Rep. Austin Scott: Military Construction & Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act

Your Washington – GA 8 – Desk

From Congressman Austin Scott:

Military Construction & Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act:

I have heard from many veterans in the Eighth Congressional District who experience months-long waiting periods for doctor visits or receive less-than-adequate care from the Veterans Administration (VA).  My district offices have assisted hundreds of veterans with backlogged cases.  This certainly is not every veteran’s experience, but one of these stories is one too many.  We can do better.  Our veterans deserve better.

I was happy to vote for H.R. 4486, the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act last week.  H.R. 4486 includes $47.6 million in military construction funding for Robins Air Force Base, boosts veterans benefits, and streamlines and reforms veterans services provided by the VA.

This act fulfills our moral and legal obligations to our veterans, ensuring they have quality medical care, important job and training programs, and other benefits they have earned for their service. It continues efforts to end the disability claims processing backlog by helping to transition to a paperless claims processing system. Further, the act demands the timely and accurate exchange of medical data between VA, Department of Defense, and the private sector to ensure our veterans receive the best medical care possible.

Our veterans, these brave men and women, put their lives on the line to defend the freedoms we enjoy today. It is time our government lives up to the promises made to them.