WASHINGTON \u2014 House lawmakers will relaunch the debate into sweeping health care reforms within the Department of Veterans Affairs on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The hearing, anticipated by veterans groups for weeks, will include plans from VA leaders for the proposed Veterans Coordinated Access & Rewarding Experiences (Vets CARE) Act, which would ease rules concerning veterans seeking medical appointments outside the VA system at government expense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s a move that could potentially send tens of thousands of new veterans into the private sector for care, a prospect that has been hailed by conservative groups and expanding options for veterans but criticized by some Hill Democrats as a money grab for private-sector physicians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also this week, amid concerns from Senate Armed Services Committee lawmakers that they have not received enough information from Pentagon officials on overseas military operations, senators from that panel will hear from defense officials on a slate of current naval threats in a classified session.<\/p>\n\n\n\nTuesday, Oct. 24<\/strong> Defense and veterans hearings on Capitol Hill for the week of Oct. 23.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":67022,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":21,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,16,26,65,21],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3328],"class_list":["post-35997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress","category-veterans"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"ZGEIVMIVEJFYJKED4QRE4SHPXI","arc_canonical_url":"\/veterans\/2017\/10\/23\/this-week-in-congress-starting-debate-on-va-health-reforms\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n
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\nHouse Natural Resources \u2014 9:30 a.m. \u2014 Longworth 1324
\nPuerto Rico
\nCommittee officials will hear from federal officials on recovery efforts in Puerto Rico and challenges ahead.
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\nHouse Veterans\u2019 Affairs \u2014 10 a.m. \u2014 Cannon 334
\nVA health care reforms
\nThe committee will consider nine pending bills, including proposed reforms to the VA Choice program and related health care issues.
\n
\nHouse Homeland Security \u2014 2 p.m. \u2014 Visitors\u2019 Center H210
\nCyber security
\nThe subcommittee on cybersecurity will hear from outside experts on ways to better train federal workers on cyber security issues.
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\nWednesday, Oct. 25<\/strong>\n
\nSenate Armed Services \u2014 9:30 a.m. \u2014 Visitors\u2019 Center S217
\nClosed briefing
\nThe subcommittee on sea power will hear from Pentagon leaders on major threats facing naval forces.
\n
\nHouse Foreign Affairs \u2014 10 a.m. \u2014 Rayburn 2172
\nIran
\nThe subcommittee on the Middle East will hear from federal officials on the president\u2019s recent moves on the nuclear deal with Iran and the steps ahead.
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\nHouse Veterans\u2019 Affairs \u2014 10:30 a.m. \u2014 Cannon 334
\nVBA Overpayments
\nCommittee members will hear from VA officials on managing overpayments to veterans who receive disability compensation or pension benefits.
\n
\nHouse Veterans\u2019 Affairs \u2014 10:30 a.m. \u2014 Cannon 334
\nPending legislation
\nThe subcommittee on economic opportunity will discuss a series of pending bills.
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\nThursday, Oct. 26<\/strong>
\n
\nHouse Judiciary \u2014 9 a.m. \u2014 Rayburn 2141
\nRefugee admissions
\nThe subcommittee on immigration will hear from department officials on the current status of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program and potential reforms to the program.
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"