Veterans Committee Goals
Legislative Goals for 2019
The primary focus of these goals is Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits authorized under Title 38 of the U.S. Code.
GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR VETERANS' HEALTH CARE AND BENEFITS
HEALTH CARE
Health Care System Modernization. Continue to support investing in the modernization VHA technology, financial, infrastructure, electronic health records, and human resource systems.
Service-Connected Illnesses and Environmental Exposures. Support research to determine the impact of service members exposed to occupational or environmental toxins or hazardous substances (e.g., burn pit exposure in Iraq and Afghanistan, Camp Lejeune contaminated water, agent orange exposure for Blue Water Navy Vietnam veterans, etc.) resulting from their military service assignments in or outside of the U.S. Ensure health care and benefits are established to appropriately compensate and support veterans, family members, including children, and survivors, particularly veterans who experience catastrophic and devastating cancers, diseases, illnesses, other health conditions, or death.
Wounded, Ill and Injured (WII) Warrior Care. Ensure timely access to VA-DoD health care and benefits, caregiver support and other services, and strengthen VA-DoD-Service WII programs.
CHAMPVA Young Adult. Expand CHAMPVA to adult children of eligible veterans, family members and survivors until age 26 to align eligibility with TRICARE Young Adult and private sector health insurance.
VHA Access and Fees. Oppose enrollment or access fees for current and future veterans enrolled in VA health care in all priority group categories. Preserve integrity and access to both VA and DoD health systems for dually eligible members.
CLAIMS PROCESSING AND APPEALS SYSTEMS
Integrated Disability Evaluation Benefit Systems. Improve legacy and integrate disability evaluation systems and Benefits Delivery at Discharge efficiency and effectiveness. Continue to press DoD and VA to achieve true interoperability of electronic medical, personnel and benefit records to improve medical outcomes and delivery of benefits.
Claims and Appeals Backlog. Monitor and engage with VA in the implementation of the Veterans Appeals Improvement and Modernization Act of 2017 (P.L. 115-55) to improve the claims to appeals process. Support needed investment in software and hardware upgrades for claims management. Preclude ‘unlicensed’ individuals from taking fees for representing veterans’ claims.
Presumptive Service Connection. Promote dissemination of ‘brown’ and ‘blue’ water Navy ship logs as they become available for veterans to apply for Agent Orange-related diseases. Support legislation to establish eligibility for presumptive service-connection for ‘blue water’ Navy Vietnam War service members. Ensure fair and consistent application of standards and procedures for adjudicating Agent Orange claims. Encourage expansion of Camp Lejeune water contamination conditions to include all those recognized by DoD in 2012 and provide fair effective dates. Promote the inclusion of affected family members.
Mental Health Discharge Board of Review. Support creation of a Mental Health Discharge Board of Review to redress ‘low-ball’ service member ratings for PTSD, TBI, and MST, including Vietnam War and Gulf War I periods. Support efforts to ensure review boards take circumstances of in-service trauma into consideration.
VA Schedule of Rating for Disabilities (VASRD). Support the continual review and modernization of the VASRD based on current medical science.
PTSD, TBI and MST Compensation and Pension (C & P) Exams. Promote VA’s release of Disability Benefits Questionnaires for PTSD and TBI to allow veterans to obtain C & P exams outside the VA-contract examiners (e.g., from DoD doctors if member is still on active duty or from VA treating physicians).
EMPLOYMENT, EDUCATION AND TRAINING PROGRAMS
Veterans Employment. Support initiatives for employers to recruit, hire and retain veterans, including returning veterans of the Guard and Reserve.
Veterans Hiring Incentives. Re-enact employer tax incentives under the Vow to Hire Heroes Act.
Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (VRE) Benefits. Strength the VRE program to provide consistent and predictable benefits for veterans with disabilities. Establish a cost-of-living stipend for VRE participants.
Veteran-Owned and Service Disabled Veteran-Owned Businesses. Ensure veteran-owned and service-disabled veteran-owned businesses achieve parity with other federal contracting categories and ensure all federal departments at least meet established veteran contracting and hiring goals.
Basic Reserve GI Bill Benefits. Urge proportional upgrades to the Title 10 Montgomery GI Bill program (Chap. 1606, 10 USC) to keep pace with the cost of education.
GI Bill Integration for 21st Century Force. Urge hearings for a unified architecture for all GI Bill programs for active duty, Guard and Reserve service members under the principle of awarding benefits according to the length and type of duty performed.
