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This week, the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, led by Chairman Mike Bost (R-Ill.), reported out 25 bills to be eligible for consideration by the full House of Representatives, including one of House Republicans top bill priorities, H.R. 740, the Veterans’ Assuring Critical Care Expansions to Support Servicemembers (ACCESS) Act – forward thinking legislation to build on both the MISSION Act and the CHOICE Act with the ultimate goal of improving veterans’ access to care through community providers. Every Democrat on the Committee voted against the legislation.

H.R. 740, the Veterans’ ACCESS Act would establish existing community care access standards as the baseline standard of care for veterans seeking care in the community, increase access to life-saving care, and end the Biden-era control over veterans’ health care choice by strengthening wait time standards and creating an online patient self-service scheduling system.

Excerpts from Chairman Bost’s remarks on the need for the Veterans’ ACCESS Act this week can be read below:

The Veterans’ ACCESS Act strengthens and promotes the Veterans Community Care Program. It picks up where the MISSION Act and the Choice Act started. Many of us remember the waitlist scandals of 2014.

It is as clear now as then: veterans deserve healthcare choice.

Community care is VA care. This bill would not privatize VA.

A lawsuit revealed that employees who scheduled appointments at VA misrepresented dates of patient requests. This sleight of hand made wait times look short on paper. But it was a cook-the-books operation that harmed veterans.

And our bill would do even more to empower veterans’ choice. Let me make one thing clear: veterans don’t need their hand held. It’s their health care.

Veterans repeatedly tell us, “I heard about community care months after trying to get an appointment.” Or worse, “I never knew.” The stories go on.

Veterans are either delayed care or left without care.

It is a failure and stain on the Biden administration for discouraging community care.

The Biden administration’s conduct was not a one-off omission. It was a system-wide failure.

This bill would take key steps toward better care for veterans. But this is not the end of the road. We wanted to require that VA’s referral standards prioritized veterans’ preference for care. We also wanted to increase access to Residential Rehabilitation Treatment programs.

Before we can act on these policies we must ensure they are fully paid for. I’m committed to working with VA and our colleagues to restore these provisions.

H.R. 740, the Veterans’ ACCESS Act, is supported by the following veteran service organizations and stakeholders, which represent millions of veteran voices nationwide: Wounded Warrior Project (WWP), The American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States (VFW), Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), Elizabeth Dole Foundation, AMVETS, Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA), Military Order of the Purple Heart, Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA), Mission Roll Call (MRC), IAVA, Veteran Action, Military Officers Association of America (MOAA), Concerned Veterans for America, and Americans for Prosperity (AFP).

For a comprehensive list of bills that were reported out of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs this week, click here.