Va Infrastructure Powers Exceptional Research Act of 2021

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 5721, as amended, the VA Infrastructure Powers Exceptional Research Act of 2021, or the VIPER Act.

Ranking Member Bost is an original cosponsor of this bill alongside Chairman Takano.

Research is one of the core statutory missions of the VA healthcare system. VA researchers have made a number of important discoveries and advancements that have benefited not only veterans but the entire world.

Just recently, with the pandemic, VA researchers have done groundbreaking work utilizing vast stores of data to identify certain collateral health impacts on vulnerable populations, and they have made notable advancements in studying the characteristics of and potential treatments for what is termed long COVID.

This bill will make it easier for VA to conduct the research that veterans require, and yield advancements in science and medicine that will benefit everyone.

The VIPER Act would codify VA's Office of Research and Development.

VIPER would also better structure VA's ability to conduct research across the system.

Finally, this bill will expand hiring authorities for certain classes of research occupations, including statisticians, economists, informaticists, and data scientists.

VA needs the talent of these occupational categories to keep up with rapid changes in data analytics, including artificial intelligence.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud of the bipartisan committee work that has been done to date on this bill, and I encourage all of my colleagues to support it. I yield back the balance of my time.

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