Veterans and Family Information Act

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2093) to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to make all fact sheets of the Department of Veterans Affairs available in English, Spanish, and Tagalog, and other commonly spoken languages, and for other purposes.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to insert extraneous material on H.R. 2093.

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

Madam Speaker, since 2001 the foreign-born share of the veteran population has steadily risen. Immigrants have served in the Armed Forces since the very beginning of our Nation, and they today make up 600,000 veterans. 1.9 million veterans are the U.S.-born children of immigrants. Together, the 2.5 million veterans of immigrant origin, by birth or parentage, account for 13 percent of all veterans living today.

Certain nationals of countries in free association with the United States--the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau--are eligible to serve the United States, and they do in numbers much larger than their counterparts stateside.

Half a million veterans live in Puerto Rico. There are 6,000 regular Philippine Scouts still alive and 15,000 U.S. veterans who live in the Philippines, half of whom rely on the VA clinic in Manila for their service-connected care.

Two-thirds of the veteran cohorts I just mentioned do not speak English at home. Many of them are aging and have to rely more and more on their families for care and to manage health decisions.

VA has scarce availability of veteran-facing materials in other languages, both online and in paper. Facilities are, for the most part, on their own to translate material that best serves their patients.

This extra burden was made clear to me during committee trips to Puerto Rico, where we heard from staff about the arduous work it took to have to translate everything from administrative staff training materials to hurricane brochures. Everything sent from VA Central Office in Washington, D.C., to Puerto Rico had to be redone so it could be usable and accessible to veterans and the staff who serve them.

The VA should be fully accessible to all veterans who need it, and that includes language accessibility. Mr. Jeffries' bill, H.R. 2093, the Veterans and Family Information Act, would require VA to do what it should have been doing for years, make its veteran-facing fact sheets and websites available in languages veterans and their families speak; specifically, the languages of Spanish, Tagalog, and the other top 10 spoken languages in the United States. It would also require VA to create a language access plan for the VA enterprise.

Now, this is a long overdue correction of VA's posture. If this pandemic has taught us anything, it is that clearly communicated public health information from our healthcare institutions is essential. VA must ensure that language proficiency is never a barrier to a veteran's care.

I therefore ask my colleagues to join me in supporting the Veterans and Family Information Act.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Jeffries), my good friend, the chairman of the Democratic Caucus and author of H.R. 2093.

Madam Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I am prepared to close. I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I am very, very pleased to recommend to all of my colleagues to vote ``yes.'' This issue affects my own constituency where I know that we have veterans that have caregivers that may only speak, say, the language of Spanish, and so I am very convinced that this legislation will benefit all of our country, but especially my own district.

It is with that spirit that I recommend that we pass this important piece of legislation. I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I thank my good friend and classmate, Chairman Takano, for his tremendous leadership as well as the leadership of the ranking member and all of the distinguished members of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2093, the Veterans and Family Information Act, a bipartisan bill that will serve those who have served our Nation with distinction. This commonsense legislation would improve non-English language accessibility for veterans, their families, and caregivers.

The Veterans Benefits Administration provides critical information to all veterans about their benefits that have been hard earned, including service-connected disability benefits, home loans, vocational rehabilitation, employment information, and how to access assistance for trauma.

For veterans of limited English proficiency, there is no guarantee that this critical information is made available in their primary language, thereby creating barriers for them and for their families.

As Chairman Takano indicated, there are over 500,000 foreign-born veterans that live in the United States, and additionally 1.9 million veterans who are the U.S.-born children of foreign-born parents.

Not only are our veterans increasingly diverse in terms of country of origin, but tens of thousands of veterans have self-identified to the VA that they speak English less than well.

In the most recent survey conducted, the VA also found that minorities, people of color, and language minorities comprise approximately 24 percent of the total veteran population in the United States.

Every single veteran deserves consistent, clear, and equal access to any and all information that the VA offers, regardless of their English proficiency. They have all served this country well.

The Veterans and Family Information Act would direct the Department of Veterans Affairs to make versions of

all of its fact sheets available in the 10 most commonly spoken languages other than English in the United States, including Spanish and Tagalog.

I would like to thank the lead cosponsor of this bill, Representative Young Kim, for her extraordinary leadership and partnership in this effort, as well as, again, the chair, ranking member, and all of the distinguished members of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 2093.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2093, the Veterans and Family Information Act. This is the legislation I introduced with my colleague, Representative Jeffries.

This bipartisan bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs to make versions of all fact sheets available in the 10 most commonly spoken languages other than English in the United States, including Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, and Korean.

My district is home to more than 27,000 veterans from diverse backgrounds who faithfully served in the United States military, including my own sister, brother-in-law, and my husband, too. With an increasingly diverse population of veterans across the country, and with United States veterans residing in the Philippines and in Puerto Rico, this bill ensures that our veterans and their caretakers whose first languages are not English are aware of and understand the VA's benefits.

I want to thank Representative Jeffries for working with me to improve language availability and accessibility at the VA. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support H.R. 2093.

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

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2093, the Veterans and Family Information Act. This bill would require VA to make fact sheets available in multiple languages, including English, Spanish, and Tagalog.

I appreciate Congressman Jeffries' introduction of this legislation, and I am glad to support it today. I urge my colleagues to do the same.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Kim).

Madam Speaker, I encourage all my colleagues to support this bill. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Veterans' Affairs be discharged and the Senate now proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 2093.

I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time.

I know of no further debate on the bill.

I further ask that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.