House committee clears three Garbarino bills supporting U.S. veterans

The U.S. House Veterans’ Affairs Committee recently approved three bipartisan bills offered by U.S. Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-NY) that support America’s military veterans, advancing the measures to the U.S. House of Representatives for action.

“I am pleased that my bills were passed by the committee, and I will continue to push for critical reforms like those offered in this legislation on behalf of our veterans,” Rep. Garbarino said last week.

The committee during its July 19 business meeting and markup session approved the Fast Payments to Veteran Survivors Act of 2022, H.R. 8260, which Rep. Garbarino cosponsored on July 1 with bill sponsor U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas (D-NH) to shorten the timeframe for designation of benefits under U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) life insurance programs, and to improve the treatment of undisbursed life insurance benefits by the VA, according to the text of the bill. H.R. 8260 would direct the VA to strengthen its processes for identifying, locating and paying hard-to-find survivors and other beneficiaries following the death of a veteran, says Rep. Garbarino’s staff.

Also during that meeting, the committee approved the Strengthening VA Cybersecurity (SVAC) Act of 2022, H.R. 7299, which Rep. Garbarino cosponsored on March 30 with bill sponsor U.S. Rep. Frank Mrvan (D-IN). If enacted, H.R. 7299 would require that the VA enter into an agreement with a federally funded research and development center to provide a cybersecurity assessment of at least three, but no more than 10, high-impact VA information systems and the effectiveness of the VA’s information security program and information security management system. According to Rep. Garbarino’s office, the bill would help protect the aging veteran population from cyberthreats by educating them and defending against attacks from malicious actors.

Finally, the House Veterans Affairs’ Committee on July 19 also approved the Return Home to Housing Act, H.R. 5606, which would adjust the rate of per diem payments provided by the VA Secretary to grantees that provide services to homeless veterans, according to a bill summary provided by Rep. Garbarino’s staff. H.R. 5606, which was sponsored by U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams (D-GA) and cosponsored by Rep. Garbarino, would increase the reimbursement maximum from 115 percent to 200 percent to ensure providers in a majority of regions are adequately reimbursed for their costs of supplying transitional housing to homeless veterans, the summary says.

“Our veterans have made incredible sacrifices to protect this great nation, and it is a moral imperative to ensure they are taken care of when they return home,” said Rep. Garbarino. “These bills would expand and streamline veterans’ access to benefits and make sure that their personal information is protected from cyber criminals.”