WASHINGTON – Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins today released the following statement ahead of Memorial Day:
“This Memorial Day and throughout the year, we at the Department of Veterans Affairs honor and remember the brave heroes who gave their lives in defense of our nation. I encourage Americans to join us at VA cemeteries around the country this weekend to reflect on the tremendous debt we owe these fallen warriors. Their sacrifices have helped make America the greatest place on Earth, and their legacies of courage and commitment inspire us to reach new heights. ”
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VA to host Memorial Day ceremonies at 130+ national cemeteries
]]>WASHINGTON – After President Trump signed an executive order to provide better care to Veterans, improve accountability for such care, and establish a National Center for Warrior Independence for homeless Veterans, Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins released the following statement:
“Under President Trump, VA is implementing a host of important reforms to improve care and benefits for our nation’s heroes,” said VA Secretary Doug Collins. “This executive order builds on the progress we’ve made so far and puts us on a path to fixing some of the department’s most vexing problems.
“After decades of mismanagement, VA has been leasing parts of its 388-acre West Los Angeles VA Medical Center campus to a wealthy and exclusive private school and the University of California, Los Angeles, baseball team. Today’s executive order will enable us to ensure VA’s West Los Angeles Campus is being used as intended: to benefit Veterans. Our goal is to turn the campus into a beacon of hope and a destination for homeless Veterans from across the nation who can travel there to find housing and support and start their journey back to self-sufficiency.
“Under President Biden, VA failed to hold its employees properly accountable and actively fought congressional attempts to make it easier to fire poor-performing workers – even as health care wait times and benefits backlogs increased. With this executive order, VA will become the most accountable agency in the entire federal government. We’re going to celebrate the vast majority of VA employees who do a great job every day, hold employees accountable when they fall short of the mission and work to fix the wait-time and backlog issues that developed during the Biden Administration.
“New Hampshire is the only state in the contiguous United States without a full-service VA medical center. In response to this executive order, we will develop a plan to ensure that is no longer the case.”
Additional announcements regarding VA’s implementation of the EO are forthcoming. Read more about the EO here.
]]>It is my life’s honor to serve America’s Veterans as secretary of Veterans Affairs, and I thank President Donald J. Trump as well as the U.S. Senate for their confidence in me.
America is the greatest nation on Earth precisely because of the Veterans willing to step forward and defend our freedom. I’ve witnessed this firsthand throughout my two decades in the military, as I’ve served with some of the finest men and women our nation has to offer.
In addition to being a Navy Veteran, I am an Air Force Reserve colonel and chaplain. During my time in the military, I’ve learned that leadership is about listening, serving, motivating and setting a good example for those around you. That is the approach I will bring to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
When President Trump offered me this job, he gave me simple instructions: take great care of America’s Veterans. Here is how we’re going to accomplish the task the president has set out for us:
- We’re going to deliver timely access to care and benefits for every eligible Veteran, family member, caregiver and survivor.
- We’re going to put Veterans at the center of everything VA does, focusing relentlessly on customer service and convenience.
- We’re going to challenge the status quo in order to find new and better ways of helping VA beneficiaries.
- We’re going to celebrate the vast majority of VA employees who do a great job every day and hold employees accountable when they fall short of the mission.
- We’re going to provide Veterans with the health care choices they have earned while maintaining and improving VA’s direct health care capabilities.
- And we’re going to do a better job reaching Veterans at risk of homelessness or suicide – especially those who have had no contact with VA.
My commitment to my fellow servicemembers and Veterans will serve as my compass for the way ahead, and I am honored to be working with the men and women of VA to accomplish our noble and vital mission.
Together, we will strengthen VA so it works better for America’s heroes. Let’s get to work.
]]>WASHINGTON — In response to the Office of Management and Budget’s Jan. 27 memo (M-25-13) regarding temporarily pausing certain agency grant, loan and financial assistance programs, the Department of Veterans Affairs today announced it has conducted a comprehensive analysis of all its federal financial assistance programs and consulted with OMB.
VA has determined that all 44 of its financial assistance programs will continue uninterrupted and that all VA programs and operations will continue uninterrupted.
“This will have no impact on VA health care, benefits or beneficiaries,” said Acting VA Secretary Todd Hunter.
]]>Terrence Hayes (VA Press Secretary): Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to this month’s press conference. You may have noticed I’m not actually in the room. That’s because I was unfortunately, last week, tested positive for COVID, so I’m in recovery. But thanks to the amazing broadcast team, I’m able to join you today. And again, I want to just thank everybody for being here today. We have a lot to cover and I know that the boss is in the room with two of our amazing colleagues from VBA. So, I’ll go ahead and turn it over to the boss. Over to you, Secretary McDonough.
Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): Terrence, thanks so much. It’s good to see you, man. And as I said to you just earlier today on screen, you look great. We miss you around here, so hurry back and thanks for helping us out with this today. Thanks to our team, our partners in the press corps for joining us today. I’m only going–I know you have plenty of questions, so I’m going to save any comments for questions. And I want to just introduce in order of speaking, two awesome VBA colleagues who have some exciting news to report today in the context of VBA’s role in VA providing more care and more benefits to more Veterans than ever. So first we’ll hear from Ken Smith, who is the Assistant Deputy Under Secretary for Operations Management at VBA. And after Ken, we’ll hear from Lasheeco Graham, who is the Chief Financial Officer at VBA. So, Ken, over to you.
Ken Smith (Assistant Deputy Under Secretary for Operations Management, VBA): All right, good morning and thank you, Mr. Secretary, for allowing me to join you today. VA continues to deliver more earned benefits to more Veterans than ever before, and today I’m proud to announce that VA has granted benefits to 1.1 million Veterans and their survivors in fiscal year ’24, an all-time record. In total, VBA has awarded $137 billion in benefits, including 127 billion in compensation and pension benefits to Veterans and survivors this year. It’s important to note that VA surpassed last year’s production total, which was a previous all-time record, with more than 60 days remaining in fiscal year 2024, we’re currently on pace to surpass last year’s record by more than 27%. We’ve been able to deliver more care and more benefits to more Veterans than ever before thanks to the increased claims processing capacity authorized by the PACT Act, which was signed into law by President Biden in August 2022 and represents the largest expansion of Veteran care and benefits in generations. Of the claims granted so far in 2024, more than half, 655,808, were PACT Act related. Whenever a Veteran applies for benefits, our goal is to work with them to gather evidence to get to ‘yes.’ With this approach, we’ve been able to grant benefits for 65% of claims, including 75% of PACT Act related claims, continuing the trend since passage of PACT Act. The success of our PACT Act outreach campaign has far exceeded our most aggressive projections. More Veterans, family members, and survivors are applying for more of their earned benefits than ever before. And that’s a good thing. Thank you, and I’ll turn the floor over to my colleague, Lasheeco Graham.
Lasheeco Graham (Chief Financial Officer, VBA): Thank you, Ken, and good morning. Right now, due in large part to the historic PACT Act, VA is delivering more care and more benefits to more Veterans than ever before. These results are life changing for Veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors. And VA will continue to push to make sure that they get all of the care and benefits they deserve. In total, 6.7 million Veterans are receiving compensation and pension benefits. This is up from 6.3 million last year. As Ken spoke to earlier, VA has made great strides in ensuring compensation and pension benefits have been delivered to Veterans in record numbers. I wanted to reiterate that VA has exceeded compensation and pension production expectations by completing more than two million claims to date, resulting in more than $127 billion in earned benefits to Veterans and survivors. Thanks to the largest outreach campaign in VA history, more and more Veterans, family members, and survivors are applying for a variety of benefits than ever before, such as memorial fares, GI Bill education benefits, home loans, and more. Last year, Veterans submitted more than 2.4 million claims applications, another all-time record, and 39% more than what was submitted in 2022. And so far this year, Veterans are on pace to submit even more claims and exceed initial expectations. VA encourages all Veterans, family members, caregivers, and survivors to learn more about VA and apply for their world class healthcare and earned benefits today. We will continue to reach out to Veterans and encourage them to come to VA while ensuring we continue to deliver care and benefits to Veterans at a record rate. And I’ll turn it back over to Terrence.
Terrence Hayes (VA Press Secretary): Thank you, Lasheeco. Truly appreciate it. We’ll go ahead and open the Q and A period. We will start with Patricia Kime.
Patricia Kime (Military.com): Thank you for doing this. I appreciate it. We had to address the things that have been going on in Congress with your $15 billion shortfall–projected shortfall. Early in the year, there was concern about community care being the issue, but now we’re hearing that it’s too many people working at VHA, and now VBA is short because of the GI Bill. Where did this all start? How are you going to solve it? And how are Veterans going to get their benefits by the end of the year? And will you have any–will there be any projected unemployment cuts, that kind of thing?
Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): Yeah. Thanks so much for the question. So, the fact is, as we just heard very clearly from Ken and Lasheeco, that we’re providing more care, in this instance, more benefits to more Veterans than ever before. So, the issue–the reason we need additional resources is because we are doing that enabled by the PACT Act and by a very aggressive outreach plan and outreach execution.
