WINGMAN Act

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Mr. Bilirakis for the work that he has done. And I want to congratulate Chairman Roe for taking over the Veterans' Affairs Committee.

I would also like to thank the committee staff for their diligence and help on this piece of legislation, as well as the co-leads of this bill, Representatives Rodney Davis, Kyrsten Sinema, and John Delaney.

Last Congress, WINGMAN passed the Veterans' Affairs Committee unanimously in the House due to the bipartisan support of the Members of this Chamber. While it was disappointing that we were unable to get it across the finish line in the Senate, I feel confident, given the support this bill has witnessed early on in this year, with 175 Members in the House and 7 Members in the Senate, I am encouraged, and my hope is that we will see it pass the Senate this Congress and be signed into law by the President.

Congressional constituent advocates worked diligently in our district offices to help veterans navigate the VA claims appeals system. But, they are hampered by having to wait weeks, months, and sometimes even years to receive documents from the VA that are often vital to helping the veteran reach a favorable resolution.

WINGMAN will help to expedite the process by cutting out the middleman and providing direct access to the files our office already has permission to obtain. Currently, advocates must have a privacy release form signed by the constituent prior to acting on their behalf. This doesn't change. What changes is the wait time our offices, veterans, and their families must endure while the VA sends us the appropriate documents.

WINGMAN will help veterans such as James, from my district, who had eight separate, but related, claims filed. He didn't know which files were attached to which claims, the dates they were received, which department they were referred to, or that he could have filed one single, fully developed claim. Had my staff had access to the files, which WINGMAN permits, they would have been able to assess the issue and update his claims without having to go on a wild goose chase for the documents with the VA system. Getting his case on track could have happened in a matter of days, rather than years. He is more than deserving of this, especially since some of his claims are over 6 years old.

Another constituent lost her husband while he was serving this Nation. The VA was mailing all correspondence to his widow to an incorrect address. This resulted in an overpayment, which she was unaware of since she was not receiving the mail. The long-term result was a veteran's widow having her account sent to collections, which damaged her credit, and ended with her new spouse's tax return being confiscated. With access to the system files, our office would have had a clearer picture of the timeline of events and been able to direct and streamline our inquiry. Instead, our staff had to hunt down the relevant files from numerous branches within the VA and reassemble them like a jigsaw puzzle.

When I hear the story of Sergeant Abraham or Colonel Bergman or Staff Sergeant Brian Mast behind me, these people have paid a price for their service to this country, and our country owes them a debt. As a country, we can do better by our veterans and their families. WINGMAN will not get rid of the claims backlog or solve all of the problems. What it will do, however, is make the process helping our veterans easier.

Let's put the words ``customer service'' into our government. So I encourage my colleagues to support this bill.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 512, as amended, the WINGMAN Act. I, too, would like to thank the gentleman from Florida for trying to do all they can to speed constituent services to their folks.

This legislation gives certain designated congressional office caseworkers access to veterans' electronic disability claim records at the Veterans Benefits Administration, or VBA. It has broad support in this House, both Democrat and Republican.

This bill would allow designated congressional employees to have read-only access to the Veterans Benefits Administration database to look at veterans' records. Congressional staff would not be able to add or remove anything from a record, but simply check on the status of a veteran's claim and check that evidence and documentation are submitted. The reason this is so important is that a veteran will, at times, wait months, only to be told a piece of document has been missing that could have been added months before. It makes sense. It tracks the system. It ensures that the veteran is getting the fastest, best possible claim adjudication.

The purpose is to provide that faster status and let them know. There are privacy safeguards in the bill, which reinforce the necessity for getting prior consent from the veteran. Also, the bill clearly requires that congressional employees designated for this access must be full- time employees who provide constituent services.

Veterans service organizations have suggested that the VA should put a tracking system in place to ensure that these employees are only assisting constituents from their congressional district, and that congressional staff be held accountable if found to abuse any aspect of this new and unprecedented authority. I support that suggestion.

In my district, county veterans service organizations have also asked to have read-only access to veterans' records so they can assist veterans. I wish to work with Chairman Roe to examine whether that might be something that could be included down the road.

There is broad bipartisan support for giving congressional staff access to veterans' records so they can help veterans navigate a complex claims system. Often it takes too long to find out the status of a veteran's claim from the VA. Allowing certain professional staff to do the checking themselves seems like a simple step in the right direction, and I support it.

