Department of Veterans Affairs Expiring Authorities Act of 2017
Floor Speech
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Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from Florida for the time. Without action from Congress, the authority for the VA Secretary to carry out many essential activities that are critical to helping our veterans will expire.
I get my healthcare from the VA. I get it alongside a great number of my best friends in life, and I can tell you, my favorite part about going to the VA in West Palm Beach, Florida, is when I meet one of my fellow veterans in the lobby. It might be a veteran from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf war, Iraq, or Afghanistan, and the first thing that we do with one another is we jab at one another about the different branch that the other person served in: Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Coast Guard. But after that, it gets back to the very serious work that we are all at the VA to have completed.
The heroic men and women that I have had the honor of fighting alongside have earned--they have earned; that is the most important word, they have earned--the very best care that our country has to offer. But without this immediate action from Congress, veterans could lose those benefits--healthcare, support for the homeless, and many other provisions--and this is absolutely unacceptable.
This bill, the Department of Veterans Affairs Expiring Authorities Act of 2017, does everything that was already mentioned, which is extremely important. It extends the number of expiring authorities to include nursing home support, support for our caregivers, support for transportation, childcare assistance, adaptive sports programs, housing and home loan services.
This legislation also makes some important technical changes that will aid the VA's implementation of the Forever GI Bill, a critical priority for ensuring that as many veterans as possible can use that important program.
This is the definition of must-pass legislation. I urge my colleagues to pass this commonsense legislation.
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