Roe Praises Committee Work, Encourages More Action to Address Key Proposals

Statement

Today, Rep. Phil Roe, M.D. (R-Tenn.), the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, released the following statement after the Committee reported five bills to the House floor, including a bipartisan, bicameral package to prevent veteran suicide:

"I am grateful that the Committee could come together today to solidify the deal between me, Chairman Takano, and Chairman Moran and Ranking Member Tester of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee to prevent veteran suicide by sending S. 785, the Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act, and H.R. 8247, the Veterans' COMPACT Act, to the House Floor next week," said Ranking Member Roe. "The Committee also took action to improve transparency at VA, strengthen the oversight of the VA Inspector General, extend employment protections to National Guard members on State active duty orders, and streamline the pathway from early detection to successful treatment of prostate cancer. However, there is still more work to be done. It is past time for us to consider the worthy proposals that have been put forth by Minority Members of this Committee to ensure that the hallowed grounds of VA cemeteries remained unscathed, to protect veterans Second Amendment rights, and to safeguard veterans' children in VA childcare facilities. These should be commonsense issues for the Veterans' Affairs Committee and I hope that we can finally act on them in the 20 legislative days that are left in the 116th Congress."

The following bills were passed out of Committee today:

* H.R. 6092, The Veterans' Prostate Cancer Treatment and Research Act
* H.R. 8247, The Veterans' COMPACT Act
- Which includes H.R. 2435, the Accelerating Veterans Recovery Outdoors Act
* H.R. 7163, The VA FOIA Reform Act of 2020
* H.R. 7785, To extend certain employment and reemployment rights to members of the National Guard who perform State active duty.

Source