So, let’s disaggregate the two questions. First, VBA, right before the end of last fiscal year, we asked Congress to lift the authorized level of mandatory funding available to pay C&P and readjustment benefits at VBA. They did that as they often do. We–we did that because we anticipated a very aggressive outreach plan. We’ve been tracking this closely, talking with our partners over the course of the last several months, and it’s become clear that because we are producing at the levels that Ken and Lasheeco just talked about, that we would need Congress to lift that authorized mandatory level one more time before the end of the fiscal year to the tune of about $3 billion. The reason being is that we anticipate ultimately producing somewhere north of 2.5 million claims this year. We had been planning for an aggressive growth rate up to 2.4 million. But again, because we’re performing and producing at such a high level, we need to raise that authorized level one more time. That will cover increased benefits paid under C&P claims, as well as increased utilization of readjustment benefits to include GI Bill, VR&E, and dependent GI Bill benefits. That’s all in FY ‘24. That’s VBA. I think the second part of your question relates to resource needs in FY ‘25 for VHA. What we’ve talked about is more Veterans are enrolling in VA for their health care. 412,867 Veterans have enrolled in VA care over the last 365 days. That is an increase of 27% over last year and the most since 2017. In total, since the PACT Act was passed, more than 710,000 Veterans have enrolled in VA. So, more Veterans are choosing VA. Second, more Veterans are using their VA healthcare. We’re on track this year to provide 127 million health care appointments for Veterans. That also is an increase from last year, which was an all-time high of 120 million appointments. So, in light of this fact, we have determined that next year, we already have the advance appropriation for next year–that for next year we need a quantum more–about $12 billion, to ensure that we can continue to provide record levels of care to record levels of Veterans. Last point, your question about whether we anticipate needing to downsize employees, as it relates to FY ‘24 and VBA. This is a fairly straightforward request that Congress, as I said, just did once before the start of this fiscal year, we anticipate they could do it again. We’d like that to happen by the middle of September so that all of the payments to Veterans go out to them this year. We don’t anticipate any downsizing in staff as it relates to VHA. Similarly, we think that the request that we’ve made will allow us to maintain operations at that record level. And that’s why I’ve been talking with Congress about this over the course of the last several months. We’ve talked about it in this room. I’ve said to you guys that as you’ve asked questions about hiring levels, I’ve said that we think we have the budget we need, but we’re watching it closely. And if we need additional assistance, we’ll be going back to Congress. And in light of the fact that we’ve been carrying out the most aggressive outreach plan and the most aggressive outreach execution in the history of VA, we do need this additional funding for VBA this year, for VHA next year.
Patricia Kime (Military.com): Just to follow up, I mean, the PACT Act will be two years old in just a few days. Couldn’t you all have anticipated this? I mean, the influx? I mean, there must have been some kind of charts and layouts of that. So, can you respond to that? And also, you know, is anybody going to be held accountable for the projections that may not be accurate?
Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): You know what? We’re providing more care and more benefits to more Veterans than ever, and we’re doing that at record high trust levels. More Veterans are choosing VA, more Veterans are filing claims at VA, more Veterans are being rewarded their earned benefits from VA, and more Veterans are using their healthcare at VA. And as we’re providing that timely access to world class care and timely access to earned benefits, we’re doing it at trust levels the highest that VA has seen, point one. Point two, we’ve been watching very closely all year. I’ve been talking to you about it each month that because of the aggressive outreach plan that we’re carrying out, that we were watching very closely are spent. And I kept saying we believe we have what we need, but if we need more, we’re going to come back and ask for it, because we want Veterans to choose VA. And at record levels, Veterans are choosing VA. So, we watched how we’re doing on execution and staff on board through this calendar year. We are watching and executing on execution of community care throughout the course of this year, and we’ve been watching execution of direct care in the system throughout this year. And on each of those indicators, we’re performing above expectation. That’s a good thing for Veterans and consistent with what I’ve been saying throughout the course of the year, if we need additional resources, we’ll ask for them. We’ve done that.
Patricia Kime (Military.com): Thank you, Mr. Secretary.
Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): Thank you.
Terrence Hayes (VA Press Secretary): Thank you, Patricia. Are there any other questions?
Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): Shortest press conference in the history. Oh, no.
Terrence Hayes (VA Press Secretary): Oh, okay, Quil.
Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): Now we have Ellen in the room.
Quil Lawrence (NPR): Hey, how y’all doing?
Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): Good, man. How are you?
Quil Lawrence (NPR): Good. I don’t really have a question unless you’re in the running for VP. No, I’m kidding. I wanted to ask you about the ruling in Los Angeles regarding the West LA VA campus and how–what you’re going to do in the light of that ruling that VA is discriminating against the most disabled Veterans because of the income requirements to move into the housing, et cetera. Do you have any comment on that?
Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): You know, obviously, we’re following it very closely, Quil, one. Two, we’re making sure that we understand the ruling. It’s kind of a ruling in three parts. I think you’ve identified the second issue, and this really relates to a policy that’s executed in the main by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which relates to how they account for federal assistance and who or what–which Veterans qualify for access to certain programs if they’re getting federal assistance. I think you’ve heard us talk about our view on that, which is that we’ve been looking, working very hard to identify a way to make sure that our Veterans can get access to housing irrespective of their disability rating and irrespective of the support that they get from VA. So, we think that the judges identified an issue that we’ve been working on. We appreciate the court’s interest in the issue, and inasmuch as we’ve been trying to address this issue, we’ll continue to try to address it. And I think the court gives us new urgency to do so.
Quil Lawrence (NPR): Do you know if you can do this without congressional help?
Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): Well, we’ve been talking to Congress about it, too. Those–we’ve asked for their help on it, and so we’ll see if they move on it. But as I said, the focus that we have here is, you know, urgency consistent with the fact that we want Veterans to be in houses–in housing, one. And two, I think the court ruling gives us even more urgency to those efforts.
Quil Lawrence (NPR): Okay. And just one more follow-up on also a housing related question. Any news on VASP? And particularly as you were discussing budget, the cost.
Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): Yeah, we’ve–no. I don’t have any new news on that, Quil. I think we’ve committed to you guys to keep you updated on when we have new news we’re executing on the VASP, and, you know, as we–as we have new news on that, we’ll let you know. We have no proud–we have no concerns about the budget support for this program. I think we’ve made that pretty clear, too. But we’ll obviously keep updating you if there’s news to update you on.
Quil Lawrence (NPR): Okay. And if you are in the running for vice president, you’re gonna tell us first, right?
Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): Right. Yeah, I–with 100% confidence that I will not be found to be inaccurate. You can take to the bank that I am not in the running to be vice president. So—-
Quil Lawrence (NPR): Thanks.
Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): Which is good news for the country [laughter]
Terrence Hayes (VA Press Secretary): Gotta love Quil. Any other questions from—-
Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): Ellen in the room, Terrence.
Terrence Hayes (VA Press Secretary): Does Ellen have a question? I missed seeing her today.
Ellen Milhiser (Congressional Synopsis): Hi, Terrence. I hope you’re feeling better soon. Thank you for doing this, Secretary. Yesterday–last night at a hearing on the EHRM, several of the congressmen were questioning, in light of the need for supplemental funding and the fact that you’ve hired so many more people in VHA, which is causing part of this cost overrun, the fact that you surged hundreds of people into Lovell to implement the EHR, the fact that you need, apparently, hundreds more people to implement the EHR at a new site and to keep it operating. The committee was questioning how affordable the EHR is, and Representative Self questioned specifically, when do you see a return on investment on this? And he sort of scoffed at notions of improved patient care and quality and safety and whatever. What do you say to him as to when are we going–when will the government see a return on investment, and what will that look like?
Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): Yeah, I just want to reiterate one point, which is we’re providing more care and more benefits to more Veterans than in the history of VA, and we’re doing it at trust levels across each component that we’ve not seen, right. And so, I’m really proud of our team and the work that they’re doing at VHA, at VBA, at NCA, at OINT, and in every corner of the country. Second, on the EHRM question, I know that our witnesses respond to the question, so I associate myself with their comments.
Ellen Milhiser (Congressional Synopsis): Speaking of witnesses, Ms. Duke admitted to–told the committee that they became aware of the fact that increased workforce at VHA was contributing to the shortfall–expected shortfall in funding, and they became aware of that in January. Why wasn’t any of this included in the president’s budget that was submitted? How did you submit a budget that still has $12 or $13 billion in shortfall?
Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): I might just remind you of the monthly press conferences that I had with you over the course of each—-
Ellen Milhiser (Congressional Synopsis): I remember everything you told us.
Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): And we talked every month about–as I did at length in our budget hearings, about the president’s FY ‘25 budget and the goal expressed in that budget, that we’d be down to 383,000 FTE. And to execute that, we were in a position to make sure that we were being strategic about our hiring. So, we’ve had this discussion every month, and I kept telling you, as I kept telling Congress during the course of the year, including in each of the public hearings, that we believed we had the funding we needed, but if we needed more, we’d come back and ask [crosstalk] And the thing I said is, the thing I won’t do is I will not stop outreach, and we will continue to allow our local leaders to make strategic hiring decisions. And as they’ve done that, we’ve relooked at that 383,000 FTE goal. And we’ve readjusted that, because when you’re offering the level of care that we’re offering–and I just call your attention to a couple of interesting data that I just got this morning. On our access sprints, which is really not really a sprint anymore, it’s our access policy. Primary care wait times across the system are down 8%. Wait times for mental health care appointments, down 9%. Overall offerings of healthcare appointments, up 16% in the system. And so, in light of that more timely access to more care for more Veterans, we’ve determined that we need to revisit the FTE number, and that’s what we’ve done in the light of day.
Ellen Milhiser (Congressional Synopsis): Okay. Thank you.
Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): Thank you. Patty wants to ask another question, but I don’t think we should let her Terrence.
Terrence Hayes (VA Press Secretary): You said Patricia?
Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): Yes.
Terrence Hayes (VA Press Secretary): I saw Jordan walk in the room also, so wasn’t sure if he had a question.
Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): No, Patricia does have one, so.
Terrence Hayes (VA Press Secretary): Okay. No worries there. Patricia.
Patricia Kime (Military.com): Leo isn’t here, so I’m just going to take his question, right.