Student Veterans Protections. Support measures to foster positive student-veteran outcomes including:
SPECIAL INTEREST ISSUES
Homeless Veterans. Support and expand VA initiatives to reduce and eliminate veteran homelessness.
Veterans’ Preference. Authorize veterans’ preference appeal rights for veterans employed by VA or other federal, state, and local government agencies. Oppose legislation restricting preference currently in law.
Financial and Legal Protections. Support continuous review and upgrades of the Servicemembers’ Civil Relief Act, including elimination of “forced arbitration” clauses in contracts that nullify the Act’s protections. Strengthen re-employment rights for Operational Reservists who support military missions on Title 10 orders. Allow military families to break a lease without penalty when on-post housing becomes available. Make mortgage protection coverage permanent.
Veterans Treatment Courts. Support further expansion of these courts to jurisdictions across the country. Support scaling of services for incarcerated veterans.
VA Home Loans. Extend the VA Home Loan funding fee waiver to all Purple Heart recipients currently serving on active duty.
Cyber Protection. Encourage Congress, VA and DoD to investigate the online targeting of service members, veterans and their families for fraud and disinformation campaigns by foreign and domestic entities. Where warranted, provide information, training and tools on cyber-hygiene to provide stronger protections to help service members, veterans and their families from becoming targets for online threats to their financial, psychological and social well-being.
The primary focus of these goals is Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits authorized under Title 38 of the U.S. Code.
GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR VETERANS' HEALTH CARE AND BENEFITS
- Promote national recognition and understanding of military service and how health care and benefits are earned through service and sacrifice in defense of the Nation and are qualitatively different from those normally described as “entitlement” or “social welfare” programs.
- Oppose deficit-driven or political decisions that would erode foundational services and benefits delivered through the VA Health Administration (VHA), Benefits Administration (VBA), and the National Cemetery Administration (NCA) or decisions which would align earned veterans’ medical or benefits with unrelated federal or civilian benefit programs.
- Oppose proposals that would eliminate or diminish veterans’ health care and benefits to overcome national economic or federal agency woes.
HEALTH CARE
Health Care System Modernization. Continue to support investing in the modernization VHA technology, financial, infrastructure, electronic health records, and human resource systems.
- Ensure timely access to high quality VA health care and preserve core health system mission functions—Clinical, Education, Research, and National Emergency Response.
- Actively engage with VA, Congress and the Administration as necessary to refine the measure to ensure the following four main pillars of the Act are implemented as intended by Congress:
- Consolidating VA’s community care programs.
- Expanding the VA Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers (PCAFC) to eligible veterans of all eras.
- Providing VA the necessary flexibility to align its infrastructure footprint with the needs of our nation’s veterans.
- Strengthening VA’s ability to recruit and retain quality health care professionals.
- Expand the VA Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers outlined in the VA MISSION Act to include “illness” as a condition for defining serious injury for purposes of program eligibility.
- Assess funding for FY 2019 Choice-Community Care Programs and address current and future shortfalls as appropriate.
- FY 2020 President’s Budget/VA Budget Request
- Reject proposals to cut or erode VA foundational health care services or modernization efforts.
- Oppose efforts to use veterans’ disability compensation or other benefits to pay for VA health care requirements.
- Recruiting and retaining health care professionals, especially in high shortage areas such as physicians, physician assistants, mental health providers, and nurses from other government and civilian sectors.
- Implementing independent practice authority for advance practice nurses (APRNs) and ensuring VA medical facilities or ensuring their health care professionals are practicing at the full-scope in their field of practice.
- Growing the existing Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the VHA and the Department of Health and Human Services from 30 to over 100 billets for members of the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) to serve in clinical and non-clinical roles.
- Establishing an MOU between VHA and USPHS to create and fund 10 slots per year at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences for medical students who agree to join USPHS and then serve in VHA clinics and hospitals to repay the government for their medical education.
- Invest in programs and research to identify and treat at-risk populations and leverage VA-DoD electronic health record to complement data collection, prevention and treatment strategies to promote mental health and well-being and eradicate suicides.
- Monitor the VA Suicide Prevention Office efforts to increase behavioral health staff, resources, and crisis line capacity, ensuring outreach efforts are expanded and synchronized with the DoD Suicide Prevention Office to address the high rates of suicide among service members and veterans, assuring every call to the VA and military crisis lines are promptly answered.
