Exclusive: Sen. Rick Scott Unveils Bills to End Extra Four-Year GI Bill Transfer Requirement, Require VA Wait-Time Standards

Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) on Monday introduced two bills aimed at expanding education benefits for military families and imposing new standards on the Department of Veterans Affairs, including a major change to the Post-9/11 GI Bill that would end the extra four-year service requirement currently tied to transferring benefits.

One noteworthy provision in Scott’s GI Bill Transferability Act would allow servicemembers to transfer their Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits to a spouse or dependent child after completing six years of service, eliminating the current requirement to commit to four additional years in the Armed Forces and permitting those transfers to be made at any time, including after leaving active duty or retiring from the military. Under current law, the transfer generally must be completed while the servicemember is still serving.

Scott told Breitbart News:

Our veterans and servicemembers deserve the freedom to use their education benefits in ways that work for their families and the assurance that they won’t face unnecessary delays in their healthcare. My GI Bill Transferability Act gives military families more flexibility, while the SCHEDULES Act ensures the VA provides timely, accountable care. These two bills will help veterans plan for the future and hold the VA accountable, because our heroes deserve a government and a VA that are ready to support them at every stage of their life – our nation’s heroes deserve nothing less.

The second bill, known as the SCHEDULES Act, would require the Department of Veterans Affairs to create and publicly disclose a department-wide standard for how long veterans should wait between receiving a referral and getting an appointment, whether at a VA facility or through community care.

The legislation would also require the VA to submit quarterly reports to Congress showing how many referrals met that standard, as well as existing benchmarks of three business days for VA appointments and seven calendar days for community-care appointments.

Scott’s proposal would further require the VA to rank VA medical centers from best to worst based on how well they meet those standards and make the information public. The bill would require the VA to publicly rank its medical centers from best to worst, including a state-by-state breakdown.