Some of the programs we’ve seen that work really well, empowering medical nurse practitioners to be able to have more authority, especially in rural communities like mine where we don’t have the same level of access to doctors.
She endorses expanding nurse practitioner authority, especially for rural care access.
Section 7203 extended VA contractor medical disability-exam licensure authority by striking "five years" and inserting "six years."
This enacted law kept the temporary cross-state VA disability-exam authority alive one additional year. Because the underlying authority includes nurse practitioners but is limited to VA contracted disability examinations, it is partial delivery rather than broad rural NP authority expansion.
Public Law 118-19 amended Section 2002(a)(4) by replacing "three years" with "five years."
Congress enacted a temporary extension of the VA licensure clarification during Perez's first House term. It helped preserve cross-state authority for eligible VA exam providers, including nurse practitioners, but did not create broad NP practice authority.
H.R.5470 was introduced by Ciscomani "for himself, Mr. Vasquez, Mr. Carl, and Ms. Perez" to extend license portability.
Perez was an original cosponsor of the VET MEDS Act, a concrete effort tied to rural/high-need VA examiner access. The standalone bill did not itself become law, but a related shorter extension was enacted in S.2795/Public Law 118-19.
Congress.gov lists Perez as an original cosponsor and shows H.R.3951 passed the House by voice vote before Senate referral.
Perez backed a bill to extend and expand VA contractor examiner authority through 2031. The bill passed the House but, as of the latest official action, remained referred to the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, so the permanent expansion is unresolved.
CRS says H.R.3951 would expand eligible VA exam professionals and extend contracting authority through January 5, 2031.
The CRS summary confirms the bill's substance: expanding the provider pool for VA disability examinations while current authority includes nurse practitioners. This supports partial progress, but not enacted permanent delivery.
S.3703 was introduced January 27, 2026 and referred to the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
The Senate companion remained only introduced and referred. No official Senate passage or enactment is shown, leaving the broader 2031/permanent expansion unresolved during the May 6-June 4, 2026 refresh window.
Her office said the bill would make cross-state provider access permanent and expand categories beyond physicians assistants, nurse practitioners, audiologists, and psychologists.
The member statement ties Perez's effort directly to rural communities and the existing NP-inclusive VA authority. It documents serious action but also says the bill headed to the Senate, not that it became law.
Her office said Perez introduced the bill to ensure rural veterans have permanent, cross-state access to certified providers for disability exams.
This shows a concrete later-term legislative push related to rural provider access. It is narrower than general rural NP authority and remained dependent on further congressional action.
Perez materially supported NP-inclusive rural VA examiner license-portability authority during her first House term, including original cosponsorship of H.R.5470, and a related enacted law extended that temporary authority from three to five years. Later legislation and Public Law 119-37 extended the authority further, while Perez also advanced H.R.3951 to make and broaden the authority through 2031, but that broader bill had not become law. Because the delivered policy is limited to VA contracted disability examinations rather than broad nurse-practitioner authority in rural communities, the promise is only partially fulfilled. The serious legislative push supports an effort badge.
provider codex_cli · model gpt-5.5 · confidence 90%