Access to Veterans Benefits Improvement Act

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise in support of H.R. 1405, as amended.

I introduced this legislation, H.R. 1405, to improve the veterans' claims appeals process. Currently, a veteran must first exercise his or her appeal rights before the appeal process formally begins and the VA sends the required forms.

H.R. 1405, as amended, requires the VA to include an appeals form with the notice of decision for every claim. This cuts out several steps and speeds up the appeals process. This commonsense change will immediately reduce the time frame of the appeals process by 60 days.

H.R. 1405 will also allow the VA to provide better customer service to those veterans who are already struggling with significant delays and bureaucratic challenges.

This legislation is, indeed, a commonsense improvement that will result in veterans in southern Nevada receiving the benefits they have earned in a timely fashion. I constantly hear from veterans in Las Vegas that the process is too complicated and takes too long. This change will eliminate an unnecessary bureaucratic step and speed up the process for those veterans and all our veterans across the country.

H.R. 1405, as amended, is supported by the VA and the veterans service organizations who came and testified.

This piece of legislation also includes language from three other bills: H.R. 679, the Honor America's Guard-Reserve Retirees Act, introduced by Representative Walz of Minnesota; Chairman Runyan's bill, H.R. 733, the Access to Veterans Benefits Improvement Act; and Mr. Johnson's bill, H.R. 894, to reform VA's fiduciary program.

I want to thank the chairman of our subcommittee, Mr. Runyan, for moving this legislation through the subcommittee and for the bipartisan cooperation that guides our work on behalf of Nevada's veterans.

I also want to thank the many veteran service organizations for their helpful input and for supporting this legislation.

I urge my colleagues to support passage of H.R. 1405, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Walz), who brings incredible expertise and compassion to the committee as a decorated veteran himself.

Mr. Speaker, I would urge my colleagues to join us in support of H.R. 1405, as amended, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the chairman and the ranking member of the full committee and the subcommittees for doing exceptional work, for putting our veterans first, for bringing a package of commonsense legislation to honor our Nation's veterans, and doing it in the best and smartest manner we can. If the entire Congress functioned like the VA Committee, I think the American public would be far better served.

There is a provision in this bill that is very simple. It recognizes the service and sacrifice of members of the National Guard and Reserves. These are the men and women of our Reserve component. They take the same oath of office. They do the same training. They and their family sacrifice their time and energy and stand at the ready at all times. They assist flood victims in Colorado and Minnesota, fight fires across the Western United States, and stand ready to fight and defend this Nation at a moment's notice. They truly are the minutemen.

I would guess that the vast majority of Americans and maybe even Members of this body don't recognize that you can serve 20 years doing that, and if you are not called to a specific title X service, you cannot be considered a veteran. You can go to the VA hospital, you can go use the GI Bill, you can be buried in a veterans' cemetery, but you are technically a military retiree.

This may seem like a small thing, but it is not. The title of ``veteran'' means more than just a license plate you get from your State. It is something your neighbors know about. These people don't and should not have to explain that they are technically not a veteran.

This piece of legislation--and I thank, again, the people who made this possible--simply corrects that. Very seldom do we get a chance to do this. It doesn't add any cost, and it does the right thing. So it is not an added benefit--which was earned, by the way. It simply corrects this, puts it in line, and honors. If you serve 20 or more years in uniform, you stand ready, you train people who went to war, we are going to give you the dignity and the honor of calling you a veteran.

So I ask my colleagues to support this important package of legislation. This one small piece is the right thing to do. It is many, many years overdue. I ask for the support of H.R. 1405.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1405) to amend title 38, United States Code, to require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to include an appeals form in any notice of decision issued for the denial of a benefit sought, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and add any extraneous material they may have on H.R. 1405, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I want to commend the gentlewoman from Nevada (Ms. Titus) for identifying another step in cleaning up the claims process. Her bill also includes provisions authored by the former sergeant major of the Minnesota National Guard, Mr. Walz, to provide honorary veteran status to members of the National Guard and Reserves.

H.R. 1405 would also improve access to veterans' claims information by certain State and local government officials. And finally, the bill would revise the process by which fiduciary agents are assigned and limit the amount of bonuses that can be paid under chapters 45 and 53 of title V.

Again, I know that there are other Members who wish to speak in more detail on the provisions of this bill, so at this time, I will reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Runyan), the subcommittee chairman for Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs.

Mr. Speaker, at this time I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Johnson), a former member of the VA Committee and a 26-plus year veteran of the United States Air Force.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1405, as amended, is yet another bipartisan bill that has been advanced out of our committee. I, again, thank all the members for their collaborative work on this bill, and I urge my colleagues to join us in passing H.R. 1405, as amended, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1405. This straightforward legislation contains several provisions relating to veterans benefits, and also includes a cut in bonuses at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Under current practice, the VA pays out about $400 million in bonuses to its workers each year. Recently we have seen these bonuses too often go to people whose work does not merit a reward, and to the contrary, may even merit reprimand.

This practice has been evident at the Atlanta VA Medical Center, where despite the fact that four unexpected deaths were attributed to mismanagement and lack of oversight, tens of thousands of dollars in bonuses were awarded to top level executives at the facility. It is past time that we stop rewarding people for simply showing up to work-- bonuses should be the exception, not the norm. Furthermore, at a time when so many of our soldiers are returning from war, and in light of the deaths in Atlanta, I believe the VA should prioritize veterans' health and well-being above all else.

H.R. 1405 takes a positive step in ensuring that more discretion is used when providing bonus payments to employees at the VA. The legislation caps financial awards at the VA to no more than $345 million for fiscal years 2014 to 2018. It is time we stop rewarding lackluster work and focus instead on providing the best possible care for our veterans.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in showing our gratitude for our nation's veterans by supporting H.R. 1405.

Thank you, Chairman Miller, for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to have sponsored H.R. 733, the Access to Veterans Benefits Improvement Act, with my good friend and colleague, Mr. Tim Walz of Minnesota. This legislation is included as section 3 of H.R. 1405 and would provide certain local and State government employees access to case-tracking information through the Department of Veterans Affairs.

There is no doubt that we have a responsibility to veterans to ensure that every effort is made to simplify the claims process. Key to this effort are the County Service Veterans Officers, whose expertise in claims development

helps veterans in New Jersey and in communities all across America.

Veterans are often frustrated, as they ask for help from a county service officer, that this person acting on their behalf cannot directly access even the most basic information about the status of their claim. However, while looking to remedy that complication and broaden access to case-tracking information, consideration must also be given to the protection of veterans' private information. That is the balance that this bill strikes.

Mr. Speaker, I support section 3 of H.R. 1405, along with all the other provisions contained within the bill, and I encourage all Members to join me in support of the legislation.