(U.S. Senate) – President Donald Trump has signed into law U.S. Senator Jon Tester’s bipartisan bill to fund and prevent a wide range of critical veterans’ benefits from expiring.

Tester’s VA Expiring Authorities Act ensures rural veterans who use transportation assistance to travel to and from medical appointments will be able to utilize those services through 2019. Tester’s law also continues a successful pilot program that reimburses veterans who travel to the Kalispell Vet Center for mental health care.

“Rural, disabled and homeless Montana veterans rely on these initiatives every day,” said Tester, Ranking Member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee. “By making sure that veterans can get to their doctor appointments on time and get back on their feet, we are making good on the promises we have made to our veterans and their families.”

The VA Expiring Authorities Act includes:

• The Caregiver Support Program, which provides assistance to those who sacrifice their time and money to care for veterans.
• The Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program, which provides critical housing, counseling and career training to homeless or at-risk veterans.
• Provisions from Tester’s Deborah Sampson Act, which provide more opportunities for women veterans to seek readjustment counseling.

This bill signing comes shortly after Tester was named one of the most effective lawmakers in the U.S. Senate. Trump has also signed the following Tester-authored bills to improve the VA’s delivery of care and benefits to Montana veterans:

• Veterans Choice Program Improvement Act
• VA Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act
• Veterans Appeals Improvement and Modernization Act
• Harry W. Colmery Veterans Education Assistance Act
• VA Choice and Quality Employment Act of 2017