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U.S. House passes two veterans’ bills

Source: Media release, office of Congresswoman Aumua Amata

Washington, DC — Congresswoman Aumua Amata, issued the following statement regarding the House passage of two veterans’ bills on Tuesday.

“I am encouraged that the first bills my colleagues in the House chose to address this Congress are these two Veterans’ bills, which will help improve the care our veterans receive, as well as provide accountability in the VA; when these bills were introduced in the 114th Congress, I was proud to support them out of committee. I want to thank our new Chairman, Phil Roe (TN) and my colleagues on the VA committee for all their work on these bills and for their dedication to our nation’s veterans,” stated Amata.

The House passed the following bills:

The Biological Implant Tracking and Veterans Safety Act directs the VA secretary to adopt the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) unique device identification system (UDI) for labeling of all biological implants and to implement an automated inventory system to ensure veterans do not receive expired or otherwise contaminated tissue. In January 2014, a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that the VA does not use a standardized process for tracking biological tissue from cadaver donor to living veteran recipient. In the event of a recall, it would often be impossible to track down which patient received contaminated tissue. The same GAO report detailed the Veterans Health Administration’s failure to consistently ensure they are purchasing tissue from biological implant vendors that have registered with the FDA.

The Ensuring VA Employee Accountability Act, introduced by Rep. Ryan Costello (R-PA), would require all reprimands and admonishments given to VA employees to remain in their file as long as they are employed by the Department. Under current policy, an admonishment and reprimand can only stay on an employee’s record for two and three years, respectively.

 “I look forward to working with the new administration and my colleagues on the Veterans Affairs Committee to ensure that our veterans’ in the territories, states, and particularly American Samoa receive the care and benefits that they have earned.”