Excerpts from this article: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/6214482-gop-passes-tcava-veterans-bill/
“House Democrats are crying foul on Wednesday after Republicans used a fast-track tactic to pass partisan legislation designed to increase pay for disabled and injured veterans.
Democrats opposed the GOP’s Take Care of America’s Veterans Act (TCAVA), saying it would expand some veterans’ benefits by slashing others.”
Furious Democrats accused Republicans of playing “dirty pool.” They said Republicans pulled Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), the ranking member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, away from the podium, where he was leading the Democratic side of the debate, in order to discuss changes to the bill. It was during that parlay — while Takano was away from his microphone — that McDowell fast-tracked the proposal, they said.
“After publicly announcing a recorded vote on the TCAVA legislation, House Republicans asked if RM Takano and Democrats would agree to last minute engrossment corrections,” a Democratic leadership aide said.
“While members and staff were evaluating these changes away from the podium, House Republicans called the vote up and passed it by voice within seconds — depriving Democrats of the ability to even evaluate the proposed changes and ask for a recorded vote so Members could vote against the biggest cut to veterans benefits in US history.
“On Veterans Day of all days, using dirty tricks to steal from Veterans is a disgrace.”
The TCAVA package revises the Veterans Affairs (VA) disability ratings for sleep apnea and tinnitus…
Keep in mind the changes to sleep apnea in the TCAVA bill are NOT the same as the proposed changes in the National Register that the VA made back in 2022.
We will now have to wait and see what happens in the Senate of course.