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DEMOCRATIC PRESS RELEASE

March 29, 2007

Wounded Warrior Assistance Act Passes House

Bill Ensures Troops Experience the Seamless Transition They Deserve

Washington, D.C. – On Wednesday, the House passed H.R. 1538, the Wounded Warriors Assistance Act of 2007. This legislation is a cooperative effort between the House Armed Services Committee and the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee to address the problems facing wounded service members and to improve their transition from the military to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

“Our test as a Congress and as a nation is how we are going to respond to the problems we have learned about in military and veterans’ health care,” said Chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, Bob Filner (D-CA). “The Wounded Warriors Assistance Act is a great first step towards providing a ‘seamless transition’ between active duty and veterans’ status: one physical evaluation for both exit (from active duty) and entrance (to VA system) and one system for electronic health care records.”

The Wounded Warrior Assistance Act provides the people, training, and oversight mechanisms needed to ensure that our wounded warriors feel secure that they will always receive committed quality care and that the system will not fail them. The legislation also sets the stage for much needed reform of administrative processes that will restore member confidence in the integrity and efficiency of the disability evaluation system and begin the process of achieving a truly seamless transition of service members to the Department of Veterans Affairs programs.

“The House Armed Services Committee has worked closely with the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee to develop this legislation, and I am grateful that this cooperation allowed us to bring this bill before the House so quickly,” said Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Ike Skelton (D-MO). “House approval of the Wounded Warriors Assistance Act is an important first step, but more work will need to be done. In the days ahead, both of our committees will have the opportunity to take a more comprehensive look at the challenges service members and their families face during recovery.”

The text of the legislation can be found at http://www.thomas.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:h.r.01538:

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Larry Scott

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