House passes Legion-supported veterans bills

On Sept. 26, the House passed three veterans-related bills that The American Legion supports. These bills include:

H.R. 5392, No Veterans Crisis Line Call Should Go Unanswered Act. The bill would require the Department of Veterans Affairs to develop a plan that ensures each phone call and text message to its Veterans Crisis Line are answered in a timely manner by a qualified person. The bill was developed after reports stated calls to the VA’s crisis line were going to voicemail.

H.R. 3216, Veterans Emergency Treatment Act. The bill would clarify VA’s obligation to provide emergency care for veterans and prohibit VA from transferring a medically unstable veteran. The bill was developed after a VA medical center’s emergency room refused to help a veteran with a broken foot. 

H.R. 5162, Vet Connect Act of 2016. The bill would require VA to share medical record information with community providers in order to provide care or treatment to a shared patient.

VA Expiring Authorities Act
The Department of Veterans Affairs Expiring Authorities Act was passed by both the House and Senate and now awaits signing from President Barack Obama. This bill would extend for one year a number of VA programs and authorities, including a requirement to provide nursing home care to veterans with service-connected disabilities; a pilot program to provide child care assistance for veterans receiving intensive health-care services; a referral and counseling services program for veterans at risk of homelessness; and authority to provide certain housing assistance for homeless veterans.
House approves Veterans’ Appeals Modernization legislation

On Sept. 14, the House passed H.R. 5620, the VA Accountability First and Appeals Modernization Act. The bill would:

  • Shorten the firing/demotion/appeals process for rank-and-file VA employees from more than a year to no more than 77 days;
  • Remove the Merit Systems Protection Board from the firing/demotion/appeals process for VA senior executives;
  • Provide VA whistleblowers with a means to solve problems while offering them protection from reprisals;
  • Give the VA secretary the authority to recoup bonuses and relocation expenses from misbehaving employees;
  • Give the VA secretary the authority to reduce the pensions of senior executives convicted of felonies that influenced their job performance; and
  • Reform the VA’s broken disability benefits appeals process.
  • The bill now awaits consideration by the Senate.