Veterans Cemetery Benefit Correction Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. RUTHERFORD. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for this opportunity, and I thank Ranking Member Walz for such bipartisan support and work on this bill. I am very proud to serve on this committee because of the kind of work that goes on here under the leadership of Chairman Roe.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to cosponsor this bill. I can tell you, since coming to Congress, I have had the distinct honor of serving with Dr. Roe, our chairman, and colleagues on the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, and during this time, we on the committee have heard from veterans services organizations, from the Veterans Administration, and from veterans themselves about the challenges in the VA healthcare system.

We have learned about the barriers to timely care, the troubling provider shortage, also the lack of prompt payment to our community providers, and so many other issues.

I am proud to say that I believe this is, in the words of 38 VSOs who wrote in strong support of this legislation, truly a ``historic opportunity to improve the lives of veterans, their families, and their caregivers.''

That is one reason I am very proud to be on this committee. I think this is a historic move.

It is our duty as legislators and as Americans to ensure that our veterans receive the best care possible. This bill accomplishes that by streamlining community care programs; improving access to timely care; funding the Choice Program; and, until this new program can be implemented, creating a fair access review process, greatly expanding the VA caregiver program, and improving VA's own in-house capacity.

One item that I would like to thank the leaders in both Chambers for, but especially Dr. Roe and his staff and the White House, is including in this language on provider recruitment and retention within the VA, sections 301, 303, and 304 of this bill, which is language that I had asked to have placed in there.

These provisions expand the tools the VA can use to recruit and retain quality providers by requiring the use of scholarships and improving and expanding the loan repayment system that targets newly graduated medical students.

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