Senator Johnny Isakson (above) is the Chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. His office issued the following today:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, December 7, 2016
Contact: Amanda Maddox, 202-224-7777
***In Case You Missed It***
Isakson: Help us Pass this ‘Down Payment’ to our Veterans
Urges Senate to approve veterans reform package to improve access to health care, disability, education, homelessness benefits
WASHINGTON
– U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., chairman of the Senate Committee
on Veterans’ Affairs, is urging his colleagues
to pass urgent legislation that will help improve veterans’ access to
health care, disability benefits, education and homelessness assistance,
among other important benefits.
Shortly after the
Jeff Miller and Richard Blumenthal Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act of 2016 (H.R.6416) was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday, Isakson
delivered remarks on the Senate floor imploring “members of the United States Senate to help us pass this down payment on the promise and the debt that we owe to the veterans of
the United States of America.”
“We’re a team of Americans, not
Republican Americans or Democratic Americans, but committed Americans
that want to see to it that our veterans get what was promised to them,”
said Isakson during his remarks.
“This bill addresses homelessness. It addresses [veterans’] health care
issues. It addresses [research on] the possible passage of exposure to
toxic waste…. The measure addresses the U.S. Court of Appeals for
Veterans Claims…by
adding two judges in the appeals process and we need to do more to
expedite the appeal process.”
“We’re
going to work together to reach the dreams we all have to see to it
that our veterans have seamless services and we pay back to them what we
owe to them equal to what they sacrificed and
pledged for us, their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor,” Isakson continued.
The Jeff Miller and Richard Blumenthal Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act of 2016
includes 76 bipartisan provisions that address a variety of areas in
veterans’ services that
are in need of reforms or improvements. It incorporates language from a
number of previously introduced House and Senate bills, including
several provisions from the
Veterans First Act, which unanimously passed the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs in May 2016.
The
measure is named after retiring chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs
Committee, Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., as well as outgoing Senate VA
committee ranking member, Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.,
in tribute to their years-long commitment to serving veterans in
Congress.
Following Tuesday’s overwhelming House vote of 419-0, the measure now comes to the Senate for a vote.
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veterans
