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Senator Bill Nelson

Nelson, Rubio introduce bill to reform VA

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U.S. Sens. Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) introduced legislation today aimed at reforming the Department of Veterans Affairs by making it easier for the VA Secretary to fire poorly-preforming employees.
The legislation aimed at holding VA employees more accountable would also create new protections for VA whistleblowers and ensure that employees who are terminated have an adequate opportunity to appeal their dismissal.
“This bill will help the VA provide better care to our veterans by removing the bad actors and protecting the good ones,” Nelson said. “The brave men and women who have served our country deserve nothing but the best, and this bill is another small step in ensuring that they receive the care they deserve.”
For years, the VA has been plagued by reports of inefficiency and long wait times. VA Secretary David Shulkin has repeatedly expressed support for legislation to hold VA employees more accountable.
The legislation filed today is the third bill Nelson has sponsored in as many years to hold VA employees more accountable. Nelson says that while he believes it’s important to hold poorly-performing employees accountable, he also believes it’s important to protect the rights of those employees who may have been wrongly terminated, especially at the lower levels, by giving theman opportunity to appeal a supervisor’s decision to fire them.
Specifically, the legislation filed today would:

  • Authorize the secretary to reprimand, suspend, involuntarily reassign, demote, or remove a covered individual from a senior executive service position, including removal from civil service, if the secretary determines that their misconduct or performance warrants such an action, subject to a VA-internal grievance process established by the secretary that must be completed within 21 days.

 

  • Authorize the secretary to remove, demote, or suspend for longer than 14 days without pay, subject to an appeal of their removal or demotion to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) for most non-senior executive service (SES) employees. The MSBP would then have 180 days to complete an expedited appeal and render a final decision, subject to judicial review by the U.S. Federal Circuit.

 

  • Protect whistleblowers from retaliation by not allowing the secretary to use this authority to fire employees who have filed a complaint with the Office of Special Counsel (OSC). The proposal would also establish an Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection for employees to bring to light major problems at the VA without losing their job or facing retaliation.

 

  • Streamline authority for the secretary to rescind an employee’s bonus or relocation expense reimbursement if the secretary deems it appropriate, and allow reduction to an SES employee’s retirement pension upon their conviction of a felony related to work performance.

 

  • Require the VA to provide periodic training to each supervisor on the rights of whistleblowers; how to address a report by an employee of a hostile work environment, reprisal, or harassment; how to effectively motivate, manage, and reward employees; and how to effectively manage employees who are performing at an unacceptable level.

 

  • Authorize the secretary to directly appoint individuals to the positions of Medical Center Director and Director of Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) if they have demonstrated ability in the medical profession, health care administration, or health care fiscal management.

 

  • Require the VA to provide reports to Congress on employee morale and the types of administrative action taken against employees and their effectiveness in disciplining employees.

Full text of the legislation is available here.

Nelson's remarks on GOP health care bill

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Sen. Bill Nelson took to the Senate floor today to urge his colleagues to think twice before supporting the “disastrous” Republican health care bill the House passed last week.
“We’re dealing with people’s lives here. We’re dealing with their health. The last thing in the world that we ought to be doing is cutting out the sources of funding to help people who are in such dire straits,” Nelson said. “I would urge our colleagues to think twice about supporting this disastrous Republican health care bill.”
Nelson specifically cited the more than $800 billion that the bill cuts from the federal Medicaid program and how those cuts would negatively affect Florida’s ability to combat the growing opioid epidemic.
“Last week, the Florida Medical Examiners Commission released new data showing that over 2,600 Floridians had died from opioids in just the first half of 2016 alone,” Nelson said.  “In 2015 alone, 167 babies were born in opioid dependency in just one city, Jacksonville,” Nelson added, citing a recently published report.   
As the single largest payer for substance abuse services, Medicaid plays a critical role in the fight against the opioid epidemic. Nelson sent a letter last week to the Acting Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy urging him to make treatment more available to those addicted to opioids.
A copy of Nelson’s letter is available here.
Following is a rush transcript and here is a link to watch video of Nelson’s remarks: https://youtu.be/ZMZgtUZ1ve8

