Congressman Dennis Cardoza
18th Congressional District of California

 

Additionally, the bill – HR 2721 – would mandate that the VA maintain an easy-to-navigate website describing all of the benefits available to veterans. The VA already has a website which contains some, but not all, of this information. Among other things, the website would describe how family members could receive a copy of the CD-ROM.

 

Mr. Cardoza was prompted to introduce the bill following a meeting with his Veterans Advisory Committee last year. During the meeting, several veterans complained about difficulty in navigating the VA bureaucracy and understanding the benefits that they were eligible for. 

 

Congressman Cardoza’s testimony as prepared for delivery is below.

 

 

 

Madam Chair and Members of the Subcommittee,

 

Thank you for inviting me here today to testify on an issue that I’m sure we will all agree will make life just a little bit easier for our nation’s veterans.

 

We continue to owe a debt of gratitude to our brave servicemen and women for their sacrifices to support and defend our great nation. This Congress is working tirelessly to ensure our veterans are afforded the honorable treatment and benefits that they deserve. But beyond providing benefits for our brave servicemen and women when they return home, we must ensure our veterans are actually receiving the benefits they have earned.

 

In meeting with veterans throughout my district, time and time again I have heard about the difficulty of navigating the Veterans Administration bureaucracy, and I have heard about cases of incomplete or untimely submission of paperwork. However, I have also heard too many times that veterans simply are unaware of the benefits they are eligible for.

 

In several instances, veterans have told me that upon being discharged and returning to the U.S., they must sit through a transitional process meeting explaining some of their benefits programs immediately upon exiting the plane. Madam Chair, I’m sure you will agree that after fighting for our country and being away from loved ones for months at a time, that the last thing on our troops’ minds is their benefits. They are tired from the battlefield. They are tired from an exhausting flight. They are longing to see their families and put their arms around a mother, a father, a wife, a husband, a daughter, or a son. This process meeting may be the only time some veterans hear about their benefits and more often than not this is a missed opportunity. There is a time and a place for this meeting to occur; when families and loved ones are waiting beyond the gates, that certainly is not the time.

 

Others have told me that in their briefings with a VA representative, they only have five minutes, with dozens of other veterans awaiting their five-minute briefing. The veterans receive incomplete information, they are handed a few pamphlets, they feel rushed, and they are unable to ask any questions because of the time constraints. I respectfully ask the Subcommittee to consider for a moment how in the world can anyone explain all of the available benefits to which a veteran is entitled in five minutes—let alone answer any questions he or she may have.

 

Our nation’s veterans, many readjusting to civilian life after returning from combat, deserve the best treatment and care available. They are entitled to all the benefits they have earned. The last thing veterans deserve is to be given incomplete information or the run-around by governmental red tape.

 

Madam Chair, my bill, H.R. 2721, is quite simple. It would require the Secretary of the VA to issue comprehensive CD-ROMs to returning veterans that clearly explain the benefits to which they are entitled. The CD would inform returning veterans and their families in plain English about how to access and navigate the VA so they know about all the benefits they have earned, and how to go about receiving them.

 

This would provide a one-stop source for veterans where they can simply pop a CD into their computer whenever they wish to look up information so no benefit slips through the bureaucratic cracks. I understand that the VA currently outlines some information on their website; this information is not comprehensive. My bill also requires full, complete, and updated information to be provided on the VA website. However, a CD is still necessary and would benefit districts like mine with large rural areas where access to the Internet may not always be reliable.

 

This bill only fixes the process, not the symptoms, and is just one small step in the right direction to ensure our veterans who served so honorably receive the benefits they have earned. But I believe that if we fix the broken informational process, we are going a long way toward solving the benefits problem. Our veterans should be able to depend on our country, just as our country depended on them, and I believe that giving troops the informational tools they need to ensure they receive their well-deserved benefits is the least we can do on behalf of a grateful nation.

 

Thank you again for allowing me to be here, and I would be happy to answer any questions you may have.