It is imperative we support our veterans and ensure they receive the care they have rightfully earned. While the House and Senate continue to work out differences on legislation to help our nation’s veterans, I want to highlight some bipartisan bills that have cleared the House to support our veterans. The Veteran Access to Care Act (H.R. 4810) would require the VA to offer enrolled veterans who cannot get an appointment within the VA wait time goals or who live more than 40 miles from a VA facility the opportunity to receive care at a non-VA facility. The legislation also requires an independent review of the Veterans Health Administration which would include recommendations for improvement of the VA’s current and future health care services. The independent review will be submitted to the respective House and Senate Veterans Affairs committees and would detail how the VA would implement the recommendations. The legislation also bans bonuses for all VA employees from Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 through FY 2016; this bill passed the House with my support on June 10, 2014, by a vote of 426-0. The Department of Veterans Affairs Management Accountability Act (H.R. 4031) would authorize the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to remove any individual from the federal government’s Senior Executive Service if it is determined that his or her performance is substandard. Additionally, this bill requires the secretary to notify the respective House and Senate Veterans Affairs committees within 30 days after removing an individual. I voted in favor of it when it passed the House of Representatives on May 21, 2014, by a vote of 390-33. The Demanding Accountability for Veterans Act (H.R. 2072) increases the accountability of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to the department’s inspector general (IG). The legislation directs the IG to inform Congressional Veterans’ Affairs committees if the secretary has not made significant progress to address IG recommendations to fix issues at the Department of Veterans Affairs. The legislation requires the secretary to submit to the IG the names and responsibilities of each manager and to inform and direct the managers to fix the issues identified by IG. The legislation also states bonuses and awards may not be given to managers who have not fixed the issues included in the IG report. This legislation passed the House unanimously on June 9, 2014.
Posted on: Wed, 23 Jul 2014 13:24:40 +0000
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