[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 1503]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        AMERICAN HEROES COLA ACT

  (Ms. TITUS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. TITUS. Mr. Speaker, this afternoon, the House passed H.R. 677, 
the American Heroes COLA Act, legislation I introduced with Dr. Abraham 
from Louisiana. This legislation will ensure that veterans receive 
automatic cost-of-living increases annually based on the consumer price 
index.
  Unlike with Social Security, Congress must act each year to provide 
veterans with the COLA increases they need and deserve. Now, by 
permanently adjusting benefits to include cost-of-living increases, we 
are providing critical peace of mind to those who have so heroically 
served our country.
  Furthermore, this legislation includes two provisions to address the 
VA appeals problem, which currently has 440,000 claims backlogged. The 
first, authored by Congressman O'Rourke, creates a fully developed 
appeals pilot program. The second I introduced with Chairman Miller to 
create a task force to examine the appeals process and make 
recommendations for improvements before the situation gets worse.
  H.R. 677 and some of the other bills that we passed today take 
important steps towards ensuring that our veterans are able to get the 
benefits they have earned and deserve.

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