Rep. Kind Votes to Make Sure Improvements at Tomah VA Continue

La Crosse, WI – Today, U.S. Rep. Ron Kind voted for legislation to make sure that the Department of Veterans Affairs has the funding necessary to provide veterans with quality care, increase access to crisis services, and provide additional transparency and accountability.

“Our men and women in uniform serve with honor, and they deserve the best we can offer. Unfortunately, as we saw first-hand at the Tomah VA last year, they do not always receive the quality care and services they deserve.

“The passage of today’s legislation to fund the VA will move us one step closer to making sure we keep our promises to our veterans. I was pleased to see that they included language to look into alternative pain management practices, make sure those suffering from an addiction to pain medication aren’t waiting an excessive amount of time to get treatment, and that Inspector General Reports are publically available within 30 days of completion,” said Rep. Kind. 

Rep. Kind has been a strong advocate for making sure the problems at the Tomah VA never happen again. Last week, the House passed his legislation, the Jason Simcakoski PROMISE Act, which would address over prescription of pain medicine in the VA and help families have a voice in the care their loved ones are receiving. Additionally, provisions of his Inspectors General Transparency Act of 2015 have passed into law.