Press Releases

Today, Rep. Phil Roe M.D. (R-Tenn.), the Ranking Member of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, released the following statement after the House passed three bipartisan veterans' bills: 

“I am grateful that, before leaving for the August district work period, the House passed three bipartisan bills that would ensure that our nation’s veterans can more readily access the care, benefits, and services that they have earned."

"I am particularly pleased that the House passed H.R. 3504, the Ryan Kules Specially Adaptive Housing Improvement Act of 2019, to help severely injured veterans live more comfortably and independently in their homes. This important bill is sponsored by Representative Gus Bilirakis, the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity, and championed by the Wounded Warrior Project and the Paralyzed Veterans of America. I thank them for their work.”  

"However, while I support the bills the House passed today, I remain troubled by the way in which they were brought to the House Floor. In a move that I have not seen in my ten years and counting on this Committee, Chairman Takano refused to debate amendments offered to two of these bills by my Republican colleagues in a markup earlier this month.” 

“These amendments were offered in good faith. One would ensure the safety of veterans’ children in VA child care programs and the other would ensure that veterans are not denied their constitutional right to bear arms because they are awarded disability benefits. These should be non-partisan, non-controversial issues. Yet, Chairman Takano repeatedly referred to them as “poison pills,” repeatedly denied Members the opportunity to discuss them, and repeatedly impugned the motives of those who offered them. That is well beneath the history and traditions of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee and I hope it never happens again.”

“Last week, my fellow Republican Committee Members and I wrote to the Chairman requesting that he schedule a hearing on the bills that the two amendments he refused to consider at the markup were based on. I look forward to the Chairman’s response and to considering these bills when we return to Washington in September.”

Click here to read the letter requesting a hearing on bills to protect veterans' Second Amendment rights and here to read the letter requesting a hearing on a bill to protect veterans' children from being cared for by potential predators in VA child care programs.  

The House passed the following bills today: 

- H.R. 2942, as amended, the HEALTH for Women Veterans Act. Click here to read more about the bill and here to read the Minority views on it. 

- H.R. 2943, as amended, the Providing Benefits Information in Spanish and Tagalog for Veterans and Families Act. Click here to read more about the bill. 

- H.R. 3504, as amended, the Ryan Kules Specially Adaptive Housing Improvement Act of 2019. Click here to read more about the bill and here to read the Minority views on it.