Full Committee Markup on Pending Legislation

Members who are logged in, turn on their cameras. Thank you, Dr. Rees. Thank you, Representative Slotkin. Thank you, Representative Pappas. Thank you, Representative Serpens-McCormick. Thank you, Mr. Sablan. Thank you, Mr. Gallego. We just need, we need five more. We need to get to 16. So we are at 11, we need five more members to either come into the room or log on. Look, I'm not quite a, thank you for joining us, Ms. Kaptur. We need three more members to either come into the room, committee room, or to log on. Thank you. Are the meeting platform hosts ready to begin? As soon as Mr. Sablan returns back to his camera, and Ms. Kaptur, Ms. Kaptur, Ms. Kaptur. There's a lot of idioms we could do with screen. So close. Hey. So close. Marcia is here. There she is, okay, here we go. Yes. Are the meeting platform hosts ready to begin? The platform hosts are ready to begin. Mr. Chairman, are you ready to begin the markup? I am. Please provide a five second countdown. Five, four, three, two, one. Good afternoon, I call this meeting to order. Quorum is present. Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare recess at any time. Pursuant to committee rule four, house rule 11, clause two, H4, the chair announces that he may postpone further proceedings today on the question of approving any measure or matter adopting an amendment on which a recorded vote or liaison is ordered. Committee procedures for remote hearings remain the same. If you are experiencing connectivity issues, please make sure you or your staff contact our designated technical support so those issues can be resolved immediately. If you wish to have a document inserted in the record, please ask for unanimous consent and have your staff email the document to veteransaffairs.hearings at mail.house.gov. Previously unfiled amendments should be submitted there as well. Does any member have a question about the procedures for today's meeting? Hearing none, we'll move on to the full committee markup. And I now recognize myself for an opening statement. Today, this committee is meeting to discuss two items, a house resolution of inquiry and a bipartisan bill to cut through bureaucratic tape that has previously prevented some veterans from accessing their earned clothing benefits. Our first bill on our agenda, the first bill on our agenda, the Mark O'Brien VA Clothing Allowance Improvement Act will improve the application and review process of VA clothing allowance claims submitted by veterans. Introduced by Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity, Mike Levin and Ranking Member Moore, this bill amends VA's existing clothing allowance program by enabling automatic payments to continue on a recurring basis until the veteran opts out of the program or is no longer eligible. This means that veterans no longer have to reapply each year for their earned benefit, their earned clothing benefits. As it currently stands, VA must provide a clothing allowance form to their local VA medical center annually, which can be an unnecessarily burdensome process, especially for veterans living with a condition that requires a device or medicine which damages their clothing. I want to thank Chairman Levin and Ranking Member Moore for their work on this bipartisan legislation that removes bureaucratic red tape and makes it easier for veterans to receive their earned benefits. Throughout the 117th Congress, this committee has been laser focused on strengthening the benefits and care veterans receive. This includes toppling existing hurdles where needed and preventing additional hurdles from going up. Second, we will consider a House Resolution of Inquiry to require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to transmit records related to wait times for veteran primary care, mental health, and specialty care appointments. It is my hope that members will be timely in their participation so that we may move expositionally through this markup as we have only two agenda items. With that, I now recognize the Ranking Member Boss for any remarks he may have. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm glad to be here today, this afternoon, and consider two pieces of legislation. Hopefully we can make good time with this markup. We have one bipartisan common sense bill and one Resolution of Inquiry. I will be supporting both proposals. I also want to repeat a major concern that I raised during our last markup in the Toxic Exposure Fund and the PACT Act is creating roadblocks to advance all sorts of our veterans' health care and benefits legislation to the floor. Because of the changes that were made by the Senate and the CBO must score any bill that touches the fund and with new mandatory costs. We simply do not have the offsets to deal with all of these mandatory costs. No one wanted this to happen, but CBO warned us before the PACT Act was enacted. And now this work, the work this committee does is restricted by it. Mr. Chairman, I wrote a letter yesterday about this to you. And I want to underscore how important it is that we get together with Chairman Tester and Ranking Member Moran to work out a solution. And we also need to work closely with