H.R. 530, ACES Act; H.R. 1286, Simplifying Forms for Veterans Claims Act; H.R. 1578, Veterans Claims Education Act of 2025; H.R. 2201, Improving VA Training for Military Sexual Trauma Claims Act; H.R. 2303, Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney Retention and Backlog Reduction Act; and HR. 647, Ensuring Veterans’ Final Resting Place Act of 2025
House Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs
2025-04-09
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Source: Congress.gov
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Transcript
good morning everyone today we are considering six bills several of which i will be asking unanimous consent to consider on block all these bills were considered at legislative hearings in the subcommittee in accordance with committee rules the subcommittee has contacted the congressional budget office seeking informal preliminary cost estimates for each of these bills being considered today these preliminary scores are only a range of potential costs none of these bills today include the offsets that would be necessary to move the bills forward through full committee. Finding offsets ensure that we keep our fiscal house absolutely in order. If we cannot find these offsets for these bills, we will not be able to consider them in the full committee markup. I look forward to working with Ranking Member McGarvey and other members of this subcommittee to find reasonable offsets for these bills. I now recognize the distinguished ranking member for any opening remarks you may have. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Chairman Luttrell, I truly appreciate you holding this markup today and working through the legislation that's intended to help our veterans, the families, and survivors
I also really appreciate the bipartisan nature of this committee and of the work we do to help our veterans here, so thank you. We have several bills that tackle a range of issues. These bills address burial rights and benefits, military sexual trauma training, aviator cancers, form simplification, claim sharks, and the ever-present VA claims backlog. I'm particularly excited to delve deeper into my bill, H.R. 2303, the Board of Veterans Appeals Attorney Retention and Backlog Reduction Act. I need to get a better name for that one, I think, yeah. As we recently discussed, my bill would authorize the Board of Veterans Appeals to create non-supervisory staff attorney positions at the GS-15 level. Right now, that backlog is causing long wait times and delaying critical decisions that our veterans urgently need. This bill is a solid step toward solving that problem by making sure the most experienced attorneys stay at the Board of Veterans Appeals. I think our veterans are worth us investing in this effort and getting them through the limbo of claims processing and decision-making. So I hope this bill is worthy to move forward so we get veterans their earned benefits without delay. I also look forward to advancing H.R. 647, the Ensuring Veterans Final Resting Place Act of 2025, H.R. 1344, the Denison-Lewis-Christopher-Lucey Act to ensure the best benefit delivery at the end of a veteran's life. I'm also eager to move forward H.R. 2201, the Improving VA Training for Military Sexual Trauma Claims Act. Claims of this nature are especially sensitive and require a different approach so as not to re-traumatize a veteran who survived terrible abuse. This bill has broad support in the VSO community and I hope we pass it here today. So Mr. Chairman, again, I thank you so much for working with us on these issues and look forward to getting these bills out of the committee. Thank you, Mr. McGarvey. I now ask unanimous consent to consider on block the following bills that do not have amendments. H.R. 530, the ACES Act, H.R. 1286, the Simplifying Forms for the Veterans Claims Act, H.R. 1578, the Veterans Claims Education Act of 2025, and H.R. 2303, the Board of Veterans Appeals Attorney Retention and Blockage Reduction Act.
The clerk shall report the bills. hr 530 to provide for a study bills were circulated in advance pursuant to the committee rules i asked the reading of the bills be dispensed with and the bills be open to amendment at any point without objections so ordered i recognize myself for a moment to say that these bills would provide comprehensive medical research needed to compensate military pilots and air crew for cancers caused by radiation chemical exposures and service simplify the forms that veterans and survivors must complete to access their earned benefits educate veterans on about how they may receive assistance at no cost when they navigate the VA claims process and help improve attorney retention at the VA Board of Appeals, Veterans' Appeals.
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