Veterans' Affairs

Rep. Julia Brownley, D-Calif., has made helping veterans dealing with toxic exposure central to her work on Capitol Hill, and she’s focused much of her attention on those hazardous burn pits.

The clinic’s women’s health unit is the first standalone program of its kind in the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System with a separate entrance and waiting room. The program, and the clinic’s new name, are testament to the importance of women veterans, said U.S. Rep. Julia Brownley, D-Westlake Village. She led the drive for the clinic and wrote the bill naming it for Mariner.

A bill filed in July by U.S. Rep. Julia Brownley, D-Calif., would adjust language in the Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2010 to increase payments to veterans under what’s known as the beneficiary travel program. Instead of saying the secretary of defense “may” adjust the mileage rate, Brownley’s measure would require that increase to be “at least” equal to the rate set for use of privately owned vehicles by U.S. government employees.

Today, Congresswoman Julia Brownley issued the following statement regarding the recent enactment of legislation she authored to name the new U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Community-Based Outpatient Clinic in Ventura County to Captain Rosemary Bryant Mariner. 

The announcement came after House committee members visited VA medical centers in Texas and Oklahoma and heard from women veterans and health providers on access to reproductive health care. Rep. Julia Brownley, D-Calif., chairwoman of the House VA Committee’s subpanel on health and the Women Veterans Taskforce, will lead the initiative.

The clinic may be named for the late Navy Capt. Rosemary Bryant Mariner, the first woman to command an operational air squadron in 1990 at Ventura County’s Naval Air Station Point Mugu. The site would become only the third of 1,255 VA facilities to be named for women veterans, said U.S. Rep. Julia Brownley, D-Westlake Village, in a news release.

Rep. Julia Brownley, D-Calif., represents California’s 26th Congressional District. She is the chairwoman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Health.

“While opening the new VA clinic in Ventura County has been my highest priority, I believe that naming the clinic after Captain Rosemary Bryant Mariner will provide us with yet another opportunity to recognize the service and sacrifice of women veterans. I could not be more pleased that the House has passed this bill to honor a truly distinguished veteran from our community.”

Today, Congresswoman Julia Brownley applauded the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs passage of the Veterans Infertility Treatment Act, legislation she authored which would make infertility care, including in-vitro fertilization, a part of VA health care for veterans struggling with infertility, regardless of marital status, sexual orientation, service-connection, or need for donated genetic material.

Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation authored by Congresswoman Julia Brownley to name the new U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Community-Based Outpatient Clinic in Ventura after Captain Rosemary Bryant Mariner.

U.S. Rep. Julia Brownley, D-Westlake Village, led the drive for the new clinic and wrote the legislation for the site approved by Congress in 2017. Brownley has introduced a bill to name the new clinic for the late Navy Capt. Rosemary Bryant Mariner. She was the first woman to command an operational air squadron in 1990 at Ventura County’s Naval Air Station Point Mugu.

In response to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs publication of an Interim Final Rule on expanded access to reproductive health care, House Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Health Chairwoman Julia Brownley released the following statement.

California Democrat Julia Brownley in March 2021 reintroduced a House bill to ensure veterans can access in-vitro fertilization and other fertility care. The government had for too long “overlooked the healthcare needs of veterans who struggle with infertility,” she said.

“Age, combined with their unique health needs, makes many elderly veterans especially vulnerable to going into nursing homes and institutional care,” said Congresswoman Julia Brownley, Chair of the House Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Health, who introduced the Dole bill.  “Our nation’s veterans deserve the right to age comfortably and with dignity in their homes. The research is clear: providing health services and assistance in home settings improves health outcomes and delays, if not prevents, nursing home placement for people with disabilities and the elderly.”

As Rep. Julia Brownley (D-CA) noted in a July 14 hearing of the House Veterans’ Affairs Health Subcommittee, “spending on community care has increased by 116 percent over five years while investments in direct staff of VA medical facilities grew by only 32 percent. Why are VA’s investments in community care so vastly outpacing investments in in-house care?” she asked.

“Choosing when, or if, to have a family is essential to women’s health and to their economic security. The Equal Access to Contraception for Veterans Act is another step toward ensuring all women have access to comprehensive contraceptive and reproductive health care,” said Congresswoman Brownley. “As Chairwoman of the Women Veterans Task Force, I am committed to identifying disparities in health care for women veterans and, where necessary, to introduce, advocate, and pass legislation that addresses those gaps.”

“Survivors will continue to suffer without assurances that perpetrators of sexual harassment will be held accountable for their actions. This is wholly unacceptable, and it’s time to fix it,” said Rep. Julia Brownley (D-California).

Congresswoman Julia Brownley, D-California, helped Ligato to speed up the Congressional process for Canley to obtain his award.

“Humble in every interaction we had, Sergeant Major Canley always spoke of his fellow Marines,” she said in a statement. “They served as an inspiration to him, and they serve as an inspiration to us all to live up to the ideals of this great nation for which they served to protect.”