{"id":23924,"date":"2024-07-25T16:06:57","date_gmt":"2024-07-25T20:06:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/?post_type=press-releases&#038;p=23924"},"modified":"2024-07-25T16:07:54","modified_gmt":"2024-07-25T20:07:54","slug":"sens-ossoff-cornyn-introduce-bipartisan-bill-to-help-servicemembers-access-va-disability-benefits-during-transition-to-civilian-life","status":"publish","type":"press-releases","link":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/press-releases\/sens-ossoff-cornyn-introduce-bipartisan-bill-to-help-servicemembers-access-va-disability-benefits-during-transition-to-civilian-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Sens. Ossoff, Cornyn Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Help Servicemembers Access VA Disability Benefits During Transition to Civilian Life"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Washington D.C.<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2014U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is introducing a bipartisan bill to help servicemembers more easily access VA benefits as they leave the Armed Forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This week, Sens. Ossoff and John Cornyn (R-TX) introduced&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/CAN24788.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">bipartisan legislation<\/a>&nbsp;to help veterans file post-discharge disability claims and more quickly establish contact with accredited VA representatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Their bipartisan&nbsp;<em>Veteran Transition Support Act&nbsp;<\/em>would require VA representatives to contact servicemembers transitioning to civilian life between 120 and 210 days&nbsp;<strong><u>before<\/u><\/strong>&nbsp;their discharge to help them file a disability claim through the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/benefits.va.gov\/BENEFITS\/benefits-delivery-discharge-program.asp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Benefits Delivery at Discharge (BDD)<\/a>&nbsp;program if they are eligible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Currently, VA representatives contact new veterans after they discharge, but not before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This contact would help provide servicemembers, who have ready access to their medical and personal records, the information to file a claim through the program and enable the VA to more quickly deliver a decision and assign a VA disability rating, if warranted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOur servicemembers make tremendous sacrifices to keep our families safe, but it\u2019s too hard for them to access their benefits after they leave the military,\u201d&nbsp;<strong>Sen. Ossoff said.&nbsp;<\/strong>\u201cThat\u2019s why I\u2019m introducing this new bipartisan bill with Senator Cornyn to help servicemembers access the benefits they\u2019ve earned.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOur men and women in uniform serve our country bravely and selflessly, often putting themselves in harm\u2019s way and asking nothing in return,\u201d&nbsp;<strong>said Sen. Cornyn.<\/strong>&nbsp;\u201cAlleviating the burden of their transition from military to civilian life by streamlining the medical and disability claim process is one small thing we can do to support them, which is why I\u2019m proud to introduce this bipartisan legislation and help ensure veterans can rightfully receive care as swiftly and seamlessly as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sen. Ossoff continues working to cut red tape for Georgia veterans to more easily access their benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In April, Sen. Ossoff&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/press-releases\/sen-ossoff-continuing-push-to-protect-georgia-veterans-from-fraud\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">launched a push to pass<\/a>&nbsp;the bipartisan&nbsp;<em>GUARD VA Benefits Act of 2023<\/em>, legislation he co-sponsored to protect Georgia veterans from predatory claim sharks seeking to take advantage of veterans applying for benefits they\u2019ve earned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In February, Sens. Ossoff, Susan Collins (R-ME), and John Thune (R-SD)&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/press-releases\/sens-ossoff-collins-thune-introduce-bipartisan-bill-to-help-veterans-in-rural-areas-access-va-health-care\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">introduced<\/a>&nbsp;the&nbsp;<em>Rural Veterans Transportation to Care Act&nbsp;<\/em>to help more veterans in rural areas get transportation to VA health facilities and access the health care benefits they\u2019ve earned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In January, thanks to Sen Ossoff\u2019s bipartisan&nbsp;<em>Access for Veterans to Records Act&nbsp;<\/em>becoming law, the National Archives&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/press-releases\/breaking-sen-ossoffs-bipartisan-law-clears-backlog-of-veterans-records-requests-at-national-archives\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cleared a backlog<\/a>&nbsp;of more than 400,000 records requests, enabling Georgia veterans to more quickly access their records and claim their benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sen. Ossoff also&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/press-releases\/sen-ossoff-working-to-help-georgia-servicemembers-access-va-benefits-during-transition-to-civilian-life\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">launched a push<\/a>&nbsp;to pass the bipartisan&nbsp;<em>TAP Promotion Act,&nbsp;<\/em>legislation he co-sponsored&nbsp;to help servicemembers more easily access VA benefits as they transition to civilian life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/CAN24788.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Click here<\/a>&nbsp;to read the<em>&nbsp;Veteran Transition Support Act<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"># # #<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington D.C.&nbsp;\u2014U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is introducing a bipartisan bill to help servicemembers more easily access VA benefits as they leave the Armed Forces. This week, Sens. Ossoff and John Cornyn (R-TX) introduced&nbsp;bipartisan legislation&nbsp;to help veterans file post-discharge disability claims and more quickly establish contact with accredited VA representatives. Their bipartisan&nbsp;Veteran Transition Support Act&nbsp;would require [&hellip;]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23924","press-releases","type-press-releases","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/23924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press-releases"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/70"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/23924\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23926,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/23924\/revisions\/23926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}