Fisher House Availability Act of 2026
Floor Speech
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Mrs. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 3726, the Fisher House Availability Act.
I would first like to thank my colleague, Congresswoman Miller-Meeks, for her leadership on this effort. I am very proud to co-lead this bill with her. I thank the chair and ranking member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee for making this happen.
This bill will ensure that servicemembers and their families are eligible to stay at VA lodging, the Fisher Houses, as we are discussing, when space allows, regardless of where care is provided. It doesn't matter if they are receiving care at a VA facility, a military hospital, or a civilian provider.
Fisher Houses are home away from home near VA and military hospitals. No veteran or servicemember who has served their country should have to face medical care or a hospital stay without the support of their loved ones by their side.
Fisher Houses has allowed these families to be where they are needed most, without worrying about whether they can afford a place to stay. This allows veterans and servicemembers to focus on what is important: the healing process.
I was with family at a military hospital, sitting in the intensive care waiting room, with a young mother whose husband was in intensive care in a coma, and she had a 3-year-old and a 5-year-old. She had no money for a motel or a hotel. She didn't know how she was feeding her children, and they were sleeping on couches in the intensive care.
I was not a Member of Congress then, but I called my friend, Alma Powell, and said that this is unacceptable. No family should not have support.
She introduced me to the Fisher family. At that point, there were just a couple of Fisher Houses. There are now more than 100.
We have two Fisher Houses in Michigan--yes--at the John D. Dingell Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Detroit and the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, and I visit them often. I know the work that they do and the comfort that they are able to provide to our military and veteran families during some of the most difficult times.
We must do the right thing for the families of our servicemembers and veterans, and we must always fight to stand up and support our veterans and those who fought to defend our freedoms. This should never be partisan. It is always important to give bipartisan support to our veterans and to our active military.
That is why this matters so much to me, and that is why I strongly support passage of H.R. 3726.
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