Jenniffer Gonzalez Passes Legislation Chamber: "veterans, Serving Veterans"

Press Release

With the support of her colleagues in the federal House of Representatives, the resident commissioner, Jenniffer González Colón, achieved approval in yesterday's session of her project, HR 5938 Veterans Veterans Act, which seeks to address the shortage of personnel at the national level of the Veterans Department (VA).

On June 13, González Colón, defended his project in the legislative hearing of the Health Subcommittee where the recommendations of veterans and VA organizations were collected. On June 27, the project with the amendments was presented and approved by the Subcommittee on Health, on July 12 it was approved in the Committee meeting in its entirety, and yesterday the plenary of the House approved it, now moving to the Senate.

During the Session, the resident commissioner defended her proposal in the Chamber of the Federal Chamber and appealed to her colleagues to approve this measure that presents a way to alleviate the lack of VA personnel and allows veterans to assist in their transition from the forces armed and the process of job search as a civilian.

Before González Colón gave his message in the Hemicycle, the president of the Commission of Veterans of the Federal House of Representatives, Phil Roe, had words of praise for the commissioner. She said that she was able to talk with her moments before Hurricane Maria entered Puerto Rico and that they organized a visit to the island where they saw the Veterans Hospital and spoke with the people. She stressed that she witnesses "the passion she shows for the people she represents and the passion she demonstrates for the veterans is unmatched."

Next, the message given in the Hemicycle by González Colón:

"Mr. President, I raise my voice to speak in favor of my bill, HR 5938, the Veterans Serving Veterans Act of 2018.

Mr. President, this bill seeks to alleviate the chronic shortage of personnel that currently affects the Department of Veterans Affairs and hinders the ability to serve our veterans in an effective and timely manner. This problem always arises when we meet with veterans residing in Puerto Rico, and my colleagues here in the Chamber often discuss it.

This bill, essentially seeks an option for this problem by doing two things.

First, it seeks to amend Section 208 of the VA Equality and Employment Choice Act of 2017 to include the military occupational specialties (MOS) of members who will soon be separated from the service in the VA recruitment database, as well as your contact information and the date that culminates your service.

The inclusion in the database is completely optional. Also, if they are included in the database, they could potentially be combined for vacancies in the VA that correspond to the skills they acquired with the Department of Defense. This provides members with a way to advertise for a position in the VA, while embarking on the job search and provides the opportunity to serve the veterans community in underserved areas.

This bill also requires the VA to implement a program to train and certify the Department of Defense health technicians as Health Care Technicians (ICTs) and to meet the high demand of health care providers. medical at Veterans Health Administration (VHA).

Currently, these highly trained technicians, trained by the Department of Defense at a significant cost to taxpayers, have difficulty obtaining employment in their field after separating from the Armed Forces due to lack of certification. At the same time, the Veterans Health Administration has a significant shortage of providers. The ICT program has high satisfaction rates and helps fill this gap.

The implementation of a program to train and certify eligible veterans to work as ICT will help to formalize the process, provide ongoing support and expansion to the program and provide a set of eligible ICTs to continue to grow and meet the health care needs of veterans.

Mr. President, members of our Armed Forces are a remarkable asset at the time of their transition from the Department of Defense. We must do everything possible to facilitate this transition and allow our men and women in uniform the opportunity to serve our veterans.

I would like to end by thanking President Roe and Minority Speaker Walz for all the work they do on behalf of our veterans and for their leadership and help in advancing this project in a bipartisan manner. I urge my colleagues to vote in favor. "

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