10.16.19 • Press Release
Washington, D.C. - Today, the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs held a full Committee markup passing all six bills on the agenda and showing full commitment to improving veterans' lives by ensuring GI Bill benefits are protected from predatory for-profit schools, providing legal services for homeless veterans, addressing key high risk areas within VA, improving transparency, and protecting business opportunities for veterans. A full list of bills passed can be found below:
A.N.S. to
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10.15.19 • Press Release
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, the House of Representatives passed all four bills on the floor from the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs getting results for veterans by giving homeless veterans and their families the financial assistance they need, making VA's websites more accessible, and ensuring our veterans are remembered and memorialized with honor.
A full list of the four bills passed can be found below:
H.R. 95, (Rep. Brownley) To amend title 38, United States Code, to ensure that
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10.11.19 • Press Release
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, House Committee on Veterans' Affairs Chairman Mark Takano (CA-41) released the following statement after leading the Committee's Congressional Delegation to Hawaii, Guam, the Philippines, and the Northern Mariana Islands:
"For too long, veterans throughout US territories and the Pacific have been overlooked. Not only are these islands strategically important for our defense capabilities, but they have some of the highest rates of military participation in our
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10.01.19 • Press Release
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, Chairman Mark Takano (D-Calif.) and Ranking Member Dr. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.) challenged all Members of Congress to participate in the Library of Congress' Veterans History Project (VHP) before this year's Veterans Day (November 11, 2019). By asking Members to submit at least one of their veteran constituents' stories, the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs hopes to build up VHP's records and ensure these stories are heard.
"We can think of no better way to honor the
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09.30.19 • Press Release
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, House Committee on Veterans' Affairs Chairman Mark Takano (D-Cali.) is announcing a bipartisan congressional delegation, beginning October 1st through the 11th, to the Philippines, Guam, Northern Marianas Islands, American Samoa, and Hawaii.
On this trip, Members will have an opportunity to meet with VA and military leadership, VSO leaders, servicemembers, and veterans themselves to gain first-hand insight into how veterans and servicemembers who live outside of the
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09.26.19 • Press Release
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, House Committee on Veterans' Affairs Chairman Mark Takano (CA-41) toured the Washington D.C. VA Medical Center, met with VA leadership, and spoke with women veterans in an effort to address sexual assault and harassment on VA campuses.
Chairman Takano is continuing his call for action after Committee staffer and Senior Policy Advisor for the Women Veterans Task Force, Andrea Goldstein, experienced a sexual assault at the Washington D.C. VA last Friday. Disabled
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09.24.19 • Press Release
WASHINGTON, DC - Today, House Committee on Veterans' Affairs Chairman Mark Takano (D-Calif.) joined Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs Jon Tester (D-Mont.) in calling for the administration to start processing claims for eligible Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans. Video of the event can be found here. Below are remarks as prepared:
"In June, we celebrated a landmark achievement and passed the Blue Water Navy Act of 2019 to finally grant benefits to the tens of
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09.20.19 • Press Release
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, House Committee on Veterans' Affairs Chairman Mark Takano (CA-41) released the following statement after the Department of Veterans Affairs released their new data detailing suicide rates among veterans in 2017.
"As Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, I've made addressing veteran suicide my top priority-- but these numbers make it clear we're not doing enough. This new data reaffirms the urgent need for Americans to immediately act to address
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09.20.19 • Press Release
WASHINGTON, DC - Today, two years after Hurricane Maria devastated the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, House Committee on Veterans' Affairs Chairman Mark Takano (D-Calif.) continued to call on VA to strengthen disaster preparedness and emergency response efforts and guarantee that no veteran is left without a plan in the event of a natural disaster.
VA has a responsibility to ensure they care for the more than 90,000 veterans who live on these islands during a natural disaster. But in
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09.18.19 • Press Release
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, House Committee on Veterans' Affairs Chairman Mark Takano (CA-41) delivered opening remarks before the full committee oversight hearing entitled "How Barriers To Hiring At VA Affect Patient Care And Access." Additionally, the Committee reauthorized the Women Veterans Task Force chaired by Congresswoman Julia Brownley. Below is a link to the video of the Chairman's opening statement and his remarks as prepared:
Good afternoon. I call this hearing to order.
