03.02.22 • Press Release
WASHINGTON, D.C—Today, House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Mark Takano (D-Calif) delivered remarks on the House floor in support of his bipartisan bill, H.R. 3967, as amended, the Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2021 or Honoring our PACT Act. This follows Chairman Takano’s press conference earlier today with Speaker Pelosi, Members, advocates Jon Stewart and John Feal, and Veterans Service Organization (VSO)
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03.02.22 • Press Release
WASHINGTON, D.C—Today, House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Mark Takano (D-Calif) delivered remarks at a press conference with Speaker Pelosi, Members, advocates Jon Stewart and John Feal, and Veterans Service Organization (VSO) leaders to highlight the urgent need to pass Chairman Takano’s Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2021 or Honoring our PACT Act on the House floor this week.
Full video of Chairman
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03.01.22 • Press Release
WASHINGTON, D.C—Today, House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Mark Takano (D-Calif) made the following statement after Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Denis McDonough announced that VA will propose adding new presumptions for toxic-exposed veterans living with 9 rare respiratory cancers as a result of their service. Chairman Takano’s comprehensive Honoring our PACT Act includes these 9 conditions and will be considered on the House floor this
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02.28.22 • Press Release
WASHINGTON, D.C—Today, House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Mark Takano (D-Calif) delivered remarks at the Rules Committee Meeting on his bill, H.R. 3967, as amended, the Honoring Our Promise To Address Comprehensive Toxics Act or the Honoring our PACT Act that will be considered on the House floor this week. This legislation will finally recognize military toxic exposure—from contaminated water at military bases, airborne hazards from burn
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02.22.22 • Press Release
WASHINGTON, D.C. —Today, House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Mark Takano (D-Calif.) announced widespread Veteran Service Organization (VSO) support for the monumental Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2021 or the Honoring our PACT Act, which will come to a vote on the House floor when Congress is back in session next week. Leaders from the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. (VFW), Disabled American Veterans (DAV), The
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02.11.22 • Press Release
WASHINGTON, D.C— Today, House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Mark Takano (D-Calif) penned an op-ed published in The Hill detailing the urgent need to address toxic exposure as a cost of war and pass the Honoring our PACT Act. Chairman Takano has identified addressing toxic exposure as a top priority during the 117th Congress and his bipartisan Honoring Our PACT Act has the support of 9 VSOs and 77
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02.07.22 • Press Release
WASHINGTON., D.C.— House and Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee leaders Chairman Mark Takano (D-Calif.), Ranking Member Mike Bost (R-Ill.), Chairman Jon Tester (D-Mont.), and Ranking Member Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) issued statements today following an annual report from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on veterans homelessness data since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Each year, HUD releases
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02.02.22 • Press Release
WASHINGTON, D.C— Today, the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs held a Full Committee Markup and passed two bills for our nation’s veterans. This legislation will help the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) competitively recruit and retain high quality healthcare workers and provide VA with critical resources to support veterans’ mental health.
“Today we passed two bills through the Committee to support our
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01.21.22 • Press Release
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Mark Takano (D-CA), Chair of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, Congresswoman Jackie Speier (D-CA), Chair of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel; and Congressman Adam Smith (D-WA), Chair of the House Armed Services Committee sent letters to Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III and Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel & Readiness Gilbert R. Cisneros Jr. calling for historical and survey research
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01.20.22 • Press Release
WASHINGTON, D.C.— Today, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 4673, as amended, the Ensuring Veterans’ Smooth Transition, or EVEST Act with bipartisan support. By automatically enrolling eligible servicemembers in VA healthcare during their transition out of the military, the EVEST Act will simplify the transition process and take critical steps toward preventing veteran suicide. The EVEST Act has the support of Paralyzed
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01.20.22 • Press Release
WASHINGTON, D.C—Today, House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Mark Takano (D-Calif) delivered remarks on the House floor in support of his bill, H.R. 4673, as amended, the Ensuring Veterans’ Smooth Transition, or EVEST Act. This legislation will automatically enroll eligible servicemembers in VA healthcare during their transition out of the military.
