Legislative Message
The CVSO Act passed out of the full House Committee on Veterans Affairs on 7/26/2023 with unanimous bipartisan support. What does this mean? It means that means that now the bill gets “ordered reported” to the full House of Representatives for an all members vote. Currently we do not see there being any substantial opposition when this vote happens. The one thing we want to ensure doesn’t happen is that this bill does not end up being dragged into another political argument while waiting for its full House vote. Unfortunately, this is commonplace in Congress today, good bills that have overwhelming individual support can get held hostage over another divisive bill or issue. To prevent this, we ask that you reach out to not only your own Congressional representative but also everyone of the representatives in your state to let them know we need their support for the CVSO Act, so we can then support our Nation’s veterans and lower the burden on VA. If everything goes well, I would anticipate a full House vote on the CVSO Act taking place this Fall.
The CVSO has also been voted out of Committee in the Senate and is still waiting for it’s day for a full Senate vote. You can also reach out to your State’s Senators and urge their support. Whether it passes the House or Senate first, makes no difference to NACVSO and our partner organizations. What does matter is that we get it completely through one chamber, which will help provide the final momentum we need to get it through the second.
There is another piece of legislation that NACVSO is supporting that was passed out of the full House Committee on 7/26/2023. That bill is H.R. 3933 the TAP Promotion Act. This bill would open the do legislatively what NACVSO and NASDVA have been attempting to do within the Agencies for years. That is to ensure that all transitioning members of the military get a briefing by a VSO on VA benefits that are available to them. This bill mandates that a nationally accredited VSO shall have up to one hour to discuss benefits and resources for applying for those benefits with separating military members. NASCVSO and NASDVA account together for the largest group of nationally accredited VSOs through our own accreditations and cross accreditations, which would make us well situated to fulfill this new legislation. Please reach out to your elected members of Congress on H.R. 3933 and let them know why it is important to have accredited VSO assistance/intervention early in the military separation process.
I have included a copy of H.R. 3933 for your review, a template letter urging your member of Congress to support the CVSO Act, and this link to locate the members of Congress from your state: https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member