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson
Remarks on the Senate Floor
May 8, 2017 
Sen. Nelson: Mr. President, I want to talk as well about the Republican health care plan and point out why it is moving on very treacherous territory when it will affect the funding of Medicaid by lessening the amount of Medicaid money that will be spent in the states because so much of that Medicaid money is going to address the opioid crisis and the opioid crisis we found last year – you know, there was a lot of talk about it being in New Hampshire when the eyes of America were on New Hampshire in the New Hampshire primary, but the fact is it’s in every state now, and it is particularly so in my state of Florida.
There are something like 2,600 deaths that have occurred in Florida as a result of opioid overdose. So the seriousness with which we ought to be addressing this issue ought to be of extreme concern and doing something about it, and yet a bill just passes the House of Representatives that is doing exactly the opposite, that is going to cut Medicaid.
It’s a fancy term, cut Medicaid with a block grant. What that means is it’s going to be capped. And that means that a state is not going to get any more Medicaid once that cap has been hit unless the state responds. So, in essence, it’s going to cost the states more money.
I don’t think that you will find many states that are in such a fiscal condition that in fact they could do that. And so what are we doing? We’re harming poor people and disabled who get their health care from Medicare – Medicaid — but in fact we’re not only harming all of them. There is a crisis among us, and that is the opioid crisis. And this is going to particularly hurt addressing that.
So what I want to talk about today is the Republican health care plan that passed out of the House last week. This plan is going to increase costs for older Americans. Remember, it’s going to go on a ratio instead of one to three — you can charge older Americans three times as much in health insurance as younger Americans — it’s going to go up to a ratio of at least one to five and maybe more.
So it’s going to increase cost for older Americans. It’s going to cut Medicaid, and it’s going to take health care coverage away from tens of millions of people. Right now, as a result of the ACA, there are 24 million people that have health insurance coverage that did not have it before this law was passed in 2010. It’s going to reverse that.
Now, do we want to take away health care from people that can now have health care through Medicaid and/or health insurance because they can now afford the health insurance? Is that really a goal that the United States want to do, is to take away that health care through private health insurance? I don’t think that’s what we want to do.
And yet that’s what the House of Representatives’ Republican health care bill has done.
So if we just look at my state of Florida, there are almost eight million people who have a so-called preexisting condition. This includes something as common as asthma. That’s a preexisting condition.
As a former elected insurance commissioner of Florida, I can tell you that some insurance companies would use as an excuse as a preexisting condition something as simple as a rash and say, because you have a preexisting condition, we are not going to insure you. Under the existing law, the Affordable Care Act, an insurance company can’t deny you with a preexisting condition. And just in my state alone, there are almost eight million people who have a preexisting condition. Are we going to turn them out on the streets because their insurance company says we’re not going to carry you anymore? I don’t think that’s what we want to do.
The bill allows insurers to charge older Americans at least five times more than what they charge younger adults. Is that what we want to do?
What is the principle of insurance? The principle of insurance is that you spread the risk. You get as many people in the pool as you can — young, old, sick, healthy — and you spread that risk.
So if you get fire insurance on your home, you’re paying a premium every month, and the insurance company has calculated in an actuarial calculation what it is going to cost you to insure that you don’t get that, but you are part of hundreds of thousands of people in that pool that are also insuring against fire damaging their house. It’s the same principle with health insurance.
So you get young and old, sick and well, and some people with preexisting conditions, and you spread that risk over a lot of people.
This — one of the fallacies we hear is they talk about, well, we can replace this by creating a high-risk pool. In other words, we’re going to set up some money for people who have really sick conditions, and we’re going to take care of them. That’s the most inefficient way to do it because insurance is about spreading risk, not concentrating risk, which is what a high-risk pool exactly is. So the ones down at the House of Representatives who have concocted this thing called the Republican health care plan, they have come up with exactly the opposite idea of funding, instead of spreading the risk, concentrating the risk, and then saying they’re going out an getting $8 billion and that’s going to pay for it. It’s not going to even touch it. But, again, it’s the most inefficient way to approach the subject of spreading risk because they don’t spread the risk, they concentrate the risk.
And what this bill does is over ten years it cuts over $800 billion out of Medicaid. You start doing that and we’re going to lose what we know Medicaid is: a program primarily for the poor, to give them health care, and the disabled.
By the way, isn’t it interesting that they cut over $800 billion to save it out of Medicaid and, oh, by the way, what do they do in the same bill? They give upwards of $600 million in tax breaks to those who are at the highest income levels.
So let me get this right. It’s kind of reverse Robin Hood. I’m going to take from the poor by cutting $800 billion and I’m going to going to give to the rich by tax breaks for the highest income folks. Is that what we want to do? I don’t think so.
Medicaid is a program that guarantees health care for millions of Americans, including children, people with disabilities, pregnant women, and seniors on long-term care. Now, think about that. Seniors on long-term care. What am I talking about? How about seniors in nursing homes? How about seniors that don’t have enough resources, assets in order to pay for their care in the twilight years and, therefore, they’re being paid for by Medicaid, and that’s the only source of income to take care of them? Is that what we want to cut in order to give a tax break for the highest income group? It ought to be the reverse. That is upside down thinking.
So last week the Florida Medical Examiners Commission released new data showing that over 2,600 Floridians had died from opioids in just the first half of 2016 alone. Over the entire year before, 2015, fentanyl killed — and that’s an opioid — killed 705 Floridians. And just in the first half of the next year, 2016, almost the exact same number, 704, in one half of the year died.
You see, we’ve got a problem in the state of Florida, and there are a lot of other states that have the same.
Last month I went to a research institute down in Palm Beach County. They’re using NIH grant money to research new, non-addictive opioid drugs. If they can come up with this that is certainly all to the better to help people with pain and it not be an addictive drug. But we’re not there yet, and we’re using NIH money that is going to that research.
And also last month I sent a letter to the Republican leadership pushing for more funding for the opioid fight and for the National Institutes of Health, NIH and, Mr. President, I would like to enter that letter in the record.
The Presiding Officer: Without objection.
Sen. Nelson: And so, what we need to do is take a comprehensive approach to helping our states and local governments respond to this opioid epidemic.
I was very happy to be a part of an early part of putting together and sponsoring a bill called the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016 and the funding included in the 21st Century Cures Act to start putting more resources into our states right away for this opioid epidemic. And those laws have resulted in Florida receiving more than $27 million to help our state respond to the opioid crisis.
Yet a lot more action is needed, as you can see by just the first half of last year alone, 704 people died from opioid overdoses. Last week in Florida a local paper reported about how the opioid epidemic is affecting our nation’s children. In 2015 alone, 167 babies were born in opioid dependency in just one city, Jacksonville, contributing to Duval County being tapped as having the second-highest number of babies born addicted to opioids in the state. Isn’t that sad that children come into this world and they’re already addicted?
And so, Mr. President, we’re dealing with people’s lives here. We’re dealing with their health. The last thing in the world that we are ought to be doing is cutting out the sources of funding to help people who are in such dire straits. And I would urge our colleagues to think twice about supporting this disastrous Republican health care bill.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Nelson, Rubio call on feds to extend red snapper season

