{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://web.archive.org/web/20140725005815/http://www.collins.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=e5737485-82f9-4fdb-ae86-b1a8bbc5129d", "Sens. Collins, King Request Floor Action on Veterans Affairs Funding Bill", "2014-07-18", "2014", "2014-07", "Republican", "House", "ME", "Susan Collins", "C001035", "web.archive.org", null, null, "legacy", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 Highlighting the important congressional responsibility for helping to reform the VA system, Senators Collins and King led a letter to Senate leadership urging them to bring the Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations bill to the floor.\u00a0 The bill was approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee, of which Senator Collins is a member, on May 22.\u00a0 The bill includes funding for, and a direction to continue, the services provided through the Access Received Closer to Home (ARCH) pilot program.\u00a0   \u00a0   ARCH is a pilot program that provides VA-covered health care services through contractual arrangements with non-VA care providers. The program, which is set to expire later this year, improves access for eligible veterans-especially those in rural areas-by connecting them to health care services closer to home.\u00a0   \u00a0   \u201cLike all Americans, we remain deeply troubled by the allegations of deception and mismanagement at numerous VA facilities, and we are committed to working together to ensure that our Veterans receive the care, benefits, and services that they have earned.\u00a0 The Senate Committee-passed FY 2015 MILCON/VA Appropriations bill includes a number of important provisions to help meet this goal,\u201d the Senators said.\u00a0 \u201cIt is crucial that this legislation, including an extension of ARCH, be signed into law before the end of the current fiscal year.\u201d   \u00a0   \u00a0   The text of the Senators\u2019 letter is below:   \u00a0 \u00a0   \u00a0   Dear Senators Reid, McConnell, Mikulski, and Shelby:   \u00a0   We urge you to bring the Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs (MILCON/VA) Appropriations bill to the floor as soon as possible so that it can be passed, reconciled with the House-passed bill, and signed into law by the President before the end of the fiscal year.\u00a0 Given the acute need to improve the provision of care, services, and benefits for our Veterans, it is imperative that we avoid funding the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) under a continuing resolution (CR).\u00a0 A CR, even one lasting only a short period of timeshort-term, could introduce harmful uncertainty into the VA budget process and delays in Veterans disability claims processing, major VA construction projects, and Departmental reforms needed to improve patient care, including updates to the VA medical scheduling system and VA-Department of Defense (DOD) medical record sharing systems.   \u00a0   Like all Americans, we remain deeply troubled by the allegations of deception and mismanagement at numerous VA facilities, and we are committed to working together to ensure that our Veterans receive the care, benefits, and services that they have earned.\u00a0 The Senate Committee-passed FY 2015 MILCON/VA Appropriations bill includes a number of important provisions to help meet this goal.\u00a0 For example, the bill would direct the VA\u2019s Office of Inspector General to conduct a nationwide audit of access to care and provide an additional $5 million to help with the increased workload.\u00a0 It would also fund the development of a fully interoperable joint VA-DOD electronic health record (HER) system to ease the transition from active-duty service, modernization of VA\u2019s HER system to improve efficiencies, and critical infrastructure investments to ensure that VA facilities can deliver the best health care services.\u00a0 A CR could jeopardize these and other important provisions.\u00a0   \u00a0   Another measure that could be put at risk under a CR is the Access Received Closer to Home (ARCH) pilot program, which provides VA-covered care through non-VA providers at rural sites in five states: Arizona, Kansas, Maine, Montana, and Virginia.\u00a0 This program, due to expire at the end of this fiscal year, would be extended by the Committee-passed bill under existing authorities. We have heard from countless Veterans that ARCH has been an overwhelming success, helping to meet their primary and specialty care needs without the long travel day that can be required to reach the nearest VA Medical Center (VAMC).\u00a0 Particularly for ailing and elderly Veterans, travel to VAMCs can be more expensive, more time-consuming, and less safe than a trip to the local ARCH location.\u00a0 The ARCH program is also reducing the cost of mileage reimbursement for the VA.   \u00a0   As Congress continues to consider reform of the VA system to meet the needs of our Veterans, ARCH is a model to follow.\u00a0 It would be devastating to Veterans accessing care through the ARCH program if it were not continued.\u00a0 We strongly support Chairwoman Mikulski\u2019s and Vice Chairman Shelby\u2019s efforts to consider the appropriations bills under regular order and urge you to allow the full Senate to consider the FY 2015 MILCON/VA Appropriations bill as soon possible.\u00a0 It is crucial that this legislation, including an extension of ARCH, be signed into law before the end of the current fiscal year.   \u00a0\n# # #", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://web.archive.org/web/20140725005815/http://www.collins.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=e5737485-82f9-4fdb-ae86-b1a8bbc5129d"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.1977368742227554, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}