Today's
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09.13.19 • Press Release
WASHINGTON, D.C. - House Committee on Veterans' Affairs Chairman Mark Takano (D-CA) and Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs Ranking Member Jon Tester (D-MT) applauded this week's federal court ruling in Wolfe v. Wilkie, which found the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) unlawfully denied payment for hundreds of thousands of veterans whose other health insurance did not fully cover emergency care they received at non-VA facilities.
Chairman Takano and Ranking Member Tester today urged VA to
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09.11.19 • Press Release
WASHINGTON, DC - Today, House Committee on Veterans' Affairs Chairman Mark Takano (D-Calif.) joined volunteers at the 'Carry the Load' Day of Service at the Alexandria National Cemetery to thank those who spent the day remembering those we've lost since 9/11 by cleaning the cemetery headstones and grounds.
Full text of Chairman Takano's remarks below:
Good morning-- thank you for inviting me here this morning on this somber day.
First, I want to take a moment to recognize Colonel Danny
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09.10.19 • Press Release
WASHINGTON, DC - Today, House Committee on Veterans' Affairs Chairman Mark Takano (D-California) and Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations Chair Chris Pappas (D-New Hampshire) announced a subcommittee hearing this fall to address credentialing, privileging, and reporting after troubling allegations of incidents at VA facilities in Arkansas and West Virginia.
"The shocking reports from West Virginia and Arkansas call into question whether VA is equipped to identify clinicians who are
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09.10.19 • Press Release
WASHINGTON, DC - Today, House Committee on Veterans' Affairs Chairman Mark Takano (D-Calif.) released the following statement after the Department of Veterans' Affairs decided to break with the California State Approving Agency for Veterans Education (CSAAVE) tasked with looking for fraud, waste, and abuse at institutions that enroll student veterans.
"I am concerned by the Department of Veterans' Affairs decision to not offer a cooperative agreement with the California State Approving Agency
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09.01.19 • Press Release
WASHINGTON, DC - Today, House Committee on Veterans' Affairs Chairman Mark Takano (D-Calif.) released the following video statement to mark the beginning of National Suicide Prevention Awareness month and reiterate his call for a VA wide stand-down to address the crisis of veteran suicide.
Full text of the video statement below:
I am Congressman Mark Takano, Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Today marks the beginning of National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month-- and
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08.23.19 • Press Release
RIVERSIDE, CA - House Committee on Veterans' Affairs Chairman Mark Takano (D-Calif.) today issued the statement below following reports of multiple suspicious deaths at the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center in Clarksburg, West Virginia:
"To think that veterans may have been victims of cruel and evil criminal behavior is incredibly disturbing. If VA was aware, it must hold supervisors accountable for failing to protect veterans and must take decisive action now to prevent such appalling
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08.23.19 • Press Release
WASHINGTON, DC - Today, House Committee on Veterans' Affairs Chairman Mark Takano (D-Calif.) issued the following statement after the VA Office of Inspector General (IG) released a report on the tragic veteran suicide at the West Palm Beach VA Medical Center in March 2019.
"After 3 suicides on VA property in 5 days in April, I directed this Committee to address the national crisis of veteran suicide and made it this Committee's top priority. We took immediate steps, held hearings, and
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08.21.19 • Press Release
WASHINGTON, DC - Today, House Committee on Veterans' Affairs Chairman Mark Takano (D-Cali.) issued the following statement after President Trump announced a memorandum discharging the student debt of totally and permanently disabled veterans.
"Disabled veterans have given more than their fair share in service to our country-- they should be recognized for their sacrifice. While today's announcement is laudable, it is frustrating that the Administration and Secretary DeVos have dragged their
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08.12.19 • Press Release
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs Ranking Member Jon Tester (D-MT), House Committee on Veterans' Affairs Chairman Mark Takano (D-CA), Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs Member Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS), and House Committee on Veterans' Affairs Ranking Member Dr. Phil Roe led a bipartisan, bicameral letter to VA today following a damning report from the Office of Inspector General (OIG) outlining errors in VA's processing of non-VA emergency care claims. The OIG found
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07.24.19 • Press Release
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, House Committee on Veterans' Affairs Chairman Mark Takano (CA-41) delivered opening remarks before the full committee oversight hearing entitled "True Transparency? Assessing Wait Times Five Years after Phoenix" to address VA's "secret wait lists" on the fifth anniversary of an HVAC hearing on the Phoenix VA wait time scandal.
Below is a link to the video of the Chairman's opening statement and his remarks as prepared:
Good morning. I call this hearing to
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