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U.S. Sens. Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) are urging the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration to extend this year’s red snapper season for recreational fishermen. In a letter sent today to NOAA Acting Administrator Benjamin Friedman, the lawmakers cite concerns for angler’s safety and the economic impact such a short season will have on local communities.
“We are writing regarding this week’s announcement that the 2017 Gulf of Mexico red snapper fishing season will be nearly a week shorter than last year’s season,” the senators wrote. “For the anglers, boat captains, and related industries dependent on access to this fishery, this is deeply concerning.”
The lawmakers’ letter comes after NOAA’s recent announcement that the 2017 red snapper recreational fishing season would be just three days long, nearly a full week shorter than last year’s season.
“We ask that you consider incorporating all available reliable data to ensure anglers can safely fish for an appropriate season, which contributes valuable tourism revenue to coastal economies and ensures access to this public resource,” the senators wrote.
Below is the text of the senators’ letter, and here is a signed PDF copy.

May 4, 2017

Mr. Benjamin Friedman
Acting Administrator
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
1401 Constitution Avenue NW, Room 5128
Washington, DC 20230
Dear Acting Administrator Friedman ,
We are writing regarding this week’s announcement that the 2017 Gulf of Mexico red snapper fishing season will be nearly a week shorter than last year’s season. For the anglers, boat captains, and related industries dependent on access to this fishery, this is deeply concerning.
According to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the 2017 Gulf of Mexico red snapper federal season will be limited to just three days for recreational fishermen and 49 days for charter fishermen. We also understand that NMFS is likely to keep the South Atlantic closed for another season as well.
In years past, we have raised concern that setting a rigid fishing season of consecutive days may put anglers in harm’s way due to Florida’s unpredictable and frequent summer storms. We continue to believe that allowing more flexibility in the season to accommodate dangerous weather would help fishermen avoid hazardous conditions.
Once again, we ask that you consider incorporating all available reliable data to ensure anglers can safely fish for an appropriate season, which contributes valuable tourism revenue to coastal economies and ensures access to this public resource.

