COVER Act
Latest action. Forwarded by subcommitteeA smaller panel inside a standing committee with jurisdiction over a slice of its subject matter. Most hearings and the first markup usually happen here.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) to Full Committee by voice voteA vote decided by which side sounds louder. No individual positions are recorded, so no member can be held to a position afterward.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) .
Creating Options for Veterans Expedited Recovery Act or the COVER Act
Establishes the Veterans Expedited Recovery Commission to examine the evidence-based therapy treatment model used by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for treating mental health conditions of veterans and the potential benefits of incorporating complementary alternative treatments available in non-VA facilities and study the potential increase in claims relating to mental health issues submitted by veterans who served in Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, or Operation New Dawn.
Directs the VA, upon a report by the Commission, to submit: (1) an action plan for implementing recommendations and a time frame for implementing complementary alternative treatments, or (2) a justification for any determination that a recommendation is not appropriate and an alternative solution to improve the efficacy of the therapy model.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on January 12, 2015. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on May 15, 2015: Forwarded by Subcommittee to Full Committee by Voice Vote .
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 114th Congress (2015-16), 329 of the 10,233 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.2 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) introduced it on January 12, 2015, and 31 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 13 Democrats, 18 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on January 12, 2015, 4259 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 4136 days ago, on May 15, 2015.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 114th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2017 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers