Veterans Cemetery Benefit Correction Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. BROWNLEY of California. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Minnesota for yielding, and I thank him, also, for his leadership on the committee.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the VA MISSION Act because it makes significant improvements to the VA that our Nation's veterans have long been asking for, which will help deliver better care to the 9 million veterans enrolled in the VA.

While I recognize that this bill is not a perfect one, my mission and the Veterans' Affairs Committee's mission has always been to provide better access to high-quality care for our Nation's veterans, and this bill advances that goal in a few very important ways.

First, the VA MISSION Act consolidates the various community care programs, which will make it easier for veterans to use and for providers to participate in.

The bill also expands the caregiver program, which is critical for improving outcomes and quality of life for our veterans. This has been a key priority for our Nation's veterans service organizations for years.

Community nursing homes are five times more expensive than the average cost of the caregiver program. Expanding the caregiver program will save the VA and taxpayers money in the long run, all the while allowing veterans to receive quality care and better care at home from the people they trust the most.

The bill also makes important improvements to community care eligibility, which are more closely aligned with the veterans' needs rather than the arbitrary criteria currently in place.

Finally, I am planning to vote ``yes'' because time is of the essence. As you may know, the acting VA Secretary recently informed Congress that the Choice account will run out of funds by the beginning of June, meaning tens of thousands of veterans could lose access to community care in a few short weeks. The VA MISSION Act will ensure that this does not happen, which is another reason why the legislation is supported by 39 veterans service organizations.

With that said, I fully recognize that the bill's approach to realigning facilities, in my opinion, is flawed.

I also share the ranking member's concerns about the budget caps. Reimposing the sequester would be devastating for the VA and for other Federal discretionary programs. This is a real issue that must be addressed.

Since I have been in Congress, we have raised budget caps three times in a bipartisan manner. We can and we must do so again in order to avoid devastating cuts to programs our constituents depend on.

As the ranking member noted, during the committee markup, Democrats tried to fix this issue, but his amendment was voted down. Today, our new colleague from Pennsylvania also has offered legislation to address this issue, which I supported, but the House did not adopt it.

While I am disappointed that the budget cap issue has not yet been fully addressed, I plan to vote for the VA MISSION Act today. It is past that time. Congress must take action to consolidate the community care programs and to expand the caregiver program.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to also support the bill.

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