Walden votes for VA reform legislation
Rep. Greg Walden (R-Hood River) voted Wednesday for legislation passed by the House to improve health care for veterans and help bring accountability to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The bill is part of a compromise agreement between House and Senate negotiators reached this week. It overwhelmingly passed the House Wednesday, and the Senate is expected to vote to send it to the president later this week.
“This legislation is a good first step towards cleaning up the mess at the VA,” Walden said. “Our men and women who have worn our nation’s uniform deserve to have access to the care they need in a timely manner.”
“This legislation fixes some of the glaring problems Americans have seen recently by allowing the agency to hire more doctors and making it easier to dismiss senior managers who have failed to live up to their responsibilities.
“The plan also allows more veterans to go outside the VA system to access care in the communities where they live. It’s a good first step for veterans and their families, but there’s a lot more reform that needs to be done at the VA to get accountability in that broken agency.”
The Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014 includes the following elements:
Requires the VA to offer an authorization—through a “Veterans Choice Card”—to allow veterans to receive non-VA care if they are unable to secure an appointment at a VA medical facility within 30 days or if they live more than 40 miles from the nearest VA medical facility.
Provides funding for the VA to hire more health care providers and improve their physical facilities.
Authorizes the VA to fire or demote senior agency managers for poor performance or misconduct.
Reduces funding for bonuses available to VA employees.
Requires public colleges to provide in-state tuition to veterans and eligible dependents.
Expands a scholarship program to provide benefits to spouses of certain service members who have died in the line of duty since 2001.
For full details of the plan, courtesy of the Veterans Affairs Committee, click here.
In May, Walden supported the VA Management Accountability Act when it passed the House. Many elements of that bill made it into the final version passed Wednesday.
The House has also passed— with Walden’s strong support—legislation to fund important veterans programs and reduce the claims backlog at the VA. Walden has met with veterans in southern, central, and eastern Oregon recently, and the backlog was a major topic of discussion.
