Legislative
More information about hearings, legislation, and other activities of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs
can be found on our award-winning Website: www.veterans.house.gov
United States Senators Rick Santorum
http://santorum.senate.gov
Philadelphia Office:
Counties: Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, Philadelphia
1 South Penn Square
Widener Building, Suite 960
Philadelphia, PA 19107
Tel: 215-864-6900
Fax: 215-864-6910
Washington, D.C. Office:
511 Dirksen Senate Office
Building
Washington, DC 20510
Tel: 202-224-6324
United States Senator Arlen Specter
http://specter.senate.gov/
Philadelphia
Office:
600 Arch Street
Suite 9400
Philadelphia, PA 19106
Tel: 215-597-7200
Fax: 215-597-0406
Washington
DC Office:
711 Hart Building
Washington, DC 20510
Tel: 202-224-4254
United States House of Representatives
Congressman Jim Gerlach
The 6th District of Pennsylvania
http://gerlach.house.gov/
Montgomery County Office:
580 Main St. Suite #4
Trappe, PA l9426
610.409.2780 tel
610.409.7988 fax
Washington DC Office:
308 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
202.225.4315 tel
202.225.8440 fax
United States House of Representatives
Congressman Charlie Dent
The 15th district of Pennsylvania
http://dent.house.gov/
Washington D.C. Office:
502 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
phone: 202-225-6411
fax: 202-226-0778
Montgomery/Berks County Office:
206 Main Street
East Greenville, PA 18041
phone: 215-541-4106
fax: 215-541-4109
State Representative Thomas Quigley
Montgomery County, 146th District
http://www.repquigley.com
Email: tquigley@pahousegop.com
District Office:
1963 East High
Street, Suite 100
Pottstown, PA 19464
Tel: 610-326-9563
Fax: 610-718-5787
Capitol Office:
51A East Wing
Tel: 717-772-9963
Fax: 717-772-2434
Staff: Lauren Pacella
Pennsylvania State Senator John Rafferty
44th District
http://www.senatorrafferty.com/
E-MAIL: jrafferty@pasen.gov
District
Office:
Collegeville
Professional Center
3770 Ridge Pike
Collegeville, PA 19426
Ph: 610-831-8830
FAX: 610-831-8837
Main Capitol
Office:
459 Main Capitol
Harrisburg, PA 17120
Ph: 717-787-1398
FAX: 717-783-4587
TTY: 800-364-1581
ACTION NEEDED TO MOVE
PA State Senate House Bill 1068
added 03/22/2006
House Committee on Veterans' Affairs Updated Hearing Schedule
March 2006
Subcommittee on Oversight
and Investigations
Oversight hearing regarding the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) FY 2007
information technology budget
DATE/TIME/PLACE: March 2
(Thursday), 10:00 a.m., 340 Cannon
Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity
Oversight hearing on the VA’s Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Service (VR&E)
contract services and its coordination with the Department of Labor’s Veterans’
Employment and Training Service (VETS)
DATE/TIME/PLACE:
March 9
(Thursday), 10:00 a.m., 334 Cannon
Full Committee
Oversight hearing on education
benefits for the total military force
DATE/TIME/PLACE: March 15
(Wednesday), 10:30 a.m., 334 Cannon
Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs
Oversight
hearing on the VA’s Fiscal Year 2007 budget request for the compensation and
pension business lines
DATE/TIME/PLACE: March 16
(Thursday), 2:00 p.m., 334 Cannon
HOUSE PASSES $70 BILLION IN VA FUNDING FOR FY 06
Washington, D.C. — Today, the house passed H.R. 2528, the Military Quality of Life and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2006, which appropriates $70.038 billon for the Department of Veterans Affairs. Most notably, over the last two years, funding for Veterans medical care has increased by 18%. For the first time ever, this bill allocates $2.2 billion solely for mental healthcare and doubles funding for mental health research.
“This increase in VA funding for 2006 will ensure a quality veterans healthcare system and help us improve the accuracy and responsiveness of the veterans' benefits system,” said Chairman Steve Buyer.