- Monitor VA-DoD outreach and policy efforts to address mental health needs of veterans with other-than-honorable discharges.
- Expand evidence-based and complimentary-integrative medical treatment approaches to improve delivery of care.
- Invest in resources and programs to aggressively promote prevention before crisis, incorporating self-help tools and services for empowering, educating and engaging veterans’ involvement in managing their individual health care outcomes.
- Evaluate the Department of Health and Human Services Pain Management Best Practices Inter-Agency Task Force ( Task Force (Report recommendations to be published in May 2019, to identify opportunities to eliminate gaps and improve VA-DoD pain management programs and medication-assisted treatments, including opioid treatment programs, mental health, and suicide prevention programs.
- Monitor and assist in the implementation of the FY 2019 Milcon-VA Appropriation requirements for VA to provide gender-specific care and redesign the health care delivery system and facilities to better meet women veterans’ needs.
- Ensure VA transformational changes such as the VA MISSION Act, community care, and other health and benefit programs and support service reforms consider the impact of change on women veterans and include their perspective in VA system changes.
- Assess current research, studies and treatments being used to address the higher rates of mental health and suicidal ideation among women who have served and require VA to establish a comprehensive strategy and prevention plan for incorporating evidence-based approaches and practical wrap-around gender-specific health care programs and services to meet the unique needs of women veterans.
Service-Connected Illnesses and Environmental Exposures. Support research to determine the impact of service members exposed to occupational or environmental toxins or hazardous substances (e.g., burn pit exposure in Iraq and Afghanistan, Camp Lejeune contaminated water, agent orange exposure for Blue Water Navy Vietnam veterans, etc.) resulting from their military service assignments in or outside of the U.S. Ensure health care and benefits are established to appropriately compensate and support veterans, family members, including children, and survivors, particularly veterans who experience catastrophic and devastating cancers, diseases, illnesses, other health conditions, or death.
- Implement the September 2016, Government Accountability Office Report (GAO-16-781) recommendation for DoD and VA to examine the relationship between direct, individual, burn pit exposure, and potential long-term health-related issues as well as the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Report of 2011, which suggested the need to evaluate the health status of service members from their time of deployment over many years.
- Allow surviving family members to add deceased veterans to the Burn Pit or other established registries.
- Monitor implementation of toxic exposure assessment and research provisions contained in the Jeff Miller and Richard Blumenthal Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act of 2016 (P.L. 114-315) and the FY 2019 Milcon-VA Appropriations bill requiring VA to provide clinical proposals focused on post-deployment health for veterans exposed to airborne hazards and open burn pits and other related actions.
- Require DoD-Military Services to formulate a strategy and implementation plan incorporating protocols for establishing baseline health assessments, collecting military service assignment, deployment, military history, and other appropriate medical-personnel data at the point of entry into military service and at regular intervals throughout military service.
- Require VA-DoD to establish standard data elements and procedures, leveraging the Departments’ electronic health record platform as the official data management system for collecting, retrieving and managing military assignment, deployment, military history, and other appropriate medical-personnel data needed to provide health care and benefits to service members, veterans and their families.
Wounded, Ill and Injured (WII) Warrior Care. Ensure timely access to VA-DoD health care and benefits, caregiver support and other services, and strengthen VA-DoD-Service WII programs.
- Monitor the FY 2019 NDAA requirement for review of DoD-Service Wounded Warrior Programs.
- Identify gaps in health care, benefits and services and make recommendations for improvements.
CHAMPVA Young Adult. Expand CHAMPVA to adult children of eligible veterans, family members and survivors until age 26 to align eligibility with TRICARE Young Adult and private sector health insurance.
VHA Access and Fees. Oppose enrollment or access fees for current and future veterans enrolled in VA health care in all priority group categories. Preserve integrity and access to both VA and DoD health systems for dually eligible members.
CLAIMS PROCESSING AND APPEALS SYSTEMS
Integrated Disability Evaluation Benefit Systems. Improve legacy and integrate disability evaluation systems and Benefits Delivery at Discharge efficiency and effectiveness. Continue to press DoD and VA to achieve true interoperability of electronic medical, personnel and benefit records to improve medical outcomes and delivery of benefits.