See a video of the Chairman’s
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01.19.22 • Press Release
WASHINGTON, D.C.— Today, House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Mark Takano (D-Calif) released the following statement after the Committee’s roundtable on “The True Cost of our Promise to Toxic-Exposed Veterans.” Eleven Veterans Service Organizations (VSOs) and advocates Jon Stewart and John Feal joined the Committee for a productive discussion about the way forward on the bipartisan Honoring our PACT Act, which passed out of the
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01.19.22 • Press Release
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Mark Takano (D-Calif) and Ranking Member Mike Bost (R-Ill.) introduced H.R. 6411, the Supporting the Resilience of Our Nation’s Great Veterans Act of 2022 or the STRONG Veterans Act. This legislation gives the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) important new authorities and resources to support veterans’ mental health and well-being through increased
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01.13.22 • Press Release
WASHINGTON, D.C.— Today, House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Mark Takano (D-Calif) announced that the full Committee will host a roundtable on efforts to address toxic exposure next Wednesday, January 19 at 2:00 pm EST.
“It’s a new year, but I have not relented one bit on my promise to pass legislation to finally recognize toxic exposure as a cost of war this Congress. That’s why I’m grateful for the opportunity
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01.12.22 • Press Release
WASHINGTON, D.C.— Today, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 1836, as amended, the Guard and Reserve GI Bill Parity Act of 2021 introduced by Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity Chair Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.) with 287 bipartisan votes. The National Guard and Reserve has been utilized at unprecedented levels over the past two years to respond to crises around the country. However, these servicemembers do not accrue the same GI Bill benefits as their
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01.12.22 • Press Release
WASHINGTON, D.C—Today, House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Mark Takano (D-Calif) delivered remarks on the House floor in support of Rep. Levin’s bill, H.R. 1836, as amended, the Guard and Reserve GI Bill Parity Act of 2021. This legislation rectifies a disparity by ensuring that every day National Guard and Reserve members spend in uniform—including training days—counts toward vital GI Bill benefits.
See
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12.14.21 • Press Release
WASHINGTON, D.C.— Today, House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Mark Takano (D-Calif) met with Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Denis McDonough, and Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fl.) and Raul Ruiz, M.D. (D-Calif.) to discuss the urgent need to fulfill our promises to our nation’s veterans, talk about the path forward on recognizing toxic exposure as a cost of war, and pass the bipartisan Honoring our PACT
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12.09.21 • Press Release
Washington, D.C. – House and Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee leaders Chairman Mark Takano (D-Calif.), Ranking Member Mike Bost (R-Ill.), Chairman Jon Tester (D-Mont.), and Ranking Member Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) are pushing to increase the resiliency of Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) medical supply chain and make responsible use of taxpayer dollars. “We write to urge you to initiate an updated needs analysis and revised plan to properly align the
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12.08.21 • Press Release
WASHINGTON, D.C.- Today, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5545, as amended, the Responsible Education Mitigating Options and Technical Extensions Act or REMOTE Act introduced by Rep. David Trone (D-Mary.), Chairman Mark Takano (D-Calif.), and Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.). This legislation extends vital protections for student veterans secured by Chairman Takano's Student Veteran Coronavirus Response Act last year by extending remote learning waivers and ensuring that full housing
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11.25.21 • Press Release
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - Today, House Committee on Veterans' Affairs Chairman Mark Takano (D-Calif.), Representative Nancy Mace (R-SC), Representative Colin Allred (D-Tex.), Representative Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), and Representative Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) will visit Taiwan from November 25-26, 2021, as part of a larger visit to the Indo-Pacific region. The congressional delegation will meet with senior Taiwan leaders to discuss U.S.-Taiwan relations, regional security, and other significant
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