December 14, 2011 Update on VA hospital efforts
What is happening with Congressman's Henry Cuellar's HB 1318? He filed this bill and it was sent to the House Veterans Affairs Committee, where it was send to the House sub-committee on Veteans Health. In June 2011, Cuellar attached his bill to the Military and Veterans Affairs and other related agencies Appropriation Bill-HB 2055 inJune of this year. He claimed that it would bring us closer to getting a Full Service Medical Center for the valley. That bill passed the House with a 411-5 vote and was sent to the Senate. HB 1318 calls for an expansion the Harlingen VA Surgical Center to a Full Service Medical Center House Report 112-94 (accompanying HR 2055, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2012).
The House Committee Report included the following language regarding the attachment:
Health care center expansions- Recognizing the lack of accessible VA services in many regions of the country, the Committee urges the Secretary to include in the VA Strategic Capital Improvement Plan the expansion of existing VA health care centers to include in-patient accommodations, urgent care services, and the full range of services required by women veterans when the absence of such services locally requires veterans to make round trips of more than five hours to access such services at a VA facility.
The Senate also passed 2055 and Congress agreed to send it to the President for his consideration on December 8, 2011. However, the final vote did not include anything on the amendment filed by Cuellar. At this time, we do not know if indeed HB 1318 as attached by Cuellar is part of the bill. The Appropriations bill is likely to become law.
Veterans need to call Cuellar's office and ask him or his staff what happened to his attached bill. Call now before it is send to the POTUS. With the holidays fastly approaching there might not be any new filings, but there is still time in case HB 1318 was not part of the bill.
The House Committee Report included the following language regarding the attachment:
Health care center expansions- Recognizing the lack of accessible VA services in many regions of the country, the Committee urges the Secretary to include in the VA Strategic Capital Improvement Plan the expansion of existing VA health care centers to include in-patient accommodations, urgent care services, and the full range of services required by women veterans when the absence of such services locally requires veterans to make round trips of more than five hours to access such services at a VA facility.
The Senate also passed 2055 and Congress agreed to send it to the President for his consideration on December 8, 2011. However, the final vote did not include anything on the amendment filed by Cuellar. At this time, we do not know if indeed HB 1318 as attached by Cuellar is part of the bill. The Appropriations bill is likely to become law.
Veterans need to call Cuellar's office and ask him or his staff what happened to his attached bill. Call now before it is send to the POTUS. With the holidays fastly approaching there might not be any new filings, but there is still time in case HB 1318 was not part of the bill.
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