Package includes Kiggans legislation to strengthen representation for aging veterans

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congresswoman Jen Kiggans (VA-02), a member of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, joined her colleagues in voting for H.R. 9237, the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act, which passed the House by voice. The bill is a comprehensive legislative package containing more than 60 bills to modernize the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), improve veterans’ access to health care and benefits, and strengthen the support system their caregivers, survivors, and families rely on every day.

Rep. Kiggans is an original co-sponsor of this legislation, and it includes her Representing Our Seniors at the VA Act, which strengthens the VA Geriatrics and Gerontology Advisory Committee by adding representatives from State Veterans Homes and long-term care facilities. The package also includes several provisions supported by Kiggans to expand veterans’ access to health care, improve disability benefits, support family caregivers, strengthen mental health services, and open up employment opportunities for transitioning servicemembers.

Congresswoman Kiggans said, “The Take Care of America’s Veterans Act takes meaningful steps to ensure our veterans receive access to the timely, high-quality benefits they deserve. From expanding access to mental health care services and preventative health evaluations to extending medical coverage for caregivers and benefits for severely disabled veterans, this package delivers for those who answered the call to serve.”

“I’m proud to stand with our servicemen and women, and I urge my colleagues in the Senate to support it,” she concluded.

A few provisions included in the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act would:

• End the wounded veteran tax by permitting eligible combat-injured veterans to concurrently receive their full military retirement pay alongside their VA disability compensation benefits through the Major Richard Star Act,

• Strengthen support for aging veterans through Kiggans’ Representing Our Seniors at the VA Act, which adds experts from State Veterans Homes and long-term care facilities to the VA Geriatrics and Gerontology Advisory Committee,

• Expand access to community care and increase transparency regarding healthcare options through the Veterans’ Access Act, 

• Increase benefits for catastrophically disabled veterans, survivors, and Gold Star Families while expanding VA home loan eligibility for certain Guard and Reserve members through the Sharri Briley and Eric Edmundson Veterans Benefits Expansion Act,

• Broaden access to mental health care and suicide prevention resources by extending funding to the Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program and community-based mental health initiatives,

• Improve research and care for veterans living with traumatic brain injuries by strengthening access to specialized treatment, including hyperbaric oxygen therapy,  through the Veterans National Traumatic Brain Injury Treatment Act,

• And empower veterans to find employment opportunities in STEM fields by expanding the VET TEC program as outlined in the Improving Emerging Tech Opportunities for Veterans Act.

Read the bill text here.

Read a one-pager here.  

The Take Care of America’s Veterans Act now moves to the Senate for consideration.