The House Committee on Veterans' Affairs was authorized by enactment of Public Law 601, 79th Congress, which was entitled "Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946."
The House Committee on Veterans' Affairs is the authorizing committee for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The committee is responsible for recommending legislation expanding, curtailing, or fine-tuning existing laws relating to veterans' benefits. The Committee also has oversight responsibility, which means monitoring and evaluating the operations of the VA. If the Committee finds that VA is not administering laws as Congress intended, then it is addressed through the hearing process and legislation. We are the voice of Congress for veterans in dealings with the VA.
Jurisdiction of the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
- Veterans' measures generally.
- Pensions of all the wars of the U.S., general and special.
- Life insurance issued by the government on account of service in the Armed Forces.
- Compensation, vocational rehabilitation, and education of veterans.
- Veterans' hospitals, medical care, and treatment of veterans.
- Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief.
- Readjustment of servicemen to civilian life.
- National Cemeteries.
Complete Jurisdiction of the Committee
The Department of Veterans Affairs
VA was established as the Department of Veterans Affairs on March 15, 1989, succeeding the Veterans Administration and assuming responsibility for providing federal benefits to veterans and their dependents. Led by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, VA is the second largest of the 14 Cabinet departments and operates nationwide programs of health care assistance services and national cemeteries.
Chronological History of the Department of Veterans Affairs
1930
The Veterans Administration was created by Executive Order S.398, signed by President Herbert Hoover on July 21, 1930. At that time, there were 54 hospitals, 4.7 million living veterans, and 31,600 employees.
1933
The Board of Veterans Appeals was established.
1944
On June 22, President Roosevelt signed the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944. (Public Law 346, was passed unanimously by the 78th Congress). This law offered home loan and education benefits to veterans.
1946
The Department of Medicine & Surgery was established, succeeded in 1989 by the Veterans Health Services and Research Administration, renamed the Veterans Health Administration in 1991.
1953
The Department of Veterans Benefits was established, succeeded in 1989 by the Veterans Benefit Administration.
1973
The National Cemetery System (except for Arlington National Cemetery) was transferred to the VA.
1988
Legislation to elevate VA to Cabinet status was signed by President Reagan.
1989
March 15. VA became the 14th Department in the President's Cabinet.
Hearing Room
The House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs’ historic legacy is captured in the Committee’s hearing rooms in the Cannon House Office Building. The Committee has been formerly known by many names, including, the Committee on Naval Affairs, and the Committee on World War Veterans’ Affairs. After the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946, the Committee became formally known as the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. Even though the Committee’s name has changed over the years, its mission has remained constant – to represent and serve America’s veterans, their families, and survivors.
Flags
The House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs’ main hearing room was built in the Beaux-Arts style, with a dome ceiling, designed by the New York architecture firm Carrère and Hastings. The room provides a view of the Capitol. Behind the dais stand 21 flags representing congressionally chartered Veterans Service Organizations with which the Committee works closely. The flags provide visitors with a physical representation of the veterans who have directly impacted the work of the Committee. The Committee’s hearing rooms represent the voice of the veterans on Capitol Hill.
Artwork
The Committee’s hearing rooms also contain original artwork. In Room 334, portraits of Committee Chairmen Phil Roe, Jeff Miller, Steve Buyer, Chris Smith and G.V. “Sonny” Montgomery hang.
In 1982, the VFW Post 1830 presented the portrait of the “Montgomery G.I Bill” author, 1981-1994 Chairman G.V. “Sonny” Montgomery, painted by Thomas Nielsen. Chairman Montgomery also served in the U.S. Army during World War II and the Korean War. On November 10, 2005, President George W. Bush awarded Montgomery the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest American civilian honor.
Room 334 also contains a statue of Audie L. Murphy with a gold placard, which reads, “America’s Most Decorated Citizen Soldier, WWII 1924-71.” In addition, a grandfather clock was presented to the Committee in 1967 by the members from the Veterans Administration Domiciliary from White City, Oregon, and stands in the room.
In Room 340 hang the portraits of Chairmen Robert Stump, Herbert Ray Roberts, Edith Nourse Rogers, John Rankin, Olin Teague, William J.B. Dorn and Royal C. Johnson.
In 1950, Chandler Christy painted Chairman Rogers, the first female and first Chairman of the current Committee, who served from 1947-1948 and again in 1953. Margaret Brisbane’s 1939 portrait of Chairman John Rankin, chair of the Committee from 1949-1952 is also in Room 340. A portrait of Chairman Olin Teague, painted by Ralph Chase in 1962, represents his chairmanship of 1955-1972. Teague was a highly decorated World War II veteran, and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. The portrait of World War II veteran and 1973-1974 Chairman, William J.B. Dorn painted by Robert Williams in 1974.
Library
Room 340 has been the home of veterans’ hearings since 1920. In 1967, Room 334 became the Committee’s main hearing room. Both rooms contain the Committee’s library with the oldest document dating back to the 67th Congress (circa 1920), The House Committee on Military Affairs Hearings. The Committee’s library contains Committee hearings, printed bills, and the Committee rules. The library also holds other materials pertaining to the history of veterans’ legislation of the United States.
POW/MIA Chair
A new feature in Room 334 is the POW/MIA chair, which sits in the front row of the room. On March 26, 2012, the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Jeff Miller unveiled the empty chair draped with the official POW/MIA flag to honor America’s Prisoners of War and those Missing in Action.
In 1970, the National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia contracted Norman Rivkees, Vice President of Annin & Company, and Newt Heisley, former World War II pilot, to design a flag as a symbol for America’s POW/MIAs. The flag is a black and white silhouette of a man, a strand of barbed wire, and a watchtower.
Roughly 19 years after the flag’s inception, the POW/MIA flag was installed in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda mandated by legislation passed by the 100th Congress. The POW/MIA flag is the only flag ever displayed in the Rotunda. On August 10, 1990, the 101st Congress passed U.S. Public Law 101-355, which officially recognized the POW/MIA flag and designated it “as the symbol of our Nation’s concern and commitment to resolving as fully as possible the fates of Americans still prisoner, missing and unaccounted for in Southeast Asia, thus ending the uncertainty for their families and the Nation.”
As of March 2012, the Department of Defense lists 83,000 Americans missing or unaccounted since World War II. The League remains committed to return all U.S. prisoners and the Committee’s Chair is representative of that hope.
Sources: the Curator of the House of Representatives, the Office of Art and Archives, Office of the Clerk, House of Representatives, CRS: "History of House Committees Consdiering Veterans' Legislation," U.S. House of Representatives Office of the Historian, and the National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia.
