construction, Minor Projects account by the same amount.

5) Rep. Session (R-TX):  Requires the VA to submit a report to Congress detailing the current and planned use of the Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) in VA medical facilities.  The report would have to include the number of veterans being treated with HBOT, the types of conditions being treated with HBOT and their respective success rates, and the current inventory of hyperbaric chambers.  The amendment would require the report to be submitted within 60 days of enactment.

6) Rep. Flake (R-AZ):  Prohibits funds for all military construction earmarks.

7) Rep. Hensarling (R-TX):  Prohibits funds from the Military Construction account for the Navy and Marines from being used for an earmark for a Marine Mammal Surgical Center at Point Loma Naval Base, and reduces the overall amount of the appropriations in the bill by $2.3 million.

8) Rep. Gwen Moore (R-TX):  Prohibits funds from being made available for new enhanced use leases in the three original National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, located in Ohio, Maine, and Wisconsin.   According to the sponsor, the amendment would prohibit these homes from being leased out for any purpose other than disabled veterans.