Cortez Masto, Blumenthal, Democratic Colleagues Introduce Sweeping Veterans Bill to Reform and Improve VA Health Care

Senators' Honor Act will strengthen VA's ability to recruit high quality employees, make major investments in aging facilities, and ensure veterans receive quality care at VA and in the community.

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and nine of their Senate Democratic colleagues introduced sweeping legislation to improve health care for veterans. The Honor Our Promise to Veterans (Honor) Act would invest in the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) aging infrastructure, augment the VA's ability to recruit high-quality health care employees, and improve the standards of care veterans receive.

"America's veterans deserve the highest standard of care, and I'm proud to join this commonsense legislation to deliver just that," said Senator Cortez Masto. "This bill will make it easier to upgrade old infrastructure and help the VA recruit the highest quality candidates. Together, we can undertake real VA reforms that make a meaningful difference for our veterans."

The Senators' legislation would implement critical policy reforms based on feedback from veterans, Veterans Service Organizations, labor representatives, VA employees, the Government Accountability Office, and VA's Office of Inspector General. It is the most comprehensive legislation to reform VA health care since the MISSION Act, which became law in 2018.

Among its many provisions, the Honor Act would:

Improve care at VA and in the community for veterans:

• Improves scheduling of appointments for veterans by establishing specific timing requirements;
• Increases transparency around access to care for veterans by requiring publicly accessible information on available providers and wait times for both VA and the community;
• Designates certain qualified community care providers as informed on military sexual trauma (MST), to ensure MST survivors can make informed choices about their care;
• Roots out community care providers who have felony convictions or have been investigated for or confirmed for providing poor care from VA's list of authorized providers; and
• Ensures community care providers are held accountable for meeting the training and quality standards required of VA providers.

Reform VA's hiring process to ensure the Department can recruit and retain employees:

• Reforms VA's hiring process by establishing commonsense processes and requirements to speed up the current extremely long hiring timeline to fill critical vacancies at VA;
• Requires VA to establish staffing models for each service and program in the Department to provide veterans and Congress more transparency on the staffing needed for facilities;
• Allows VA to waive certain pay limitations or increase incentive pay to help recruit and retain high-quality in demand health care positions at the Department;
• Modernizes VA's telework policy by making it the default for all positions that do not require employees to be onsite; and
• Makes it easier for VA to hire psychologists, a position facing severe staffing shortages at the Department, and for them to earn higher pay.

Strengthen VA infrastructure to increase the Department's capacity to serve veterans:

• Authorizes approximately $10 billion a year over ten years to tackle VA's infrastructure needs for modern medical facilities, renovations, and cemeteries;
• Allows VA to expedite purchase of land for medical facilities, which will speed up the delivery of new facilities;
• Develops relevant plans and infrastructure workforce hiring strategies to accomplish new facility projects and provide Congress performance data for enhanced oversight;
• Examines infrastructure budgeting strategies and identifies what reforms are required, informed by industry best practices; and
• Provides annual budget requirements over a 10-year period allowing Congress and the Department to modernize VA's infrastructure through a strategic, comprehensive approach.

The Honor Act has received support from critical veteran advocates, including the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), Common Defense, Veterans Healthcare Policy Institute, Nurses Organization of Veterans Affairs, VoteVets, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE), American Academy of Physician Associates (AAPA), Veterans Affairs PA Association (AVAPAA), American Psychological Association (APA), Modern Military Association of America, and Minority Veterans of America.

The bills full text can be found here and a section by section can be found here.

Senator Cortez Masto is a consistent champion for Nevada's service members and veterans. Recently, she helped pass the National Defense Authorization Act, which included a 3.8 percent pay raise for veterans. Cortez Masto helped pass the PACT Act to ensure veterans suffering from toxic exposure in the line of duty get the medical care they need and has worked to support veterans exposed to toxins while serving at the Nevada Test and Training Range. Cortez Masto successfully pushed the Biden administration to approve a new veterans cemetery in Elko, Nevada, and has been continually pushing the VA for transparency in the timeline of its construction. She has fought back against the Navy Federal Credit Union for its disparate lending practices and for overcharging service members.

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