II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 396 

To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to ensure that the South Texas 

Veterans Affairs Health Care Center in Harlingen, Texas, includes a 

full-service Department of Veterans Affairs inpatient health care facility. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 17, 2011 

Mr. CORNYN (for himself and Mrs. HUTCHISON) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to ensure that 

the South Texas Veterans Affairs Health Care Center 

in Harlingen, Texas, includes a full-service Department 

of Veterans Affairs inpatient health care facility. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Meeting the Inpatient 

5 Health Care Needs of Far South Texas Veterans Act of 

6 2011’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

8 Congress makes the following findings: 


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1 (1) The current and future health care needs of 

2 veterans residing in the Far South Texas area are 

3 not being fully met by the Department of Veterans 

4 Affairs. 

5 (2) The Department of Veterans Affairs esti6 mates that more than 117,000 veterans reside in 

7 Far South Texas. 

8 (3) In its Capital Asset Realignment for En9 hanced Services study, the Department of Veterans 

10 Affairs found that fewer than 3 percent of its enroll11 ees in the Valley-Coastal Bend Market of Veterans 

12 Integrated Service Network 17 reside within its 

13 acute hospital access standards. 

14 (4) Travel times for veterans from the market 

15 referred to in paragraph (3) can exceed 6 hours 

16 from their residences to the nearest Department of 

17 Veterans Affairs hospital for acute inpatient health 

18 care. 

19 (5) Even with the significant travel times, vet20 erans from Far South Texas demonstrate a high de21 mand for health care services from the Department 

22 of Veterans Affairs. 

23 (6) Current deployments involving members of 

24 the Texas National Guard and other members of the 

25 reserve components of the Armed Forces who reside 


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1 in Texas will continue to increase demand for med2 ical services provided by the Department of Veterans 

3 Affairs. 

4 SEC. 3. INPATIENT HEALTH CARE AT THE SOUTH TEXAS 

5 VETERANS AFFAIRS HEALTH CARE CENTER. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Veterans Affairs 

7 shall ensure that the South Texas Veterans Affairs Health 

8 Care Center in Harlingen, Texas, includes a full-service 

9 Department of Veterans Affairs inpatient health care fa10 cility and, if necessary, shall modify the existing facility 

11 to meet this requirement. 

12 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 

13 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit 

14 to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and 

15 the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Rep16 resentatives a report outlining the specific actions the Sec17 retary plans to take to satisfy the requirements in sub18 section (a), including a detailed estimate of the cost of 

19 such actions, if any, and the time necessary for completion 

20 of any modification required by such subsection. 

Æ 


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