IV 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 701 

Expressing support for policies that maintain a robust, fully funded and 

staffed Veterans Health Administration of the Department of Veterans 

Affairs and do not jeopardize care for veterans by moving essential 

resources to the for-profit private sector. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 14, 2019 

Mr. GRIJALVA (for himself, Mrs. KIRKPATRICK, Mr. POCAN, and Mr. 

TAKANO) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on 

Education and Labor, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 

Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 

the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing support for policies that maintain a robust, fully 

funded and staffed Veterans Health Administration of 

the Department of Veterans Affairs and do not jeopardize care for veterans by moving essential resources 

to the for-profit private sector. 

Whereas Congress has promoted policies to improve the 

health care capabilities of the Department of Veterans 

Affairs by providing significant increases in funds to hire 

staff, conduct research, build more facilities, and improve 

training; 


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Whereas the approximately 19,300,000 veterans of the 

United States are a diverse group of individuals including 

older veterans with diseases associated with aging and 

disabilities associated with past wars which require frequent care and younger veterans with complex conditions 

related to improved battlefield medical care, and as a 

group contain a higher percentage of seriously wounded 

individuals needing complex lifelong physical and mental 

health care, which differs greatly from the patient mix 

cared for by most non-VA providers; 

Whereas over 9,300,000 veterans are enrolled in the health 

care system of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and 

of this number 7,100,000 actually use the health care 

system for all or part of their care, which is an increase 

of 82 percent since 2001, showing massive, growing need 

for care furnished by the VA; 

Whereas the RAND Corporation examined a decade of research and found that VA-provided care is equal to or 

better quality than private sector care in all forty-seven 

quality-of-care measurements it conducted as part of an 

independent assessment comparing VA outpatient care 

with comparable civilian facilities; 

Whereas the RAND Corporation’s Ready to Serve national 

study found that compared to non-VA mental health providers, VA mental health providers were significantly 

more likely to deliver both culturally competent care, 

which is important for engaging veterans and increasing 

access to care, as well as evidenced-based care that yields 

clinically meaningful and significant improvement of 

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and major depression; 

Whereas the Department of Veterans Affairs is better 

equipped than most non-VA providers to coordinate comVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:42 Nov 15, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR701.IH HR701

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•HRES 701 IH 

plex veteran care and provide continuity of resources for 

veterans, yet an increasing number of veterans are being 

sent into the private sector each year, first pursuant to 

the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 

2014 (Public Law 113–146) and now pursuant to the VA 

MISSION Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–182); 

Whereas mental health services, including suicide prevention, 

are of paramount importance; 

Whereas the over 420,000 employees of the Department of 

Veterans Affairs are dedicated public servants; 

Whereas, according to a bipartisan survey by Lake Research 

and Chesapeake Beach Consulting, 80 percent of veterans polled oppose turning health care provided by the 

Department of Veterans Affairs into a system of private 

sector vouchers that may not adequately cover costs; 

Whereas a Veterans of Foreign Wars survey found that 92 

percent of veterans believe working to fix the VA, rather 

than dismantling it, is the best way to improve the care 

provided to America’s veterans; 

Whereas millions of dollars are being spent by organizations 

which value dismantling the Department of Veterans Affairs and outsourcing veteran care for private profit over 

investing in the Department; 

Whereas one of the top priorities should be the expansion of 

care for the more than 4,700,000 rural veterans by using 

rural clinics, VA mobile clinics, and telemedicine under 

the supervision of each veteran’s primary VA doctor; 

Whereas funding has not been increased sufficiently under 

the VA MISSION Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–182) for 

the Veteran Community Care Program that pays for the 

costs of providing veterans private health care at the 


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same time that the Administration is requesting inadequate funding for medical services at the Veterans 

Health Administration; 

Whereas the freedom of workers to organize unions is an 

internationally recognized human right, enshrined in the 

Universal Declaration of Human Rights; 

Whereas the right of Federal employees to form and join 

unions and to engage in collective bargaining was established by the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 (Public 

Law 95–454); 

Whereas 30 percent of workers at the VA are veterans themselves and as strong members of a union receive the good 

pay and benefits they deserve; 

Whereas it is vital to attract qualified individuals to fill workforce shortages within the VA system; 

Whereas, on May 25, 2018, President Trump issued Executive Orders that proposed damaging changes to unionizing and collective bargaining procedures including eliminating nearly all union and workers use of ‘‘official’’ time 

and eliminating reasonable due process rights; and 

Whereas unions provide many benefits to our democracy, 

economy, and working families, and a union worker receives on average 18 percent higher weekly wages than 

nonunion workers: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) supports policies to provide necessary re3 sources to serve veterans by maintaining a robust 

4 Veterans Health Administration; 


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1 (2) opposes policies that would jeopardize care 

2 for veterans by moving essential resources and vet3 erans away from the Veterans Health Administra4 tion and into the for-profit private sector; 

5 (3) supports policies that would create inte6 grated health care networks for veterans with the 

7 Veterans Health Administration serving as the coor8 dinator and primary provider of care, and selected 

9 high-quality non-VA partners providing care when 

10 and where needed to ensure timely and convenient 

11 access for all enrolled veterans, including those who 

12 reside in rural areas; 

13 (4) supports the right of all Americans to form, 

14 join, and operate independent labor unions at all 

15 government levels and in the private sector; and 

16 (5) opposes any efforts against unionizing and 

17 collective bargaining procedures. 

Æ 


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