Last Congress, similar legislation to H.R. 512 unanimously passed this House. I urge my colleagues to support it today.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from the Northern Mariana Islands (Mr. Sablan), my good friend, a member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, and a stalwart supporter of this Nation's veterans and those in uniform.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Hawaii (Ms. Gabbard) one of our warriors and a veteran of the war in Iraq, and a staunch advocate for this Nation's veterans.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers. I urge support of

Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend, the ranking member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, Mr. Walz, for allowing me to speak in support of H.R. 512, the WINGMAN Act.

I rise today in support of H.R. 512, the WINGMAN Act, introduced by the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Yoho), my colleague, which would allow veterans to grant designated congressional office staff read-only access to their claim records within the VBA, Veterans Benefits Administration.

Mr. Speaker, there are no Veterans Benefits Administration personnel in the Northern Marianas. The veterans in my district have no one to meet with, but for the very occasional, usually one 6-hour visit to the Marianas from a VBA staff based in Guam or Hawaii. It usually comes once every 6 months if we are lucky.

Staffs' request for information on behalf of veterans sometimes takes months to receive a reply. This bipartisan bill would eliminate the delay by enabling permitted staff to obtain the information directly from VBA databases. This would be especially meaningful to veterans in my district who face additional challenges for disability claims due to the lack of VA presence.

Mr. Speaker, I represent three islands. I work with Social Security and Selective Service, of course, like other Members. For Social Security, we are

allowed to go and take data information, application forms, bring them to the main island of Saipan, where we go in line like everyone else and submit the applications on behalf of those constituents we serve.

So having separate islands and having a post office in one island and no post office in another island is a little complicated and difficult. Can you just imagine for the veteran who needs access to his VBA records or who needs access to his Veterans Health Administration file? Because we only have one in the Northern Marianas. This one really would allow us to serve the veterans who deserve nothing else but the best.

Our veterans responded to our call to serve and defend this country without hesitation. We must, in return, do everything we can to serve them in the same manner.

I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Mr. Speaker, one of the things I appreciate most about the job that I have to represent Hawaii's Second District is to be able to respond to and provide assistance to the hundreds of veterans from across my State that contact our office every single year. They call to ask for help with things like compensation and pension issues, health care, mileage reimbursement, especially for our veterans who live on the neighboring islands where they don't have a VA clinic on an island, education, home loan benefits, and more. This is a responsibility as a Member of Congress and as a fellow veteran that I take very seriously.

Right now, if a veteran contacts my office for assistance, we are required to go directly through the congressional liaison at the VA. We act as the veterans advocate to try to get answers for them on things that they haven't been able to get answers on, things that they haven't heard back on.

Too often, we are faced with the bureaucratic layers within the VA and a slow turnaround that leave congressional staff, like mine and my colleagues here, jumping through hoops to access basic, but critical, information on behalf of our veterans and their families. At times, we have waited for months to get answers from the VA on behalf of a Hawaii veteran for something that should be a quick turnaround, like a status update. This is unacceptable.

I am proud to cosponsor the WINGMAN Act, legislation introduced by the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Yoho), my friend and colleague, which allows us to cut through the red tape and ensure that our certified caseworkers within our offices can provide quicker, more efficient, and effective service to our veterans. It would help streamline the veterans claims process by allowing congressional offices on behalf of our veteran constituents to directly access the status of pending claims, rating decisions, statement of the case, and so on.

I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense legislation so that all of us working here in the people's House can better serve our veterans who have sacrificed so much for our communities and our country.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 512) to title 38, United States Code, to permit veterans to grant access to their records in the databases of the Veterans Benefits Administration to certain designated congressional employees, and for other purposes, 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 extraneous material.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today and urge all Members to support H.R. 512, as amended, the WINGMAN Act.

First, I want to say a special thanks to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Yoho) and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Rodney Davis), our colleagues, for introducing the WINGMAN Act. This bill will help Members cut through the red tape and help constituents who have applied for benefits from VA.

Isn't that why we are here, to help our constituents?

The problem is that when a constituent calls one of our offices to ask about the status of a claim for benefits, the only thing we can do is write VA and wait for the VA to respond. I know I get very frustrated, and I am sure my colleagues do as well, with how long it takes for the VA to get back to us. The WINGMAN Act provides a simple solution. The bill allows designated, permanent, full-time congressional staffers to look up the status of a claim on VA's database, but only if the veteran has given the staffer permission. Staffers would have read-only access to VA databases, meaning they wouldn't be able to add or remove any information.

Passing H.R. 512, as amended, would allow Members to help constituents who simply want to understand the status of their claim for benefits. I urge all of my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 512, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis) control the balance of my time.