Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB2170 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 2170
5	5	To name the Department of Veterans Affairs community-based outpatient
6	6	clinic in Toms River, New Jersey, the Leonard G. ’Bud’ Lomell, VA
7	7	Clinic, and for other purposes.
8	8	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
9	9	MARCH18, 2025
10	10	Mr. S
11	11	MITHof New Jersey (for himself, Mr. NORCROSS, Mr. VANDREW, Mr.
12	12	C
13	13	ONAWAY, Mr. GOTTHEIMER, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. KEAN, Mr. MENENDEZ,
14	14	Ms. P
15	15	OU, Mrs. MCIVER, Ms. SHERRILL, and Mrs. WATSONCOLEMAN)
16	16	introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
17	17	Veterans’ Affairs
18	18	A BILL
19	19	To name the Department of Veterans Affairs community-
20	20	based outpatient clinic in Toms River, New Jersey, the
21	21	Leonard G. ’Bud’ Lomell, VA Clinic, and for other pur-
22	22	poses.
23	23	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
24	24	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
25	25	SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 3
26	26	Congress finds the following: 4
27	27	(1) The Department of Veterans Affairs out-5
28	28	patient clinic, a state-of-the-art facility serving the 6
29	29	region’s largest veteran population, located at 1055 7
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33	33	Hooper Avenue, recently opened in the Township of 1
34	34	Toms River, Ocean County, New Jersey, in the 2
35	35	Fourth Congressional District. 3
36	36	(2) The local community, including veterans, 4
37	37	believe that this facility deserves to be named in 5
38	38	honor of Second Lieutenant Leonard G. ‘‘Bud’’ 6
39	39	Lomell, a long time Toms River and Ocean County 7
40	40	resident, who served courageously and heroically 8
41	41	during World War II. 9
42	42	(3) Second Lieutenant Lomell was born in 10
43	43	1920, the adopted son of Scandinavian immigrant 11
44	44	parents living in Brooklyn, New York, and his fam-12
45	45	ily eventually moved to Point Pleasant Beach, New 13
46	46	Jersey. 14
47	47	(4) After graduating from Tennessee Wesleyan 15
48	48	College, Second Lieutenant Lomell was drafted into 16
49	49	the Army, serving first with the 76th (Liberty Bell) 17
50	50	Infantry Division. When the 2nd Ranger Battalion 18
51	51	was formed in April 1943, Leonard Lomell was in-19
52	52	vited to be the First Sergeant of D Company. 20
53	53	(5) On D-Day, June 6, 1944, First Sergeant 21
54	54	Lomell’s platoon landed at Pointe du Hoc, Nor-22
55	55	mandy, France, successfully scaling the cliffs, de-23
56	56	spite a withering German defensive barrage. 24
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60	60	(6) Pointe du Hoc, a rugged 100-foot-high 1
61	61	coastal promenade along the English Channel was 2
62	62	located between the American landing beaches, 3
63	63	Omaha and Utah. It was heavily defended by the 4
64	64	Germans and the mission of Colonel James Earl 5
65	65	Rudder’s 225 Rangers was to disable five 155-milli-6
66	66	meter artillery guns, which could have rained artil-7
67	67	lery fire on the American forces landing on either 8
68	68	beach, jeopardizing the invasion. 9
69	69	(7) Unknown to the American forces, the guns 10
70	70	had been moved from the tip of the Pointe and hid-11
71	71	den, pointed in the direction of Utah Beach, in an 12
72	72	inland apple orchard nearly a mile from the coastal 13
73	73	batteries. 14
74	74	(8) First Sergeant Lomell and another Ranger, 15
75	75	Sergeant Jack Kuhn, found the guns undefended, 16
76	76	and, with Kuhn providing cover, Lomell destroyed 17
77	77	the weapons with thermite grenades and used his 18
78	78	rifle butt to smash the sights of the guns. 19
79	79	(9) First Sergeant Lomell subsequently received 20
80	80	a battlefield promotion to Second Lieutenant, and 21
81	81	was awarded some of the Army’s highest honors, in-22
82	82	cluding the Distinguished Service Cross, Purple 23
83	83	Heart, and Silver Star. 24
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87	87	(10) Renowned historian Steven Ambrose re-1
88	88	garded First Sergeant Lomell’s valiant acts along 2
89	89	with General Eisenhower’s decision to invade on 3
90	90	June 6, 1944, as the most significant actions ensur-4
91	91	ing the Allied victory on D-Day. 5
92	92	(11) Following World War II, Second Lieuten-6
93	93	ant Lomell was appointed as the First Director of 7
94	94	the newly organized Ocean County Veteran’s Service 8
95	95	Bureau, serving from 1946 until 1948, before he at-9
96	96	tended law school on the G.I. Bill. 10
97	97	(12) Leonard Lomell and his wife, Charlotte 11
98	98	Ewart Lomell, settled their growing family in Toms 12
99	99	River, where, in 1957, Leonard established his own 13
100	100	law firm, which grew to become one of Ocean Coun-14
101	101	ty’s largest firms. 15
102	102	(13) Leonard Lomell was involved in numerous 16
103	103	local civic, business, and charitable organizations, in-17
104	104	cluding serving as president of the Ocean County 18
105	105	Bar Association, a director of the First National 19
106	106	Bank of Toms River, a member of the Dover Town-20
107	107	ship Board of Education, and a co-founder of the 21
108	108	Garden State Philharmonic. He was also National 22
109	109	Commander of the Legion of Valor (1964-1965) and 23
110	110	President of the Ranger Battalion Association of 24
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114	114	World War II (1967) and served on the French 1
115	115	Committee of Pointe du Hoc. 2
116	116	(14) Second Lieutenant Lomell is profiled in 3
117	117	‘‘The Greatest Generation’’, former NBC news An-4
118	118	chor Tom Brokaw’s testament to the heroes of 5
119	119	World War II, and ‘‘Len Lomell: D-Day Hero’’, Ste-6
120	120	ven M. Gillon’s entry in the American War Heroes 7
121	121	Series. 8
122	122	(15) As a decorated war hero, model citizen, 9
123	123	and dedicated husband and father, Second Lieuten-10
124	124	ant Lomell is exceedingly deserving of the post-11
125	125	humous honor of having a new and long-awaited 12
126	126	Toms River-based Department of Veterans Affairs 13
127	127	outpatient clinic named in his honor. 14
128	128	SEC. 2. NAME OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS 15
129	129	COMMUNITY-BASED OUTPATIENT CLINIC, 16
130	130	TOMS RIVER, NEW JERSEY. 17
131	131	The community-based outpatient clinic of the Depart-18
132	132	ment of Veterans Affairs in Toms River, New Jersey, 19
133	133	shall, after the date of the enactment of this Act, be known 20
134	134	and designated as the ‘‘Leonard G. ‘Bud’ Lomell VA Clin-21
135	135	ic’’. Any reference to such clinic in any law, regulation, 22
136	136	map, document, record, or other paper of the United 23
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140	140	States shall be considered to be a reference to the Leonard 1
141	141	G. ‘‘Bud’’ Lomell VA Clinic. 2
142	142	Æ
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