Rep. Calvert Votes to Support Our Veterans and Active-Duty Service-Members

Press Release

Late yesterday, Congressman Ken Calvert (CA-42) voted for the Fiscal Year 2015 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations bill, which was passed by the House of Representatives by a vote of 416 to 1.

"I am committed to providing our veterans and service-members with the benefits, services, and resources they deserve," said Rep. Calvert. "The constant delays and inefficient service our veterans receive from the VA is a national embarrassment. The bill passed by the House today makes it clear that funding is not the issue. The VA must take advantage of resources Congress continues to provide them and implement the modernizing technology and systems needed to eliminate the benefits backlog. At the end of the day, we must hold the VA's feet to the fire until meaningful reforms are made."

"The House has also provided critical funding necessary to maintain and improve the quality of life for active-duty service-members. Our military housing and medical facilities are relied upon by our military families on a daily basis and we must ensure that our installations meet their basic needs."

Highlights of the FY15 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Bill:

Boosting Veterans Programs

Fulfills our moral and legal obligations to our veterans, ensuring they have quality medical care, important job and training programs, and other benefits they have earned for their service.

Increases discretionary funding for veterans programs by $1.5 billion above last year, providing $64.7 billion total for our nation's veterans.

Supports VA medical services at $45 billion, allowing for 6.7 million patients to be treated in FY15.

Includes funding for mental health care, suicide prevention, traumatic brain injury treatment, homeless veteran programs, and rural health initiatives.

Provides a total $158.2 billion in discretionary and mandatory funding for VA, $10.3 billion above FY14.

Making Our Government Work Better for Vets

Continues efforts to end the disability claims processing backlog by providing $173 million for the paperless claims processing system.

Increases funding for digital scanning of health records, centralized mail, and overtime by $20 million to by the backlog by 2015.

Maintains strict reporting requirements that help track the performance of each regional office.

Demands the timely and accurate exchange of medical data between VA, DOD and the private sector to ensure veterans get the best medical care possible.

Contains $344 million for the modernization for the VA electronic health record system.

Holds VA and DOD accountable by restricting funding until the departments demonstrate progress on system's functionality and interoperability.

Increases oversight of taxpayer dollars at the VA by requiring reports on construction expenditures and savings, and forbidding changes in scope of construction projects.

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