Sincerely,

Sen. Bill Nelson statement on House-passed health care bill

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Following is a statement from U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) on the health care bill that passed in the House earlier today:
“This Republican health care plan will increase costs for older Americans, cut Medicaid and take us back to the days when it was nearly impossible for anyone with a pre-existing condition to get health insurance. This bill takes health care coverage away from tens of millions of people, and I’m not going to support it.”

Nelson says flyers often treated like 'self-loading cargo'

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Associated Press
Thursday, May 4, 2017 at 10:22 a.m.
WASHINGTON (AP) – A senator says he thinks the airline industry has become anti-competitive and is hurting the flying public.
Florida Sen. Bill Nelson says air travelers often tell him they “feel like they’re being treated as self-loading cargo rather than as valued consumers.”
Nelson is the top Democrat on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee — which is holding a hearing Thursday on airline travel.
He says people are so fed up that they’re using their cellphones to hold airlines accountable by recording incidents that show travelers being treated unfairly.
Last month, a passenger was dragged off a United Airlines flight, and on an American Airlines plane, a mother with a stroller was bullied by a flight attendant.
Videos of both incidents were widely circulated on social media.

NASA gets funding bump in budget deal

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The Senate today, by a vote of 79 – 18, approved a $1.1 trillion spending bill to fund the federal government through September.
The measure includes $19.65 billion for NASA, which is $368 million more than the space agency received last year and $145 million more than Congress had approved for the agency earlier this year.
Today, congressional leaders credited U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) for getting the additional funding included in the bill.
“NASA had actually been targeted for certain cuts … but thanks to the advocacy of Senator Nelson, NASA will get an increase of $368 million,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said on the Senate floor this morning. “There is no one in the Senate who has done more for our [space program] than Bill Nelson.”
Nelson, the top Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee which oversees NASA, says the additional funding will help expand commercial space activity along Florida’s Space Coast and keep NASA on track to put humans on Mars within the next quarter-century.
“The space program creates thousands and thousands and thousands of jobs for skilled workers to build the machines that help us explore the heavens,” Nelson said on the Senate floor today. “The funding included in this budget deal moves us ever closer to answering that burning question: are we alone in the universe?”
Nelson, who spent six days orbiting the planet aboard the space shuttle Columbia, co-authored the current blueprint from which NASA is operating. That bill – the NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2017 – requires NASA to establish a human settlement on Mars and continue the commercial space industry’s development of a new American-made rocket to once again send American astronauts to and from the International Space Station without having to rely on Russia.
“In this time when we find ourselves far too divided in our politics, the exploration of space continues to be a powerful force that brings us together,” Nelson said today.
Below is a rush transcript of Schumer and Nelson’s remarks on the floor this morning, and video of their remarks is available here.

