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Source: Congress.gov
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The committee will come to order. Good afternoon, everyone. The committee will, just so you know, I'm glad to be here today and consider my bill, H.R. 472, the Restore VA Accountability Act of 2025. Also, H.R. 1041, the Veterans Second Amendment Protection Act. H.R. 740, the Veterans Access Act of 2025. Now, we will also be discussing a discussion draft related to information the Secretary is allowed to transmit to the Department of Justice related to the Second Amendment issues. Finally, we will consider Ms. Ramirez's bill, the Student Veteran Benefit Restoration Act of 2025. Before I discuss the bills before us today, I would first like to welcome all of our witnesses who are here to testify on this legislation before us. We have discussed at length each of the issues these bills would address in multiple oversight hearings and through letters and traveled outside the beltway to listen to the men and women who work at VA and the veterans that they serve to fix these problems. Now, this is what each of these bills would do, is fix a significant problem that exists in the VA. Now, I'm sure the ranking member will suggest otherwise during his comments, and he is welcome to continue to disagree. I remain concerned by their rhetoric-based talking points and fear-mongering coming from our friends on the other side of the aisle. Despite this, I am focused on action on behalf of the millions of men and women who serve from my seat as chairman. That is what the American people elected us to do, and that is what the House Republican majority will deliver on.
None of the bills on today's agenda are new or should come to a shock to anyone. In fact, we marked two of them up last Congress. I should also point out that the ranking member voted for VA Accountability Act in 2017, along with the Mission Act of 2018, when they both passed with large bipartisan majorities. With that, I am proud to have introduced my bill, H.R. 472, the Restore VA Accountability Act of 2025, again this Congress. My bill would codify Congress's intent in 2017 to protect veterans' care and the taxpayers' investment by holding VA employees accountable. The Biden-Harris administration repeatedly protected employees who were accused of all kinds of misconduct, from disturbing sexual harassment to racism to senior executives incorrectly pocketing funds to poor patient care. Our investigation list was long and continues to grow, and holding people accountable who failed the veterans they are in charge of serving has taken far too long. Now, under President Trump's leadership, accountability is back at VA. Veterans not protecting bureaucrats is our mission once again. This means providing exponential services to veterans, essential services to veterans, by building a world-class workforce at the VA. The VA workforce is the second largest bureaucracy in the world. My legislation would protect those employees who come to work every day and do the right thing. And I am 100% confident that most VA employees want to do good work.
Time and time again, members on both sides of the aisle have heard from whistleblowers that bad employees continue to serve as a distraction from the mission. Right now, VA does not have the ability to hold these bad employees accountable. This has a direct impact on the delivery of services across VA. We must ask ourselves, If bad employees know they will not face consequences, then what is the incentive to correct the behavior? I am grateful to the over 15 organizations who support my bill, and I look forward to the discussion today. And I'm proud to also have introduced my bill, H.R. 1041, the Veterans Second Amendment Protection Act. My bill would prohibit VA from sending a veteran's name to the FBI's National Incident Criminal Background Check System unless a judge or a court decides that the person could be a danger to themselves or others. In some cases, VA will appoint a fiduciary to a veteran to help them manage their VA benefits and finances. The appointment of a fiduciary has nothing to do with somebody being dangerous. It is about the veteran's ability to manage their financial benefits. But the minute VA appoints a fiduciary, that veteran's name is automatically sent to next. In every other system, a person must be found to be a danger by a judge based on the evidence being reported to NICS. But our veterans are reported to NICS without the same due process as others who have not worn the uniform.
My message remains simple. VA should not be able to take away a veteran's Second Amendment rights without due process, simply because they need help managing their finances. Veterans should not be treated any different than every other American citizen. We know this practice creates a stigma around accessing veterans' critical VA care and services. It is time to stop it.
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