Terrence Hayes (VA Press Secretary): Sounds good.
Patricia Kime (Military.com): So, if Congress doesn’t approve the supplemental funding that you need, what would be disrupted, if any, services? And do you already have sort of a workaround to be able to accommodate whatever funding you need for things?
Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): Yeah. Well, thanks so much. Let me just say a quick word about Leo. We miss him, you know. I know you do, too. And, you know, we’re pulling for him, one. Two, you know, obviously it would be prudent for us to plan for that, but right now we’re really focused on getting, in the first instance, this very straightforward fix for VBA by the middle of September. And then we’re continuing to talk to Congress about the VHA–the additional needs for VHA in FY ‘25, which obviously starts on October 1st. And so, we’ll keep you abreast between now and then on contingency plans. But the main thing we’re focused on is getting this done. Third point, we’ll keep you abreast on this as we have throughout the course of this entire year, right, this is not a new issue. And we’ll stay on top of this and we’ll make sure that if, as we need contingency plans, we’re talking about those so that we’re informing Veterans as well.
Patricia Kime (Military.com): So, Veterans will not–come September, Veterans won’t have to worry about their checks, getting their GI Bills—-
Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): We’re going to continue to talk to Veterans about exactly what they can expect and what they will experience, and we’ll make sure that we’re talking directly to them. And right now, getting this first fix is going to help us address that question in the first instance.
Patricia Kime (Military.com): Okay. Thank you.
Terrence Hayes (VA Press Secretary): Thank you, Patricia. Any additional questions in the room or online? All right. Not seeing any, so I’ll go ahead and turn it back over to the boss in case he has any last remarks.
Denis McDonough (VA Secretary): No, but, you know, as long as we’re doing things that Leo would expect us to do, I just want you to know that as of July 13, 2024, the backlog is 271,345. This is 1339 less than the previous time we were in this room together. It’s also down more than 150,000 since its most recent high point on January 4th. Also, as of January 13, 2024, overall inventory of claims is 970,055. So, 970,055 claims. This is 10,614 more than the previous press briefing. So, I guess I raise this for sake of transparency, but also to end where we began, which is, as Ken and Lasheeco briefed us at the start, VBA is performing at remarkably high levels. It’s translating into remarkably–it’s translating into earned benefits for millions of Veterans. And I’m really proud of VBA for the work they’re doing. So, thanks, everybody. Have a good day. Bye, now.
]]>Terrence Hayes, VA Press Secretary: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. It’s great seeing you all today. Before Secretary McDonough steps to the podium, I wanted to share a couple items with you. First, we continue to process claims and conduct toxic exposure screenings for thousands of Veterans across the country. I am personally encouraging all my fellow Veterans who may have not received a toxic exposure screening since President Biden signed the PACT Act into law to please learn more at va.gov/pact [Link: www.va.gov/pact]. The toxic exposure screening is easy. I did it myself, and it has resulted in follow-up testing at my local VA medical center. My hope is you’ll get your screening as well. Second, we’re almost at the one-million mark for the Million Veteran Program. The Million Veteran Program is a national research program looking at how genes, lifestyle, military experiences, and exposures affect health and wellness for Veterans. Since launching in 2011, more than 950,000 Veterans have joined MVP. As a member of MVP myself, I’m asking Veterans out there who may want to join this effort to visit mvp.va.gov [Link: www.mvp.va.gov]. Okay, that’s all from me for now. I’ll now step aside and turn the floor over to Secretary McDonough.
Secretary Denis McDonough: Terrence, thanks very much. Nice to see everybody. Let me begin by sharing the story of one of the Vets we’re privileged to serve: Van Rich. Van has one of the most unique stories I’ve heard in a while. He served in the Navy, the Navy Reserves, Air Force, and the Air National Guard. Van deployed to Southwest Asia seven times over the course of his 35-year career. 35 years, seven deployments, two different branches, two different reserve components. He was a member of air search and rescue units, saving the lives of his fellow sailors and airmen. While he was doing that for us, Van was being exposed to toxins. Van remembers seeing the ground change colors as different toxins seeped across the topsoil from the burn pits nearby. Because of that toxic exposure, Van developed what are now presumptive conditions covered by the new toxic exposure law, and as a result, his conditions are now service connected. For Van, the retroactive and monthly toxic exposure benefits are what he calls a big step forward financially and, in his words, a blessing. While I appreciate that sentiment, it’s not a blessing. It’s what this country owes Van. It’s what he’s earned and what he so richly deserves for so courageously serving and sacrificing for this country and for all of us. So, that’s what we do here. Let me tell you for a moment about one person who does it. Rochelle Montanona, a rating Veterans service representative in our Seattle Regional Office, having served Vets for nearly 20 years. Her dad fought three tours in Vietnam. Both of her brothers served in the Army. That tradition of service runs in her family. Now too long ago, Rochelle was reviewing a claim from one of her dad’s brothers in arms, a Vet who was stationed in Thailand during the Vietnam War and who kept missing his doctor’s exams, and Rochelle needed that exam to make sure the Vet got the right rating. She emailed him. She called him. No answers, so she started calling numbers on his emergency contact list and finally got an answer. Because she wouldn’t give up on him, the Vet made it to his exam. Because she wouldn’t give up on him, the Vet got the rating he deserved. Because she wouldn’t give up on him, the Vet is now getting the VA care and benefits he earned and so richly deserved, just like Van. Rochelle sees the new law for toxic exposure as a real game changer for these Vets, and she’s right. Now, I’m honored to introduce today’s guest speaker, Josh Jacobs, VA’s newly confirmed Under Secretary for Benefits. Now, I want to draw your attention to one, actually, to three facts. Fact one, VA hasn’t had three concurrently serving, Senate-confirmed under secretaries since May 2014. May 2014. In 2014, the VA budget was 154 billion dollars in discretionary mandatory. In 2023, the VA budget is 309 billion dollars. An increase in that period during which we did not have three concurrently serving, Senate-confirmed under secretaries of 155 billion dollars, or 101 percent. In terms of personnel, in 2014, the budget supported approximately 319,000 people. In 2023, the budget will support approximately 434,000 people, an increase of 115,000 personnel, so it’s critically important that we have confirmed personnel in these jobs, so we really appreciate our partners’ work on Capitol Hill to get Josh into this fight as the Senate-confirmed Under Secretary for Benefits. Josh, over to you, brother.
Under Secretary Josh Jacobs: Thanks, Terrence, and thanks, Secretary McDonough, for your kind words and for placing your trust and confidence in me to serve as Under Secretary for Benefits. Today, I want to spend a few minutes to update everyone in the room on the tremendous work and the progress underway in VBA on behalf of our Veterans, families, caregivers, and survivors. As you know, VBA set a record last year when it completed over 1.7 million claims, which beat the previous year’s record by 12 percent. We’re halfway through the fiscal year, and we’re on track to break that record again this year. We’ve completed 14 percent more claims today than we did at the same point last year. We’ve completed over 8,000 claims in a day 39 different times this year. That’s something we’ve only done six times in the rest of VA’s history, and just last week, we completed over 9,000 claims in a single day, the first time ever in VA’s history. Two weeks ago, we processed our one-millionth benefits claim a month earlier than the record we set last year. Thanks to our aggressive hiring and our planning for workload management, our backlog remains under 27 percent of the total inventory at 213,000 claims as of close of business Saturday. As a result, we’re delivering nearly three billion dollars of benefits to more than six million Veterans, their families, and survivors, and we’re doing everything we can to reach out to more Veterans so that they can get access to the life-changing benefits that they’ve earned. Yesterday, we announced that Veterans have filed over 500,000 claims for toxic exposure-related conditions under the PACT Act. We’ve completed more than 241,000 of these claims as of this week, and we’ve awarded over a billion dollars in earned benefits as a result. Thanks to the PACT Act and our proactive outreach efforts, we’ve received 31 percent more claims this year than we did at the same point last fiscal year. That means more Veterans and their families will receive an extra bit of financial stability. Many will receive it when they may need it most, and some will gain new or increased access to health care or realize their dream of earning a college degree or even purchasing a home with their earned benefits. So, we’re really proud of the role that we play at VBA in helping Veterans, their families, and survivors reach their goals, whether they’re big or they’re small, and we’re on pace to achieve so much more. Our loan guarantee service is nearing the historic milestone of delivering the 28-millionth VA-guaranteed home loan in the coming weeks. Education claims are being processed on faster timelines, and the new technology that we’re rolling out is making enrollments easier than ever. Our insurance service is now the twelfth-largest life insurer in the United States, and we’re continuing to expand after launching the new VALife program. Delivering these benefits and more to our Veterans wouldn’t be possible without our people, so to help meet our increasing demands for VA benefits, we’ve been aggressively expanding our workforce through hiring fairs and through other avenues. Over the last couple of months, VBA held hiring fairs in eight regional offices. We had over 2,800 attendees and almost 1,100 same-day job offers. As a result of this aggressive hiring, our total workforce has now over 28,000 VBA team members. It’s the largest VBA has ever been, and it’s the highest growth rate in over a decade at 15 percent in the last year and a half. This growth is what’s allowing us to deliver more benefits to more Veterans than ever before, and while we continue to focus on increasing production and improving the quality of our claims decisions, we’re also working with the Veterans Experience Office to look at how we can improve the Veteran experience throughout the disability compensation process. So, tomorrow, for the first time ever, we’re sending out customer experience surveys to Veterans who participate in the disability compensation process, and we’re going to work with our VEO partners to turn these key Veteran insights into tangible actions that improve the Veteran experience. Finally, I want to encourage all eligible Veterans and survivors to file PACT Act claims as soon as possible. If you apply for a PACT Act-related benefit on or before August 9, 2023, your benefits may be backdated to August 10, 2022, the date the law was enacted. If you’re not ready to submit a claim by then, don’t worry. You can also submit an intent to file before August 9 and still potentially receive that earliest possible effective date. So, please visit va.gov/pact [Link: www.va.gov/pact] or call 1-800-MyVA411 and press 8 for more information. I’m really looking forward to continuing to serve Veterans in this role and building on the past successes of these past months and years, and with that, I will turn it back to Terrence and open it up to questions.
