OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Va Assessment By Independent Measures Act

Floor Speech

Date: Nov. 16, 2021
Location: Washington, DC

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Mr. BERGMAN. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to rise today in support of my bill, H.R. 4626, as amended, the Department of Veterans Affairs Assessment by Independent Measures Act, or AIM Act.

When it comes to bureaucracies, I have never believed that maintaining the status quo is an acceptable path forward. In fact, it is an impossible path forward.

The world is constantly in a state of change. The way American men and women defend freedom around the world, and the way those same men and women seek care when they come home, is constantly changing as well. The VA healthcare system must change, too, or it will never fulfill its obligations to all of our veterans.

That is where the AIM Act comes in. The AIM Act would require an independent assessment of the operations and management of the VA healthcare system once every decade, beginning in 2025.

The independent assessment framework in the AIM Act is modeled after the independent assessment that was required in the Choice Act, which was signed into law in 2014 following the nationwide VA access and accountability crisis that saw some veterans literally dying on VA facilities' waiting lists.

That independent assessment was completed in 2015, and the findings and recommendations it contained directly underpinned many of the necessary improvements that have occurred in the VA healthcare system since then.

The AIM Act would ensure that this successful model is not a one-and- done but instead regularly recurs to ensure that the VA keeps improving for veterans long into the future.

I am grateful for the support the AIM Act has received from veterans service organizations, particularly the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Wounded Warrior Project, and the Minority Veterans of America.

I am also grateful for the bipartisan support the AIM Act received in the Veterans' Affairs Committee. I thank all of my colleagues for that. I hope that there will be a similar show of bipartisan support for the bill today. My fellow veterans have earned it.

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