Representing the Pentagon, Northern Virginia's large military presence, and the more than 12,600 military retirees in the 8th Congressional District of Virginia, Congressman Moran is a longstanding advocate for veterans, military retirees and their spouses. He believes that those who risk their lives protecting our country's national defense deserve the utmost respect and support from their government.
Throughout his service in Congress, Representative Moran has successfully advocated to expand health care options for military retirees. In 1995, Congressman Moran supported reforming the CHAMPUS into what veterans, active duty military and their dependents today refer to as TRICARE. Moran also supported the creation of TRICARE for Life, a health insurance option for retired service members 65 years of age and older, and their dependents. Finally, recognizing the tremendous service our Reserve forces have contributed since September 2011, Rep. Moran supported the creation of TRICARE Reserve Select in 2005.
The Congressman opposed the Bush Administration’s repeated efforts to charge, for the first time, annual enrollment fees for Tricare Standard, increased annual enrollment fees for Tricare Prime, as well as annual deductibles increases, instead favoring increases in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) budget to address the medical needs of our men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In 2007, he worked with his colleagues to secure the single largest increase in funding ($3.7 billion) in the history of the VA. In 2008, Moran supported a record-setting amount for the VA that will help reduce backlogs in veterans processing and care. In the 111th Congress, Moran supported $48.2 billion in advanced appropriations for the VA, a victory for our nation’s veterans and marking the first time in history that Congress had provided advance appropriations for the VA.
Congressman Moran is also a vocal proponent of "concurrent receipt" legislation to repeal restrictions on military retirees who are eligible to receive VA disability benefits and has cosponsored legislation to eliminate the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) penalty, or “widow tax,” for military retiree spouses also reserving Dependency and Indemnity Compensation.
As a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, Congressman Moran has directed millions in funding for medical research focused on combat injuries. In FY2011, Moran sought funding for the following three critical initiatives designed to benefit active duty and retired military personnel:
- Neuro-performance research: partnering with Virginia Tech University, the congressman has continued funding for neuro-performance research, which hopes to understand how a soldier’s mind performs under the most high-stress environments.
- Evaluation of Integrative Approaches to Resilience: the Congressman has sought continued funding for the Samueli Institute to evaluate the Department of Defense’s varying approaches to improving the resilience of the force throughout repeated deployments overseas.
- Our Military Kids Grants Program: Our Military Kids provides support to children of deployed National Guard and Reserve soldiers, and to the children of the severely injured, by providing grants for fees associated with sports, fine arts and after school tutoring.
In the 112th Congress, Rep. Moran has secured the following report language in HR 2055, the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2012:
- Broadening VA relationships with academia: The Committee encourages the VA to strengthen its partnership with the academic community by developing local or regional strategic alliances and joint ventures with academic medical centers to promote the delivery of comprehensive, cost-effective health care to veterans. Medical research, health professions training, and clinical care are all areas in which the VA would benefit from a synergistic relationship with its academic partners. The Blue Ribbon Panel on VA -Medical School Affiliations developed wide-ranging recommendations to broaden the VA’s partnership with the academic community, and the Committee urges the VA to move to adopt these recommendations.
- Report language addressing problem gambling in the VHA: The Committee recommends that VHA conduct a demonstration project to assess the extent of problem gambling among VHA patients, and subsequently to develop policy and planning for the assessment and treatment of problem gambling in VHA patients.
To locate the nearest VA facility or Vet Center for enrollment and to get scheduled for care, Veterans can visit VA’s website at www.va.gov. Immediate help is available at www.VeteransCrisisLine.net or by calling the Crisis Line at 1-800-273-8255 (push 1) or texting 838255.