Veteran Improvement Commercial Driver License Act of 2023

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak on S. 656, the Veteran Improvement Commercial Driver License Act of 2023. This bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs to create an expedited approval process for commercial driver education programs when the program is an extension of an existing educational institution.

New programs must meet the same curriculum as previously approved by VA to ensure veterans are not negatively impacted.

While I am considering supporting this bill today, I do wish to point out that our committee has been working on this bill for months, and we had reached a House and Senate bipartisan agreement on approved language for S. 656 that would empower State approving agencies to conduct proper oversight and limit automatic approval of these programs if they are opening in States without existing CDL programs.

However, despite these negotiations, for some unknown reason, this text is the same which passed in the Senate, ignoring the hard work our staff put in to reach a final agreement.

This is unfortunate, and I hope this won't be our last work on this language. It is critically important that we include important oversight provisions in bills such as these to ensure that veterans get the best possible training and that schools who access veterans' hard- earned GI Bill benefits are held accountable for the quality of their programs.

Mr. Chairman, I understand both our staffs have spent quite a bit of time working on bipartisan language to S. 656. Can I get your commitment that we will continue these discussions and pass an updated bill as soon as possible? I yield to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Bost).

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Mr. TAKANO. I appreciate that. We can get to work on an updated bill as soon as possible.

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Mr. TAKANO. I appreciate that pledge.

My second question to you, Mr. Chairman. Can I count on your support for that amended bill, whenever it may be, this Congress or next?

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Mr. TAKANO. I ask if I can count on your support for that amended bill?

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Mr. TAKANO. Whenever it may be, this Congress or next?

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Mr. TAKANO. Thank you. I appreciate that. I thank the chairman, and I will reclaim my time.

Mr. Speaker, while this bill will head to the President's desk, I hope our committee can continue to work on this issue in the meantime.

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Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I yield myself the balance of my time to close.

Mr. Speaker, I support S. 656, the Veteran Improvement Commercial Driver License Act of 2023, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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