U.S. Sens. Bill Nelson and Chuck Schumer
Remarks on the Senate Floor
May 4, 2017
Sen. Schumer: […] One final issue, seeing my friend from Florida about to take the floor, I would like to yield to him for a moment.
But before I do, I want to recognize his outstanding efforts in securing additional funding in the appropriations bill for NASA.
NASA had actually been targeted for certain cuts by the Trump administration in their budget that would have nixed the program to send a mission to a moon of Jupiter, but thanks to the advocacy of Senator Nelson, NASA will get an increase of $368 million, enough to fund the mission.
I know this is dear to his heart. He was the first member of the thousands to serve on a NASA mission aboard the space shuttle Columbia. He has a passion for and deep knowledge of our space program. There is no one in the Senate who has done more for it than Bill Nelson. He’s worked hard ever since he’s gotten to the Senate and has had great, great success.
Once again he’s had a success here today. His constituents in Florida and all Americans should be grateful that Bill is a real leader on both these issues, in our caucus and in the whole Senate.
With that I yield to my friend, the senator from Florida.
Sen. Nelson: Many, many thanks to the leader for his kind remarks, but also since the final bill was negotiated by the big four, the two leaders in the Senate and the two leaders in the House, and it wasn’t going to happen this way unless the leaders all agreed so my thanks, my profound thanks on behalf of the explorers and the adventurers of the United States, the can-do little agency NASA that is now on the way to Mars on behalf of all of that NASA family, I want to thank the leaders and especially the Democratic leader and thanks personally for his very kind comments.
Now, I want to say that we have approached the NASA bill in a bipartisan way. As a matter of fact, I give great credit to both the chairs and the ranking members in the House Science Committee as well as the subcommittee in appropriations in the House that handles NASA appropriations.
All of those leaders were absolutely key, and of course the same thing is true here in the Senate. I have the privilege of sharing the leadership as the ranking member with our chairman John Thune of the commerce committee. It was the subcommittee of which that subcommittee chairman and ranking member as well as the subcommittee in the appropriations committee, the chairman and the ranking who we will hear from momentarily. And all of them, I am very grateful.
And what it says is that NASA, America’s civilian space program, should not be a partisan subject. What it says is that the leaders of NASA should not be partisans. As a matter of fact, they should even be more than bipartisan. They should be nonpartisans. And that has been their tradition of NASA, so like the secretary of defense, you consider that appointment a nonpartisan. So, too, we consider the administrator of NASA a nonpartisan.
I think in this interim with the acting administrator of NASA, that they’re conducting themselves in a very significant way keeping all of the advancements that they have done now to be accelerated with this appropriations bill.
I want to congratulate the whole NASA team. And it has been my argument to the vice president and to the president that in the selection of the next leader of NASA, that they need to again do it in a nonpartisan way so that we can keep us going for this human mission that is going to the planet Mars in the decade of the 2030’s.
Now, with the increase in NASA funding, we now stand on the precipice of a new golden age of exploration and discovery.
In March of this year, several of us were at the White House when the president signed the NASA reauthorization bill. And what we had worked on for the better part of two years keeps NASA on a steady course with a balanced and ambitious mix of science, technology, and exploration initiatives and let’s don’t forget that the first “A” in NASA is aeronautics. It keeps all of that moving forward.
So this additional $368 million of funding for NASA gives that little agency the ability to build off of the momentum that is already there.
So, for example, one of the things in the White House, and I have commended him both privately and publicly, the vice president, he is bringing about the reestablishment of the National Space Council. I shared with him that all of us look forward to working with him and the Council to develop and carry out the ambitious civil, commercial and national security space agenda for this country.
So the $19.65 billion appropriation for NASA coupled with the NASA authorization bill that we already passed a month or two ago demonstrates our firm commitment to one day putting humans on Mars and permanently expanding our civilization out into the cosmos.
We will soon have a regular cadence of missions that are launching to deep space using the Space Launch System, the largest rocket ever, a third more powerful than the Saturn V rocket that took us to the moon. Its spacecraft, Orion, and other systems that will be assembled and launched and a lot of that being done at Florida’s Space Coast.
The first rockets and spacecraft that will start the journey are being assembled right now at various sites across the country. And right now the Space Launch System, the SLS rocket, the Orion spacecraft that sits on top of it, and the launch infrastructure at Cape Canaveral or more specifically the Kennedy Space Center are all in the most challenging stage of their development. These complex systems are all very intertwined and it’s vital that we make sure that NASA has the funding flexibility it needs to address issues as they come up so they can bring about these systems together for the launch in early 2019 of the largest rocket ever.
We’ve asked NASA to look for new ways to expand commercial space activities in earth orbit, and we’re providing NASA the tools and direction it needs to expand our commercial space activity. And we’re on a track to begin launching astronauts to the International Space Station on American rockets commercially made and that’s going to start next year. People don’t realize they thought the space shuttle was being shut down in 2011. They thought that was the end of the space program. No, no. All of is being developed aside from the robotic missions that have been “gee whiz,” the rovers on Mars, all the pictures of the cosmos, I mean, it’s just unbelievable.
Next year we’re going to launch the Hubble to replace the Hubble space telescope which has peered back into the beginning of time. We are going to look back almost to the beginning of time with the James Webb telescope, and all of this is strengthening a flourishing U.S. space industry, especially in the areas where NASA centers are located around the country.
And what’s happening at the Kennedy Space Center is it’s being transformed into a commercial as well as government space port into a busy, busy civil, military, and commercial space port.
So this appropriations budget allows us to continue all of this going on at the same time. We’re going to put up “gee whiz” things like the Wide Field Infrared Survey telescope and also additional Mars rovers, the rovers that are up there show that Mars at one point was warm and wet, and we’re going to find out was there life there and if it was, was it developed and if it was, was it civilized, and if it was, what happened. These are lingering questions as we peer up into the night sky that we wonder.
The funding included in this budget deal moves us ever closer to answering that burning question: are we alone in the universe? And this budget better helps us understand our own planet by funding NASA’s Earth science program as well as funding aeronautics and education programs for our youth. And so the investments that we as a country make in our space program pay immediate dividends in our quality of life right here on earth.
And, of course, the space program creates thousands and thousands and thousands of jobs for skilled workers to build the machines that help us explore the heavens. And jobs for the researchers to understand and interpret what we discover, and jobs for the engineers and the entrepreneurs to develop the new technologies so these public investments also stimulate complimentary investments of private capital and the thousands of jobs that follow from that. And those are companies that will partner with NASA.
So, again, I want to thank our colleagues in both the House and the Senate for their continued support of our space program. In this time when we find ourselves far too divided in our politics, the exploration of space continues to be a powerful force that brings us together into our search as we explore the universe.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Nelson calls for increased funding for State Veterans Homes

