Congressman Garamendi Stands with Veterans in Support of Big VA Overhaul

Press Release

Today, Congressman John Garamendi (D-Fairfield, CA), a Member of the House Armed Services Committee, voted to pass the conference report for H.R. 3230, the Veterans' Access to Care Through , Choice, Accountability, and Transparency Act of 2014, a bipartisan agreement to improve accountability at the Department of Veterans Affairs and expand access to care for veterans. It passed by a recorded vote of 420 to 5. The Senate is expected to pass the bill later this week, which will send it to the President's desk where it will be signed into law.

"This legislation is long overdue. The VA's excessive wait times and reports of fraudulent appointment practices for medical care are a national disgrace, and this bill is Congress' most substantive action yet to immediately solve this problem. There is no excuse in forcing veterans to wait months for needed treatments," Congressman Garamendi said. "We're addressing the problem in the short term by expanding options for veterans seeking private care if necessary and in the long term by hiring more health care providers. In addition to the hiring of additional medical staff at our existing facilities, it's also important for Northern California that two new facilities will be built in Chico and Redding, helping reduce the burden on strained VA facilities throughout the region."

On July 25th, Congressman Garamendi joined 116 Members of Congress in sending a letter to Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Reid urging them to get a deal done for veterans before the August Recess period.

Congressman Garamendi has consistently voted for efforts to reduce the VA claims backlog and increase care capacity for veterans, claims backlog and increase care capacity for veterans, expressed outrage when the original Senate version of this VA reform legislation was filibustered by a minority of Senators. Garamendi's office has helped secure more than $3.5 million in owed VA claims this year alone for constituents.

The bill provides $10 billion to fund newly established program to immediately address the VA wait-time crisis by allowing veterans who have waited at least 30 days for an appointment with the VA or who live more than 40 miles from a VA facility to seek care from a non-VA source (such as a private physician, community health center, Department of Defense health care facility or Indian Health Center).

The bill allocates $5 billion to the VA to address systemic problems within the VA health care system by hiring more primary and specialty care physicians and other medical staff and includes incentives to attract more doctors, nurses and other medical personnel to the VA.

A number of Veterans' Service Organizations (VSOs) have voiced support for this conference agreement including the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), Paralyzed Veterans of America, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), and Disabled American Veterans (DAV).

Key Provisions of the Veterans' Access to Care through, Choice, Accountability, and Transparency Act of 2014

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