Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to introduce the Military and Veteran Caregiver Services Improvement Act. This is a bill that will make critical improvements to how we support our ill and injured veterans and their caregivers.

I am especially pleased to be joined this morning by our former colleague Senator Elizabeth Dole, who has come to the floor today and who has been such a tremendous and invaluable person in working to bring these caregiver issues to national attention. I really appreciate her being here and being such a champion on this, and a leader. She has brought people from all over the country together to make a difference for our caregivers and for our veterans.

We also have many of the very caregivers this bill is designed to help--representing, by the way, almost every State--in the gallery today to see this legislation introduced. I am very proud they are here. It is incredibly important that they are here today and on Capitol Hill because, as the Presiding Officer knows, our caregivers work extremely hard without any recognition, and they rarely ask for anything for themselves. In fact, most of the caregivers I have met sound much like the veterans and servicemembers they care for when they say: Oh, this isn't about me; I am just doing my part.

So last week, when RAND released their comprehensive, groundbreaking study on military caregivers, they chose a very appropriate title: ``Hidden Heroes.'' That is why it is so important to have all of those caregivers here today and working constantly to make sure we all understand what they do.

I am very proud to be introducing this bill not only as a Senator and a senior member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee and someone who has fought so hard for the implementation of the VA caregivers program, but, as many of my colleagues know, for me, this is really a deeply personal issue.

Growing up, I saw firsthand the many ways military service can affect both veterans and their families. My father served in World War II. He was among the first soldiers to land in Okinawa. He came home as a disabled veteran and was awarded the Purple Heart.

Later in life he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Eventually he became too sick to work at the little five-and-dime store he managed, and my mom became his caregiver. This was no small burden for my mom, who had to raise seven children, care for my dad, and was now all of a sudden the primary source of income for our family.

Today, after more than a decade of two wars, men and women in uniform, as did my father, have done everything that has been asked of them and so much more. But now, as our role in this conflict winds down, the support we provide cannot end when the war no longer leads the nightly news broadcasts and disappears from the front pages of our newspapers. It is an enduring commitment for those who will first need help now or those who will need help later in their lives. It is a lifetime of care for so many.

In so many cases, the responsibility for providing that care often falls on the loved ones of severely injured veterans. Their courage and their devotion in taking on these responsibilities is inspiring for all of us. They are the reason we created the VA caregivers program, which now provides these family members with health care and counseling and training and respite and a living stipend.

I was proud to lead congressional efforts to push the VA to stop delaying the implementation of the caregivers program and restore the eligibility criteria to the intent of the law. Thankfully, as we know, in the end the White House and the VA announced they would allow more caregivers of more veterans to be eligible for benefits and finally got the program implemented. But there is a lot more we can do because, as the RAND study clearly shows us, caregivers are still struggling. Military caregivers have significantly worse health than noncaregivers, and they are at higher risk for depression. The stress they live under jeopardizes their relationships and puts them at greater risk of divorce, and they have trouble with employment and keeping health insurance. There is no way we will sit by and let caregivers and veterans face this on their own--not when we can make it a little bit easier.

The bill we are introducing this morning, the Military and Veterans Caregivers and Services Improvement Act, makes some broad changes to help give caregivers and veterans the tools they need to help tackle what they face. I wish to take a moment on the floor today to highlight just a few of the important provisions contained in this bill.

First and foremost, this bill will make veterans of all eras eligible for the full range of caregiver support services. We took an important first step in creating the post-9/11 veterans caregivers program. Now that the VA has had some time to get this program working, it is time for us to get services to our older veterans who are also in great need.

The bill also expands eligibility for the VA caregivers program by recognizing a wider array of needs which may require caregiving, placing greater emphasis on mental health injuries and removing restrictions on who is eligible to become a caregiver.

Under the bill, caregiver services will also be expanded to include childcare, financial advice, and legal counseling. Those are some of the top and currently unmet needs of family caregivers.

The bill will also require the Federal Government to meet the unique needs of employees who are caregivers with flexible work arrangements so they can stay employed while caring for their veteran. I, of course, want to see all employers make these kinds of accommodations for caregivers, but I want the Federal Government to lead by example.

When it comes to the Department of Defense, the bill makes several improvements to the special compensation for assistance with activities of daily living--first, by making those benefits tax exempt, and second, eligibility for special compensation would also be set at a more appropriate level of disability and would be more inclusive of mental health injuries and TBI.

The Military and Veteran Caregiver Services Improvement Act also addresses a key theme identified by RAND. There are many services inside the government and outside to assist caregivers, but these programs are not coordinated. Eligibility criteria are different for each one of them, and there is not enough oversight to ensure the quality of those services. So what our bill does is create a national interagency working group on caregiver services. It will coordinate caregiver policy among all the different departments and create standards of care and oversight tools to make sure our veterans and their caregivers receive high-quality services.

The last provision I wish to highlight is intended to help a military spouse who may be required to become the primary source of income for the family after the servicemember has been injured, just as my mom was. In order to help that spouse get the job they need to support the family, this bill will allow the injured servicemember or veteran to transfer their post-9/11 GI bill benefits to their dependents by exempting them from the length of service requirements that would currently prevent them from transferring those benefits. Injured veterans should not be penalized because their injury occurred early in their service.

This provision is extremely important because for 2013 the unemployment rate for people with bachelor's degrees was only 4 percent--about one-third lower than the national average--and their median weekly earnings were 34 percent higher than the national average. Meanwhile, the RAND study found that 62 percent of post-9/11 caregivers reported financial strain because of their caregiving.

I know this is important because I saw it in my family. For my family, the additional education my mom obtained got her a better job so she could support her family while she was caring for my dad.

It is what made the difference.

I want to again thank some key people who have been true leaders to get this to this point.

I again want to thank Senator Dole and her great staff at the Elizabeth Dole Foundation for keeping our country focused on the needs of our military and veteran caregivers and for bringing such national momentum to make the changes we need.

I also want to thank the Wounded Warrior Project, which was a driving force in creating the very first VA caregivers program. They have provided invaluable advice in developing the bill I am introducing today.

Finally, I really want to thank the outstanding folks at the RAND Corporation. They have put together a truly groundbreaking study that takes stock of where care and benefits have fallen short, where new needs are emerging, and how we can make it easier for veterans to get the care and benefits they deserve.

There are many ways for the whole country--government, nonprofits, businesses, community leaders, faith leaders--to do more to help. For all of us in Congress, that starts with passing this legislation to help our hidden heroes--our military and veteran caregivers.

I again want to thank all of our tremendous caregivers in this country for their service, for not asking for help, as they should. We are the ones who need to ask for help for them and to be there to provide it.

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