Rep. Correa Votes To Pass Bipartisan Bills To Help Veterans
Washington, D.C.—Today, Congressman Correa joined his Democrat and Republican colleagues on the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs to unanimously pass eleven bills that will enhance educational assistance, health care, and other benefits for servicemembers and veterans. The bills, listed below, have been forwarded to the full House of Representatives for future consideration.
Rep. Correa stated, “I have said it before, and I will continue to say it?—?I am exceptionally proud of the bipartisan work my colleagues and I do for our veterans. When we work together, we get real results and today is proof of that.
We passed eleven bills that will profoundly help our veterans, by giving them new opportunities to access education, mental health care, and childcare. We are working to ensure every veteran has the support they need to reintegrate into society.”
The bills passed are:
H.R. 3218, the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2017
The bill changes education benefits available under the Post 9/11 GI Bill. The bill includes lifetime eligibility for future GI Bill recipients, as opposed to the current 15-year timeline; significant increases in funding for Reservists and Guardsmen, dependents, surviving spouses and surviving dependents; the restoration of benefits for individuals whose schools closed in the middle of a semester; full GI Bill eligibility for Purple Heart recipients; and creates a pilot program to pay for veterans to take certain high technology courses, such as coding and IT boot camps.
H.R. 918, the Veteran Urgent Access to Mental Healthcare Act
The bill requires the Department of Veterans’ Affairs to provide an initial mental health assessment and mental health care services to specified veterans in need.
H.R. 1058, the VA Provider Equity Act
The bill allows the Department of Veterans’ Affairs to recognize podiatrists as physicians for purposes of pay and provides leadership opportunities for qualified doctors of podiatry.
H.R. 2781, Ensuring Veteran Enterprise Participation in Strategic Sourcing Act
The bill requires the Department of Veterans’ Affairs to ensure enough veteran owned small business are participating in a federal program administered by the General Services Administration.
H.R. 95, Veterans’ Access to Child Care Act
The bill requires the Department of Veterans’ Affairs to provide child care assistance for veterans receiving regular or intensive health care services from VA, are the primary caretaker of the child, and would be unable to receive such care due to a lack of childcare.
H.R. 3262, Grow Our Own Directive: Physician Assistant Employment and Education Act
The bill requires the Department of Veterans’ Affairs to create a pilot program to provide educational assistance to veterans training to be physician assistants for the agency.
H.R. 282, the Military Residency Choice Act
The bill allows the spouse of a servicemember to use the same residence of the servicemember for tax and voting purposes regardless of when the marriage occurred.
H.R. 1690, as amended, the Department of Veterans Affairs Bonus Transparency Act
The bill requires the Department of Veterans’ Affairs to submit an annual report to Congress on the performance awards and bonuses awarded to the agency’s senior executives.
H.R. 2006, the VA Procurement Efficiency and Transparency Act
The bill requires the Department of Veterans’ Affairs to record the cost or price savings attained by using contracting competitions.
H.R. 2749, the Protecting Business Opportunities for Veterans Act of 2017
The bill requires a veteran-owned small business that is awarded a contract from the Vets First Program to certify they are performing the required percentage of work. The bill directs the Department of Veterans’ Affairs to refer suspected violators to the Office of the Inspector General for investigation.
H.R. 2772, the VA Senior Executive Accountability Act
The bill requires the Secretary of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs to approve the reassignment of senior executives and submit semiannual reports to Congress on transfers, including the reason for a move and its related costs.
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