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U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) and a bipartisan group of senators are urging Senate appropriators to increase funding for a federal grant program that allows states to repair and construct long-term care facilities for our nation’s veterans.
The State Veterans Home Construction Grant Program provides federal funds to states for critical upgrades or construction of new facilities to serve local veterans. Due to budget constraints, the program funded only 10 of its 57 highest-priority projects this current fiscal year.
Two of the 47 unfunded projects are in Florida, including the renovations of the Alexander “Sandy” Nininger Veterans Nursing Home in Pembroke Pines and the Douglas T. Jacobson State Veterans Nursing Home in Port Charlotte. Nelson is urging his colleagues to increase funding for the program to help get the two Florida facilities renovated sooner.
“State Veterans Homes have a long history of helping ensure that veterans disabled by age, illness, or other conditions continue to receive the respect and dignity they have earned through their service,” Nelson and others wrote in a letter today to Senate appropriators. “These grant opportunities are important to ensure that each State Veterans Home facility continues to meet VA’s standards and delivers the highest caliber of care to veterans.”
State Veterans Homes are operated by state governments and partner with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to provide nursing home and adult day care services to elderly veterans and those with special medical needs.
In addition to Nelson, the letter sent today was signed by Sens. Gary Peters (D-MI), Thom Tillis (R-NC) and others.
Below is the full text of the letter, and a signed PDF copy can be found here.
Dear Chairman Moran and Ranking Member Schatz:
As the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies considers appropriations for the 2018 fiscal year, we respectfully ask that you provide robust funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) State Home Construction Grant Program. Continued federal support for VA State Homes will build on the success of these facilities in serving the long-term care needs of our country’s veterans.
State Veterans Homes have a long history of helping ensure that veterans disabled by age, illness, or other conditions continue to receive the respect and dignity they have earned through their service. Operated by state governments, these facilities play important roles in the effort to address the unique health and quality of life needs of each state’s veteran population. The VA partners with certified state homes to provide nursing home, domiciliary, and adult day care services to critical segments of the veteran population with continuing or special medical needs, including thousands of elderly veterans.
Federal funds made available through the VA State Home Construction Grant Program allow states to make critical renovations and upgrades to existing facilities and construct new facilities to serve the aging veteran population. These grant opportunities are important to ensure that each State Veterans Home facility continues to meet VA’s standards and delivers the highest caliber of care to veterans. The growing backlog of more than 100 construction and renovation projects across the country, the majority of which have already secured matching state appropriations, presents challenges to meeting the long-term care needs of these veterans, particularly in rural states or states lacking alternate VA-certified facilities.
We recognize the difficult budgetary decisions that the Subcommittee is facing. However, we want to underscore that robust funding for the VA State Home Construction Grant Program will allow State Homes to continue to provide high-quality care for our country’s elderly veterans and veterans with long-term medical needs. Thank you for your consideration of this request and for your continued support in ensuring our nation’s veterans live with dignity.