Terrence Hayes, VA Press Secretary: Thank you, sir. I will take questions. We’ll start off with Leo. He seemed to call your confirmation before we knew.
[Laughter]Leo Shane (Military Times): Appreciate that. Question for both Mr. Secretary and Mr. Under Secretary. In reference to those surveys, how will that data be used, and what kind of data are you pulling from these folks? Is it just a “three quick questions,” or is it a more comprehensive look at what went there?
Under Secretary Josh Jacobs: We’re working with our VEO partners to deploy what they call the VSignal survey, and we’re looking to capture both qualitative and quantitative data. The survey contains 13 questions. It’s going to ask about their filing experience, organizational and platform support they use, whether they’re doing it online or through paper, the communication touch points, and what level of trust Veterans had throughout that process. The goal here is to take that information and identify both the pain points and the moments that matter so that we can use that information to drive actionable improvements to build trust because we know that VBA and the claims process is often the first point that a Veteran engages with the department, and it can be the difference between whether or not they decide to pursue the additional earned benefits or access health care or not. So, we’re going to take both the qualitative and the quantitative data that these surveys will provide, along with some of the human-centered research that we’ve already completed, and we’re going to take that and drive specific projects to make tangible improvements to the overall process.
Leo Shane (Military Times): And Veterans who are receiving this, will they be getting it through email? Will they be getting through the mail? What should they be looking for in the next few days?
Under Secretary Josh Jacobs: I believe it’s email.
Leo Shane (Military Times): Okay, and then just one other quick question. I believe you said it was a 31 percent increase in the number of claims that you received up to this point this year. The hiring numbers you said, obviously those folks are going to take some time to load on and get through the whole process. Are you concerned about the issue of burnout at this point with the amount of work going in, with the amount that you’re demanding from staff to get through to try and pull down that backlog?
Under Secretary Josh Jacobs: Yeah, so, I’ve been traveling to various regional offices over the last several months, and every single office that I visited, I have been incredibly impressed by the talent, the dedication to the mission, and the ability to deliver outcomes. The last two years, we’ve broken all-time production records in VBA’s history, producing more claims, delivering more benefits to Veterans than ever before, and our employees are increasing productivity. They are delivering more benefits per person than ever before, and they’re doing that while the total amount of claims is increasing, and they’re being asked to process in a very new way. The PACT Act is incredible, but it’s changing the way that we operate as an organization, so I am concerned about ensuring that we take care of our employees because when we take care of our employees, they can take care of Veterans. So, we’re actively looking at ways that we can protect against burnout. We can provide the support that our employees need and make sure that, at the end of the day, the Veterans we care for get the benefits that they’ve earned.
Leo Shane (Military Times): Okay. Thank you.
Terrence Hayes, VA Press Secretary: Next question. You got a question, John? You can come up, John. I couldn’t see you back there.
John Hewitt Jones (FedScoop): Hi, sir. Sorry. Thanks for taking my question. I’m afraid I would like to ask about the EHR again, the electronic health record, and I have a question, I guess, more on process than anything else. Last week we had the news of the postponement for the future of the rollout of the program, and at the time we heard again from senior leaders at the agency that issues with the system are being solved. There was an outage last week that happened, and we were told that was solved. There’s another outage that actually came to my attention yesterday. Over the last week or so, this also occurred. I guess I really wanted to ask, are you being made aware when these often pretty serious outages are taking place, and are they being reported to Congress?
Secretary Denis McDonough: Yeah. Thanks so much. I didn’t understand the first thing you said that these outages were being “sold,” you said?
John Hewitt Jones (FedScoop): No. We’re being told something.
Secretary Denis McDonough: You’re being told, I see.
John Hewitt Jones (FedScoop): I’m sorry. Yeah. Sometimes VA officials will say, last week, for example, a senior VA official was saying, “This outage has been solved. There’s not a problem,” when, actually, there was another separate outage taking place. I guess I’m really trying to understand what the process is for making sure you and other senior leaders are aware when these medical records aren’t available in these institutions.
Secretary Denis McDonough: Yeah. Great. Thanks so much for the question. I want to be careful to not add a lot to what has been a robust set of briefings in the last week. I think you guys all sat down with Dr. Evans last week. You sat down with Dr. Elnahal earlier this week. I had a couple things to say about this yesterday. Nevertheless, I think you’re asking a very straightforward question. I’d say two things in response to it. As I said to Congress yesterday, we had had seven months with no outages. That’s not to say there had not been degradations, but there had been seven months with no outages, and that’s not to say either that degradations aren’t serious. They are very serious. Nevertheless, despite those seven months of no outages, as I testified yesterday, in the last week, we’ve had two outages, which is the source of great, as I said yesterday, frustration. That’s the first thing. Obviously system reliability is chief among the concerns that Dr. Evans talked with you all about last week and chief among the concerns as to why we chose the reset. Point two, how do we know about what’s happening? Well, we start every day with a morning huddle, and in that huddle is the Assistant Secretary for IT, Mr. DelBene, and Dr. Evans, who is running the program office, so we are given regular updates including warnings about developments that have occurred overnight or even in the day prior. So, that’ll give you a sense of that.
John Hewitt Jones (FedScoop): Thank you, and, sorry, just to clarify, those two outages that you refer to there, there’s one, the Downtime Viewer outage, and then the other outage from the update last weekend. Those are the two you’re referring to there?
Secretary Denis McDonough: Why don’t we take that question? I want to make sure that I don’t confuse the issue, but we had system-wide outage just the day before yesterday, that impacted the entire enclave, as we call it, DOD and VA. We obviously did have problems with a joint viewer, but I want to make sure that I’m not confusing any of these, so I’ll make sure that somebody gets back to you with a specific answer to how you characterize the outages so that I don’t mischaracterize them.
John Hewitt Jones (FedScoop): Thank you, Secretary. One quick question, if I may, not related to the EHR. The VA has been leading on responsible AI in the use of responsible artificial intelligence technologies, often to aid with diagnosis. I wondered if you had any thoughts on some of the AI programs that are currently in place and the VA’s focus on that technology going forward.
Secretary Denis McDonough: I’m really proud of our technologists, and I’m really proud of our entire workforce for taking, on everything we do, a Veteran-centered focus on how we care for Veterans, how we develop the claims process. As Josh just said, we’re rolling out the VSignal in the benefits compensation program tomorrow, which is a fundamentally Veteran-centered choice, and we expect the same of our technologists as we look at technical innovations and technical improvements.
John Hewitt Jones (FedScoop): Thanks, Secretary.
Secretary Denis McDonough: Thank you.
Terrence Hayes, VA Press Secretary: We have a question from Lucy. Good afternoon, Lucy.
Lucy Bustamante (NBCUniversal): Hey, good afternoon, everyone. Thank you so much for taking my questions. I have a couple, if you don’t mind. First of all, welcome, Mr. Jacobs. I just wanted to know if you’re going to be the person that will be heading the equity team, or if you all are waiting to have him in position to start naming the members of that equity team. That is my first question.
Secretary Denis McDonough: Yes, why don’t I take that, Lucy, and then, obviously, if Josh wants to pile on, he can. As I told you last time we talked about this, we are building that team. We’re doing a full scrub of our records and our processes. We don’t yet have an announcement on who those people will be on the team, but we owe responses on that to a lot of important people, starting with the President of the United States and our Veterans and to you, so when we have announcements on that, we’ll let you know for sure.
Lucy Bustamante (NBCUniversal): Okay. A couple more questions for you, sir. I just wanted to know as well, one of our NBC stations has been doing a 20-year investigation into flawed neurological exams at the Tomah VA. One, are you aware of the level of examination that has been offered through the years to these Veterans and that the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee is basically investigating this at this point, and do you have a sense of the extent of these flawed neurological exams in Tomah that have led to the misdiagnosis of traumatic brain injury through the years?
Secretary Denis McDonough: Yeah. Thanks so much. I’m familiar with the reporting because it’s my hometown news-reporting organization, and I’ve been to the Tomah facility. We’re following this issue very closely. I’ve discussed it with the congressman from that area, Mr. Van Orden, with Senator Baldwin, who’s been focused on this very much, and I had an exchange with her yesterday about it. We are very concerned about the C&P exams. We’re looking at the full range of C&P exams as well as care provided in the Tomah facility. I don’t have any broader announcement than that, but am I aware of it? The answer to that is yes. I’m intimately familiar with it, and we’re staying on top of this to ensure that our Veterans get the care that they have earned and that they deserve and that any Veteran who got a C&P exam that is not up to our standard has the right to have a review of that without compensating his effective date or her effective date, meaning they should not have to refile a claim. We’re working this very closely with the congressional delegation, and as we have more news to share on that, we will.
Lucy Bustamante (NBCUniversal): Just one more on that and then one other question, sir. Mr. Secretary, if you could tell me about the procedure in the past, they have said before it would be corrected, and there was reporting done saying essentially what you had just said, “We are aware. We’re going to fix this,” and then years passed, and we were seeing that this was still happening. Is there anything that you can say about how the accountability process will look different to make sure that the doctors that aren’t well-equipped, well-trained, well-certified, appropriately certified, so that they are taken out of the situation when it comes to diagnosing Veterans?
