Mst Claims Coordination Act

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 7335, the MST Claims Coordination Act. This bill requires VBA to provide claimants with outreach materials on VHA services for military sexual trauma survivors during the benefits claim process.

Additionally, this legislation will allow the veterans to opt into a requirement that the VBA notify VHA when the veteran receives a disability exam or board hearing for a claim related to MST. This will allow the VHA to be better informed about the events in the claims process that may cause distress to the MST survivor in order to improve their care.

Veteran claimants have reported that they are unaware of the services VHA provides to assist veterans who experienced MST, regardless of their service-connected disability status.

It is critical that VA improves coordination between VHA and VBA to better support survivors of MST.

I appreciate Congresswoman Luria, the Chairwoman of the Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs Subcommittee, for introducing this bill, and I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

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Mr. BOST. Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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