Jeff Miller and Richard Blumenthal Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act of 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Jeff Miller and Richard Blumenthal Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act of 2016. Naming the bill after my colleagues is a testament to the bipartisan nature of both the House and Senate Committees on Veterans' Affairs. The bill before us today contains numerous pieces of legislation introduced or supported by Members on both sides of the aisle.

I thank Chairman Miller and all the members of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, both Democrats and Republicans, for their hard work putting together an omnibus bill that will improve the care and support we provide to America's veterans. I want to specifically acknowledge our committee members-- Representative Brown, Representative Titus, Dr. Ruiz, Representative O'Rourke, Representative Rice, Representative Walz, and Representative McNerney; and my other Democratic colleagues, Representative Pingree and Representative Frankel, Senator-elect Duckworth, Representative Gallego, Representative Hahn, and Representative Sinema--all who made valuable contributions to this bill.

I also would like to take this time to congratulate Dr. Roe on his selection as the next chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs. I look forward to working with him in order to preserve the bipartisan nature of this committee in the 115th Congress so that we can do what is best for veterans. It is fitting that we are taking this bill up on the eve of the attack on Pearl Harbor. December 7, 1941, is remembered not just for the 2,300 Americans that we lost that day, but also for the heroic response of so many Americans that followed. It is a reminder of the sacrifices millions of young men and women have made in service to our Nation. It is a reminder of the debt we owe them.

As the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity and as a former community college trustee, I am pleased that this bill contains several provisions that will improve veterans' education and employment prospects after they serve. I have enjoyed collaborating with Chairman Wenstrup, and I am proud of the bills our subcommittee has moved forward. This bill before us today contains language from H.R. 2360, the Career-Ready Student Veterans Act, which I introduced last May, to ensure that veterans who use their hard-earned Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits will attend education programs that prepare them for a career in their chosen field of study. It requires that all career education programs meet proper accreditation, licensure, and certification requirements in order to serve student veterans who are using Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits.
The Department of Defense already has this policy in place to protect servicemembers using tuition assistance benefits. It often makes sense that Congress should protect student veterans in the very same way.
This provision is supported by the American Legion, the VFW, IAVA, and other VSOs.

This bill also includes H.R. 2361, Work-Study for Student Veterans Act, which I introduced with Chairman Wenstrup. It reauthorizes certain work-study activities for individuals receiving educational assistance through the VA. The current authorization expired in 2013. This bill reauthorizes the program through 2021.
Through the VA's Student Work-Study Allowance Program, qualifying student veterans in college degree programs or vocational or professional programs are paid to work in a variety of capacities on campus, at VA facilities, and at other veteran-centered organizations to assist fellow veterans. This provision will reinstate expired activities to allow participating veterans more options when entering VA's successful work-study program.

The work-study program achieves two important goals: offering student veterans a way to earn a little extra money, and providing transitioning veterans with the guidance and assistance of fellow veterans who know firsthand what that transition is like. Peer-to-peer support is one of the most effective methods we have to help veterans meet the challenges of civilian life.

I worked with Congresswoman Radewagen to introduce H.R. 5229, the Improving Transition Programs for All Veterans Act, which requires VA, the Department of Labor, and the Department of Defense to study the effectiveness of veterans' transition programs for women veterans and other minority groups. This policy will help us learn about how we can specialize transition programs for minority veterans in order to meet their unique needs and overcome barriers to employment. The specific groups that will be included in this study include women veterans, veterans with disabilities, Native American veterans, insular island veterans from the U.S. territories, and other groups as determined by the Secretaries. This generation of veterans is the most diverse in American history, and we must be prepared to support every person who has served.
I am pleased to have worked on this legislation in a bipartisan fashion, and I am glad it was included in the omnibus before us today.

I believe it will ensure the best outcome for all veterans during their transition from military to civilian life.
H.R. 6416 improves the Fry Scholarship for the children and spouses of fallen soldiers. The bill includes H.R. 2531, introduced by Representative and now Senator-elect Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq war combat veteran. This provision will provide a surviving spouse whose husband or wife died in the line of duty after 9/11/2001 the time necessary to use the full 36-month benefit from the Fry Scholarship without fear of it being cut short during their educational pursuits.

