Veterans

Our country’s veterans have made the ultimate sacrifice by giving the best years of their lives in service to our nation. In return, we have an obligation to our service members to make good on the promises we’ve made to them.

That’s why Congressman Space will continue to fight in the Veterans’ Affairs Committee to fully fund veterans healthcare programs as well as eliminate the disabled veterans tax so that veterans can receive both military retired pay and veterans disability compensation.

• Healthier Heroes Act
  • Increase coordination between the Department of Defense and the VA to streamline the transition from active duty to veteran status
  • Expand PTSD medical coverage to any Iraq or Afghanistan veteran who needs it, regardless of the length of time he or she has been separated from service
  • Expand TRICARE benefits for caregivers of wounded warriors so that family members have access to the services necessary to care for their loved one(s)
  • Increase coverage under the Family and Medical Leave Act to 6 months for family members of wounded warriors so that families aren’t forced to choose between their jobs/income and the people they care most about.

• Veterans Emergency Care Fairness Act, which would ensure that veterans are not forced to pay out of pocket when receiving emergency care at a non-VA hospitals.  This legislation passed the House unanimously.
• Veterans Disability Fairness Act. This bill was in direct response to a report that ranked OH veterans dead last in average disability payments from the VA. Congressman Space believes that veterans in OH served just as honorably as veterans elsewhere, and he introduced this bill to address that. H.R. 5709:
  • Requires the VA to collect and monitor regional data on disability ratings.
  • Requires the VA Secretary to conduct reviews and audits of the rating system.
  • Requires the VA to submit an exhaustive report yearly to Congress to track the progress of the program.
  • Requires VA raters to take ownership of their ratings by assigning identification codes to all adjudications. The performance of specific raters will then be evaluated periodically for consistency and accuracy.

Our nation’s vets deserve the very best healthcare services, quality of life, and survivor benefits programs that we can give them, just as they were promised upon their commitment to defend our way of life.