Gillibrand Votes to Pass Wounded Warriors Act

Press Release

Gillibrand Votes to Pass Wounded Warriors Act

Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, voted yesterday to pass the bipartisan Wounded Warrior Assistance Act of 2007 (H.R. 1538). This long overdue bill improves medical care for returning servicemen and institutes administrative accountability in the facilities that serve them.

"These young men and women have risked their lives for our nation and it is our duty to give them the medical attention they deserve", said Congresswoman Gillibrand. "Part of supporting our troops is making sure that these brave Americans know that, when they come home, they will not be abandoned and will receive complete, comprehensive and responsible care."

In supporting this policy initiative, Gillibrand voted for individualized medical assistance, maximum loads for case workers, a seamless record exchange to VA services, and standard training programs for medical providers to ensure that our men and women in uniform are fully supported and rehabilitated. Additionally, this bill will maintain high service standards by establishing a toll-free hotline for reporting deficiencies in facilities, a 96 hour maximum response time to substantiated complaints, and will create an independent oversight board to address future challenges.

As a Member of the Armed Services Committee Congresswoman Gillibrand has been focused on being attentive to veterans' needs. In addition to forming a local Veterans Advisory Group for the Twentieth District she represents, she has also toured both the Walter Reed and Stratton medical facilities for personal inspections.

Major portions of the Bill Include:

Requiring the Pentagon to provide every wounded service member with a medical care case manager to review weekly a soldier's medical care and a service member advocate to oversee quality of life issues. The legislation also would provide soldiers with cases before medical evaluation boards with independent health care professionals to counsel them during the process.

Requiring the Defense Department to establish a pilot program to transmit records more efficiently from the department to the VA for disabled service members being separated or retired from the armed forces.

Requiring the Defense and VA departments to conduct a joint study on the disability evaluation systems operated by both departments for the purpose of improving the consistency of the two systems and evaluating the feasibility of, and potential for, consolidating the two systems.

Requiring the secretaries of Defense and Veterans Affairs to evaluate the systems they use to rate wounded soldiers' disabilities.

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