House Passes Veteran’s Package Containing Key Provisions Authored by Rep. Pappas
The provisions included work to improve the quality of care at the VA and address inefficiencies that have hindered veterans' care
Washington, D.C.- Today, Congressman Chris Pappas (NH-01) took to the House floor to encourage his colleagues to support the Dependable Employment and Living Improvements for Veterans' Economic Recovery (DELIVER) Act, which contains three bills authored by Pappas that work to improve the quality of care in the Veterans Administration (VA) and address VA inefficiencies.
"As the Chair of the Oversight and Investigations for Subcommittee for the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, I have spent the last two years listening to veterans, working with the VA, and thinking critically about how we can better deliver on the promises we made to our veterans," said Congressman Pappas.
"It is unacceptable that the health network responsible for providing care to more than 9 million of our nation's veterans has remained on the ‘high risk list' of federal agencies prone to waste and mismanagement, or that their own processing delays can generate debt and financial hardships for our veterans," Pappas continued. "Much work remains to be done, that's why I am proud that the House is passing this bipartisan legislation to support our veterans. It contains three bills I have authored that work to reduce these inefficiencies and improve the quality of care and benefits our veterans receive, and I hope the package is signed into law by the President."
Congressman Pappas's first two pieces of legislation that were included aim to increase the quality of care veterans receive from the VA. This includes his bipartisan, Reducing High Risk to Veterans Services Act, which will improve management and better the quality of care within the Veterans Health Administration in order to remove it from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) "High Risk List" of federal government programs that are most susceptible to fraud, waste, or mismanagement. It will require greater accountability and transparency by requiring the VA to establish a plan to get off the high-risk list and provide semi-annual updates to Congress on their progress.
The second piece of bipartisan health care legislation seeks to ensure female veterans have access to prosthetic items that were made specifically for women at VA facilities.
His third bill, the SHIELD Act, sets limits on when VA may initiate collection proceedings against veterans, and also gives veterans the ability to update their dependents online, rather than waiting for VA to process documents by mail, which can often lead to improper debt generation.
The DELIVER Act will also expand services for homeless veterans, improve and expand eligibility for the HUD-VA Supportive Housing program, and support retraining programs for unemployed veterans.
You can read the Congressman's remarks as prepared for delivery on this legislation below:
M_. Speaker,
I rise today to ask my colleagues for their full support on H.R. 7105, which includes three pieces of legislation I introduced to ensure the VA is able to fulfill their mission of supporting all of those who have "borne the battle".
These bills improve the quality of care at the VA, while simultaneously addressing the department's inefficiencies that have hindered our veterans' care for far too long.
I urge my colleagues to support two pieces of legislation that will improve care and reduce waste, fraud, and abuse in order to remove it from the Government Accountability Office's "High Risk List", and ensure female veterans have access to properly-fitted prosthetic items, just as their male counterparts do.
My final bill, the SHIELD Act, sets limits on when VA may initiate collection proceedings against veterans, and also gives veterans the ability to update their dependents online, rather than waiting for VA to process documents by mail, which can often lead to improper debt generation.
It is simply unacceptable that VA's inefficiencies are hurting the men and women they are supposed to serve, or preventing them from accessing the care they have earned.
I urge my colleagues to stand with our veterans and support the overlying bill, which includes these critical measures, and I yield back the remainder of my time.