Submitted testimony covers variety of impactful issues for veterans in health care, business and more.
The American Legion submitted three Statements for the Record (SFRs) this week.
Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs
American Legion Director of Veterans Affairs & Rehabilitation Cole T. Lyle submitted an SFR (download statement here) on Dec. 10 to the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs. The SFR addressed the Legion’s positions on pending legislation, including:
• S. 926, the Saving Our Veterans’ Lives Act, which the Legion supports as currently written. This legislation would establish a program at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide vouchers for firearm storage devices to veterans upon request.
• S. 1116, the Ensuring Veterans’ Final Resting Place Act, which the Legion supports with amendments. This legislation would remove restrictions on relocation of veterans’ graves to cemeteries managed by the VA’s National Cemetery Administration.
• S. 1657, the Review Every Veteran’s Claim Act, which the Legion supports as currently written. This legislation would limit the VA’s authority to deny a claim when a veteran misses an examination appointment.
• S. 1665, the Obligations to Aberdeen’s Trusted Heroes (OATH) Act, which the Legion supports as currently written. This legislation would ensure that veterans who participated in classified programs would receive the full VA benefits they have earned.
• S. 1868, the Critical Access for Veterans Care Act, which the Legion opposes as currently written. This legislation proposes eliminating the VA referral for community care for veterans living in areas serviced by Critical Access Hospitals. Resolution No. 7: Ensuring VA Remain the Center of Care, states unequivocally that it is the position of The American Legion that the Veterans Health Administration should remain the center of care for American veterans.
• S. 1992, the Veterans Appeals Efficiency Act, which the Legion supports with amendments. This legislation would require an annual progress report to Congress from the Board of Veterans Appeals (BVA).
• S. 2061, the Molly R. Loomis Research for Descendants of Toxic Exposed Veterans Act, which the Legion supports as currently written. This legislation would commission first-of-its-kind, landmark research on birth defects among descendants of toxic-exposed veterans, enabled by the PACT Act.
• S. 2220, the Fighting for the Overlooked Recognition of Groups Operating in Toxic Test Environments in Nevada (FORGOTTEN) Veterans Act, which the Legion supports with amendments. This legislation would expand presumptive radiation exposure to members of the armed forces who served in Nevada’s Test and Training Range (NTTR) and nearby locations.
• S. 2264, the Advancing VA’s Emergency Response to (AVERT) Crises Act, which the Legion supports as currently written. This legislation would require the VA to produce comprehensive reports to Congress on VA’s emergency management roles and the VA’s regional readiness centers. It would also require the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs to work with the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to produce a plan on how to facilitate fuel sharing during times of emergency.
• S. 2309, the Veteran Burial Timeliness and Death Certificate Accountability Act, which the Legion supports with amendments. This legislation would direct VA physicians and nurse practitioners to task of certifying and signing off a death certificate no later than 48 hours of learning of, or being notified of, the veteran’s death.
• S. 2328, the Military Learning for Credit Act, which the Legion supports as currently written. This legislation would expand the use of VA education benefits by allowing student-veterans and eligible beneficiaries to use part of their education benefits for tests and exams that count toward a college degree.
• S. 2397, the Caring for our Veterans Health Act, which the Legion supports as currently written. This legislation requires VA to implement new guidelines ensuring that medical documents are properly tracked after community care appointments and would also measure how long it takes for veterans to get community care records.
• S. 2683, the VSAFE Act, which the Legion supports as currently written. This legislation would create a dedicated position in VA to oversee the necessary analytical monitoring, tracking, and coordination of scam and fraud prevention efforts with other federal agencies and veteran service organizations in real time.
• Senate Discussion Draft, the Veterans National Traumatic Brain Injury Treatment Act, which the Legion supports with amendments. This legislation seeks to provide veterans who rely on the VA for their healthcare needs access to hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) as a treatment option for PTSD and TBI symptoms.
• Senate Discussion Draft, the Fisher House Availability Act, which the Legion supports as currently written. This legislation seeks to expand Fisher House availability by making temporary lodging facilities on VA campuses available to members of the armed forces when the covered beneficiary must travel a significant distance to receive care at a non-VA facility.
• Senate Discussion Draft, the Leveraging Integrated Networks in Communities for Veterans Act, which the Legion supports with amendments. This legislation seeks to establish a nationwide pilot program for an interoperable community integration network, connecting VA facilities with public-private partnerships to deliver health and social services to veterans in need of assistance.
• Senate Discussion Draft, the SERVE Act, which the Legion supports as currently written. The SERVE Act will provide additional access of care for veterans by mainstreaming other types of healthcare that may also be received at healthcare facilities run by the Department of Defense.
• Senate Discussion Draft, the Improving Access to Care for Rural Veterans Act, which the Legion supports as currently written. The draft legislation will establish partnerships between VA and rural hospitals, allowing for the rural sites to be designated as VA-authorized care sites.
• Senate Discussion Draft, the Commission on Equity and Reconciliation in the Uniformed Services Act, which the Legion supports as currently written. The proposed legislation will establish a commission tasked with the identification and compilation of DoD’s historic policies concerning the policing of sexual orientation and gender identity within the uniformed services from World War II to present. Additionally, proposed legislation would require factsheets and examination of ramifications of such targeted policies onto the military LGBTQ+ community, such as the physical, mental, and financial tolls.
• Senate Discussion Draft, the Get Justice Involved Veterans BACK HOME Act, which the Legion supports as currently written. This legislation would mandate VA to provide mental healthcare to incarcerated veterans currently under the federal, state or local penal institution or correctional facility’s purview, with an emphasis on those with a service-connected disability related to PTSD, TBI or MST.
House Committee on Small Business
Also on Dec. 10, American Legion policy associate Demetricus Lion submitted an SFR (download statement here) before the House Committee on Small Business, addressing veteran entrepreneurship.
The SFR expressed the Legion’s support of H.R. 865, the Service-Disabled Veteran Opportunities in Small Business Act. This legislation would provide clarity to the contracting process, improve the Small Business Act, and require the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) to issue a report to Congress detailing a list of each federal agency that failed to meet its contracting goals and provide training for federal agencies that failed to meet their contracting goals.
The American Legion also supports broadening access to capital and improving existing SBA programs, and supports the Veteran Entrepreneurship Empowerment Act, which would increase the guarantees covered by SBA, decrease down payment requirements, and eliminate fees on the 7(a) and 504 loan programs for veterans; and the Veterans Member Business Loan Act, which removes an unnecessary cap that limits credit unions from lending to veteran-owned small businesses.
“By excluding these loans from the member business loan cap, Congress can unlock more capital for veterans at no cost to taxpayers,” Lion wrote in the SFR.
House Committee on Homeland Security
On Dec. 11, American Legion policy analyst Joshua Crisostomo submitted testimony before the House Committee on Homeland Security. The American Legion’s testimony (download here) focused on:
• Cybersecurity threats, including cyber-attacks, cybersecurity in space, and global adversaries.
• Threats from transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), including the synthetic drug crisis, TCO financial networks and illicit finance within the United States, and homeland security infrastructure and artificial intelligence.
“In our increasingly digital world, protecting our homeland from state sponsored groups and transnational criminal organizations requires a proactive approach to strengthen our cybersecurity infrastructure, promote public and private collaboration, and leverage innovative AI technology. The vulnerability of our critical infrastructure, financial systems, private businesses, and global supply chains necessitates an integrated, whole-of-government approach,” Crisostomo wrote in the SFR.
- Legislative