OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

American Heroes COLA Act

Floor Speech

Date: Feb. 9, 2016
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Veterans

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Ms. TITUS. Mr. Speaker, this afternoon, the House passed H.R. 677, the American Heroes COLA Act, legislation I introduced with Dr. Abraham from Louisiana. This legislation will ensure that veterans receive automatic cost-of-living increases annually based on the consumer price index.

Unlike with Social Security, Congress must act each year to provide veterans with the COLA increases they need and deserve. Now, by permanently adjusting benefits to include cost-of-living increases, we are providing critical peace of mind to those who have so heroically served our country.

Furthermore, this legislation includes two provisions to address the VA appeals problem, which currently has 440,000 claims backlogged. The first, authored by Congressman O'Rourke, creates a fully developed appeals pilot program. The second I introduced with Chairman Miller to create a task force to examine the appeals process and make recommendations for improvements before the situation gets worse.

H.R. 677 and some of the other bills that we passed today take important steps towards ensuring that our veterans are able to get the benefits they have earned and deserve.

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