Buyer went on to note that, “this appropriations bill will improve VA IT programs by providing VA with a separate IT systems account, bringing greater accountability to their IT spending.” The bill includes recommendations that the VA initiate a new pilot program to provide a comprehensive restructuring of the complete revenue collections cycle and states that the VA provide quarterly progress reports to the Committees on Appropriations in both Houses of Congress.
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS FUNDING:
$36.995 billion mandatory
$31.818 billion discretionary
$1.225 billion contingent emergency funding for medical services
$70.038 billion TOTAL VA
*Including the recently passed COLA, total VA funding would be brought up to $70.249 billion.
Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Care and Benefits:
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Veterans Medical Services are funded at $22.5 billion, $575 million above the President’s budget request and $1.7 billion above FY05. VA also has available an additional $1.14 billion in available funding from FY 05 for carry over into the FY 06 funds. |
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Mental Health Services - for the first time ever, $2.2 billion is fenced for specialty mental health care and the bill doubles funding for mental health research. |
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This bill contains a new “Prosthetics and Integrative Health Care Initiative” to treat returning soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan who have lost limbs in combat. $412 million will provide for medical and prosthetic research, which is $19 million over the budget request. |
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For construction programs, the bill recommends the budget request levels of $607 million for major construction and $199 million for minor construction. Of these funds, $532 million of major construction and $155 million of minor construction are designated for the “Capital Asset Realignment for Enhanced Services” or CARES program. |
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Veteran’s Benefits are increased $1.9 billion over last year. |
Other highlights include:
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$1.2 billion for VA IT and IT restructuring. |
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An additional $40 million for VBA operation expenses to prevent staff reductions in processing disability claims benefits. |
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$85 million for state extended care facilities. |
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Creates 3 “Centers of Excellence” for Mental Health/PTSD medical care. |
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Requires VA to brief Congress on a quarterly basis on the status of their financial situation. |
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Requires the VA to maintain the current system of processing home monitoring devices for diabetes patients. |
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Fully funds all mental health care and PTSD requirements. |
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The
agreement encourages the VA to provide full assistance to veterans in rural
areas through information campaigns and distribution of VA benefits
handbooks.
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added 11/18/2005
The Pennsylvania Senate
Veterans Affairs & Emergency Preparedness Committee
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Majority
White, Donald, Chair
Lemmond , Charles |
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Minority Costa Jr., Jay, Minority Chair |
Members of the Pennsylvania Senate
(with E-mail Addresses)
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Name |
Party |
District # |
E-Mail Address
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R |
13 |
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D |
18 |
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R |
48 |
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R |
10 |
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R |
34 |
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D |
43 |
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R |
49 |
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R |
26 |
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D |
38 |
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|
D |
1 |
||
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R |
27 |
||
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R |
12 |
||
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D |
7 |
||
|
R |
30 |
||
|
D |
3 |
||
|
D |
47 |
||
|
R |
20 |
||
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D |
45 |
||
|
R |
23 |
||
|
D |
22 |
||
|
D |
14 |
||
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D |
11 |
||
|
R |
40 |
||
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R |
15 |
||
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R |
9 |
||
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R |
37 |
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R |
44 |
||
|
R |
39 |
||
|
R |
29 |
||
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R |
50 |
||
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R |
25 |
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D |
5 |
||
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D |
46 |
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D |
2 |
||
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R |
19 |
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R |
6 |
||
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R |
31 |
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R |
28 |
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R |
36 |
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R |
21 |
||
|
R |
41 |
||
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D |
8 |
||
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D |
17 |
||
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R |
24 |
||
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D |
35 |
The Pennsylvania House of Representatives
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Majority (Room 47 EW)
Semmel, Paul W., Chairman
Armstrong, Gibson C. |
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Minority (Room 332 MC)
Tigue, Thomas M., Chairman
Butkovitz, Alan L. |
Members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives
U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs
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Republican Staff |
Democratic Staff |
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Republican |
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Larry E. Craig, ID, Chairman |
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Democrat
Daniel K. Akaka, HI, Ranking Member
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Independent |
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U.S. House of Representatives
109th Congress - 2005
The House committee on Veterans' Affairs
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About the Committee: |
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The House Committee on Veterans' Affairs reviews veterans' programs, examines current laws,
and reports bills and amendments to strengthen existing laws concerning veterans and
the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), such as for health care, disability compensation,
GI bill education and job training, home loan guarantees, life insurance policies, and
a nationwide system of veterans' cemeteries.
