Stuck on Hold Act

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise to express my support for H.R. 6656, the Stuck On Hold Act, as amended.

This bill mandates that the Department of Veterans Affairs implement automated callback systems for their customer phone lines and aim to limit wait time for veterans on hold to no more than 10 minutes.

Since we skipped regular order on this bill, we were not able to mark it up in committee and make the needed improvements to the bill. I was not informed why we are rushing this bill to the floor without a markup, but I appreciate that the chairman's staff worked with mine to amend the bill to include important changes to improve the bill to ensure that veterans who should be prioritized for assistance are not negatively impacted by excessive wait times.

Considering the Senate is unlikely to take this bill up as written due to concerns with implementation, I also hope we can continue to work with our Senate colleagues to determine the correct amount of time we should target for veterans on hold.

Obviously, no one likes being on hold, but ideally every veteran should have the option to receive a callback instead of needlessly remaining on hold and waiting for assistance.

During our limited committee consideration, our committee heard from VA about concerns for implementation, and I believe limiting hold time is not simply picking a number but also requires us to understand what resources are necessary to limit hold times.

The rush to get this bill to the floor did not allow for a more detailed conversation about resources and impacts, so I hope a truncated committee process will not prevent us from engaging with the Senate to ensure we enact the best possible bill.

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Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I support H.R. 6656, as amended, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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