Veterans Employment, Education, and Healthcare Improvement Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to The Veterans Employment, Education, and Health Care Improvement Act (H.R. 3016).

H.R. 3016 includes important bipartisan legislation to improve the health and opportunities of veterans. This legislation will include podiatrists within the Department of Veterans Affairs definition of physician, extending the same promotions and leadership positions within the VA as other physicians. H.R. 3016 also includes numerous standalone bills that will improve the quality of health care and economic opportunity for veterans, including establishing the Veterans Economic Opportunity and Transition Administration. I wholeheartedly support these key provisions of H.R. 3016, but the pay is unacceptable for our brave service members and their families.

When our brave women and men signed up to serve, we made them a promise. We assured them clearly defined benefits that were guaranteed to them upon completion of their duties. H.R. 3016 as currently written breaks that promise. Not only does it harm the students who depend on these housing allowances to attend school, it says to our service members that the terms of the deal they made with their government have been changed without their knowledge or consent. It is essential that Americans know exactly what their service to their country entitles them to. Passage of this legislation will severely undermine that agreement.

Title III of this legislation will reduce by fifty percent the housing allowance provided to children who have had Post-99/11 GI Bill benefits transferred to them. This cut will begin one hundred and eighty days after the enactment of H.R. 3016. Furthermore, the legislation provides no grandfather clause that will exempt the families of current service members from this harmful cut.

Again, I support the important provisions of this legislation that will improve the lives of our veterans, and I remain committed to working in a bipartisan fashion to see these enacted. However, I cannot support legislation that is paid for by breaking a promise to our veterans. When Americans sign up to serve, they must be certain that the benefits guaranteed to them will be waiting when they return home. As Members of Congress, upholding this commitment is one of our most important duties.

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