WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congressman Andy Kim (NJ-03) announced the introduction of two bills to help veterans around Veterans Day. These two pieces of legislation would protect vets from payment errors by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and help state-run veteran cemeteries properly honor those who served our nation.

"Our veterans have sacrificed so much to protect us in service of our country; the least we can do is to fulfill the promises we made to them when they signed up to serve," said Congressman Kim. "These bills will keep our veterans from being unfairly targeted by debt collection agencies and help our state veterans agencies properly honor those who sacrificed for our nation. I am proud to work with Congressman Hill and Congressman Kahele on these important bills, and I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to pass these common-sense measures."

H.R. 5931, the VA Overpayment Accountability Act

This bipartisan legislation, introduced with Congressman French Hill (AR-02), would address overpayments to veterans due to changes in eligibility, antiquated VA technology, and internal communication errors between IT systems. Oftentimes, the VA attempts to recover these overpayments by withholding monthly benefit checks, which can be devastating for veterans living on fixed incomes. The bill would require the VA to remove errors from veterans' credit reports to repair any damage to their credit scores. It would also require the VA to improve the IT systems that cause these harmful overpayments.

"The VA has long suffered from payment errors that have placed a financial burden on central Arkansas veterans and their families at no fault of their own," said Congressman Hill. "I'm proud to introduce the bipartisan VA Overpayment Accountability Act alongside my friend, Rep. Andy Kim. This important bill will take a step toward addressing the longstanding payment errors at the VA, protect our veterans' hard-earned monthly benefit checks and credit scores, and ensure our veterans receive the financial and medical benefits they have rightfully earned in defense of our nation."

The full text of the bill can be found here, and a one-page summary can be found here.

H.R. 5930, the Protecting Our Veterans' Memories Act

The Protecting Our Veterans' Memories Act, introduced with Congressman Kaiali'i Kahele (HI-02), would provide state Departments of Veterans Affairs with partial reimbursement for costs associated with the funerals and burials of veterans' spouses and dependents in state veteran cemeteries. The federal government currently reimburses states for the costs associated with funeral and burial services for veterans but provides no support for burial costs for veterans' spouses and dependents. These additional funds would ensure that every state-run veteran cemetery would be able use their resources to focus on maintaining cemetery grounds to properly honor our veteran community.

"Many of our veterans could not have accomplished their military duty without the support of their family. I am proud to be an original cosponsor of the Protecting our Veterans' Memories Act to honor these contributions from our veterans' spouses and dependents by paying for the costs of veteran and family burials," said Congressman Kahele. "With eight State Veterans Cemeteries in Hawaiʻi, yet no federal National cemeteries in the second congressional district, this bill would help reimburse state Veterans' agencies for the costs associated with spouse and dependent burials at state-run Veteran cemeteries."

"There is no greater honor than to serve one's country, and to ensure a dignified resting place for our nation's heroes, their spouses, and dependents only begins to repay the debt of gratitude." said Terry Dearden from the New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (DMAVA).

Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) led the introduction of this legislation as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 (NDAA).

The full text of the bill can be found here, and a one-page summary can be found here.

Congressman Kim recently secured a $60 million state-of-the-art VA community clinic for Ocean County and passed bipartisan legislation through the House to honor Gold Star families by establishing a monument to honor the families of servicemembers who made the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of our country.

Congressman Kim is a member of the House Armed Services Committee, the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and the House Committee on Small Business. More information about Congressman Kim can be found on his website by clicking here.

Original source found here.