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WASHINGTON, DC – Today, House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Mike Bost (R-Ill.), delivered the following opening remarks, as prepared, at the start of the House Committee on Rules hearing on H.R. 9237, the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act, a comprehensive veterans’ package to expand benefits through the Maj. Richard Star Act and Sharri Briley and Eric Edmunson Veterans Benefits Expansion Act, improve rural and urban healthcare access nationwide, support Gold Star families, expand mental health support, and deliver on the promises Congress has made to make the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) work better for the men and women who have and will serve. To learn more about the historic Take Care of America’s Veterans Act, click here.

Chairwoman Foxx, Ranking Member McGovern, and Members of the Rules Committee.

I appreciate the opportunity to testify before you today.

I am here to speak in support of H.R. 9237, the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act. 

I respectfully ask that you issue an appropriate rule for its consideration.

If you choose to make amendments in order, I ask that you not include any amendments that would undermine the purpose of the bill or increase its cost.

Madam Chairwoman, this legislation is the most comprehensive veterans’ package to be considered by Congress in a decade.

H.R. 9237 includes more than sixty bipartisan bills to improve V.A., veteran’s benefits, veteran’s healthcare, and accountability across the entire Department.

But this bill is not important because of how many provisions it includes.

It is important because of whom it helps.

This bill begins with the Major Richard Star Act.

For decades, combat-injured veterans who were medically retired from the military have been forced to give up a portion of their earned retirement pay simply because they also receive V.A. disability compensation.

This issue has persisted for years because we have not been able to find a way to pay for fixing it.

These are men and women who were injured in service to this country.

And the federal government turned around and told them that they could not receive the full benefits they earned.

This bill would end that injustice and allow combat-injured veterans to receive both benefits, but ensuring these veterans receive no more than twenty-year retirees with the same disabilities.

This bill also includes the Love Lives On Act, which would eliminate the choice survivor’s face when choosing to remarry or keep their benefits.

Under current law, those that choose to remarry before reaching the age of 55 must give up those V.A. benefits.

But those benefits were earned by servicemembers and veterans who sacrificed for this country.

We want surviving spouses to rebuild their lives. 

This bill would help make that a little easier.

H.R. 9237 also includes the Sharri Briley and Eric Edmundson Veterans Benefits Expansion Act.

This would increase benefits for catastrophically disabled veterans who require round-the-clock care and increase survivors’ pensions.

These are veterans whose injuries changed the course of their lives and the lives of their families forever.

Our nation’s surviving spouses – and severely disabled veterans – have not seen an increase in benefits in decades.

I am proud to announce that this bill would significantly increase both.

H.R. 9237 also includes the Veterans’ ACCESS Act.

For years, veterans have watched government bureaucrats restrict the community healthcare access Congress promised them.

That is not what Congress intended under the CHOICE Act.

That is not what Congress intended under the MISSION Act.

And veterans deserve better.

Veterans should be able to access care in their communities. Period.

This bill rightfully puts veterans back at the center of V.A. healthcare.

It would also improve transition assistance and education benefits to better prepare veterans for civilian life.

Furthermore, it would modernize the disability claims and appeals process, so veterans are not treated like a number and lost in a huge system.

This bill would also reform V.A. construction, leasing, and I.T. systems that are bogged down in red tape.

Madam Chairwoman, consideration of this legislation is long overdue.

Many of these provisions are not new ideas.

They are longstanding priorities that veterans, military families, survivors, caregivers, and Veteran Service Organizations have been waiting for Congress to fix for years.

The Major Richard Star Act is the best example.

A press release and a handshake alone will not end an unfair policy.

Only passing paid-for legislation does that.

I want to take a moment to address the offset in this legislation.

House Democrat’s opposition to this offset is politics at it’s worse.

This offset codifies a Biden-era proposed rule, let me say that again. This proposal came from the Biden Administration.

The rule would alter the way the V.A. evaluates service-connected sleep apnea and tinnitus.

This offset is point forward; no current recipient would see their benefits changed by this legislation.

V.A. testified before the VA committee that they plan to finalize this rule by the end of the fiscal year.

These changes are not new, they reflect a bi-partisan, scientific process.

I want these changes to benefit veterans; Democrats want to play politics.

This bill would give the House a serious, responsible path to promoting real change for veterans.

And Madam Chairwoman, there is a basic good-government principle at stake here.

When Congress passes legislation, it has a responsibility to pay for it.

Senate VA Committee Chairman Jerry Moran and I have worked hard to put forward a paid-for package that can become law.

Unfortunately, my Democratic colleagues have chosen a different path.

They have pushed a discharge petition designed for a messaging vote on legislation they know will die in the Senate because it’s not paid for.

My colleagues know that, and my fellow veterans deserve more.

That is what the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act would do.

I respectfully ask the Committee to report an appropriate rule and allow the House to consider the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act.

Thank you for your consideration.