Secretary McDonnell to better understand how VA will account and manage the fund. And I proposed a solution in September to amend the fund language back to the original House version. And I'm eager to hear anyone else's solutions. But the worst thing we can do is ignore it and kick the can down the road. We would be ignoring our responsibility to provide for all of the aspects of veterans care and benefits. And I find it unacceptable and I know you do too. With that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back. Well, thank you, Ranking Member Bass. I did receive your letter and I appreciate your desire to engage in talks regarding the Toxic Exposure Fund. It is an important issue, which is the long-term implications of the Cost of War Toxic Exposure Fund, or TEF, as it has become known as, created by the honoring our PACT Act. This fund is absolutely crucial to ensuring VA has the resources necessary to fully support our veterans and to deliver the new benefits available to them without having to sacrifice existing programs. And as I said in our previous markup, any potential change to this fund and how it operates must be considered very carefully and requires the inputs, not of just the four corners of the authorizing committees in the House and the Senate, but we also need to include appropriations and budget in the House and the Senate as well. Mind you, the intent of Congress in the PACT Act was to stop pitting veterans against seniors, children, and other Americans. It means not pitting toxically exposed veterans against other veterans. Congress has already spoken on this issue when it passed the PACT Act, legislation that many of you voted to support. We passed the PACT Act because toxic exposure is a cost of war and our country needs to pay for the healthcare and benefits these veterans earned. Nevertheless, the scoring issue is not a bar for us to consider the legislation before us today. The discussion of mandatory scoring can continue before any legislation is considered for the floor and we have more opportunity to engage legislative stakeholders and consider some solutions with CBO. And as I've said previously, any discussion of modification needs to happen in a fuller and more detailed conversation than we can have today. So I urge us to proceed with the consideration of the bills on the merits of the policy and continue the discussion of the cost of war fund until after this markup. So with that, I will thank you, Mr. Boss, and we'll move forward with the consideration of the bills on our agenda. So first on the agenda is H.R. 4772, the Mark O'Brien VA Clothing Allowance Improvement Act. The clerk will please designate the bill. H.R. 4772 to amend Title 38 United States Code. This act is circulated in advance pursuant to committee rules. Without objection, the first reading is dispensed with. I now recognize Mr. Levin for five minutes to discuss the bill. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for including my bipartisan legislation, the Mark O'Brien VA Clothing Allowance Improvement Act or H.R. 4772 in today's markup. Was proud to introduce this bill with my friend from Alabama, Barry Moore, to make it easier for disabled veterans to receive the VA clothing allowance they deserve. The VA clothing allowance provides veterans with funds to replace clothes that have been damaged by a device or medicine they need due to a service-connected condition. Currently, a veteran must reapply before August 1st each year to continue receiving this benefit, even if their claim is based on a lifelong condition such as a lost limb. For example, Marine Corporal Mark O'Brien was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade in Iraq in 2004 and lost his right arm and leg. He also suffered from a traumatic brain injury, which often causes him to forget to reapply for the clothing allowance. Our bill removes this onus from veterans like Mark by directing VA to continue paying the clothing allowance benefit on an automatically recurring annual basis until the veteran opts out or is no longer eligible, as determined by periodic VA reviews. The bottom line is that the Mark O'Brien VA Clothing Allowance Improvement Act cuts through red tape for veterans and improves access to the benefits they have earned. That's why it's supported by the VA, Wounded Warrior Project, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Disabled American Veterans, Paralyzed Veterans of America, Military Officers Association of America, Army Aviation Association of America, Blinded Veterans Association, Minority Veterans of America, U.S. Coast Guard Chief Petty Officers Association, and the Retired Enlisted Association. I urge my colleagues to join these groups in supporting HR 4772, and I yield back. Well, thank you, Chairman Levin. I speak in strong support of Representative Levin's HR 4772. As it stands today, the Secretary may pay an annual clothing allowance payment to a veteran with a service-connected disability that requires use of a prosthetic or orthopedic appliance, including a wheelchair, which the Secretary determines tends to wear out or tear the clothing of the veteran, or medication which A, the physician has prescribed for a