Veterans

Virginia’s First District is home to thousands of veterans, and nearly 700,000 veterans call the Commonwealth home. Our veterans earned their benefits through sacrifice, service, and hardship, and they deserve our unwavering support. That means access to high-quality health care, timely delivery of benefits, educational and employment opportunities, and the resources necessary to successfully transition to civilian life.

Veterans should not have to fight through unnecessary bureaucracy to receive the care and benefits they have earned. I am working to streamline the disability-claims process, improve information sharing between the Department of War and the Department of Veterans Affairs, expand access to appropriate community care, and hold the VA accountable for the quality and timeliness of its services.

We must also confront veteran suicide and substance abuse with urgency. I support expanding access to mental health care, connecting veterans with counseling and crisis resources, identifying which suicide-prevention programs are most effective, and ensuring that veterans’ privacy is protected throughout the process.

I formed the First District Veterans Advisory Board to hear directly from veterans about the challenges they face. Through the advisory board, veterans seminars, and meetings across the district, I will continue working with veterans, their families, veterans service organizations, and community leaders to improve the services available to those who served.

My office also stands ready to assist veterans experiencing delays or difficulties with VA health care, disability claims, military records, or other federal benefits.

Legislative Work

  • Veterans Collaboration Act (H.R. 552) — Would establish a VA pilot program encouraging partnerships between veterans service organizations and law schools that provide veterans with assistance filing disability claims and appeals and addressing other legal needs.
  • Be Ready to Assist Veterans in Extremis Act, or BRAVE Act (H.R. 553) — Bipartisan legislation that would create an opt-in outreach system to connect veterans with counseling and mental health resources following community crises.
  • Veteran’s Choice Accountability Act (H.R. 554) — Would improve oversight of non-VA medical care and identify ways to provide veterans with more timely access to appropriate treatment.
  • Veterans Affairs Transfer of Information and Sharing of Disability Examination Procedures with DoD Doctors Act (H.R. 555) — Would improve electronic information sharing between the VA and DoD and allow separation examinations conducted by military doctors to help determine service-connected disability ratings, reducing unnecessary duplication and delays.
  • Major Richard Star Act (H.R. 2102) - Cosponsored this bipartisan legislation that ensures veterans receive both their disability benefits and military retirement pay.
  • Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act — Cosponsored the House legislation that became law to improve veterans’ health care and benefits, strengthen support for caregivers, modernize the disability-claims process, and expand long-term and home-based care options.
  • Honoring our PACT Act — Voted for the final bipartisan legislation, now law, that expanded VA health care and benefits for veterans exposed to burn pits and other toxic substances during their military service.

More on Veterans

Wittman Selected to Participate in Wounded Warrior Fellowship Program
January 31, 2017
Press Release

WASHINGTON - Congressman Rob Wittman (VA-01) today announced that his office was selected to participate in the House of Representatives' Wounded Warrior Fellowship Program for 2017.

Rep. Wittman's office is now accepting applications for a wounded warrior to work out of the Stafford district office and support the office's military and veterans-related casework.

Issues: National Defense Veterans
Wittman Statement on Selection of Heather Wilson as Secretary of the Air Force
January 23, 2017
Press Release
WASHINGTON -- Congressman Rob Wittman (VA-01), Chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces, today released the following statement on the announcement of Heather Wilson as President Donald Trump's selection for Secretary of the Air Force.
Issues: National Defense Veterans
Weekly Update: The end of business as usual in Washington
January 21, 2017
Weekly Updates
Yesterday we witnessed one of the most important American political traditions: the orderly, peaceful transfer of power from one presidential administration to another. Millions of Americans, from the National Mall to homes across the country, watched as Donald J. Trump took the oath of office to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." And as only forty-four others have done, President Trump addressed the nation as our Commander-in-Chief and leader of the free world.
Issues: National Defense Veterans Federal Employees Health Care Fiscal Responsibility
Wittman Named Chairman of Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee
January 11, 2017
Press Release

WASHINGTON – Congressman Rob Wittman (VA-1) released the following statement today on his selection as Chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces:

Issues: National Defense Veterans Fiscal Responsibility
Weekly Update: Let's Get Started
January 6, 2017
Weekly Updates

"I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God."

Issues: National Defense Veterans Federal Employees Health Care Fiscal Responsibility
The Missing Man and the Military Veteran
September 16, 2016
Weekly Updates
What does it mean for a civilization to contend with the true costs of war? Here in the United States, most of us remain significantly untouched by war. Our conflicts are confined to remote places and our battles are fought by other people's sons and daughters. Most of us are living the same lives we lived before Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria. We go to the same stores, we wear the same clothes, and we love the same people.
Issues: Veterans
Wittman Votes for Streamlined Appeals Process and Harsher Penalties for Misconduct at the VA
September 14, 2016
Press Release
WASHINGTON – Congressman Rob Wittman (VA-1) today supported House passage of H.R. 5620, the VA Accountability First and Appeals Modernization Act of 2016. This legislation would target misconduct and bolster accountability at all levels by expanding authorities granted to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA). The Secretary would be authorized to reduce the pension of any SES employee who commits wrong-doing within the scope of his or her employment.
Issues: Veterans
It Can't Wait Until Tomorrow
September 8, 2016
Weekly Updates
Most of us are familiar with the idiom "never put off until tomorrow what you can do today." It's the mantra of the industrious. Want to see progress? Want to find success? Want to reach the next rung on that ladder? Finish the task at hand and move on to the next one. That's how we get from where we are to where we want to be.
Issues: National Defense Veterans Federal Employees Appropriations Fiscal Responsibility
A Soldier Has Been Buried on the Battlefield
May 30, 2016
Weekly Updates

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." ~John 15:13

Etched on simple white markers in Arlington National Cemetery are the names of the men and women who fought and died, who gave what Lincoln called "the last full measure of devotion," to secure our American way of life. Each of those names represents a choice—a decision to live and die in service of others, a decision to sacrifice.

How can we understand and honor that sacrifice? What does it mean?

Issues: National Defense Veterans
Readiness Chairman Applauds House Passage of FY 17 Defense Bill
May 19, 2016
Press Release

WASHINGTON – Congressman Rob Wittman (VA-1) supported House passage yesterday evening of H.R. 4909, the Fiscal Year 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The annual defense legislation includes language that Congressman Wittman ushered through as Chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness and sets aside $5 billion in additional funds for ship and aircraft depot maintenance, aviation training and readiness, and long-neglected facilities sustainment, restoration, and modernization accounts.

Issues: National Defense Veterans

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