Veterans Employment, Education, and Healthcare Improvement Act
Latest action. Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Veterans Employment, Education, and Healthcare Improvement Act
TITLE I--VETERANS HEALTH CARE
(Sec. 101) This bill includes podiatrists within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) definition of physician, and increases their pay grade to match other VA physician compensation.
(Sec. 102) The priority for enrollment in the VA health care system given to medal of honor recipients shall increase from third to first, regardless of the date on which the medal is awarded.
Medal of honor recipients shall be eligible for VA: (1) hospital, nursing home, and domiciliary care; (2) extended care services for non-service-connected disabilities, without having to make a copayment for such services; and (3) medications, without having to make a copayment for such medications.
(Sec. 103) The VA may provide the newborn child of a woman veteran receiving VA maternity care with post-delivery care services for at most 42 days (currently 7 days) after the child's birth if the veteran delivered the child in a VA facility or another facility with which VA has a contract for such services.
(Sec. 104) The Government Accountability Office (GAO) shall periodically audit elements of the Veterans Health Administration budget.
(Sec. 105) The VA shall: (1) conduct outreach to inform veterans of how to resolve credit issues caused by a delayed payment of a claim for emergency hospital care, medical services, or other emergency health care furnished through a non-VA provider; and (2) establish a toll-free telephone number for veterans to report such issues to the VA's Chief Business Office.
The GAO shall evaluate the effectiveness of the Chief Business Office in providing timely payment of a proper invoice for emergency hospital care, medical services, or other emergency health care furnished through non-VA providers by the required payment date.
(Sec. 106) The VA shall carry out a five-year pilot program to assess the effectiveness of addressing veterans' post-deployment mental health and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms through the therapeutic medium of educating those veterans in the training and handling of service dogs for veterans with disabilities.
The summary continues for 69 more paragraphs. Read it in full on Congress.gov
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Passed House amended" stage on February 9, 2016. 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 February 10, 2016: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
- 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?
Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) introduced it on July 9, 2015, and 15 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 6 Democrats, 9 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 July 9, 2015, 4081 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 3865 days ago, on February 10, 2016.
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