Issue Position: Veterans

Issue Position

Our commitment to the men and women who serve in our armed forces must not end when they return home from the battlefield. With thousands of new Veterans returning from service in Iraq and Afghanistan, many coming home to Michigan's 7th District, I am dedicated to providing our heroes with:

Unrivaled Care
Congress has an obligation to care for America's wounded heroes when they return home from the battlefield. It is the least we can do to provide the highest quality medical care to the brave men and women of our armed forces when they are injured defending the freedoms we enjoy. I am fighting in Congress to improve Veterans care and make sure our heroes receive medical care that is thorough, meets world-class standards and is patient-centered. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs operates the largest integrated healthcare system in the United States, and I believe we must maximize and improve this great resource.

In order to find solutions to the disability claims backlog at the Department of Veteran Affairs, in October 2013, I voted in support of H.R. 2189. This bill creates a task force to examine and make recommendations on ways to fix the disability claim backlog.

On August 7th, 2014, the President signed a House and Senate Conference report to address problems at the VA and ensure our veterans receive timely care. H.R. 3230, the Veterans Access to Care through Choice, Accountability and Transparency Act, provides the VA Secretary with the power to bypass procedural hurdles and fire senior officials of the agency for poor performance. Moreover, the legislation grants expanded access to private sector health providers for veterans who have been waiting long periods of time for care. Finally, the bill provides additional funds to hire more physicians and healthcare workers to treat our veterans.

Dedicated Resources
In November 2013 the House passed S.893 the Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) Act of 2013, to provide an increase to the Department of Veterans Affairs disability compensation equal to this year's Social Security COLA.

Additionally, in October 2013, the House passed H.R.2481, which creates the Veterans Economic Opportunity Administration to manage programs that provide economic assistance to veterans, their dependents and survivors.

In recognition of past, present and future Congressional Medal of Honor winners, I introduced, H.R. 4720, the Medal of Honor Priority Care. This bill will elevate the Priority Group for Medal of Honor recipients at the Veteran's Health Administration from Group 3 to Group 1. The 78 living Medal of Honor recipients have gone above and beyond the call of duty and distinguished themselves for gallantry and valor. They have received the highest award within the Armed Services and it is fitting that these brave soldiers be allotted first Priority Status to when enrolling for their VA health care benefits.

In December 2013, I joined House Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller in cosponsoring H.R. 3789 and H.R. 3790 to eliminate future scheduled cuts to military retirement payments brought on by the Bipartisan Budget Act.

In order to assist members of the armed forces in their transition into civilian life, in November 2013, I introduced H.R.3493, the Servicemembers Transition Improvement Act. This legislation will strengthen the connection between new veterans and state and county veterans service organizations by requiring the Department of Defense to provide the contact information for separating service members to state veteran's affairs departments. This legislation passed as an amendment to the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which provides the funding, authorities and pay for the Armed Forces.

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