VETERANS NEWSLETTER

My Friend,

It's been a busy few months in Washington, DC, and across our congressional district. From honoring the lives and legacies of our fallen veterans, encouraging local students to attend U.S. military academies, to hosting our veterans roundtable with Timothy Graham, Executive Director of VA New York Harbor Healthcare, I will always have the backs of our men and women who've served.

Additionally, I joined a bipartisan group of colleagues in voting for and supporting several pieces of legislation to help our nation's veterans and military, including the FY25 MilCon-VA Appropriations Act that honors our commitment to our nation's veterans by fully funding veteran healthcare and benefits programs and bolstering our national security.

My office will be sending regular updates about the work I'm doing to support our veterans and active duty service members in and around New York City, so please be sure to share this and encourage others in your network to sign up to stay up to date with everything I'm doing for you.

Sincerely,

Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis

HONORING OUR FALLEN VETERANS

I took to the House Floor to honor the life and legacy of Lee Covino who sadly passed away last month. Lee served on our office's Veterans Roundtable and was a true American patriot who dedicated his entire life to service of others. I know I speak for our entire community and city when I say his commitment to fighting for our nation's veterans was extremely appreciated.

In addition to commemorating Lee's life, we also attended a street naming ceremony for Ted Cohen, another member of our veterans roundtable who passed away last year, and honored our nation's veterans at Memorial Day parades across Staten Island and Southern Brooklyn. We are grateful to all who've served and sacrificed to keep our nation free and secure, including our WWII veterans who we honored this week on the 80th anniversary of D-Day.

VETERANS ROUNDTABLE

This week, our office held our Veterans Roundtable with special guest Timothy Graham, Executive Director of the VA New York Harbor Healthcare system. We discussed a number of your concerns and improvements being made at the Brooklyn VA Medical Center and Staten Island VA Clinic.

BROOKLYN VA MEDICAL CENTER UPDATES:

As of June 2024, all passenger elevators are functioning. However, there are five elevators that are still not operational and are projected to be fixed by Sept. 30th 2024. They have secured funding from the VA’s Network Office and gone through the contracting process, however, upgrades are being completed one elevator bank at a time.

The five elevators that are down are as follows:

• Two elevators that service the Operating Rooms and the Post-Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU) were damaged due to flooding. They are currently using another main service elevator that is temporarily dedicated to transporting patients to the OR and PACU.
• Two patient transport elevators are down
• One Canteen elevator is down

Design, renovations & other upgrades:

The VA is working on designs to replace pressure relief valves and condensation pumps, upgrade their chilled water system used throughout the in-patient dialysis and pharmacy units, their Sterile Processing and Distribution Service, their Electronic Health Record system, and renovate the second floor library/education area.

• There is currently a backlog of MRI appointments and requests that they are trying to work through. The facility is on the cusp of opening an MRI suite which will be located in the basement.
• Mitigation efforts are in place to address flooding concerns. For architectural reasons, it's most optimal for the hospital's heaviest pieces of equipment to be placed on the lowest level.
• The Gastroenterology unit has been 88% renovated – major space and functional issues have been resolved.
• The roof has been 90% renovated.
• The Oncology Pharmacy is currently being renovated to meet standards and is expected to be completed by the end of August.
• A second Linear Accelerator located in the Radiation Oncology area will be operational by the end of August, making the Brooklyn VAMC the hub for radiation oncology.

Energy Efficiency Initiatives:

Building 15’s HVAC Control and perimeter heat valves in their main building have been completely replaced along with radiator traps. Lighting has been upgraded and pipes have been properly re-insulated.

Other Notes:

• As discussed during the Q&A portion of our roundtable, there are NO intentions to close the Brooklyn VA Medical Center.
• The NYC Department of Veterans Affairs is working with the VA to create a database to cross-reference veterans not active with VA services and schedule outreach events to encourage them to enroll.
• Under the PACT Act, the pool size of eligible veterans has expanded. Director Graham emphasized the need for veterans to take advantage of these eligible resources, especially the virtual and telehealth options available within every speciality at the facility. Learn more HERE.
• Although the program has been postponed, Director Graham has voiced concerns with the City over its congestion pricing plan and its impact on our veterans. In the event this program is resumed, he has asked for reimbursement mechanisms to be put in place for veterans who travel into Manhattan to receive medical care. He is awaiting a response from the agency's Beneficiary Travel Office.
• The New York Harbor Healthcare system (Brooklyn & Manhattan) has the third best mortality rates amongst all VA facilities in the country, along with having the lowest infection rates.
• VA NY Harbor is in the process of hiring more staff to address staffing concerns, including Outreach Coordinators, a Chief of Patient Experience, patient advocates and Human Resources staffers.
• Director Graham is aware that disabled parking spots have been taken away from those with disabled parking permits. He is looking into the number of spots available and will have a police officers sign off certifying that all those spaces are meant for veterans and vehicles with handicap placards.
• Director Graham is examining the possibility of sending a Physical Therapist from Brooklyn to Staten Island once or twice a week to accommodate the needs of veterans who've requested a physical therapy program and gym be put in place.

