{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.collins.senate.gov/newsroom/senator-collins-leads-bipartisan-push-address-technicality-harming-veterans%E2%80%99-access-timely", "Senator Collins Leads Bipartisan Push to Address Technicality That is Harming Veterans Access to Timely and Quality Health Care, Including Veterans in Southern Maine", "2016-12-02", "2016", "2016-12", "Republican", "House", "ME", "Susan Collins", "C001035", "www.collins.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Washington, D.C. \u2014 U.S. Senator Susan Collins, a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, led a bipartisan letter with Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) urging that all pending VA medical centers be authorized before Congress adjourns. The issue affects 24 facilities in 15 states, including the proposed Portland community-based outpatient clinic (CBOC) lease for which Senator Collins secured funding earlier this year. The letter, which was addressed to Senate leadership as well as to the leadership of the Senate Appropriations and VA Committees, was signed by 18 Senators, including Senator Angus King (I-ME).\nAll 24 of these leases have already been fully funded by Congress, but their authorization has been delayed due to a budgetary technicality. Under current rules, the Congressional Budget Office scores these leases as having large, up-front direct costs even though spending would not increase and the leases are subject to annual appropriations. As a result of this scoring issue, Congress has had difficulty authorizing major medical leases for the past three years.\nThe proposed CBOC in Portland would consolidate the existing Saco and Portland CBOCs and enhance VA outpatient services. The lease would increase veterans\u2019 access to a core set of services and additional specialty care in a right-sized, state-of-the-art, energy efficient health care facility in the Portland area. The planned full deployment of tele-medicine technologies in the new clinic would further improve veterans\u2019 access to care in rural locations throughout Maine. Although Senator Collins secured funding for the proposed Portland CBOC earlier this year, it cannot move forward without authorization.\n\u201cVeterans deserve convenient access to high-quality health care services they have earned through their service,\u201d said Senator Collins. \u201cCBOCs provide an essential service to our veterans by allowing them to receive outpatient care without the stress and difficulty of traveling to larger VA medical centers, which may be located far away from veterans\u2019 homes. I will continue to urge my colleagues to support the authorization of these leases so that vital facilities like the proposed Portland CBOC can begin serving our veterans.\u201d\n\u201cThe longer these VA medical facility leases sit unauthorized, the longer our veterans might be waiting for the quality health care services they earned,\u201d said Senator King. \u201cThat, quite simply, is unacceptable. It is past time that Congress stepped up to allow these important projects, like the proposed CBOC in Portland, to move forward in order to support veterans in Maine and across the country.\u201d\nThe full list of leases needing authorization is below:\n1. Ann Arbor, MI \u2013 Outpatient Clinic  2. Birmingham, AL \u2013 Outpatient Mental Health Clinic  3. Birmingham, AL \u2013 Outpatient Specialty Clinic  4. Boston, MA \u2013 Research Space  5. Charleston, SC \u2013 Research Space  6. Daytona Beach, FL \u2013 Outpatient Clinic  7. Denver, CO \u2013 Chief Business Office Purchased Care  8. Gainesville, FL \u2013 Outpatient Clinic  9. Hampton Roads, VA \u2013 Outpatient Clinic  10. Mission Bay, CA \u2013 Research Space  11. Missoula, MT \u2013 Outpatient Clinic  12. Northern Colorado, CO \u2013 Outpatient Clinic  13. Ocala, FL \u2013 Outpatient Clinic  14. Oxnard, CA \u2013 Outpatient Clinic  15. Pike County, GA \u2013 Outpatient Clinic  16. Portland, ME \u2013 Outpatient Clinic  17. Raleigh, NC \u2013 Outpatient Clinic  18. Santa Rosa, CA \u2013 Outpatient Clinic  19. Corpus Christi, TX \u2013 Outpatient Clinic  20. Jacksonville, FL \u2013 Outpatient Clinic  21. Pontiac, MI \u2013 Outpatient Clinic  22. Rochester, NY \u2013 Outpatient Clinic  23. Tampa \u2013 FL \u2013 Outpatient Clinic  24. Terre Haute, IN \u2013 Outpatient Clinic\nIn September, Senators Collins and King joined Senator Warner in introducing the Providing Veterans Overdue Care Act, standalone legislation to authorize the leases.\nThe text of the bipartisan letter is below. Click HERE to read the signed PDF letter.\n\u00a0\nNovember 30, 2016\nDear Leader McConnell, Leader Reid, Chairman Cochran, Vice Chairwoman Mikulski, Chairman Isakson, and Ranking Member Blumenthal:\nWe write to urge the authorization of 24 Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) major medical facility leases before the 114th Congress adjourns. Funding for these leases has already been provided by Congress in previous appropriations acts. These authorizations are necessary to enable VA to deliver vital care and services to veterans across the United States.\nA 2012 change in budgetary scoring of VA\u2019s major medical leases by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has hampered the authorization of these important leases. Due to the change, the lease authorizations receive large, up-front direct spending scores covering the entire life of the lease, even though actual spending would not increase and the leases are subject to annual appropriations. This scoring issue has prevented Congress from easily authorizing major medical leases for the past three years, affecting 24 facilities across 15 states.\nThe full list of leases needing authorization is below:\n25. Ann Arbor, MI \u2013 Outpatient Clinic  26. Birmingham, AL \u2013 Outpatient Mental Health Clinic  27. Birmingham, AL \u2013 Outpatient Specialty Clinic  28. Boston, MA \u2013 Research Space  29. Charleston, SC \u2013 Research Space  30. Daytona Beach, FL \u2013 Outpatient Clinic  31. Denver, CO \u2013 Chief Business Office Purchased Care  32. Gainesville, FL \u2013 Outpatient Clinic  33. Hampton Roads, VA \u2013 Outpatient Clinic  34. Mission Bay, CA \u2013 Research Space  35. Missoula, MT \u2013 Outpatient Clinic  36. Northern Colorado, CO \u2013 Outpatient Clinic  37. Ocala, FL \u2013 Outpatient Clinic  38. Oxnard, CA \u2013 Outpatient Clinic  39. Pike County, GA \u2013 Outpatient Clinic  40. Portland, ME \u2013 Outpatient Clinic  41. Raleigh, NC \u2013 Outpatient Clinic  42. Santa Rosa, CA \u2013 Outpatient Clinic  43. Corpus Christi, TX \u2013 Outpatient Clinic  44. Jacksonville, FL \u2013 Outpatient Clinic  45. Pontiac, MI \u2013 Outpatient Clinic  46. Rochester, NY \u2013 Outpatient Clinic  47. Tampa \u2013 FL \u2013 Outpatient Clinic  48. Terre Haute, IN \u2013 Outpatient Clinic\nVeterans in each of these states deserve the timely and quality health care benefits they have earned through their service. As such, we ask that you work to include authorization for these leases in the December funding bill, or another appropriate vehicle, to be signed into law this year. We thank you for your continuing dedication to our nation\u2019s veterans and look forward to working with you to ensure their timely access to VA health care.\nSincerely,", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.collins.senate.gov/newsroom/senator-collins-leads-bipartisan-push-address-technicality-harming-veterans%E2%80%99-access-timely"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7969110738486052, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}