SUPPORTING AMERICA’S HEROES: CONGRESSMAN PITTENGER JOINS BIPARTISAN MAJORITY TO PASS FIVE PRO-VETERANS BILLS
On Tuesday, Congressman Robert Pittenger (NC-09) was honored to join a bipartisan U.S. House majority to pass five separate bills to support America’s veterans.
“We owe so much to America’s brave veterans,” said Congressman Pittenger. “Our freedom, our way of life, even the ability to enjoy an event like the Super Bowl, was purchased through the sacrifice of our veterans.
“Sadly, America’s heroes often return home to inadequate care at the VA, frustrating and unnecessary red tape, and shameless, predatory acts by companies seeking to take advantage of a veteran’s hard-earned benefits. On Tuesday, the U.S. House came together in bipartisan fashion to address these issues and support America’s heroes.”
The Failing VA Medical Center Recovery Act (H.R. 3234) requires semi-annual evaluations of VA medical centers as “satisfactory” or “underperforming” based on publicly available metrics. The VA Secretary would be required to dispatch a rapid deployment team to underperforming medical centers to bring them into satisfactory performance as quickly as possible. FINAL VOTE: Unanimous approval.
The American Heroes COLA Act (H.R. 677) makes compensation for veterans and their dependents subject to the same cost-of-living adjustments as Social Security recipients. The legislation also includes provisions to improve claims processing and appeals. FINAL VOTE: Unanimous approval.
The Career-Ready Student Veterans Act (H.R. 2360) addresses predatory practices by certain for-profit colleges with a poor track record of actually preparing veterans for a career. H.R. 2360 improves the approval process and requirements for training programs to receive G.I. Bill benefits. FINAL VOTE: Unanimous approval.
The Veterans Employment, Education, and Healthcare Improvement Act (H.R. 3016) makes a series of common-sense improvements to VA health care, education benefits, and veterans employment programs. FINAL VOTE: Unanimous approval.
The Female Veteran Suicide Prevention Act (H.R. 2915) directs the VA to identify mental health care and suicide prevention programs that are most effective for females, based on research finding female veterans are five times more likely to commit suicide than male veterans. FINAL VOTE: Unanimous approval.
