U.S. SENATE – U.S. Senator Steve Daines today celebrated two of his bipartisan bills supporting Montana’s veterans being signed into law by President Trump. Daines’ bills, included in a broader veterans legislative package, will expand opportunities and programs for female veterans at the VA as well as help protect veterans pensions from being exploited.
“I’m glad the President has signed these important bipartisan veterans priorities into law that will expand opportunities and programs for female veterans at the VA and take steps to protect veterans pensions from being exploited,” Daines said.
More details on the Senator’s legislation below:
Deborah Sampson Act:
- Empowers women veterans by expanding group counseling for veterans and their family members and call centers for women veterans.
- Improves the quality of care for infant children of women veterans by increasing the number of days of maternity care VA facilities can provide.
- Eliminates barriers to care by increasing the number of gender-specific providers in VA facilities, training clinicians, and retrofitting VA facilities to enhance privacy and improve the environment of care for women veterans.
- Authorizes additional grants for organizations supporting low-income women veterans and increases resources for homeless women and their families.
- Improves the collection and analysis of data regarding women veterans, expands outreach by centralizing all information for women veterans in one easily accessible place on the VA website, and requires the VA to report on the availability of prosthetics made for women veterans.
FREE Veterans Act Provisions:
- Requires VA to plan to address the financial exploitation of veterans receiving pensions.
- Requires VA to identify and track overpayments to veterans receiving pensions.
- Annual report to Congress on VA’s efforts to address the financial exploitation of veterans receiving pensions.
- Notice regarding fees charged in connection with filing an application for veteran’s pension. Outreach plan for educating vulnerable veterans about potential financial exploitation relating to the receipt of pension.