skin condition, and B, the Secretary determines causes irreparable damage to the veteran's outer garments. The veterans who are entitled to a VA clothing allowance must reapply each year to receive the annual payment. This places the onus on veterans with what are, in most cases, permanent conditions to remember to reapply each year to receive the benefit they have already shown they are entitled to. Veterans must also remember to apply before August 1 or risk denial to an untimely application. Now, Mr. Levin's bill would change all that. It would amend current law to allow the VA clothing allowance to be an automatic annual payment subject to periodic review by VA to determine continued entitlement. It would no longer force veterans to reapply each year and instead requires VA to complete periodic reviews to determine continued entitlement on its own initiation. This would require notice to the veteran if entitlement were no longer shown. Approximately 40,000 veterans were approved for the clothing allowance benefit in fiscal year 2020 alone. This bill would ensure these veterans no longer have to reapply every year to maintain their benefit. And I encourage all my colleagues to join me in supporting Mr. Levin's beneficial and common sense legislation. Is there further debate or discussion on HR 4772, Ranking Member? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I support HR 4772 and appreciate Congressman Levin and Congressman Moore's leadership on this issue. HR 4772 would make improvements to the clothing allowance program. The clothing allowance was established to help veterans replace clothing that are damaged due to their service-connected disabilities. For example, certain prosthetics, deserve devices and medications can wear out clothing quickly. Under current law, veterans must reapply for that benefit each year. This process may be burdensome for veterans who have a condition that is not likely to change such as an amputation. HR 4772 would simplify this process for veterans. Under the bill, veterans would automatically receive their payments rather than having to reapply each year. These payments would reoccur unless the VA determines that the veteran is no longer eligible. Additionally, VA would be required to reevaluate the veteran's condition five years after the benefit is granted and periodically thereafter. VA would also be able to exempt veterans from these regular evaluations if the condition is not subject to change. I support this common sense changes which would reduce the need for veterans to attend unnecessary appointments. However, I would also note that the bill is not offset. The CBO estimates that the bill would cost about one million in mandatory spending. Although this may seem like a small cost, we still have a responsibility to offset the bills and comply with PAYGO rules. Mr. Chairman, if I can get your commitment that we identify some kind of offset before the bill moves to the House floor, I would appreciate it. Well, I do urge us to proceed with consideration of bills on the merits of the proposed policy as I said earlier, continue the discussion of the cost of war fund until after this markup. So we will continue the discussion about how we reconcile, you know, the cost of this bill with the CBO scoring methods. So I do think continue to advance legislation out of committee is the prudent thing to do as it leaves us well positioned to pass bills on the House floor once we get this issue resolved. And so look, we won't bring it to the floor unless we do get it resolved. And Mr. Chairman, this offset isn't affected by what I talked about earlier. This is just a normal process offset and that we have to meet. And I appreciate that, look forward working to try to get it cured before we call it on the floor. And I thank you and I yield back. Thank you. Are there any other members who wish to discuss or provide input into the bill on a discussion of the bill? If not, I recognize Ranking Member Bass for a motion. Mr. Chairman, I move that the committee report HR 3793 favorably to the floor for the House of, to the full House of Representatives. All those in favor will say aye. Aye. All those opposed will say no. The opinion chair of the ayes have it. Motion is agreed to without objection. The staff is authorized to make necessary technical and conforming changes in the committee amendments. Mr. Chairman. Ranking Member Bass. Pursuant to House Rule 11, Clause 2, I give notice of intent to file a minority or supplemental additional and or dissenting views on HR 4772. Without objection, so ordered. Committee will now proceed to the consideration of House Resolution 1379. The clerk will please designate the resolution. House Resolution 1379. Taxes circulate in advance pursuant to committee rules. Without objection, the first reading is dispensed with. And I now recognize Ranking Member Bass for five minutes to discuss the resolution. