Young Oak Kim: “I thank the gentleman for yielding. Madam Speaker, I rise today because America's veterans deserve America's best. They…”

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. Madam Speaker, I rise today because America's veterans deserve America's best. They deserve the best healthcare and the best government service. I introduced this bipartisan VA Overpayment Accountability Act with Congressman French Hill, because sometimes our veterans do not receive the best. Through several programs, the Department of Veterans Affairs provides monthly payments to veterans and other beneficiaries. Because the VA often relies on outdated systems to provide those payments, those recipients sometimes receive overpayments at no fault of their own. When this happens, it is the veteran who pays a price. In order to compensate for their mistake, the VA will withhold payment from veterans. At a time in which 1.4 million veterans across the United States are struggling with poverty issues, withholding payment can have severe consequences for Americans who earned these benefits. Because there is no limit on how much the VA can ask a vet to repay and no limit on how far back it can go to collect the debt, these sums can impact the credit and financial stability of veterans. The VA Overpayment Accountability Act aims to fix these issues by improving the VA IT systems that are often the cause of these overpayments. It also provides credit protection for veterans who are the victims of overpayments and become targets of unfair practices.…”