The Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act (H.R. 3218)
Yesterday, the House Veterans’ Committee approved a significant expansion of education benefits for veterans through the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act (H.R. 3218). This bill would, among other things, ensure that surviving spouses and dependents of service members who died while serving on active duty are able to receive an education through the GI bill. This legislation also eliminates the 15 year deadline to use tuition assistance, which we know has been a key obstacle in veterans accessing their education benefits.
We also approved the Veteran Urgent Mental Healthcare Act (H.R. 918) that would expand the mental healthcare services we offer to veterans with other-than-honorable discharges. As originally drafted, H.R. 918 only offered initial emergency care to these veterans when in crisis. However, I was able to work closely with the bill’s sponsor — Rep. Mike Coffman (R-CO) — to amend the bill and guarantee these veterans are eligible to receive more comprehensive mental healthcare from the VA.
In the midst of a veteran suicide epidemic, it is critical that we provide the VA authority to offer veterans with so-called “bad paper” discharges the potentially lifesaving mental healthcare that they deserve. I am grateful to Rep. Coffman for his leadership on this issue and to Kris Goldsmith and Vietnam Veterans of America for their feedback.
This markup represents the first step toward turning this legislation into law. It is important that we now prioritize consideration of this bill on the House floor, in addition to the “Honor our Commitment Act” — legislation that I introduced with Rep. Mike Bost (R-IL) and Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) that would serve as a necessary complement to H.R. 918 and will ensure that no veteran is deprived of the mental healthcare benefits they have earned.