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I support your amendment in the nature of a substitute to HR 1379. Your ANS makes good corrections to Congress Gosar's ROI, which requests the president and the VA secretary to transmit certain documents to the House of Representatives regarding wait times for veterans to receive. Primary care, mental health care, and specifically care appointments at VA medical centers. Ensuring that the veteran can get the care they need when and where they need it should be the number one priority of the VA healthcare system every single day. There's nothing more important than that. And it can be quite literally a matter of life and death for veterans across the country. According to the VA's website, the average national wait time for a primary care appointment decreased from 16 days during fiscal year 2020 to 15 days during fiscal year 2021. In VA's defense, this number is dated and reflects a period when COVID protocols impacted access. However, the VA data fails to capture what happens when a veteran does not receive care within 15 days. A closer look reveals that some VA facilities have months long wait times for new patients or existing patients seeking specific care. Long wait times at VA medical centers and delays in an access care community are unacceptable. On April 7th, 2022, Inspector General Port further highlighted our concerns about the VA wait time calculations. Since 2014, VA has used several different methods, particularly using different start dates for calculating wait times, as well as for determining whether wait times criteria are met and if the veterans is established, eligible for community care. The methods vary in some instances from VHA's own scheduling directive and their stated wait time, measured and announced and federal registered in 2014. Over the past several years, efforts to improve wait times disclosures has been considered, but were eventually pushed to the side to address more urgent priorities according to the VA. We have to get to make it easier for veterans to understand when they can expect to see their doctors, both of VA and in the community. And in an extensive audit of the VA's practices may be exactly what's needed to finally force a level of transparency that is critical to the meeting the ultimate goal of getting veterans the best quality care when and where they need it. I am committed to doing exactly that and I urge my colleagues to support the ANS to HRES 1379. Thank you, Recorded Member Ross. Thank you. I now recognize myself to offer an amendment in the nature of a substitute. The clerk will designate the amendment in the nature of a substitute. Amendment in the nature of a substitute. The text was circulated in advance pursuant to committee rules. Without objection, the reading of the amendment is dispensed with and the substitute will be considered as original text for the purposes of amendment. I now recognize myself for five minutes to discuss the ANS. The resolution of inquiry before us today would require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to transmit records related to veterans' wait times for primary care, mental health, and specialty care appointments. We require VA to transmit within 14 days all documents, charts, tables, meeting notes, audio recordings, telephone, and email records, correspondence, and other communication related to wait times for veterans to receive care. This resolution really would present an unduly burdensome and pointless paperwork exercise for VA and ultimately reveal nothing that is not already known about VA's wait time calculations. Furthermore, Representative Gosar has presented no evidence to the committee justifying such a far-reaching record request. And it seems this resolution is more so a solution in search of a problem than a legitimate, reasonable request for information about veterans' wait times for medical and mental health care. Facility-specific data related to average wait times for appointments are already publicly available on VA's website and can be readily accessed by anyone at any time. Members of Congress and their staffs also have the option to submit requests for information for such data to VA. This committee takes its duty to conduct oversight of the activities of the Department of Veterans Affairs very seriously. Throughout the 117th Congress, this committee has routinely made requests for information from VA, which have been responded to with transparency. We and our Senate colleagues have also held hearings carefully examining veterans' access to care, where VA's methods for measuring appointment wait times have been closely scrutinized. Because of this ongoing oversight, along with the independent findings of the VA Office of Inspector General and Government Accountability Office, VA took steps recently to improve the transparency of the wait time data it publishes on its public website. VA measures wait times in different ways for different purposes, and VA's website now includes an extensive Frequently Asked Questions section that explains the differences in wait time calculation for community care eligibility versus publication on VA's website, along with the different start dates used for new versus established patients. This resolution of inquiry is wholly unnecessary and will only divert VA's attention away from the important work of improving the timeliness of healthcare for veterans. My colleagues across the aisle know that the wait time data are