Secretary Denis McDonough: Yeah. Thanks. Obviously, we can’t speak to what had happened before I was here, before Josh was here, before Dr. Elnahal was here, but we take the C&P exam, the compensation and pension exam, very seriously. To his very good credit, Josh Jacobs, whom I call today Under Secretary Jacobs, has insisted on higher quality metrics, incentives, and disincentives for those C&P exams during his time as he’s in the acting role. While I want to be careful not to comment about an ongoing situation, I can say to you that if we had reason to believe somebody was not providing quality care, either in the clinical setting or in C&P exams, we would make sure that they were not carrying those functions out, and I stand by that as a general matter, and I want our Veterans to have the assurance that we will make that so whenever we’re presented with that situation.
Lucy Bustamante (NBCUniversal): And then the final question for you, sir, or Mr. Jacobs, if you want to take it. I understand that it is National Infertility Week, and this is a question that isn’t just for the military families but really for all of the programs and their leaders that are worried about budget cuts that were just announced with the latest announcement of the debt ceiling. One of the things that I understand is going on right now before Congress is the military families fighting for an expansion of coverage for IVF, ART, adoption, third party reproduction. Obviously, as military families, we know it’s even harder to bring a child into this world when your other half is gone all the time, and then just the process of getting that kind of coverage and then services connected, if you can prove that your infertility issues were because of your service and even if it wasn’t, it seems like it’s just lagging much more behind what the civilians get through their health insurance, depending on who your employer is and what the plan is. So, can you just elaborate on the focus on helping military families with this disparity and what is covered for growing their families when their partner is gone so much of the year?
Secretary Denis McDonough: Yeah. Thanks so very much for the question. This is an issue that has been a priority for us since we arrived. In each of his budget submissions, President Biden has tried to change the limitations on VA in the types of services that we can provide families as it relates to infertility services or fertility services. We are going to fight until we get this enacted. I’ve talked at length with many members of Congress for whom this is also a major priority, and I hope that we get there, but your characterization of the situation is accurate, meaning that there are limitations on services that VA can provide, to include to legally married same-sex couples, that we think are not in keeping with our requirements to care for all Veterans. We have sought to have this changed. We will continue to seek to have it changed until we can provide Veterans the full suite of services that they have earned and so richly deserve.
Lucy Bustamante (NBCUniversal): Thank you, sir, and Terrence, last question, I promise you. The numbers that you all just released that Melissa Chan from our organization reported on, the record number of calls to the suicide hotline. As we ramp up to cover Memorial Day and another round of analyzing these numbers, and also Mission Daybreak just awarding to Stop Soldier Suicide, what is the implementation going to look like when people are calling that hotline now, and now that you’ve awarded your Mission Daybreak grant winners, what does it look like on the ground, especially in the Special Ops community that just suffered three in the last two weeks? What do you say to these people?
Secretary Denis McDonough: Thank you very much for the question. Obviously, ending Veteran suicide is our number one clinical priority in VA. The use of the Veterans Crisis Line is a critical tool in that, and, in fact, as you said, Veterans called texted and messaged the hotline 88,092 times in March 2023. That is the most in the history of the hotline. This increase in contacts means that Veterans in crisis are getting the help they need at the moment they need it. It’s really important that our performance statistics on fielding those calls, on making sure that Veterans are not waiting an inordinate period on the line as they make those calls, and then that they are connected to services, especially if they’re in crisis, that day when they call the line. We have continued to perform on those metrics. Even at the highest month that we’ve had, we’ve continued to perform to ensure that Vets get connected to somebody with training and some clinical experts and then get them into care, including that day, if they need it. Now, there is a question around why the number is as high, and I think one of the things that motivates your question, Lucy, and one of the things that was in your colleague’s reporting, was an attribution for why. The fact is there is no one factor that fully explains the increase. Many factors influence increases in calls to the Veterans Crisis Line. There are, however, some clear trends that we’ve identified. First, seasonality. Year over year, we’ve consistently seen increases in contacts in the month of March, including similar spikes in 2020, 2021, and 2022. Seasonal patterns of variation over time occur in other parts of the year as well. So, that’s one. Two, the shortened hotline number to 988. Any Veteran in crisis, please, just dial 988 and then touch 1, and we’ll get you care. Since that, there has been, routinely, more Veterans reaching the Crisis Line. Since the launch of 988 and subsequent advertising and awareness campaigns, there has been a consistent increase in Veterans Crisis Line calls of 12 percent for calls, 36 percent increase for texts, and a 10 percent increase for chat messages across the board. We’ve also been aggressively reaching out to Veterans, including in the Special Ops community that you’ve just talked about, in media, in advertising, and in person to raise awareness for this simplified hotline number. This has resulted in significant increases for VCL volume, just as it has, according to Secretary Becerra and the HHS for the national 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, which fields calls across the country outside the Veterans Crisis Line. Again, there are many reasons that this is happening now, point one. Point two, this increase in calls has not meant any diminution of services, and it has not meant any slowness in responding, which means, three, as a Veteran, if you are in crisis, please contact us at 988, then press 1, and we’ll make sure that we get you into care today. Thanks.
Lucy Bustamante (NBCUniversal): Thank you both.
Terrence Hayes, VA Press Secretary: Ellen.
Ellen Milhiser (Congressional Synopsis): Hello. Thank y’all for doing this. I’m interested in research today. You indicated there are 950,000 Veterans signed up for the MVP already. How many of them have completed their DNA testing and analysis so that they’re fully in the biobank?
Terrence Hayes, VA Press Secretary: Yeah, I can get those specific numbers back to you, so let me follow up with the MVP team, and I’ll get that to you hopefully by the end of the day.
Ellen Milhiser (Congressional Synopsis): Okay. I appreciate it. Okay, the new Gulf War Illness study that y’all are doing with NIH, when will you start enrolling Veterans into that?
Terrence Hayes, VA Press Secretary: Unless you know, that’s probably another one I need to look into, Ellen, so we’ll circle back on that, too.
Ellen Milhiser (Congressional Synopsis): Okay. Thank you.
Terrence Hayes, VA Press Secretary: Thank you, Ellen. [Terrence Hayes chuckles] Jory.
Jory Heckman (Federal News Network): Thanks as always for doing this. VBA question, following up on some remarks from earlier this year, Under Secretary Jacobs. I wanted to keep an eye on the efforts under VBA to automate claims processing. I know that there was an update back in February on that. Just in terms of the claims that are being processed under that, how are things going? Is there a push to widen the scope of claims that are being automated at VBA?
Under Secretary Josh Jacobs: Yeah, thanks very much for the question. I think this is one of the most exciting areas of work going on in VBA at the moment. We talked a lot about the hiring, and we’re continuing to push very hard to hire more new VBA employees, but the promise of the automated decision support technology is that we can help our employees deliver more benefits to more Veterans more equitably and accurately and consistently than ever before. We’re actively working through that and, at eight regional offices, getting direct feedback from frontline employees to test and provide feedback on that. I was just in Montgomery, one of the eight sites that is actively testing our automated decision support tools, and got some really great feedback, got the demo. There are some really fantastic features that are already directly improving the speed to complete certain portions of the claims process, and we’ve seen other ways where there’s additional promise, but we need to change the automation logic, so we’re actively working. There’s, as you would expect, the tension between the need to continue to innovate and expand the aperture of the number of employees who can use this technology while also dealing with the near term immediate needs to produce decisions for Veterans right away. There is robust collaboration underway across the entire organization making sure, as we further deploy this technology, that we’re making appropriate policy, regulatory, or pursuing statutory changes that may be needed, and we’re also working with our employees because we want to make sure, as we provide these tools, that they’re actually going to be adopted and used across the system and not incentivize some sort of workaround. So, a lot of great progress and still plenty more to do.
Jory Heckman (Federal News Network): Going back to the job fairs, the hiring, the effort being there in the workforce. Something we always track, of course, is the time to hire, how quickly people who are interested in the job are able to get in the door and start working at VBA. In terms of the metrics there, are things improving? Are they currently where you’d like them to be? Just an update there would be great.
Under Secretary Josh Jacobs: Yeah, I can get back to you with the specific details and the stats, but I think generally speaking, we’re doing quite well with the 80-day time-to-hire-onboarding process. One of the things that we’ve done, and we’re always looking to shrink that time, is through these hiring fairs, we’ve learned along the way what works and what doesn’t, so we’re continuing to streamline and improve the process and our ability to provide these same-day hires has been absolutely phenomenal. Still pushing very hard to keep shrinking that process, and then the important thing is not only getting these new employees onboarded, but we also need to get them trained. We’re working very hard to align the timing of our hiring actions with the timing of the classes that each of these new employees goes through because we want to make sure we build the skills that are necessary to do this very complex and important work. So, I’m pretty pleased with the level of effort and the outcome so far and continuing to push the team to work even faster and more diligently because everyone understands our ability to do this directly impacts our ability to serve Veterans.
Jory Heckman (Federal News Network): Something we’ve seen across the entire federal workforce now is that right mix of in-person work and virtual work, and, of course, with the healthcare side of VA, that’s not really as much of an option, but with the benefit side of things, I’m just curious, is there still flexibility being offered there in terms of new and current employees? Is telework still an option for them? Just what’s the current state of play there?
Under Secretary Josh Jacobs: Yeah, our VBA employees, for the most part, are complying with OPM requirement of being in the office two days per pay period. I think what we’ve demonstrated as an organization over the last two years is we’ve been able to increase production and increase productivity, notwithstanding the challenges associated with the very quick pivot to this largely virtual operation. I’m confident that the team will continue to produce no matter what happens in the future. The VBA workforce is represented by– more than 55 percent of our employees are Veterans. All of them are Veteran advocates. So, I know no matter what happens, they’re going to do the job.
