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REPUBLICAN PRESS RELEASE

May 16, 2007

VA committee sends veterans’ bills improving outreach, health care, and transition benefits to House for approval

Washington, D.C. — The House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs met Tuesday to “mark up” pending legislation, unanimously approving six bills and sending one back to the subcommittee of jurisdiction for reconsideration.

H.R. 67, the Veterans Outreach Improvement Act of 2007, as amended, would improve the outreach activities of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) by making grants to state veterans’ agencies to conduct outreach and assistance in the development and submittal of benefit claims. The bill authorizes the appropriation of $25 million for each of the fiscal years 2007, 2008 and 2009 to implement this program. The bill, introduced by Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs Chairman John Hall (D-N.Y.) would authorize VA to train state and local government employees who provide veterans outreach services. In an amendment originated by Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs Subcommittee Ranking Member Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.), the bill would also require VA to establish performance measures for the use of these funds.

H.R. 1660, as amended, directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a national cemetery in El Paso County, Colorado, which encompasses Colorado Springs . The bill was introduced by John Salazar (D-Colo.), who worked with Colorado Republican Doug Lamborn, in whose district the cemetery would go. An amendment offered by Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) and approved by the committee provides that the cemetery shall be added to the current list of priority projects and that it shall not take priority over projects already in VA’s five-year capital plan.

H.R. 612, as amended, introduced by Committee Chairman Bob Filner (D-Calif.), would extend from two years to five years the period of eligibility for veterans returning from combat to receive VA health care for conditions that might be related to that service, despite the absence of proof of service connection. A proposal by Committee Ranking Member Steve Buyer (R-Ind.) that authorized an additional three years of free VA care to veterans who had previously used up their two years of care was incorporated into the bill.

H.R. 1470, amending the Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Programs Enhancement Act of 2001 and introduced by Chairman Filner, would require VA to provide chiropractic care and services through its medical centers and clinics, to be implemented at not fewer than 75 medical centers not later than December 31, 2009, and at all VA medical centers not later than December 31, 2011. Currently, chiropractic care is included in VA’s benefits and available in some 30 medical centers, or 20 percent of VA’s total centers. Veterans may also get chiropractic care on a fee-for-service basis in coordination with VA if they live too far from a medical center offering chiropractic care.

(The Republican fiscal year 2008 budget alternative provided an additional $1.3 million for medical services above the Democratic Majority’s initial budget views and estimates; $100 million was recommended for chiropractic care, to support the hiring of an additional 125 doctors of chiropractic for the provision of chiropractic care at all 155 VA medical centers.)

H.R. 2199, as amended, would require VA to screen veterans for traumatic brain injury (TBI). It would also require VA to establish a comprehensive program for long-term care of post-acute traumatic brain injury rehabilitation at four geographically dispersed polytrauma network sites designated by the VA secretary. VA would further be required to establish TBI transition offices at each polytrauma network site to coordinate health care and services for veterans with moderate to severe TBI, and would provide VA the authority to coordinate services through cooperative agreements with other entities with established long-term neurobehavioral rehabilitation and recovery programs for services not immediately offered by VA. The bill would require VA to establish a TBI registry to track and notify veterans on developments in the research of TBI, and establish no more than five centers for research, education, and clinical activities to improve health care to eligible veterans suffering from TBI.

The bill, introduced by Health Subcommittee Chairman Michael Michaud (D-Maine), would also establish a pilot program of mobile Vet centers that would provide readjustment counseling and mental health services to veterans. An amendment offered by Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.), would include in these mobile centers counselors trained to help veterans file disability claims. This amendment accomplishes the goals of Lamborn’s previously introduced H.R. 1863 and was approved by the committee.

H.R. 2219, the Veterans Suicide Prevention Hotline Act of 2007, would direct VA to award a grant to a private, nonprofit entity to establish, publicize and operate a national toll-free suicide prevention telephone hotline targeted to and staffed by veterans. The bill duplicates many of the provisions of H.R. 327, the Joshua Omvig Veterans Suicide Prevention Act, passed earlier this year. H.R. 2219, introduced by James Moran (D-Va.), was returned to the Subcommittee on Health for further consideration.

H.R. 2239, as amended, originally introduced by John Boozman (R-Ark.), ranking member of the Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity, would enable injured servicemembers to get vocational rehabilitation and employment benefits (VR&E) before their discharge from active duty. Current law does not allow VA to provide VR&E benefits until the servicemember is discharged from active duty. This restriction needlessly imposes significant waiting times for those undergoing extended convalescence. Allowing these injured servicemembers to begin receiving the education and training portion of VR&E benefits would help them successfully enter the job market when discharged.

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Larry Scott

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