Veterans and Family Information Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. TAKANO. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2093) to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to make all fact sheets of the Department of Veterans Affairs available in English, Spanish, and Tagalog, and other commonly spoken languages, and for other purposes.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 2093
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Veterans and Family Information Act''. SEC. 2. FACT SHEETS.
(a) Languages.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall make available versions of all fact sheets of the Department of Veterans Affairs in--
(1) English;
(2) Spanish;
(3) Tagalog; and
(4) each of the 10 most commonly spoken languages, other than English, in the United States that are not otherwise covered by paragraphs (2) and (3).
(b) Website.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall establish and maintain a publicly available website of the Department of Veterans Affairs that contains links to all fact sheets of the Veterans Benefits Administration, Veterans Health Administration, and of the National Cemetery Administration. The website shall be accessible by a clearly labeled hyperlink on the homepage of the Department.
(c) Report.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall submit a report to Congress regarding fact sheets described in subsection (a) and details of the Language Access Plan of the Department of Veteran Affairs. The report shall include the following:
(1) What the Secretary determines constitutes a fact sheet of the Department for purposes of this Act.
(2) How such fact sheets are utilized and distributed other than on and through the website of the Department.
(3) How such Language Access Plan is communicated to veterans, family members of veterans, and caregivers.
(4) The roles and responsibilities of patient advocates in the coordination of care for veterans with limited English proficiency, family members of such veterans, and caregivers.
(5) Other demographic information that the Secretary determines appropriate regarding veterans with limited English proficiency.
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Mr. TAKANO. 2093.
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Mr. TAKANO. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, since 2001 the foreign-born share of the veteran population has steadily risen. Immigrants have served in the Armed Forces since the very beginning of our Nation, and they today make up 600,000 veterans. 1.9 million veterans are the U.S.-born children of immigrants. Together, the 2.5 million veterans of immigrant origin, by birth or parentage, account for 13 percent of all veterans living today.
Certain nationals of countries in free association with the United States--the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau--are eligible to serve the United States, and they do in numbers much larger than their counterparts stateside.
Half a million veterans live in Puerto Rico. There are 6,000 regular Philippine Scouts still alive and 15,000 U.S. veterans who live in the Philippines, half of whom rely on the VA clinic in Manila for their service-connected care.
Two-thirds of the veteran cohorts I just mentioned do not speak English at home. Many of them are aging and have to rely more and more on their families for care and to manage health decisions.
VA has scarce availability of veteran-facing materials in other languages, both online and in paper. Facilities are, for the most part, on their own to translate material that best serves their patients.
This extra burden was made clear to me during committee trips to Puerto Rico, where we heard from staff about the arduous work it took to have to translate everything from administrative staff training materials to hurricane brochures. Everything sent from VA Central Office in Washington, D.C., to Puerto Rico had to be redone so it could be usable and accessible to veterans and the staff who serve them.
The VA should be fully accessible to all veterans who need it, and that includes language accessibility. Mr. Jeffries' bill, H.R. 2093, the Veterans and Family Information Act, would require VA to do what it should have been doing for years, make its veteran-facing fact sheets and websites available in languages veterans and their families speak; specifically, the languages of Spanish, Tagalog, and the other top 10 spoken languages in the United States. It would also require VA to create a language access plan for the VA enterprise.
Now, this is a long overdue correction of VA's posture. If this pandemic has taught us anything, it is that clearly communicated public health information from our healthcare institutions is essential. VA must ensure that language proficiency is never a barrier to a veteran's care.
I therefore ask my colleagues to join me in supporting the Veterans and Family Information Act.
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Mr. TAKANO. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Jeffries), my good friend, the chairman of the Democratic Caucus and author of H.R. 2093.
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Mr. TAKANO. Madam Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I am prepared to close.
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Mr. TAKANO. Madam Speaker, I am very, very pleased to recommend to all of my colleagues to vote ``yes.'' This issue affects my own constituency where I know that we have veterans that have caregivers that may only speak, say, the language of Spanish, and so I am very convinced that this legislation will benefit all of our country, but especially my own district.
It is with that spirit that I recommend that we pass this important piece of legislation. I yield back the balance of my time.
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