Jory Heckman (Federal News Network): Okay, and Mr. Secretary, I did want to follow up on your remarks yesterday on Capitol Hill. Regarding the EHR and the budgeting, you said that there’s about 400 million dollars in the FY 2023 budget that just, given the reset and the current reality of things with the EHR, is probably not going to be used this year. Does that money go back to Congress? Are lawmakers able to repurpose that so you guys are able to spend that elsewhere within VA? Just what’s the current situation with that funding?
Secretary Denis McDonough: Yeah. Thanks for the question. I want to just go back on two things that you just talked to Josh about. One is on workforce. Because of the centrality of people to our ability to perform against the numbers that you’ve seen from Josh and that you heard about from Shereef earlier this week, time for hiring, time for onboarding are really important metrics for us, so we’re working through a process here to be very transparent with you all on what that looks like. In the same way that we’re putting out that PACT Act performance dashboard, we’ll be looking to some kind of similar set of regular measurements that we’ll make public for you all to consume. On the future of work, as we’re calling it, I just got to say again, how proud I am of the VA workforce for the performance that they’ve had throughout the pandemic. You saw those numbers from Josh on his charts earlier. I think you’ve seen the numbers that we’ve produced as it relates to Veteran care at VHA and then caring for Veterans through our national cemeteries. We’ve continued to operate at a very high level at VA throughout the pandemic, consistent with a call from OMB recently to see a substantial increase in workforce. In headquarters elements, we are working very closely with our leaders, our supervisors here in the National Capital Region, to make sure that we are meeting and leading on the standards that OMB has called for. I will say though, in the field, as your question envisioned, our personnel VHA, VBA, NCA, are so productive. We are going to make sure that they can continue to operate the way they’re operating now. Now, on the 400 million, what happens with the 400 million will be something that obviously we will work through with Congress. And there are a series of benchmarks laid out in statute including on when we unlock certain parts of the set-aside money for this year. So in that process we’ll work out precisely what happens, but that’s something for us to work out with Congress.
Jory Heckman (Federal News Network): And like you said yesterday for FY 24, that still remains in flux?
Secretary Denis McDonough: Same thing. We’re going to work that through with Congress, but what we’re going to do – remember what we’re focused on here, is getting it right at the five sites.
Jory Heckman (Federal News Network): Okay. Thanks much.
Secretary Denis McDonough: Thank you.
Terrence Hayes, VA Press Secretary: Over to Quill. Good afternoon, Quill.
Quil Lawrence (NPR): Hey, good afternoon. Nice to see you all. Thanks very much for all of the people you’ve offered up to explain the EHR situation. Mr. Secretary, I just wanted to give you a chance to address a couple of very general issues because this is the first time we’ve had a chance to talk to you about it since the pause was announced. Can you talk directly to the Veterans who live and who get their care at those five sites, plus I guess Northern Chicago, about why they’re continuing on this system which has been frozen because it hasn’t performed well. Some of them tell me they feel like guinea pigs. I just wanted to give you a chance to address that and tell them why it’s safe for them to be getting their care under this current system. I have a couple of follow ups, but I’ll just let you –
Secretary Denis McDonough: Good. Why don’t you gimme ’em all and then I can hit ’em.
Quil Lawrence (NPR): Okay. Yeah. The next logical question is if you’re keeping this system, which has been so frustrating, does it not leave you in a position in negotiating with Cerner where it already seems like vendor lock? If the VA isn’t offering and doesn’t seem to be able to switch back to Vista, or show a clear alternative of what it will do without Cerner, what leverage does that give you? And then the third one really is just do you have an idea about what went wrong or what has gone wrong in a general way? I’m still hearing about Cerner officials who are still learning the very basics of how the VA system works now five years into the contract and two decades into this process. Really just what went wrong, what’s your understanding of what has gone wrong so far? Just very general questions.
Secretary Denis McDonough: Yeah. Thanks so much. So I’ll go like two, three, one, if that’s okay. We’re working through the contract with Oracle Cerner, very little I can say about that. But what’s really important here is as I’ve said for me, since you’re asking me personally, two things are of vital importance, obviously patient safety and patient outcomes and user satisfaction. Those two issues are largely informed, in my experience now over the last two years, by system reliability and by training. So what went wrong is, I think, we have not seen suitable reliability and we’ve not seen the kind of training, again, this is my, this is Denis’s view – I’ve not seen the training that we had come to expect and that I think you’ve reported on and others in the room have reported on. So as we negotiate this contract, we will want to see greater accountability in particular around those two areas. So that goes to the issue of what went wrong and the contract. We’ll keep working the contract and I think we feel like, so we’ll keep working the contract. To our Veterans in those five sites and to our healthcare providers there, I was recently in Roseburg, Oregon, I was really appreciative of the time that the team made for me quite early one morning to share their experience and to share the things that I can do to be a better partner to them. I say to them that we continue to believe, as all of healthcare does, that there’s real power in healthcare health record modernization. It unleashes, when done effectively, important benefits in terms of patient safety and patient outcomes, which is our number one priority here. And importantly, allowing us to interface with DOD will not only improve patient outcomes, but will improve our ability to resolve benefits questions that much faster. So that’s the promise of the record we intend to implement, in a very Veteran centered way with patient safety and patient outcomes leading our principled implementation of it. We intend to deliver those outcomes.
Quil Lawrence (NPR): Just briefly, can you tell the Veterans in those sites how you’re plussing up the support, what you’re able to do to make their experience safer and better while they are, I guess, the laboratory for the development of this HR?
Secretary Denis McDonough: We’re working that through with our providers in the facilities and the program offices leading that charge, Quill. So I’m going to leave that to them to do that. But what we’re making clear in the context of this reset is that the most important thing that matters here is making it work in those five sites, driven by the principles of patient safety and improved Veteran patient outcomes. And that’s the way we’re going to pursue this.
Quil Lawrence (NPR): Thanks a lot.
Terrence Hayes, VA Press Secretary: Orion.
Orion Donovan-Smith (The Spokesman Review): Thank you guys for doing this, as always. First, I just want to take the opportunity since Leo was here to say go Mariners. We haven’t scored yet, but that’s normal, so we’re fine. I appreciate the questions from other reporters on the HR and of course the chance to talk with Dr. Evans and Dr. Elnahal about this so I’m just going to ask but a few particular things, Mr. Secretary. VA told me in a statement that the contract with Oracle Cerner does not allow the company to monetize Veterans health records without the express written permission of VA, so I just have to ask, has VA given that permission?
Secretary Denis McDonough: I’m going to take the questions because over here, I think this is like a bad spot here. Who said? Somebody said what again? Orion Donovan-Smith (The Spokesman Review): I just got in a statement from your press team this morning that I’d asked if Oracle Cerner has monetized, has used the Veteran health records they receive from VA through the EHRM process to make money in any way, to monetize that data? I was told that can only happen with VA’s express written permission. So I just have to ask, to your knowledge, has that permission been given?
Secretary Denis McDonough: To my knowledge, no. But I’ll find out for certain whether it has, and there’s no circumstance under which I would allow that.
Orion Donovan-Smith (The Spokesman Review): Thank you. Have you had any direct communication with Secretary Austin about the shared challenges between, like you say, the federal enclave in terms of these recent outages that affected DOD?
Secretary Denis McDonough: On the most recent outages? I have not, no.
Orion Donovan-Smith (The Spokesman Review): In the past you have generally on the –
Secretary Denis McDonough: We’ve talked generally about EHR as we talk about a lot of different things, but I have not talked specifically about the most recent challenges.
Orion Donovan-Smith (The Spokesman Review): Thank you. And I just want to ask you a question that Senator Murray asked yesterday. And I know it’s tough to answer. This has been posed a few times, but in terms of productivity, because there’s been a lot of talking about patient safety, about some of the other impacts of the EHT, but productivity has been reduced at the affected facilities. They’re seeing fewer Veterans than they were prior to the new EHR being deployed. And as a result, of course, those Veterans are either deferring care or they’re going to private providers through community care where often they face long delays. So how much longer can those Veterans expect to wait before productivity is restored at those sites?
Secretary Denis McDonough: I guess I want to say two things. One, I want to say the best thing to do is to take my answer from yesterday because I was speaking to the chairman of the appropriations committee.
Orion Donovan-Smith (The Spokesman Review): I just asked cause you didn’t actually answer that part of her question, so I had to repeat it.
Secretary Denis McDonough: And the second thing I’d say is we’re resolving this as quickly as we possibly can. We’re doing it, as I said, as we do everything around here, in a Veteran centric way to ensure patient safety and best Veteran outcomes. And we continue to work to ensure timely access to world class care.
And we’ll continue to do that. But I think that’s how I’d answer the question.
Orion Donovan-Smith (The Spokesman Review): I’ll leave it there. Thanks.
Secretary Denis McDonough: Thanks.
Terrence Hayes, VA Press Secretary: Rebecca. Good afternoon.
Hello, can you hear me?
Terrence Hayes, VA Press Secretary: Yes, we can hear you Rebecca.
Rebecca Kheel (Military.com): Okay, great. Thanks for doing this. So obviously there’s been a lot of focus this week on how the Republican debt limit and spending cut plan could affect Veterans. And the bill itself, while it has the top line spending cap, does not specifically cut VA. And I understand that the math to get to that cap would be really hard without cutting VA, it is theoretically possible. So do you have a response to the Republicans who have been accusing the administration of fearmongering and lying when it talks about these possible cuts to VA?
