Senator Johnny Isakson (above) is the Chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. His office issued the following today:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2016
Contact: Amanda Maddox, 202-224-7777
Isakson, Blumenthal Hail Senate Passage of Bipartisan Veterans Reform Package
Legislation to improve veterans’ access to health care, benefits now heads to president’s desk
WASHINGTON
– U.S. Senators Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.,
chairman and ranking member of the Senate
Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, today applauded unanimous Senate
passage of legislation to improve veterans’ access to health care,
disability benefits, education and homelessness assistance, among other
important benefits for our nation’s veterans.
“I am proud that the Senate has acted on this legislation to help our veterans,”
said Isakson.
“Regardless of political party, we are showing our veterans that we are
on the same team when it comes to getting things right for them. With
today’s vote, we are demonstrating
our commitment to ensuring that our veterans receive what was promised
to them and their families. This legislation will improve veterans’
access to health care and benefits and is an important down payment on
the debt that we owe to the veterans of the United
States of America.”
“This bipartisan, comprehensive legislation continues our progress toward leaving no veteran behind,”
Blumenthal said.
“With 76 separate
provisions, it is broad in scope and scale. Hiring more mental health
counselors and emergency room doctors will mean more veterans receive
quality healthcare. Expanding eligibility for homelessness prevention
programs will provide critical
support to veterans at risk of homelessness. Extending critical
education benefits to surviving family members will further our promise
of education. Beginning work to help descendants of veterans exposed to
toxic substances will help heal the residual wounds
of war. But on these issues and so many more, we are only taking
another step in what must be a journey toward ensuring our veterans
receive the benefits they need and deserve.”
The Jeff Miller and Richard Blumenthal Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act of 2016 (H.R.6416)
includes 76 bipartisan provisions that address a variety of areas in
veterans’ services that are in need of reforms or improvements. It
incorporates language from a number of previously introduced House and
Senate bills, including several provisions from
the Veterans First Act, which unanimously passed the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs in May 2016.
The
measure is named after retiring chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs
Committee, Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., as well as outgoing Senate VA
committee ranking member Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.,
in tribute to their years-long commitment to serving veterans in
Congress.
Earlier this week, Isakson
delivered remarks on the Senate floor imploring
“members of the United States Senate to help us pass this down
payment on the promise and the debt that we owe to the veterans of the
United States of America.”
Following today’s early morning Senate vote and a strong vote of 419-0 by the U.S. House on Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2016, the
Jeff Miller and Richard Blumenthal Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act of 2016 now heads to the president’s desk for his signature.
Specifically, H.R.6416 will:
·
Streamline
portions of the process for veterans, their families and their
survivors to obtain disability compensation and benefits through the
U.S. Department
of Veterans Affairs (VA);
·
Expand
the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims from seven to nine judges
to help address the large backlog of veterans’ appeals that may soon
arrive
at the court;
·
Make
changes to the VA’s burial benefits and interment policies, including
expanding eligibility for presidential memorial certificates to certain
individuals
who served in reserve units of the Armed Forces, among others;
·
Provide
a much-needed extension of education benefits for surviving spouses who
lost a loved one on September 11, 2001, or during the early years of
the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq;
·
Improve
how the VA administers and approves education benefits for veterans and
allow mobilized reservists to keep their GI Bill eligibility when a
deployment
interrupts their schooling;
·
Modify
ownership requirements for small businesses participating in the VA
contract assistance programs and require the Department of Labor to
conduct
a five-year study of job counseling, training, and placement service
for veterans;
·
Make improvements to the VA’s health care services and benefits to include:
o
Ensuring preventative health services for veterans include access to adult immunizations for veterans who wish to receive them;
o
Prioritizing access to care for medal of honor recipients;
o
Ensuring veterans who served in classified missions can access mental health care without disclosing classified information;
o
Requiring
the VA to submit an annual report to Congress regarding the provision
of hospital care, medical services and nursing home care by the Veterans
Health Administration;
o
Expanding the qualification criteria to make it easier to hire qualified mental health care professionals;
o
Enhancing research on the potential health effects from toxic exposures to veterans and their descendants.
·
Increase access to benefits for homeless veterans.
###
The Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs is chaired by U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., in the 114th Congress.
Isakson
is a veteran himself – having served in the Georgia Air National Guard
from 1966-1972 – and has been a member of the Senate VA Committee since
he joined the Senate in 2005. Isakson’s home
state of Georgia is home to more than a dozen military installations
representing each branch of the military as well as more than 750,000
veterans.