Debbie Lesko: “I am proud to come to the floor today to discuss an amendment to H.R. 840, the Veterans' Access to Child Care Act, that…”

“I am proud to come to the floor today to discuss an amendment to H.R. 840, the Veterans' Access to Child Care Act, that I have cosponsored with my colleague, Representative Susie Lee from Nevada. The Veterans' Access to Child Care Act will provide veterans who need to attend regular or intensive mental healthcare appointments with no- cost childcare during their appointments. Our amendment will make sure these childcare services are covered at our local VA clinics, such as the one in my district in Peoria, Arizona, along with the main VA facilities. No veteran seeking these types of mental health services should be left behind. It is our responsibility to ensure that, under this legislation, all our eligible veterans who need mental health services are able to go to a facility operated by the VA Department, even if it is located separately from the VA's general healthcare facility. My home State of Arizona is blessed to be home to so many of our Nation's veterans. In fact, I have 70,000 veterans in my district alone. However, it deeply troubles me that veteran suicide rates are 9 percentage points higher in Arizona than the national average. Expensive childcare should not hinder Arizona's returning veterans the ability to access needed mental healthcare or other prolonged service-connected disability care needs. We need to do everything we can do to help our Nation's greatest heroes. They risked it all for us.…”