WASHINGTON – Thursday, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed an amendment (#356) to the Budget Resolution (S. Con. Res. 11) authored by U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) that makes clear the Senate’s strong support for requiring the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to implement the Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act of 2014 (the Choice Act) as Congress intended. By passing Amendment #356 by a vote of 100 to 0, the Senate has called on the VA to provide veterans access to non-VA health care when the nearest VA medical facility within 40 miles drive time from a veteran’s home is incapable of offering the care sought by the veteran. The VA is currently forcing thousands of veterans to choose between traveling hours to a VA medical facility, paying out of pocket, or going without care altogether.

The amendment passed by the Senate today mirrors Sen. Moran’s Veterans Access to Community Care Act of 2015 (S. 207), legislation cosponsored by a bipartisan group of 18 Senators. Sen. Moran is hopeful that the strong support conveyed by the Senate’s passage of his budget amendment will encourage a passage of S. 207 out of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and a vote on the Senate Floor.

S. 207 has been endorsed by numerous veterans’ organizations including the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, AMVETS, Vietnam Veterans of America and the National Guard Association of the United States as well as the National Rural Health Association.

Sen. Moran spoke on the Senate floor prior to the vote on Amendment #356, describing the ongoing problem veterans’ face accessing the care they were promised through the Choice Act because the VA is not considering whether the VA facility within 40 miles of where a veteran lives actually offers the care a veteran needs.