Claims and Appeals Backlog. Monitor and engage with VA in the implementation of the Veterans Appeals Improvement and Modernization Act of 2017 (P.L. 115-55) to improve the claims to appeals process. Support needed investment in software and hardware upgrades for claims management. Preclude ‘unlicensed’ individuals from taking fees for representing veterans’ claims.
Presumptive Service Connection. Promote dissemination of ‘brown’ and ‘blue’ water Navy ship logs as they become available for veterans to apply for Agent Orange-related diseases. Support legislation to establish eligibility for presumptive service-connection for ‘blue water’ Navy Vietnam War service members. Ensure fair and consistent application of standards and procedures for adjudicating Agent Orange claims. Encourage expansion of Camp Lejeune water contamination conditions to include all those recognized by DoD in 2012 and provide fair effective dates. Promote the inclusion of affected family members.
Mental Health Discharge Board of Review. Support creation of a Mental Health Discharge Board of Review to redress ‘low-ball’ service member ratings for PTSD, TBI, and MST, including Vietnam War and Gulf War I periods. Support efforts to ensure review boards take circumstances of in-service trauma into consideration.
VA Schedule of Rating for Disabilities (VASRD). Support the continual review and modernization of the VASRD based on current medical science.
PTSD, TBI and MST Compensation and Pension (C & P) Exams. Promote VA’s release of Disability Benefits Questionnaires for PTSD and TBI to allow veterans to obtain C & P exams outside the VA-contract examiners (e.g., from DoD doctors if member is still on active duty or from VA treating physicians).
EMPLOYMENT, EDUCATION AND TRAINING PROGRAMS
Veterans Employment. Support initiatives for employers to recruit, hire and retain veterans, including returning veterans of the Guard and Reserve.
Veterans Hiring Incentives. Re-enact employer tax incentives under the Vow to Hire Heroes Act.
Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (VRE) Benefits. Strength the VRE program to provide consistent and predictable benefits for veterans with disabilities. Establish a cost-of-living stipend for VRE participants.
Veteran-Owned and Service Disabled Veteran-Owned Businesses. Ensure veteran-owned and service-disabled veteran-owned businesses achieve parity with other federal contracting categories and ensure all federal departments at least meet established veteran contracting and hiring goals.
Basic Reserve GI Bill Benefits. Urge proportional upgrades to the Title 10 Montgomery GI Bill program (Chap. 1606, 10 USC) to keep pace with the cost of education.
GI Bill Integration for 21st Century Force. Urge hearings for a unified architecture for all GI Bill programs for active duty, Guard and Reserve service members under the principle of awarding benefits according to the length and type of duty performed.
Student Veterans Protections. Support measures to foster positive student-veteran outcomes including:
- Ensure sufficient funding for technical implementation of all provisions of the ‘Forever GI Bill’.
- Preserve and expand Public Service Loan Forgiveness which supports military recruitment and veteran hiring in public service.
- Align VA protections for student veterans with Departments of Education and Defense (DoD) protections.
- Extend the “90-10” ratio of Federal aid to include VA and DoD education benefits.
- Ensure schools spend VA and DoD education program funds on serving veterans and service members.
- Protect VA and DoD education program benefits from abuses and fraudulent practices targeting veterans and service members.
SPECIAL INTEREST ISSUES
Homeless Veterans. Support and expand VA initiatives to reduce and eliminate veteran homelessness.
Veterans’ Preference. Authorize veterans’ preference appeal rights for veterans employed by VA or other federal, state, and local government agencies. Oppose legislation restricting preference currently in law.
Financial and Legal Protections. Support continuous review and upgrades of the Servicemembers’ Civil Relief Act, including elimination of “forced arbitration” clauses in contracts that nullify the Act’s protections. Strengthen re-employment rights for Operational Reservists who support military missions on Title 10 orders. Allow military families to break a lease without penalty when on-post housing becomes available. Make mortgage protection coverage permanent.
Veterans Treatment Courts. Support further expansion of these courts to jurisdictions across the country. Support scaling of services for incarcerated veterans.
VA Home Loans. Extend the VA Home Loan funding fee waiver to all Purple Heart recipients currently serving on active duty.
Cyber Protection. Encourage Congress, VA and DoD to investigate the online targeting of service members, veterans and their families for fraud and disinformation campaigns by foreign and domestic entities. Where warranted, provide information, training and tools on cyber-hygiene to provide stronger protections to help service members, veterans and their families from becoming targets for online threats to their financial, psychological and social well-being.