By: Creighton S.C.R. No. 52
(In the Senate - Filed April 12, 2017; April 18, 2017, read
first time and referred to Committee on Veteran Affairs and Border
Security; May 1, 2017, reported adversely, with favorable
Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 6, Nays 0;
May 1, 2017, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.C.R. No. 52 By: Lucio
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is charged
with ensuring the health and well-being of the nation's veterans,
but in recent years, its failure to adequately perform its mission
has been the source of scandal; and
WHEREAS, In 2014, the United States Congress responded to
unconscionable delays and denials of care at VA facilities by
passing the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act, which
allows access to private medical care providers for veterans who
have been waiting more than 30 days for an appointment or who live
more than 40 miles from a VA facility; this law is set to expire in
2017; and
WHEREAS, By expanding the reforms of the Veterans Choice Act,
Congress can improve the VA system, broadening access to timely
health care while offering greater choice and flexibility to every
eligible veteran; experts have proposed allowing access to walk-in
clinics without preauthorization or copayment, expanding VA
pharmacy hours and telemedicine, and extending the Veterans Choice
Card program to permit all qualified veterans to see the doctor of
their choice; in addition, those who have studied the system
carefully encourage best-practices peer review for VA facilities;
and
WHEREAS, Our nation's veterans have made enormous sacrifices
to guarantee our freedoms, and although the nation can never fully
repay its debt of gratitude, it can and should ensure timely access
to the highest quality of medical care; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the 85th Legislature of the State of Texas
hereby respectfully urge the United States Congress to enact
legislation to ensure that all veterans receive in a timely manner
the level of medical care that they have earned and that they so
richly deserve; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of
Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the
members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that
this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a
memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.
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