Sincerely,

Nelson calls for second passport agency in Florida

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U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) is calling on the State Department to open a second passport agency in Florida.
The move comes after extensive water damage forced the Miami Passport Agency to close suddenly last week. As a result, travelers looking to obtain or renew their passports at the Miami office are now being told to visit offices in Atlanta or New Orleans instead.
“The sudden closure of the Miami Passport Agency remains an inconvenience to Floridians and further underscores the need for a second passport agency in the state,” Nelson wrote in a letter today to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
Nelson went on to point out that while states like California and Texas each have three passport offices, Florida – the third most populous state in the nation – has only one.
“To better serve the people of Florida and the millions of travelers who come to our state each year, I strongly urge you to open a second passport agency in Florida as soon as possible,” Nelson concluded.
Following is the full text of Nelson’s letter, and a PDF is available here:

May 2, 2017

The Honorable Rex W. Tillerson
Secretary of State
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street, NW
Washington, DC 20520
Dear Secretary Tillerson:
I appreciate your department’s efforts to assist travelers affected by the unexpected closure of the Miami Passport Agency. I understand that limited passport services are now available at three temporary locations in the Miami area while the State Department works to fully re-open the Miami agency.
The sudden closure of the Miami Passport Agency remains an inconvenience to Floridians and further underscores the need for a second passport agency in the state.
At the time of the accident, there were more than 7,000 applications in process and 177 passports printed and ready to be picked up at the Miami Passport Agency. And now, because Florida has only one passport agency in the state, Floridians are forced to travel – on short notice and at their own personal expense – to the next nearest agencies in Atlanta and New Orleans.
Even before the Miami agency closed, there was considerable demand for passport services in Florida. Travelers often have to wait two to three weeks for an appointments at their local post office or county clerks’ office just to apply for a passport.
While states like California and Texas have three passport offices and New York has two, Florida – the third most populous state in the nation – has only one. To better serve the people of Florida and the millions of travelers who come to our state each year, I strongly urge you to open a second passport agency in Florida as soon as possible.
Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Nelson: Keep oil drilling out of Florida Keys

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Sen. Bill Nelson today sent a letter to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross strongly urging the new administration to keep oil and gas drilling away from the Florida Keys.
Nelson’s letter comes in response to an executive order the president signed Friday ordering the Department of the Interior to determine how many energy and mineral resources are available in designated national marine sanctuaries, such as the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
Nelson, who filed legislation last week that would block the Interior Secretary from opening additional areas to offshore drilling until at least 2022, cited the significant environmental and economic impact that drilling in the Florida Keys sanctuary would have on Florida.
“Against clear congressional intent, the president’s Executive Order directs your departments to tally the oil and minerals contained in national marine sanctuaries like the Florida Keys,” Nelson wrote. “Seismic testing and other preleasing drilling activities directly conflict with the laws that created the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and I strongly urge you to refrain from allowing any oil and gas activities in the Florida Keys.”
Below is the full text of Nelson’s letter, and here is a signed PDF copy.

May 1, 2017

The Honorable Wilbur Ross
Secretary
U.S. Department of Commerce
1401 Constitution Ave NW
Washington, DC 20230
The Honorable Ryan Zinke
Secretary
U.S. Department of the Interior
1849 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20240
Dear Secretary Zinke and Secretary Ross,
I am gravely concerned that the Presidential Executive Order issued Friday, April 28th, represents a significant economic and environmental threat to Florida—and it violates both the spirit and the text of the law regarding National Marine Sanctuaries.
The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (NMS) is a gem among many in Florida’s tourism-based economy, generating $4.4 billion in annual revenue for the local community and supporting over 70,000 jobs. It is home to over 6000 species of marine life, the third largest living coral barrier reef system in the world, and an estimated 1,000 shipwrecks. Fourteen historic sites in Florida Keys NMS are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
This area is of such national importance that in response to environmental threats, including oil drilling, Congress designated the Florida Keys as a National Marine Sanctuary in 1990 “to protect and preserve living and other resources of the Florida Keys marine environment.”
Against clear congressional intent, the president’s Executive Order directs your departments to tally the oil and minerals contained in national marine sanctuaries like the Florida Keys—presumably by using seismic air gun blasts in some of the most sensitive and important habitats in our ocean.
Seismic testing and other preleasing drilling activities directly conflict with the laws that created the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and I strongly urge you to refrain from allowing any oil and gas activities in the Florida Keys.

Sincerely,