Tom Barrett

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the Take Care of America's Veterans Act.

This package includes more than 60 bipartisan bills that modernize, enhance, and reform the delivery of healthcare and benefits for the entire veteran community.

It also delivers numerous bills that veterans and VSOs across America have been vocal about, like the Major Richard Star Act, the Love Lives On Act, the ACCESS Act, the TAP Promotion and Expansion Act, and more.

It also includes eight of my own specific bill priorities, including:

The ASSIST Act and CRUISE Act, which will help disabled veterans and businesses make necessary and timely modifications to vehicles, ensuring that veterans have accessibility to move about.

The Sharri Briley & Eric Edmundson Veterans Benefits Expansion Act will finally deliver the first notable increase in over 30 years to our most severely disabled veterans and our Gold Star families who have sacrificed so much.

My Clear Communication for Veterans Claims Act and my Delivering Digitally to Our Veterans Act, which will ensure that every veteran can understand the messages and communications they receive from the VA in a simplified manner and even opt in to get them electronically.

My Veterans Community Care Scheduling Improvement Act, which will make it easier for veterans to schedule medical appointments closer to home and easier to access.

The Acquisition Reform and Cost Assessment Act to strengthen oversight of VA acquisitions with the ginormous contracts that they often enter into.

And, finally, my Home Affordability for Guard and Reserve Act to empower more of our National Guard and reservists to take advantage of the VA Home Loan Program. Today, they would wait 6 years to qualify for the VA Home Loan Program. Under this bill, they will qualify once they return home from their training and are in good standing with their unit.

Mr. Speaker, I worked hard on these bills for nearly 2 years, and they and more than 50 other bipartisan bills just like them are all major wins that will improve the lives of our Nation's heroes.

I thank Chairman Bost for his work on this legislation, and I look forward to the passage of this bill. I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes.''

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 6047, the Sharri Briley and Eric Edmundson Veterans Benefits Expansion Act, legislation that I am leading with Chairman Bost to support the servicemembers and families who sacrificed the most for our Nation.

When men and women sign up to serve in our Armed Forces, they willingly put their own lives on the line to defend the American people and the freedoms we too often take for granted.

Some of those heroes make the ultimate sacrifice. Others who are lucky enough to come home do so with life-changing injuries. While we can never fully repay the debts that we owe to these men and women, that will never stop us from doing everything that we can.

My bill will deliver a long overdue, historic increase in benefits to care for veterans who were severely injured in the line of duty, and it will support the Gold Star families who lost a spouse, a

parent, a child, or a loved one in service to our country.

H.R. 6047 is named in honor of two patriotic Americans. Sharri Briley persevered after her husband, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Donovan Lee ``Bull'' Briley, was tragically killed in action when his Black Hawk went down in Mogadishu. In the face of hardship, she continued raising their daughter and providing for their family after his great sacrifice.

Sergeant Eric Edmundson suffered a severe brain injury when his vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb in Iraq. His injuries have left him unable to speak, walk, or work, and his family provides full-time, around-the-clock care.

I have had the privilege to meet and share time with Sharri, Eric and his family, and families throughout this process. Eric Edmundson and his family were here in Washington, D.C., just yesterday meeting with Members of Congress. Sharri Briley is here this week and joins us in the Capitol today.

I can honestly say that we wouldn't be at this point without their strength, dedication, and hope.

One thing that Sharri Briley told me as we were talking about this is that when she suffered this great tragedy, it was widows from the Vietnam and Korean war generation who stood up to help lead her through this process, and she is standing today to lead that effort on behalf of the generations of Americans who will follow behind her in hoping to lead and increase this benefit.

This bill, named in honor of these families to increase support for survivors like Sharri and Eric, the catastrophically disabled, and Gold Star families, is critically important. Some will be eligible for an additional $10,000 a year to cover their expenses through a special monthly compensation for the catastrophically injured. For the first time since 1993, more than half a million surviving spouses, parents, and children will receive an additional disability indemnity compensation to help cover their needs as they continue without their loved ones.

In addition to that, we are expanding the VA home loan to National Guard and Reserve component, men and women who signed on the dotted line to serve our country, so that they can have an opportunity at the American Dream and build their own home.

My wife and I were fortunate to qualify for a VA home loan to buy our family home together years ago, and that is a benefit we want to extend to more families.

I thank Chairman Bost again for his work on this bill. It is reminding me of an experience I had in basic training. We would line up beside our bunks before going to bed at night and recite the ``Soldier's Creed,'' and there is a line in the ``Soldier's Creed'' that said that the brave soldiers of the past would be proud of me.

I know I am proud of the sacrifice that Sharri Briley, Eric Edmundson, and their families have made on behalf of this country, and I think we stand here, on the eve of Memorial Day, proud of the efforts we are taking to build upon the benefits that they so desperately need, and I encourage my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 6047.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman and the ranking member for their endorsement of this critical piece of legislation.

Mr. Speaker, the men and women who served and sacrificed for our Nation deserve the best healthcare that our country can offer, and they certainly shouldn't have to wait weeks or longer just to find out if they can make an appointment to see a doctor.

This is an issue that has plagued the VA healthcare system for decades. The good news is that the VA community care program is helping us turn things around by allowing veterans to receive medical services from local healthcare providers outside of the traditional VA hospitals and clinics right in their own communities closer to home. But the system is far from perfect.

Veterans across the country will tell you that community care appointments can be harder to schedule and too often are not even offered as an option.

This has led to longer wait times, farther drives to appointments, and greater inconvenience.

I personally experienced this myself when trying to get scheduled for a routine audiology appointment. I got called by a VA scheduler, then they had to call a number of providers, then they called me back, and when they actually set the appointment, it was on a date that I was here in Washington and not back home in Michigan. I had to reschedule the entire thing and start all over again.

Obviously, this isn't what we want for any of our veterans, and that is why I urge my colleagues to support my Veterans Community Care Scheduling Improvement Act, the bill before us today.

This bill would permanently require VA facilities to use a single digital interface called the External Provider Scheduling system to finally allow VA staff to simultaneously view all available appointments at both VA facilities and those participating in the community care program. It would all be in one centralized interface.

The VA has already rolled this out nationwide through internal process as we were working on this bill, and the results speak for themselves.

VA employees today can now book as many as 25 appointments each day compared to just a small handful through the manual process they were following before.

My legislation simply makes this positive change permanent by requiring the VA to keep this simplified, streamlined system in place beyond the pilot program they have today. Ensuring this progress is not undone by a future administration will give our veterans the access and certainty that they have earned.

It may sound simple, but the least we can do for those who served is make sure they can get a doctor's appointment when they need it.

I thank Congresswoman Budzinski for working with me on this important legislation to support our Nation's heroes, and I thank Chairman Bost and the full committee for bringing it to the floor.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes.''