Metro East Sun

Today, Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa), the Chairwoman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Health, delivered opening remarks at the start of the subcommittee’s legislative hearing on 16 bills aimed at enhancing healthcare and services for veterans.

"This legislative hearing of the Subcommittee on Health will now come to order," Miller-Meeks began. She welcomed members of the subcommittee and witnesses, anticipating a productive discussion on impactful veterans’ legislation.

Before proceeding with legislative matters, she requested a moment of silence to honor nearly 3,000 American lives lost in the September 11 attacks 23 years ago.

The session focused on sixteen bills designed to improve healthcare delivery for veterans. These include innovative solutions addressing various issues such as a pilot program to fill vacant shifts, reforms allowing VA authority to prescribe medicine, and a study examining the mental health crisis among veterans.

Miller-Meeks highlighted two specific bills she introduced: H.R. 9438, the No Wrong Door for Veterans Act, and H.R. 9478, Veterans SPORT Act.

H.R. 9438 seeks to reauthorize the Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program until 2028. The bill aims to enhance coordination between VA providers and grantees and standardize veteran intake processes. "This program is another avenue for veterans to receive mental health support," said Miller-Meeks.

Her second bill, H.R. 9478, would ensure access to adaptive limbs for amputee veterans by recognizing them as clinically necessary under existing law. "We must ensure that critically disabled veterans have the tools they need to live active lifestyles as they please," she stated.

Miller-Meeks expressed pride in introducing these bills and looked forward to discussing others on their agenda. She thanked witnesses and organizations that submitted statements for contributing to crafting impactful legislation addressing critical issues facing veterans.