Department of Veterans Affairs Expiring Authorities Act of 2018

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of S. 3479, the Department of Veterans Affairs Expiring Authorities Act of 2018.

S. 3479 makes sure that some of the vital programs we have in place to take care of our veterans continue past the end of the fiscal year and continue to help our veterans. Included in this bill are provisions related to healthcare, benefits, homeless veterans, and other related issues.

I am pleased to support extending programs related to support services for caregivers, childcare for certain veterans receiving healthcare, and a pilot program on counseling in retreat settings for women veterans newly separated from service.

It also has provisions to extend the authority related to rehabilitation and vocational benefits to members of the Armed Forces with severe injuries or illnesses, homeless veterans reintegration programs, homeless women veterans and homeless veterans with children, and providing housing assistance and counseling to homeless and at-risk veterans.

Also included are several extensions of authority for programs to help our disabled veterans, as well as the authority to enter into agreements with the National Academy of Sciences to review the research on links between diseases and dioxin exposure, a critical step in creating new Agent Orange presumptions. These provisions are crucial in helping our aging Vietnam-era veteran population.

The package also contains several technical corrections to the MISSION Act that we passed earlier this year.

These corrections will help VA implement the law correctly, and all sides agree that they must become law quickly.

In short, this is a bill that both the majority and the minority support, and we all agree that it must be signed into law as soon as possible. I urge all my fellow Members to support its passage. I thank the chairman and his staff for working with the minority on this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, likewise, I thank the gentleman from Texas for his friendship and for the work that we have done together in a bipartisan fashion on the Veterans' Affairs Committee. I am also proud of the bipartisan work that we have accomplished together on behalf of our veterans. I say God bless our veterans as well.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in passing S. 3479, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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