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A Florida congressman has announced measures designed to improve access, service and care for veterans.
Wounded Army Vet and District 18 Representative Brian Mast says the "Improving Access to Congressional Services Act" would expand a program that was previously run in the West Palm Beach and Orlando areas.
"Veterans, when they're getting their care at the VA facilities, they can do one-stop shopping. They wouldn't have to go somewhere else to meet with their member of Congress about anything, whether it's Social Security or VA or anything else."
The bill would order the VA to provide every member of Congress with office space at their local hospital so they're on-site when veterans need assistance.
Mast opened the first-ever Congressional office inside a VA facility in 2017 in West Palm Beach, and that spread to the Orlando VA Medical Center. The offices were shared by all area members of the U.S. House.
The Dept. of Veterans Affairs evicted the Congressional members however, but ultimately allowed them back in. That was just as the pandemic was taking over. Now, Mast says they're working on reopening the office.
When the offices were closed, the VA told Mast that it was because they needed the space for something else, but he has always questioned that.
"They do yeoman's work in so many different cases. But there are also times where things fall through the cracks and they don't want to have that day-to-day oversight of lighting a fire under their butt and that's exactly why it needs to exist."
Mast is also pushing a pilot program aimed at determining if VA Medical Centers could be run more efficiently under the command of a military officer.
A third piece of legislation he's filing is called "The Oath of Exit." Mast says that is specifically related to mental health and our service members coming home struggling with their worth. It would mean that vets make a commitment to those who they've served with that as they exit the military, they'll maintain a relationship with their "battle buddies."