{"id":113266,"date":"2016-06-23T14:10:52","date_gmt":"2016-06-23T14:10:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2016\/06\/23\/senators-push-to-advance-sweeping-veterans-bill-before-july-4\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T12:57:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T12:57:48","slug":"senators-push-to-advance-sweeping-veterans-bill-before-july-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/veterans\/2016\/06\/23\/senators-push-to-advance-sweeping-veterans-bill-before-july-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Senators push to advance sweeping veterans bill before July 4"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>As House Democrats staged a <span class=\"rte rte-comment\">Wednesday <\/span>sit-in Wednesday to force their chamber\u2019s leaders to move on gun control legislation, on <span class=\"rte rte-comment\">a group of senators took to <\/span>the Senate floor there was\u00a0<span class=\"rte rte-comment\">in <\/span>an attempt to jump-start sweeping veterans legislation that has stalled<span class=\"rte rte-comment\"> behind the scenes by their colleagues<\/span>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Multiple members of the Senate Veterans&#8217; Affairs Committee spent nearly an hour in the late afternoon arguing the full chamber needs to quickly vote on the pending Veterans First Act, a massive veterans omnibus authored by committee chairman Johnny Isakson, R-Ga.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The measure contains a host of new accountability rules and a dramatic expansion of caregiver support programs, but has been slowed in recent weeks by unidentified<span class=\"rte rte-comment\"> named<\/span> senators. Isakson said he hopes to bring the measure to a full Senate vote in coming days, barring an objection from <span class=\"rte rte-comment\">any of <\/span>his colleagues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Three and a half weeks ago every member of our committee voted unanimously for the Veterans First bill,&#8221; Isakson said. &#8220;Why? Because it first of all hits the heart and strikes the point we all know needs to be struck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Our veterans, who have served us, fought for us, risked their lives for us, deserve the respect, the treatment, and benefits they were promised when they signed up for duty.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>The push has taken on new <span class=\"rte rte-comment\">extra <\/span>urgency in recent days after VA officials announced they will not enforce fast-track firing rules put in place by Congress in 2014. That announcement came after the\u00a0<span class=\"rte rte-comment\">because of Department of <\/span>Justice Department raised concerns about <span class=\"rte rte-comment\">the <\/span>constitutionality<span class=\"rte rte-comment\"> of appeals options<\/span>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Critics have blasted the VA&#8217;s <span class=\"rte rte-comment\">that <\/span>decision, and Isakson has argued that his measure offers\u00a0<span class=\"rte rte-comment\">is <\/span>the only realistic path for<span class=\"rte rte-comment\">ward to provide a<\/span> fixing\u00a0<span class=\"rte rte-comment\">to <\/span>the problem. House lawmakers have offered separate accountability legislation, but VA officials this week endorsed Isakson\u2019s proposal, calling it <span class=\"rte rte-comment\">as <\/span>a better solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although less dramatic than the House sit-in, the Senate veterans bill debate interrupted unrelated work on a commerce appropriations measure. Committee ranking member Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said his colleagues need to move the measure ahead next week if they <span class=\"rte rte-comment\">realistically <\/span>hope to get a compromise bill through the House by the end of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;We are not talking about handouts, we are talking about something veterans have earned, and that we keep faith with them,&#8221; he said. &#8220;This measure is bipartisan. Nothing stands in its way. There is no reason that merits its being stopped or blocked.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>Isakson\u2019s bill has received <span class=\"rte rte-comment\">heavy <\/span>public criticism outside the Senate, from House members who say its firing authorities aren\u2019t strong enough and from veterans groups who dislike that it calls for cutting\u00a0<span class=\"rte rte-comment\">using cuts to <\/span>GI Bill housing stipends to pay for other program expansions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Isakson has said he sees the measure as a work in progress, and is anxious to get some version of the legislation over to the House to begin negotiations on a final omnibus agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After this week, the Senate has only 12 legislative days scheduled before an extended election-year summer break starting July 15. The House is not scheduled to return to work until July 5, and will start their two-month break the same day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Leo Shane III covers Congress, Veterans Affairs and the White House for Military Times. He can be reached at <\/em><em>lshane@militarytimes.com.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Opposite the House sit-in, senators took to the chamber floor in an effort to move stalled veterans legislation 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