NEW USCG COMMANDER

We're fortunate to have U.S. Coast Guard Sector New York based on Staten Island. In April, Captain Zeita Merchant assumed her new position in Washington, DC, and our office attended the swearing in of Captain Jonathan Andrechik who is taking over as our base's new Commander. I recently visited the base to congratulate him on his new role and thank our Coasties for everything they do to keep New York Harbor safe!

MILITARY ACADEMY NOMINATIONS

Nominating impressive students from Staten Island and Southern Brooklyn to our country's service academies is one of the greatest honors I have as a Congresswoman, and so far, I've been able to congratulate six local students on receiving appointments, some of whom I had the pleasure of meeting with this week. Our office also held an information night so students, parents and educators could meet with representatives from the service academies and learn more about the application process and congressional nominations. If you know a bright student who's interested in applying for a service academy, encourage them to visit our website to learn more.

BILLS I'M SUPPORTING

H.R. 984 - Commitment to Veteran Support and Outreach Act: Authorizes VA grants to improve outreach and assistance to veterans and their families (PASSED out of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee).

H.R. 6179 - Home for the Brave Act of 2023: Excludes certain veterans' service-connected disability or death benefits from consideration as income for housing assistance.

H.R. 4335 - VA Loan Informed Disclosure Act of 2023: Requires Federal Housing Administration mortgage notices to include VA loan program information.

H.R. 3240 - Veterans Association of Real Estate Professionals Federal Charter: Grants a federal charter to the Veterans Association of Real Estate Professionals.

H.R. 234 - Gerald's Law Act: Requires the VA to provide burial and funeral allowances for veterans who pass away under VA hospice care.

H.R. 1015 - Dustoff Crews of the Vietnam War Congressional Gold Medal Act: Provides for the award of a Congressional Gold Medal to Dustoff crews (helicopter air ambulance crews) of the Vietnam War in recognition of their heroic military service.

H.Res. 1255 - Calling upon all Americans on this Memorial Day, 2024, to honor the men and women of the Armed Forces who have died in the pursuit of freedom and peace.

BILLS THAT HAVE PASSED THE HOUSE AND ARE AWAITING SENATE APPROVAL:

H.R. 8580 - Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2025: Honors our commitment to our nation’s veterans by fully funding health care and benefits programs and bolstering our national security.

• The bill provides a total of $378.6 billion in overall funding, including $147.5 billion in discretionary funding for the Department of Defense (Military Construction and Family Housing), Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and related agencies, and $231.1 billion for mandatory programs, namely medical care for toxic exposure.
• Military Construction and Housing - $17.9 billion, $412 million above the FY25 President’s Budget Request, including $1.1 billion for 11 barracks projects, $1.1 billion for investments in the Indo-Pacific region, and $2 billion for Military Family Housing.
• VA - $337.4 billion, $75.5 million above the FY25 President’s Budget Request and $30.2 billion above the FY24 enacted level, including $112.6 billion for medical care.
• Maintains the prohibitions on closing Guantanamo Bay and the using military construction funds to build facilities for detainees on U.S. soil.
• Protects the Second Amendment rights of veterans by preventing the VA from sending information to the FBI without a judge’s consent. (Passed House with bipartisan support on June 5, 2024).

H.R. 6492 - EXPLORE Act: Improves access and outdoor recreation opportunities for veterans, enhancing their experience in national parks and public lands (Passed by voice vote on April 9, 2024).

H.R. 5914 - VETT Act: Improves the approval process for educational programs for veterans and establishes an online resource center for training information (Passed by voice vote on April 29, 2024).

H.R. 3722 - Daniel J. Harvey Jr. and Adam Lambert Improving Servicemember Transition to Reduce Veteran Suicide Act: Requires the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs to enhance the transition process for servicemembers to reduce veteran suicide rates (Passed by voice vote on April 29, 2024).

H.R. 1767 - Student Veteran Benefit Restoration Act: Ensures educational assistance paid under VA programs for courses suspended or terminated for specific reasons is not charged against the entitlement of the individual (Passed the House with bipartisan support on April 30, 2024).

H.R. 3738 - Veterans Economic Opportunity and Transition Administration Act: Established the Veterans Economic Opportunity and Transition Administration within the VA to oversee economic opportunity assistance programs for veterans (Passed the House with bipartisan support on April 30, 2024).

H.R. 4016 - Veteran Fraud Reimbursement Act: Improves the process for the VA to reissue benefits that were misused by a fiduciary, ensuring veterans are reimbursed appropriately (Passed the House with bipartisan support on April 30, 2024).

Washington DC Office

351 Cannon House Office Building

Washington, DC 20515

(202) 225-3371

Staten Island Office

1698 Victory Blvd

Suite 2L

Staten Island, NY 10314

(718) 568-2870