{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.isakson.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases?ContentRecord_id=3E4AFCFE-FA62-4D54-9AAF-7248E18CC0B3", "Isakson, Blumenthal Hail Senate Passage of Bipartisan Veterans Reform Package", "2016-12-10", "2016", "2016-12", "Republican", "House", "GA", "Johnny Isakson", "I000055", "www.isakson.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. Senators Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., chairman and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Veterans\u2019 Affairs, today applauded unanimous Senate passage of legislation to improve veterans\u2019 access to health care, disability benefits, education and homelessness assistance, among other important benefits for our nation\u2019s veterans.\r\n\u201cI am proud that the Senate has acted on this legislation to help our veterans,\u201d said Isakson. \u201cRegardless of political party, we are showing our veterans that we are on the same team when it comes to getting things right for them. With today\u2019s vote, we are demonstrating our commitment to ensuring that our veterans receive what was promised to them and their families. This legislation will improve veterans\u2019 access to health care and benefits and is an important down payment on the debt that we owe to the veterans of the United States of America.\u201d\r\n\u201cThis bipartisan, comprehensive legislation continues our progress toward leaving no veteran behind,\u201d Blumenthal said. \u201cWith 76 separate provisions, it is broad in scope and scale. Hiring more mental health counselors and emergency room doctors will mean more veterans receive quality healthcare. Expanding eligibility for homelessness prevention programs will provide critical support to veterans at risk of homelessness. Extending critical education benefits to surviving family members will further our promise of education. Beginning work to help descendants of veterans exposed to toxic substances will help heal the residual wounds of war. But on these issues and so many more, we are only taking another step in what must be a journey toward ensuring our veterans receive the benefits they need and deserve.\u201d\r\nThe Jeff Miller and Richard Blumenthal Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act of 2016 (H.R.6416) includes 76 bipartisan provisions that address a variety of areas in veterans\u2019 services that are in need of reforms or improvements. It incorporates language from a number of previously introduced House and Senate bills, including several provisions from the Veterans First Act, which unanimously passed the Senate Committee on Veterans\u2019 Affairs in May 2016.\r\nThe measure is named after retiring chairman of the House Veterans\u2019 Affairs Committee, Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., as well as outgoing Senate VA committee ranking member Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., in tribute to their years-long commitment to serving veterans in Congress.\r\nEarlier this week, Isakson delivered remarks on the Senate floor imploring \u201cmembers of the United States Senate to help us pass this down payment on the promise and the debt that we owe to the veterans of the United States of America.\u201d\r\nFollowing today\u2019s early morning Senate vote and a strong vote of 419-0 by the U.S. House on Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2016, the Jeff Miller and Richard Blumenthal Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act of 2016 now heads to the president\u2019s desk for his signature.\r\nSpecifically, H.R.6416 will:\r\n \r\nStreamline portions of the process for veterans, their families and their survivors to obtain disability compensation and benefits through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA);\r\nExpand the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims from seven to nine judges to help address the large backlog of veterans\u2019 appeals that may soon arrive at the court;\r\nMake changes to the VA\u2019s burial benefits and interment policies, including expanding eligibility for presidential memorial certificates to certain individuals who served in reserve units of the Armed Forces, among others;\r\nProvide a much-needed extension of education benefits for surviving spouses who lost a loved one on September 11, 2001, or during the early years of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq;\r\nImprove how the VA administers and approves education benefits for veterans and allow mobilized reservists to keep their GI Bill eligibility when a deployment interrupts their schooling;\r\nModify ownership requirements for small businesses participating in the VA contract assistance programs and require the Department of Labor to conduct a five-year study of job counseling, training, and placement service for veterans;\r\nMake improvements to the VA\u2019s health care services and benefits to include:\r\n\r\nEnsuring preventative health services for veterans include access to adult immunizations for veterans who wish to receive them;\r\nPrioritizing access to care for medal of honor recipients;\r\nEnsuring veterans who served in classified missions can access mental health care without disclosing classified information;\r\nRequiring the VA to submit an annual report to Congress regarding the provision of hospital care, medical services and nursing home care by the Veterans Health Administration;\r\nExpanding the qualification criteria to make it easier to hire qualified mental health care professionals;\r\nEnhancing research on the potential health effects from toxic exposures to veterans and their descendants.\r\n\r\n\r\nIncrease access to benefits for homeless veterans.\r\n \r\nA section-by-section summary of the H.R.6416 is available here.\r\n###\r\nThe Senate Committee on Veterans\u2019 Affairs is chaired by U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., in the 114th Congress.\r\nIsakson is a veteran himself \u2013 having served in the Georgia Air National Guard from 1966-1972 \u2013 and has been a member of the Senate VA Committee since he joined the Senate in 2005. Isakson\u2019s home state of Georgia is home to more than a dozen military installations representing each branch of the military as well as more than 750,000 veterans.", 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://www.isakson.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases?ContentRecord_id=3E4AFCFE-FA62-4D54-9AAF-7248E18CC0B3"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9496319107711315, "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"}