Today, Rep. Phil Roe, M.D. (R-Tenn.), the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, released the following statement after the House passed three bipartisan veterans’ bills:
“Last Wednesday, we celebrated the dedicated service of over 18 million American veterans and we continue to honor their brave service to our great nation by passing these bills today,” said Ranking Member Roe. “These three pieces of legislation will improve quality and patient safety throughout the VA healthcare system, ensure that VA’s websites and apps are accessible to those with disabilities, and forever memorialize the sacrifice of Staff Sergeant Travis W. Atkins, a Medal of Honor recipient who was tragically killed in Iraq in 2007, by naming a VA clinic in his home state of Montana in his honor. One of these bills – S. 3147, the Improving Safety and Security for Veterans Act of 2019 – was drafted in response to the tragic murder of several veteran patients at the Clarksburg, West Virginia, VA Medical Center by a former nursing assistant who is awaiting sentencing for their deaths. I grieve with the families of those veterans and pray that the passage of this bill will help to ensure that no other veteran’s family experiences a similar heartbreak. I thank my colleagues on the other side of the Capitol and their House sponsors, including Congressman Greg Gianforte from Montana and Congressman David McKinley from West Virginia, for introducing and supporting each of these measures and I look forward to seeing them signed into law without delay.”
The following bills were passed out of the House today:
- S. 3587: The Department of Veterans Affairs Website Accessibility Act of 2019 (Sen. Bob Casey)
- S. 900: To designate the community-based outpatient clinic of the Department of Veterans Affairs in Bozeman, Montana, as the "Travis W. Atkins Department of Veterans Affairs Clinic," as amended (Sen. Steve Daines)
- S. 3147: The Improving Safety and Security for Veterans Act of 2019 (Sen. Joe Manchin)