Secretary Denis McDonough: I’m not familiar with the last part of your question. So I guess if there’s something for me to say to our Republican colleagues on the hill, I’ll say that to them personally and as I always do, and I keep an open line with them. So I guess I’m a little trepidatious about answering the question when you say, “Hey, what do you think about somebody saying you’re lying?” So let me answer the question analytically, and then if there’s something that I need to say to my colleagues, I’ll obviously reach out to them as I always do and really appreciate the open and clear and respectful channel we have there. I’ve read the provisions that they’re debating, and it does carve out the Department of Defense expressly so, but does not carve out anybody else. So a fair reading of that would suggest that we, as we prepare for the provision of care into next year, be ready for the full range of options, a full range of outcomes. And that’s what we’re doing and we’re working with OMB to do that. And as with everything else, I’m going to be very transparent with you all about that. And as much as the bill did not choose to do for VA what it chose to do for DOD means we need to prepare ourselves for the outcomes of the type that we’ve been very candid in writing, in testimony and in private conversations with Capitol Hill, as well as with all of you, about what those potential outcomes would be.
Rebecca Kheel (Military.com): So to your mind, it is a very real possibility that these 22% cuts will come to pass, that you’ll not be able to persuade lawmakers to save VA funding, if you will.
Secretary Denis McDonough: Again, I just want to tell you my position without – I’m not really sure I understand how you’re asking the question, so I want to just tell you my position. I read the bill, and the bill does not carve VA out of the potential cuts. The bill does carve DOD out of the potential cuts. In as much as they chose to do that for DOD, but did not for VA, leads me as a leader of this organization and one who considers himself a prudent leader, to need to prepare for very real cuts. That’s why we’ve stacked these up. That’s why we’ve done the analysis to be sure that members understand that and that we begin to prepare for that.
Rebecca Kheel (Military.com): Alright. Thank you.
Terrence Hayes, VA Press Secretary: Any further questions? Sir, this does it for the month of April. Thank you, Mr. Jacobs for joining us this afternoon.
Secretary Denis McDonough: I’m sorry, Under Secretary Jacobs.
Terrence Hayes, VA Press Secretary: The Honorable Undersecretary. Mr. Jacobs, thank you, sir for joining us today. It is a pleasure.
Secretary Denis McDonough: Thank you everybody.
Terrence Hayes, VA Press Secretary: Thanks everybody. We’ll see you next month.
]]>I routinely test for COVID-19 every day, and today I tested positive. My symptoms are mild, and I am following my physician’s directions.
In keeping with those directions, and in accordance with CDC guidelines, I will isolate myself at home for the next five days.
I have informed my leadership team of my positive test result. To protect the safety of others, including our workforce and colleagues, I will attend key meetings and discussions virtually the rest of this week and early next week. I will retain all authorities.
My last meeting with President Biden occurred on Wednesday, August 10, upon the signing of the PACT Act. Our interaction was brief and not considered a close contact. I tested negative that very morning.
As I am fully vaccinated and “boosted,” my physician expects my symptoms to be mild and my recovery swift, and I am grateful for that.
Vaccines work, and I continue to encourage everyone eligible for a booster shot to get one.
]]>“The PACT Act is a historic new law that will help VA deliver for millions of Veterans — and their survivors — by empowering us to presumptively provide care and benefits to Vets suffering from more than 20 toxic exposure-related conditions. It will also bring generations of Veterans into VA health care, which will improve Veteran health outcomes across the board.
“We at VA are ready to implement the PACT Act and deliver for toxic-exposed Veterans and their survivors. If you think you might be eligible for PACT Act benefits, here’s what you need to know:
- You can apply for PACT Act-related benefits now by filing a claim at VA.
- As President Biden announced at the bill signing, we are making all 23 presumptive conditions in the PACT Act eligible for benefits effective today, August 10.
- You can learn more about the PACT Act by visiting VA.gov/PACT or calling 1-800-MY-VA-411.
“Thank you to all of the Veterans, survivors and family members who fought tirelessly to make this day possible, and thank you to President Biden for keeping our nation’s promise to those who served. We at VA will stop at nothing to make sure that every Veteran and every survivor gets the PACT Act-related care and benefits they deserve.”
]]>Veterans who were exposed to toxic fumes while fighting for our country are American heroes, and they deserve world-class care and benefits for their selfless service. The bipartisan PACT Act will help VA deliver for those Veterans — and their survivors — by empowering us to presumptively provide care and benefits to Vets suffering from more than 20 toxic exposure-related conditions.
To those Veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors: you can apply for PACT Act benefits by filing a claim at VA, and you can learn more about the PACT Act at VA.gov/PACT or by calling us at 1-800-MyVA411. We’ll be communicating with you every step of the way to make sure that you and your loved ones get the benefits you’ve earned.
We couldn’t be more grateful to President Biden, who made this day possible by fighting like hell for our nation’s Veterans. Once the President signs this bill into law, we at VA will implement it quickly and effectively, delivering the care these Veterans need and the benefits they deserve.
]]>WASHINGTON — President Biden has stated we have a sacred obligation to support Veterans, their families, caregivers and survivors. As part of his first State of the Union address, he identified supporting Veterans as a key pillar of his Unity Agenda and an issue that can unite the country. The Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act makes good on that promise.
In my recent press conference, I spoke in detail about the Department of Veterans Affairs’ strong support of the PACT Act because the bipartisan bill will help us advance one of the department’s top priorities: getting more Veterans into VA care. President Biden has also been clear about his commitment to getting more VA health care to veterans impacted by toxic exposures, which is why we need Congress to send the PACT Act to his desk.
Study after study demonstrates Veterans in VA care do better — and this legislation could bring up to 3.5 million more Veterans into our care. The PACT Act would be one of the largest substantive health and benefit expansions in VA’s history, comparable in scale and impact to the Agent Orange Act. It would codify many of the ongoing efforts by the department to improve its process for establishment of presumptions of service connection due to toxic exposure, reducing the burden for Veterans and increasing transparency.
We support the expansion of access to VA health care in the PACT Act and will work to ensure that the expansion of eligibility for health care does not result in the delay or disruption of care for those Veterans already receiving health care from VA.
I want to personally thank Senators Jon Tester (D-MT) and Jerry Moran (R-KS) for beginning to address the operational impact on VA by investing heavily in VA claims processing, VA’s workforce and VA health care facilities. These investments and more are necessary for us to deliver the timely, quality services, benefits and care our Veterans deserve.
As always, we encourage Veterans to continue to file their claims for disability compensation and other benefits as we anticipate this legislation so VA can provide the benefits and care they have earned and deserve.
]]>WASHINGTON — The Secretaries of Housing and Urban Development Marcia L. Fudge, Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough, Agriculture Tom Vilsack and Treasury Janet L. Yellen are calling on servicers of federally backed mortgages to make every effort to ensure no individual or family unduly experiences unnecessary hardship or foreclosure while assistance is available under the Homeowner Assistance Fund.
The pandemic’s economic and public health impacts put millions of homeowners at risk of losing their homes. For this reason, President Biden’s American Rescue Plan established HAF to provide close to $10 billion in financial support to help families weather these challenges and remain in their homes.
We are strongly urging all servicers of federally backed mortgages to pause foreclosure proceedings when they are notified by a HAF program administrator of a pending HAF application to avoid unnecessary harm to vulnerable homeowners. Pausing any pending proceedings is a vital step towards keeping families in their homes as they receive assistance through the HAF program and is consistent with Congress’s intent in putting in place the HAF program to protect vulnerable homeowners.
During any such pause we encourage homeowners and servicers to continue working together on loss mitigation options to ensure vulnerable homeowners eligible for assistance are able to choose the best path to staying in their homes and fully utilize available resources. We also strongly encourage servicers to offer these loss mitigation options to borrowers who are struggling to make their mortgage payments including those who are eligible for HAF funding.
Treasury urges HAF program administrators to take steps to ensure their programs expedite handling of applications from homeowners with pending foreclosure proceedings, including determining the homeowner’s eligibility for HAF and in all communications with the servicer regarding the homeowner’s application. Treasury also encourages HAF programs to develop expedited procedures for handling homeowners with immediate threats to housing stability and to support homeowners who may benefit from the agencies’ loss mitigation options. This support can include providing homeowners with access to housing counseling agencies approved by HUD or a Tribal government as well as legal services. Additionally, Treasury has encouraged collaboration between HAF programs and its servicers to develop infrastructure to support timely and accurate communication about programs and between servicers.
In addition to urging servicers to make HAF funding available to homeowners, our departments have taken a number of actions to ensure homeowners have the support needed to recover as seen in the resources listed below. We will continue to explore updates to our loss mitigation home retention options for servicers to utilize as part of an administration-wide approach to help families who are behind on housing payments due to the economic impacts of the pandemic.
Resources:
HUD, VA and USDA have published updates to their HAF Frequently Asked Questions for FHA-insured mortgages and VA and USDA home loans to include guidance that servicers should pause foreclosure actions while HAF applications are pending. The HAF FAQs, are available at these links: FHA (search term “HAF”), VA and USDA.
The Biden-Harris administration has adopted numerous measures across agencies to ensure homeowners have the support needed to recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic: White House Fact Sheet: Biden Administration Announces Additional Actions to Prevent Foreclosures.
The Consumer Financial Protection Agency issued a blog post that includes expectations of servicers and resources for homeowners: Using the Homeowner Assistance Fund Program to Help Borrowers Prevent Foreclosure.