publicly available and accessible right now, and I do not believe this resolution of inquiry was submitted in good faith. Furthermore, the ranking member has the ability to request information on his own capacity, in his own capacity if he should choose, and I question the nature of this request coming from outside the committee. Every day we work with member offices on their questions and concerns about all manner of veterans' issues, so we always stand ready to assist with those issues. However, I have grave concerns about efforts to interfere with the committee's oversight work without specific reasons for doing so. The ranking member well knows that both the committee and Senate Veterans Affairs Committee are currently engaged in legislative discussions on this topic, and I think we should continue our attention on that rather than being distracted by this request. So without credible evidence that there is something worth investigating here, this resolution of inquiry is truly unwarranted. The resolution will have the effect of bogging down the administration with an extraordinary production request. This will only serve to slow down the good work of the Biden administration in caring for veterans. So I ask my colleagues to support my amendment in nature of substitute and support this resolution of inquiry, and to support reporting this resolution of inquiry to the House unfavorably. Is there any further debate on the amendment in nature of substitute to House Resolution 1379? Hearing none, if the question is now on the adoption of the amendment in the nature of a substitute, all those in favor will say aye. Aye. Aye. All those opposed will say no. In the opinion of the Chair, the ayes have it, and the amendment in nature of substitute is agreed to. The motion is considered laid on the table. The question is now on adopting the resolution as amended and ordered and reported unfavorably to the House. All those in favor will say aye. Aye. Aye. All those opposed will say no. In the opinion of the Chair, the ayes have it, and the resolution is amended. The adopted, the resolution is adopted and amended as and ordered unfavorably reported. The motion to reconsider is laid on the table. Mr. Chair. Yes. Pursuant to House Rule 11, Clause 2, I give notice of intent to file a minority and supplemental additional and or dissenting views on H. Res. 1379 as amended. Without objection, so ordered. This concludes the business of the markup. Does the ranking member or any member wish to be recognized before we adjourn? Ranking member. Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm grateful for the efforts of the members here today, and given the limited time left in the 117th Congress, I look forward to the House floor considering as soon as possible. However, I'm disappointed that Congressman Gosar's good faith resolution was not reported favorably. Mr. Chairman, is the Democrat conference not in favor of increasing transparency for VA regardless of who is in the White House to better inform our work? I trust that that is not the case. Finally, Mr. Chairman, I wanna give notice once again and ask for your renewed commitment to trying to work forward that we talked about earlier, the numerous bills that are pending in the U.S. Senate. We still do not seem to be any closer to passing an end-of-year package of important veterans bills that are out there, and our committee and the Senate VA Committee have been discussing this package for over a year, and the clock is ticking down pretty quickly. As you know, only passing bills out of this chamber does a great job of giving a press release, but it sure doesn't do much for the veterans that deserve to get it signed by the president and actually be enacted. The House has worked hard to advance multiple bipartisan pieces of legislation, and to have them expire this close to the finish line is a terrible thing, and the veterans expect us to get the job done, and I look forward to working with you and our colleagues on the other side of the aisle and on the other side of the Capitol to do exactly that before the end of this Congress. With that, I yield back. Well, thank you, Ranking Member. Let me just say that we have passed numerous bipartisan bills on the House, and my understanding is the sticking point was with the senator from Kansas, so I suggest if we, I hope as well that the Senate will act on these bills, and so I hope that you will join me in persuading the senator from Kansas that these bills move through the Senate, and I just wanna take note that we do, the VA has been, I think, incredibly transparent with its wait times, as well as, and I just wanna say, I did pick up on your comments that you think it's important that veterans also be able to have visibility and to wait times into the community, and I would ask you to join me in legislation which would do just that, that the veteran be able to see very clearly how long it will take to get an appointment at the VA and how long it will take an appointment to get care in the community. That, I think, makes a lot of sense. So any other member wish to weigh in before I bang the gavel? Thank you all for your attendance. This meeting is now adjourned.