Brad Wenstrup: “I am humbled to follow Sam Johnson here at this podium. I have been in Congress 6 years, and to think that he spent 7…”

“I am humbled to follow Sam Johnson here at this podium. I have been in Congress 6 years, and to think that he spent 7 years incarcerated as a POW. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the VA MISSION Act. This legislation is about keeping our promises to those who safeguard our freedoms. As a member of the Army Reserve and a doctor in the Army, I am all too familiar with the challenges plaguing the VA today. In 2014, America witnessed the heartbreaking results of hidden VA wait lists, and Congress quickly responded with the Veterans Choice Program to ensure that no veteran was kept from care. Now, with the leadership of Chairman Roe, we are delivering a lasting solution to get our deserving veterans the care that they have earned and enacting real reforms for the VA to succeed in the 21st century. This bill will improve and streamline the VA's community care programs, those outside the walls of the VA, into one cohesive program and give a patient and their doctor more say in the process. This will create a nonpartisan, transparent process to review the VA's infrastructure assets, in line with the recommendation from the Commission on Care. This bill will expand the VA's post-9/11 caregiver program to all eras of veterans. The VA MISSION Act also includes my legislation, the VA Provider Equity Act, which aims to enhance the ability of the VA to recruit and retain in-demand surgical specialists, due, in part, to increased use of IEDs in the last decade of war. Mr.…”