WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congresswoman Jen Kiggans (VA-02), a member of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, joined her colleagues in introducing the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act, a comprehensive legislative package containing more than 60 bipartisan bills to modernize and improve the delivery of healthcare and benefits services at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). This package is designed to strengthen the resources and support available to veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors while expanding access to the care they’ve earned in service to our country.

The package includes Congresswoman Kiggans’ Representing Our Seniors at the VA Act, as well as several other provisions that the Congresswoman has supported. This includes legislation to expand veterans’ access to healthcare, improve disability benefits, support family caregivers, strengthen mental health services, and open up employment opportunities for transitioning servicemembers.

Congresswoman Kiggans said, “As a Navy veteran and Navy wife, I understand the sacrifices our servicemembers and their families make on a daily basis in defense of our country. We have an obligation to ensure that every veteran has timely access to the healthcare, benefits, and support services that they’ve earned through their service and sacrifice. The Take Care of America’s Veterans Act delivers on that promise by cutting through red tape, modernizing the VA, and supporting the caregivers and survivors who devote countless hours to administering care.”

“I’m also a Mom to a future veteran, and I want to ensure that the veterans of tomorrow are met with a VA system that delivers high-quality care and benefits when they enter the private sector. I’m proud to serve alongside my colleagues on the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, and this package reflects our commitment to putting America’s veterans first and delivering a care network that works for those it was intended to serve,” she concluded.

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

• 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,

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

• 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 Sargeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program ans 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.