Issue Position: Veterans Affairs

Issue Position

As a member of the Armed Services Committee, and having served in the Army Reserve Forces for 23 years, I understand the sacrifices Veterans have made for our country. I am committed to working with the VA to expand its capacity, address backlogs, provide better care and offer more comprehensive services.

Congress must help our service men and women more easily transition into the private sector. The unemployment rate among recent Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans is higher than the national average and the number of Veterans receiving unemployment benefits has doubled over the past decade. Our nation's heroes deserve to return to an America full of opportunities so they can thrive and succeed after serving our great nation.

I co-introduced the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans (Clay Hunt SAV) Act, which was recently signed into law. There are over 2 million post-9/11 Veterans across the country, and this number will only increase as our military force structure continues to draw down. As the nature of war changes, the injuries our warriors sustain also change. Increasingly, theirs are invisible wounds, which do not have a simple treatment and do not always manifest immediately. This legislation increases access to mental healthcare, increases capacity at VA to meet demand and improves the quality of care while boosting accountability at VA on mental health issues.

In 2013, I brought attention to an IRS contractor exploiting loopholes meant to assist Veterans with disabilities. To prevent this from happening again I reached across the aisle and introduced a bill with the Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA). The SERV Act clarifies the definition of active duty military service and training to exclude enrollment at a military prep school and honors our Veterans by ensuring their benefits are reserved solely for those who actually served our country.

I regularly attend town hall meetings at our local VA facilities, and drop in unannounced at VA clinics to make sure our Veterans are getting the care they deserve. My office has worked with the State of Illinois and several nonprofits to help Veterans reintegrate into our communities once they have served our great nation.

To help with that transition, I introduced the Troop Talent Act. This legislation will improve the translation of military skill sets to civilian credentials or licenses, and allow the post-9/11 G.I. Bill and Military Tuition Assistance to be used on courses and programs that guarantee a credential or industry certification after successful completion. Many of the provisions of the Troop Talent Act passed into law as part of the 2014 National Defense Authorization Act.

I also introduced the MEMORY Act, bipartisan legislation aimed at helping active duty service members better track potential exposures during deployment that could be later connected to mental health injuries and mild TBIs. We must be able to identify those with Post Traumatic Stress and Traumatic Brian injuries with ease and accuracy.

I urge you to contact my office for assistance with any issues related to Veterans Affairs. A constituent from Addison came to me for help with VA benefits. The constituent is retired, but VA thought his income was too high to receive benefits. My office asked it to look further into his case, and VA decided to reinstate his benefits and put him in Priority Group 5, which means he will not have any copays on services provided by VA. If you are having a similar issue, please click here to contact my office for assistance. If you or someone you know is struggling, the Veteran Crisis Line is 1-800-273-8255.

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