Full Committee Member List
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Vacancy |
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Vacancy |
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Vacancy |
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Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs
Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs, which shall have legislative, oversight and investigative jurisdiction over compensation; general and special pensions of all the wars of the United States; life insurance issued by the Government on account of service in the Armed Forces; cemeteries of the United States in which veterans of any war or conflict are or may be buried, whether in the United States or abroad, except cemeteries administered by the Secretary of the Interior; burial benefits; the Board of Veterans’ Appeals; and the Court of Appeals for Veterans’ Claims.
Jerry Moran (KS)
Shelley Berkley (NV) Ranking Member
Jeb Bradley (NH) Vice Chairman
Tom Udall (NM)
Ginny Brown-Waite (FL)
Lane Evans (IL)
Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity
Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity, which shall have legislative, oversight and investigative jurisdiction over education of veterans, employment and training of veterans, vocational rehabilitation, veterans’ housing programs, readjustment of servicemembers to civilian life, and servicemembers civil relief.
Richard Baker (LA)
Stephanie Herseth (SD) Ranking Member
Ginny Brown-Waite (FL) Vice Chairwoman
Darlene Hooley (OR)
Lane Evans (IL)
Vacancy
The Subcommittee on Health has legislative and oversight jurisdiction for the Department of Veterans Affairs’ health care programs and VA’s health care system. In the past four years, VA has expanded the system to include over 600 health care facilities, including medical centers, nursing homes and hundreds of community-based outpatient clinics organized into service networks throughout the nation, now caring for an estimated 3.7 million veterans. VA’s health care budget is now in excess of $20 billion per year.
Recent hearings by the Subcommittee on Health have included matters such as health care sharing among VA and Army, Navy and Air Force facilities; the status of VA employment; patient safety and medical errors; VA research quality; and, adequacy of VA health care funding to meet specialized needs of veterans, among others.
In the 107th Congress, the Subcommittee intends to deal with VA mental health issues, implementation of recent legislation affecting VA health care, status of VA programs for Alzheimer’s and other brain diseases, status of VA health programs for women veterans; and other matters of concern to America’s veterans.
Henry Brown (SC) Chairman
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Cliff Stearns (FL) Vice Chairman |
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Richard Baker (LA) |
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Jerry Moran (KS) |
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Jeff Miller (FL) |
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Michael R. Turner (OH-03) |
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Michael Michaud (ME-2) Ranking Member |
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Bob Filner (CA) |
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Luis V. Gutierrez (IL) |
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Corrine Brown (FL) |
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Vic Snyder (AR) |
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Vacancy |
The Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations reviews the benefits and the health care services that the federal government provides to eligible veterans and family members. It also oversees the programs and operations of the Department of Veterans Affairs, as well as those of other federal agencies that pertain to veterans. In carrying out its responsibilities, the subcommittee conducts hearings, site visits and investigations nationwide. It also requests reports from the General Accounting Office, the Congressional Research Service and the VA's Office of the Inspector General. The subcommittee does not have legislative jurisdiction so that its resources can be solely dedicated to oversight activities
Mike Bilirakis (FL) Chairman
Terry Everett (AL) Vice Chairman
John Boozman (AR)
Ted Strickland (OH) Ranking Member
Silvestre Reyes (TX-16)
Vacancy
legislative links:
link to the United States House of Representatives, 109th Congress, Washington, D.C. 20515 www.house.gov web site
link to the Unites States Senate, 109th Congress, Washington D.C. 20510 www.senate.gov web site
link to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives www.house.state.pa.us/index.cfm web site
link to the Pennsylvania Senate http://www.pasen.gov/index.cfm web site
Click link below in red to e-Mail Post 244 with legislative questions:
Legislative@post244pa.org
