Veterans' Access to Child Care Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. BROWNLEY of California. Madam Chair, I thank the chairman for yielding time and for bringing my bill, the Veterans' Access to Child Care Act, to the floor for consideration; and I thank Ranking Member Roe for his support of the bill.

As a member of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, I believe that it is critical that veterans have the support they need to ensure they are able to access needed healthcare services at the VA.

For many veterans, the lack of access to childcare is a barrier to receiving healthcare, especially mental healthcare and intensive care services. Research has shown that women veterans more commonly face this barrier, as they are more often responsible for caring for young children. That said, we know that the problem is not unique to women veterans, as male veterans have also reported lack of available childcare as a barrier to making their healthcare appointments as well.

In 2010, Congress passed legislation directing the VA to start a pilot program to provide free childcare at a small number of VA medical centers and clinics throughout the country. Since then, this pilot program has been successfully implemented and hugely popular at several locations across the country.

In 2015, the VA reported that the pilot program had provided childcare assistance to more than 10,000 children, and since then, many more veterans have benefited.

The pilot program has been popular among the veteran community, and there has been strong support for its continuation from veterans service organizations. That is because we all believe that veterans should not be forced to choose between getting necessary healthcare and caring for a child.

My bill, which we are debating today, would make the VA childcare pilot program permanent and expand the program to VA facilities all across the Nation.

Like the original pilot program, my bill is narrowly tailored for veterans who are full-time caretakers of children and who need intensive medical care or mental health treatments and for those veterans who might otherwise miss their appointments because of lack of available short-term childcare during their appointments.

For instance, a veteran who is undergoing cancer treatment cannot afford to miss these critical and intense medical appointments, and they need a safe place to leave their young child while they receive chemotherapy or radiation therapy.

Likewise, veterans who have regular mental health appointments would need a place to leave their young children, because it would be inappropriate for young children to be present for tough conversations with a therapist about military sexual trauma or other battlefield trauma.

Like the pilot program, my bill also gives VA flexible authority to determine how to provide childcare assistance during veterans' medical appointments. Options include:

Providing the benefit through stipend payments directly to veterans to pay for their childcare expenses;

Direct provision of childcare at VA facilities;

Direct payment to childcare providers;

Collaboration with other Federal departments and agencies; or

Other appropriate forms of assistance that the Secretary determines are appropriate.

Passage of this legislation will benefit veterans of all areas who are primary caretakers. In fact, many of the caretakers who have used the pilot program have been women and older veterans, including grandparents who take care of a child during the day and would otherwise be unable to make their appointments.

This bill will guarantee these veterans receive the healthcare they need, while ensuring a safe, reliable, and cost-free option for childcare during those appointments.

For our colleagues who are new to this body, I would note that similar legislation passed the House in the 115th Congress by voice vote. I urge my colleagues to again support this legislation.

I especially want to thank my colleague Mr. Higgins from New York, who has been a tireless advocate for expanding and making permanent the childcare pilot program. His partnership has been invaluable in moving our bill forward.

I also want to thank Senator Patty Murray from Washington, who has introduced similar legislation in the Senate.

Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee. Madam Chair, I have no further speakers.

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