On April 6, the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Health approved, by voice vote, several bills, including H.R. 91, the Building Supportive Networks for Women Veterans Act, H.R. 95, the Veterans’ Access to Child Care Act, and H.R. 907, the Newborn Care Improvement Act. The subcommittee held a hearing on these bills on March 29 (see The Source, 3/31/17).
Building Supportive Networks for Women Veterans
Sponsored by Rep. Julia Brownley (D-CA), H.R. 91 would make permanent a program to provide readjustment and reintegration services to women veterans recently separated from active duty.
Veterans’ Access to Child Care
Also sponsored by Rep. Brownley, the legislation would direct the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide child care assistance to eligible veterans for any period in which the veteran is receiving health care services at a VA facility.
The assistance may include a stipend for the cost of child care at a licensed center; on-site child care at a VA facility; payment directly to a child care agency; and collaboration with another federal department’s or agencies facility.
Newborn Care Improvement
The measure would extend the period during which the VA may provide health care services to a newborn child of a woman veteran who is receiving maternity care and/or post-delivery care services at a VA facility. Currently, the period is seven days; the bill, sponsored by Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA), would extend it to 42 days.
