About the bill
Following the Department of Veterans Affairs scandals of 2014, a popular reform was enacted allowing veterans to bypass the VA for medical care in certain cases. A new law would continue the program — although it had to overcome some obstacles, including a failed House vote in July.
Context
The law continues funding for the Veterans Choice Program, which ensures that veterans can have access to medical treatments and procedures which the VA itself does not provide. In other words, it guarantees veterans can see a private non-VA physician if medically necessary, at government expense.
The program was started in 2014, in the wake of the VA scandals where dozens of veterans died from lack of care and some of the deaths were covered up. This culminating in the …
Sponsor and status
115th Congress (2017–2019)
Enacted — Signed by the President on Aug 12, 2017
This bill was enacted after being signed by the President on August 12, 2017.
3 Cosponsors (1 Republican, 1 Democrat, 1 Independent)
Position statements
What legislators are saying
“Heller Joins the President as He Signs Bipartisan Bill to Improve Care for Nevadas Veterans Into Law”
—
Sen. Dean Heller [R-NV, 2011-2018]
(Sponsor)
on Jun 6, 2018
“Inhofe, Lankford, Mullin and Russell Introduce Legislation to Improve Veteran Health Care”
—
Sen. James “Jim” Inhofe [R-OK, 1994-2022]
on Mar 9, 2018
“Cramer: house ensures va reform with passage of legislation”
—
Sen. Kevin Cramer [R-ND]
on Nov 10, 2017
Incorporated legislation
This bill incorporates provisions from:
S. 1550: Department of Veterans Affairs Quality Employment Act of 2017
Introduced on Jul 13, 2017. 64% incorporated. (compare text)
H.R. 1367: To improve the authority of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to hire and retain physicians and other employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.
Passed House (Senate next) on Mar 17, 2017. 61% incorporated. (compare text)
History
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Jan 12, 2017
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Introduced
Bills and resolutions are referred to committees which debate the bill before possibly sending it on to the whole chamber. |
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Mar 17, 2017
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Source Bill —
Passed House (Senate next)
This activity took place on a related bill, H.R. 1367 (115th), possibly in lieu of similar activity on S. 114 (115th). |
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May 25, 2017
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Passed Senate (House next)
The bill was passed in a vote in the Senate. It goes to the House next. The vote was by Unanimous Consent so no record of individual votes was made. |
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Jul 24, 2017
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Failed in the House Under Suspension
Passage was attempted under a fast-track procedure called "suspension of the rules." The vote failed, but the bill can be voted on again. |
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Jul 28, 2017
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Passed House
The bill was passed by both chambers in identical form. It goes to the President next who may sign or veto the bill. |
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Jul 28, 2017
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Text Published
Updated bill text was published as of Passed the House with an Amendment. |
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Aug 1, 2017
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Senate Agreed to Changes
The bill was passed by both chambers in identical form. It goes to the President next who may sign or veto the bill. The vote was by Voice Vote so no record of individual votes was made.
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Aug 12, 2017
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Enacted — Signed by the President
The President signed the bill and it became law.
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S. 114 (115th) was a bill in the United States Congress.
A bill must be passed by both the House and Senate in identical form and then be signed by the President to become law.
Bills numbers restart every two years. That means there are other bills with the number S. 114. This is the one from the 115th Congress.
This bill was introduced in the 115th Congress, which met from Jan 3, 2017 to Jan 3, 2019. Legislation not passed by the end of a Congress is cleared from the books.
How to cite this information.
We recommend the following MLA-formatted citation when using the information you see here in academic work:
“S. 114 — 115th Congress: VA Choice and Quality Employment Act of 2017.” www.GovTrack.us. 2017. October 2, 2023 <https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/s114>
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Where is this information from?
GovTrack automatically collects legislative information from a variety of governmental and non-governmental sources. This page is sourced primarily from Congress.gov, the official portal of the United States Congress. Congress.gov is generally updated one day after events occur, and so legislative activity shown here may be one day behind. Data via the congress project.
