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 jeop-
ardize 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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•HRES 701 IH 
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 fre-
quent 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 re-
search 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 pro-
viders, 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 com-
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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 vet-
erans 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 Af-
fairs 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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