[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Pages 7810-7811]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           ACCESS TO COMMUNITY CARE FOR VETERANS ACT OF 2015

  Mr. MORAN. Mr. President, I wish to bring S. 1463 to the attention of 
my colleagues.
  The topic of the bill is one my colleagues have heard me speak about 
numerous times before in the Veterans' Affairs Committee, where I am a 
member. Just yesterday, I addressed this topic in the appropriations 
subcommittee markup of veterans and military construction, where I am a 
member and have many times on the Senate floor. The issue is the 
Department of Veterans Affairs and its interpretation of the CHOICE 
Act.
  My colleagues will remember we passed the CHOICE Act back in August 
of last year. The important provision for today's conversation is what 
that law says, which is, if a veteran lives more than 40 miles from a 
VA facility, the Department of Veterans Affairs must provide services, 
if the veteran chooses, at a location in his or her home community.
  Unfortunately, the Department of Veterans Affairs has interpreted it 
in a way that eliminates the opportunity for a veteran who happens to 
live within 40 miles of a facility from accessing

[[Page 7811]]

that care, even though that facility doesn't provide the service the 
veteran needs.
  S. 1463 corrects that problem. It indicates that the 40-mile rule 
applies only in the circumstance where a veterans facility provides the 
service the veteran needs. The Senate has previously voted on this 
provision. In fact, in our budget, it was adopted 100 to 0 on a 
rollcall vote.
  I think what I am presenting is something that is very 
noncontroversial. There is no fiscal consequence to the current 
spending. This is money that was appropriated in the CHOICE Act and 
should be something that can pass on a unanimous consent request, which 
I will make momentarily.
  The question may be why are you doing this? It is because it is 
important and needs to be corrected quickly. This bill, if adopted 
today by unanimous consent, will go to the House of Representatives 
where it can be considered.
  I also hope what happens here is that the Department of Veterans 
Affairs, which I believe can correct this problem on its own volition, 
will do so, and when they see the Senate pass this legislation, 
hopefully by unanimous consent, they will respond and solve this 
problem immediately.
  There is no reason this can't be done by the Department, and I will 
outline the explanation of why that is true by reading the CHOICE Act 
and by the report that confirms our position.
  Before I ask unanimous consent, I also wish to thank a number of my 
colleagues, but in particular I thank the chairman of the Veterans' 
Affairs Committee, who has worked side by side with me to make certain 
this legislation ultimately becomes law. In fact, the chairman and the 
ranking member, the Senator from Connecticut, Mr. Blumenthal, has 
committed to me that on every occasion, should the House not pass this 
bill--I will say it this way: Three options can occur. If we pass this 
by unanimous consent today, the House picks it up, passes it, sends it 
to the President, the President signs it, and that would be a great 
outcome. Secondly, we pass this bill, the Department of Veterans 
Affairs realizes they can do this on their own, and that would be a 
great outcome. Thirdly, if neither one of those things happens, the 
chairman has committed to me that he will work side by side with all of 
us on the Committee on Veterans' Affairs and with other Senators to 
make sure, at every opportunity, the language included in this bill is 
included in every bill related to veterans affairs that is on its way 
to the White House. The chairman will work with me to make sure this 
language is enacted into law.
  I ask, through the Chair, the Senator from Georgia, Mr. Isakson, if 
what I am indicating is accurate and have him explain his thoughts on 
this topic in the few moments we have.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Georgia.
  Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, responding through the Chair to the 
Senator from Kansas, his language is precisely the language that was 
introduced by the committee in the Senate, which we were going to send 
to the House, but it got lost in the negotiations on the extension of 
the authorization in the House. A technical difficulty is the only 
reason it wasn't already a part of it.
  I wholeheartedly endorse everything the Senator from Kansas said and 
pledge to him that if for some reason the House does not adopt the 
language, we will take it up immediately in the Senate when we have our 
next markup meeting in the Veterans' Affairs Committee and take care of 
it.
  I personally wish to acknowledge Senator Bennet and Senator Gardner 
for all the work they have done. We went to Colorado together to visit 
the VA hospital, which is the genesis of where this motion comes from. 
They have been champions for this, and I am glad we are reaching a 
resolution in the motion that will be made shortly to adopt the House 
position on the authorization. We will see to it that the hospital in 
Denver remains open until we can solve the problems we have in the 
Denver hospital.
  I thank the Senator from Kansas for his cooperation, and I commend 
him on his language. I confirm everything he said as being accurate, 
true, and correct.
  Mr. MORAN. Mr. President, I thank the chairman and very much 
appreciate his commitment to veterans. This is not about a specific 
piece of legislation, it is about keeping our commitment to those who 
served our country, always, every day but especially in advance of 
Memorial Day.
  Therefore, Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 1463, introduced earlier 
today.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 1463) to amend the Veterans Access, Choice, and 
     Accountability Act of 2014 to modify the distance requirement 
     for expanded availability of hospital care and medical 
     services for veterans through the use of agreements with non-
     Department of Veterans Affairs entities.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Mr. MORAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be 
read a third time and passed, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon 
the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The bill (S. 1463) was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading, 
was read the third time, and passed, as follows:

                                S. 1463

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Access to Community Care for 
     Veterans Act of 2015''.

     SEC. 2. MODIFICATION OF DISTANCE REQUIREMENT FOR EXPANDED 
                   AVAILABILITY OF HOSPITAL CARE AND MEDICAL 
                   SERVICES FOR VETERANS THROUGH THE USE OF 
                   AGREEMENTS WITH NON-DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS 
                   AFFAIRS ENTITIES.

       (a) In General.--Subparagraph (B) of section 101(b)(2) of 
     the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014 
     (Public Law 113-146; 38 U.S.C. 1701 note) is amended to read 
     as follows:
       ``(B) resides more than 40 miles (calculated based on 
     distance traveled) from a medical facility of the Department, 
     including a community-based outpatient clinic, that is the 
     closest such medical facility to the residence of the veteran 
     that is able to provide to the veteran the hospital care or 
     medical services that the veteran needs;''.
       (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) 
     shall take effect on the date that is 60 days after the date 
     of the enactment of this Act and shall apply with respect to 
     care and services provided under section 101 of the Veterans 
     Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014 (Public Law 
     113-146; 38 U.S.C. 1701 note) on and after such effective 
     date.
       (c) Emergency Designations.--
       (1) In general.--The amendment made by subsection (a) is 
     designated as an emergency requirement pursuant to section 
     4(g) of the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 (2 U.S.C. 
     933(g)).
       (2) Designation in senate.--In the Senate, the amendment 
     made by subsection (a) is designated as an emergency 
     requirement pursuant to section 403(a) of S. Con. Res. 13 
     (111th Congress), the concurrent resolution on the budget for 
     fiscal year 2010.
  Mr. MORAN. Mr. President, I yield the floor to the Senator from 
Colorado.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Colorado.

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