Our veterans deserve better

The families in the armed services make tremendous sacrifices to protect Americans. In turn, Americans make a commitment to ensure our veterans and their families have what they need — whether that's quality health care, or access to higher education opportunities.

But Congress bans the Department of Veterans Affairs from providing certain reproductive health care services, including in vitro fertilization (IVF), to veterans — even though these same services are available to active-duty members.

Last month, I introduced legislation in the House to support disabled veterans who want to start families and need IVF treatments to do so.

The legislation also authorizes the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide adoption assistance, and expands the department's successful childcare pilot program — making it permanent.

In the past, I've worked alongside other members of Congress to temporarily lift the ban through annual appropriations bills. But this is a problem that can be permanently resolved with simple, legislative solutions.

It's time we start making the same quality of commitment to our veterans that they make to us.

Rick