The Fry Scholarship is an educational benefit given to children and spouses of our fallen troops. Currently, public law cuts off Fry Scholarship eligibility 15 years from the date of a servicemember's death. Unfortunately, this means that spouses who lost a loved one shortly after 9/11 could be out of time to use an educational benefit that is good for 36 months of enrollment and is normally used over the course of 4 years. This policy will allow Gold Star families whose eligibility will end before they can fully use their benefit to complete their education.

There are several very important provisions in H.R. 6416 that I would like to highlight in the area of claims processing and how we, as a nation, honor and memorialize our Nation's heroes. Chairman Abraham and Ranking Member Titus of the Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs have worked hard for the last 2 years, and it shows by the almost two dozen provisions produced by their subcommittee that are included in this bill.

One of these is the long overdue Honor America's Guard-Reserve Retirees Act, introduced by the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Walz), which confers honorary veteran status to Guard and Reserve members who have served for 20 years and who would otherwise not meet the full requirement for veteran status under the U.S. Code. These servicemembers wear the same uniform, receive the same training, are subject to the same code of military justice, and in many cases fight and die alongside Active Duty troops in war. It is clear why receiving this honor is so important to them, and I am very happy to be here today to support the legislation of Mr. Walz.
I would also like to highlight four bills introduced by minority members of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs intended to expedite veterans' claims for various types of benefits.

H.R. 6416 also contains the Veterans Access to Speedy Review Act, which requires the Board of Veterans Appeals to allow video appeal hearings available to veterans who choose them. Again, this simple, sensible approach can speed up the benefits appeal process for veterans who are comfortable with the videoconference format. This will mean that many veterans will no longer have to wait for an in-person hearing and will no longer need to travel; saving them time, money, and the stress of traveling, which is particularly difficult for our disabled veterans.

This bill also includes two sections drafted by Congressman O'Rourke and Ranking Member Titus that will increase VA transparency so that congressional policymakers and the public know how the VA is doing with its processing of veterans' claims and appeals. The first section requires that the VA publish average times for processing claims and appeals, including those that are timely and overdue. The second section requires a GAO study of the Veterans Benefits Administration regional offices to determine the management and communication factors that distinguish higher performing offices from the average and lower performing offices.

There is another group of veterans who deserve our greatest respect, and that is the men and women left permanently wounded, ill, or injured as a result of service in the armed services. I believe we will hear later from the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Frankel) about her resolution to honor these veterans which is included in today's bill.

Mr. Speaker, making sure veterans get the care and benefits they have earned and deserve is the mission of this committee, and this bill helps keep that promise. For the past 2 years, the Subcommittee on Health has been focused on improving access to care, strengthening mental health care, recruiting and retaining quality providers, and reducing veteran homelessness. These priorities are reflected in the bill before us today.
VA's construction program has been the target of several hearings and reports for many years now. They have exposed cost overruns, poor oversight, and a host of management issues. This bill would address some of the issues brought up over this past Congress. I thank Congresswoman Kathleen Rice for her leadership on these issues and for introducing a provision that would require a forensic audit when a project exceeds its authorization by more than 25 percent.

H.R. 6416 also ensures that eligible veterans can access mental health care in a manner that honors their obligation not to disclose classified information. I would like to thank Representative Sinema of Arizona for introducing this issue as part of H.R. 421, the Classified Veterans Access to Care Act.
In addition, it adds professionals who have a doctoral degree to the list of qualified, VA-licensed mental health counselors.

On the issue of veteran homelessness, we all agree that one homeless veteran is one too many. For the past decade, VA has been working diligently to dramatically reduce the homeless population among veterans, and those efforts have been successful--but we can always do more. An important provision of H.R. 6416, introduced by Representative Hahn of California, would help many of our women veterans by expanding the definition of ``homeless veteran.'' This will ensure that veterans who are victims of domestic violence are able to access emergency housing and are not penalized under the law.

Mr. Speaker, as we move forward, I want to acknowledge that, while H.R. 6416 does indeed do a number of good things to help veterans, there is still much more that we need to do. I know that finding ways to pay for new programs without cutting existing support for veterans has been one of our biggest challenges in this Congress, but I look forward to working with our Members and our colleagues across the aisle to advance big policy issues that will help millions of veterans, issues such as appeals reform, leasing and provider agreements, and caregiver support.

Once again, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 6416.

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