]]>WASHINGTON — President Biden has announced his intended nominee to serve as the chairman of the Veterans’ Board of Appeals for the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The current chairman, Cheryl Mason, will continue to serve in that role until a nominee is confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
The department wants to recognize the extraordinary contributions chairman Mason has made during her tenure as the board chair. As the first woman, military spouse and suicide survivor to serve as chairman, she has been a dedicated advocate and champion for Veterans, their families and caregivers. Her work at the board has resulted in increased access and improved outcomes for Veterans and their families — doubling the number of hearings and decisions of her predecessors.
Chairman Mason has been tireless and hugely successful in her stewardship of the board, and the department and our Veterans are much the better for it.
Upon stepping down from the chairman’s position, Ms. Mason will continue working with the department on the challenges of military spouse employment, a subject on which she is one of the nation’s leading experts.
]]>President Biden outlines proposals to invest improvements in critical areas of suicide prevention and mental health care services for Veterans
WASHINGTON — The Biden-Harris administration submitted to Congress the president’s budget for fiscal year 2023.
This budget delivers critical resources to help VA serve Veterans, their families, caregivers and survivors as well as they have served our country — and it will allow VA to continue providing more care, more services, and more benefits to more Veterans than any time in its history.
In outlining his Unity Agenda, the president identified supporting Veterans as a key priority. His budget request supports the importance of ensuring Veterans have timely access to high quality services and benefits.
To fulfill this promise, the Department of Veterans Affairs’ total FY 2023 budget request is $301.4 billion, an 10.6% increase above the 2022 Enacted Budget (with rescissions). This includes a discretionary request of $139.1 billion (with medical care collections), an 18.8% increase above the 2022 Enacted Budget (with rescissions). The 2023 mandatory funding request totals $161.3 billion, an increase of $5.1 billion or 3.3% above the 2022 Enacted Budget.
The president’s 2023 budget request for VA includes:
- Support VA medical care. The budget provides $122.7 billion (with collections), 21.3% above the 2022 enacted budget, to meet the medical needs of Veterans. In addition to fully funding inpatient, outpatient, mental health and long-term care services, it supports programs that improve VA health care quality and delivery, including investments in training programs for clinicians, health professionals and medical students. The budget also further supports VA’s preparedness for regional and national public health emergencies.
- Improve Veterans’ mental health care services. The budget provides $13.9 billion for VA mental health care, which offers a system of comprehensive treatments and services to meet the needs of each Veteran and the family members involved in the Veteran’s care. Consistent with the president’s vision for addressing the national mental health crisis, it focuses on increasing timely access to quality mental health care and lowering the cost of mental health services for Veterans, with the goal of helping Veterans take charge of their treatment and live full and meaningful lives.
- Prioritize Veteran suicide prevention. The president made reducing military and veteran suicide a priority and strengthening veteran suicide prevention is a top clinical priority for the secretary. To help address these priorities, the budget provides $497 million to support the administration’s Veteran suicide prevention initiatives, including implementation of: the Veterans Crisis Line’s 988 expansion initiative (a new national three-digit emergency telephone number to access crisis call centers across the country for suicide prevention); increased focus on suicide prevention public health efforts in communities, a lethal means safety campaign; and the Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program to enhance community-based prevention strategies.
- Increase women Veterans’ health care. The budget invests $9.8 billion for all of women Veterans’ health care, including $767 million towards women’s gender specific care. More women are choosing VA health care than ever before, with women accounting for over 30% of the increase in Veterans enrolled over the past five years. Investments support comprehensive specialty medical and surgical services for women Veterans. Additionally, VA proposes to increase access to infertility counseling and assisted reproductive technology and to eliminate copayments for contraceptive coverage. It also improves the safety of women Veterans by supporting implementation of the zero-tolerance policy for sexual harassment and assault at VA facilities.
- Address environmental exposures. The budget increases resources for hiring additional claims processors and advancing claims automation and modernization efforts to speed processing new presumptive disability compensation claims related to environmental exposures during military service. It also invests $51 million within VA research programs and $63 million within the VA medical care program to increase scientific understanding of and clinical support for Veterans and health care providers regarding the potential adverse impacts from environmental exposures during military service.
- Support cancer moonshot and precision oncology. The budget invests $81 million in research and $167 million in medical care funds for precision oncology to provide the best possible cancer care for Veterans and support the cancer moonshot’s goal to end cancer as we know it today. Funds support research and programs that address cancer care, rare cancers and cancers in women, as well as genetic counseling and consultation that advance tele-oncology and precision oncology care.
- Invest in human infrastructure. This budget will allow us to invest in people and technology to improve the hiring experience for applicants, managers, and human resource professionals; support an additional 28,963 full-time equivalent personnel; develop and implement staffing models throughout VA; promote strong labor relations with our national unions; and lead our post-pandemic occupational safety and health planning and programs.
The budget makes smart investments while also reducing deficits and improving our country’s long-term fiscal outlook. We are grateful to Congress and President Biden for their strong support of our Veterans, which this budget demonstrates. This is great news for the Veterans we serve, because it means VA can continue delivering the world-class, timely care and benefits that they deserve. Visit VA Budget Office or FY 2023 budget for more information.
]]>WASHINGTON — Due to supply chain and staffing shortages, the vendor contracted by the Government Publishing Office to provide printing services for the Department of Veterans Affairs is experiencing delays in printing and mailing notification letters to Veterans and claimants. The disruption may impact the ability of some claimants to meet required deadlines via written correspondence with VA.
In response to the mailing delays and to protect the best interest of claimants, the Veterans Benefits Administration is extending their response period by 90-calendar days for claimants with letters dated between July 13, 2021 and Dec. 31, 2021.
If a claimant does not reply to a time-limited notification, such as, making an election of benefits or services, or reporting for a scheduled compensation and pension examination., VBA will not take adverse action to deny, reduce or terminate benefits and services unless: 1) the claimant is contacted and there is documentation of their right to respond; 2) the requested information has been received; or 3) the response period has lapsed.
VA and GPO are proactively working to quickly address the mailing delays. For questions on this matter, Veterans and claimants can contact VA at 800-827-1000.
Veterans who filed an appeal with the Board of Veterans’ Appeals can click here for information specific to Board correspondence, scheduled hearings at the Board and receiving your Board decision.
]]>The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) eviction moratorium is in place until July 31, but the Supreme Court’s ruling made clear that CDC cannot extend the moratorium past its current expiration date.
In light of that decision, the Biden-Harris Administration is taking steps to protect renters at risk of eviction. Today, at the President’s request, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) have extended their foreclosure-related eviction moratoria until September 30, 2021.
The President further asked our agencies, which play a significant role in providing and insuring affordable rental housing, to explore all available tools to keep American safe and housed. Through nearly 20 programs, financial incentives, tax credits, loans and guarantees, the federal government provides owners and operators of rental housing with significant support to provide housing to renters. As Secretaries of Agriculture, HUD, VA, and Treasury, and Acting Director of the FHFA, we recognize that our agencies provide the financial resources and incentives for federally-assisted and financed rental housing. We want to make clear that the owners and operators of this housing should make every effort to access Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) resources to avoid evicting a tenant for non-payment of rent. These resources are available in every state, and many counties and cities are also running local programs. Owners and operators of federally-assisted housing are stewards of important public resources and should access rental assistance both to prevent unnecessary human suffering and to protect the public investment in affordable housing.
The American Rescue Plan allocated an additional $21.5 billion for ERA that can be used by renters to cover rent and make landlords whole. This is on top of $25 billion allocated under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, bringing the total amount of ERA available to more than $46 billion and creating an economic, public health, and moral imperative for state and local governments to rise to the challenge of building a new infrastructure for getting ERA to vulnerable renters and landlords.
While few state and local agencies had ERA programs prior to this funding becoming available, the Administration has engaged in a whole-of-government effort to drive the distribution of these resources. Treasury has developed flexible program rules to make assistance easier to access, provided best practices for establishing effective programs, and communicated consequences for a lack of performance by state and local grantees.
To support Treasury as it implements the ERA program, HUD is providing technical assistance to HUD grantees and working with public housing authorities, private landlords, and tribal communities, to ensure that households and landlords participating in HUD’s federally-subsidized programs know the process for obtaining ERA, and that assistance is targeted to communities who need help the most.
The USDA is also committed to sharing ERA program information with rural communities. Within the USDA Multi-Family portfolio, there are approximately 65,000 tenants who do not receive rental assistance. Earlier this month, USDA sent letters to these tenants that included information on how to apply for the ERA program. Additionally, USDA has amplified the ERA program to over 250,000 online subscribers and rural leaders at the state and local level. USDA has also instructed Farm Service Agency and Rural Development State Offices to share ERA program hard copy materials with rural residents.
In addition to the direct and indirect steps VA is taking to help Veterans who are experiencing financial hardships as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is providing a one-stop website to inform Veterans facing housing instability of the programs and resources across the federal government that are available to them.
The Administration has engaged in a whole-of-government approach – together with major nonprofits and companies – to amplify the availability of these resources. This effort has reached tens of millions of households to let them know that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau created a locater tool to help landlords and tenants find a program in their jurisdiction.
The delivery of ERA is ramping up as a result of these efforts and the hard work of public servants in state and local governments across the nation. A total of $1.5 billion in assistance was delivered to more than 290,000 renters in the month of June alone. But state and local governments must do better. Money is available in every state to help renters who are behind on rent and at risk of eviction, as well as landlords.
Our country and economy are in a stronger position now than they were in January 2021, yet households across the country, especially those that are not vaccinated, remain vulnerable to COVID-19 and its associated impacts, including housing insecurity. Helping our fellow Americans, including our Veterans, keep their homes will go a long way in making sure that they have one less thing to worry about as they rebuild their lives coming out of this crisis and try to keep their loved ones safe.
]]>As the nation emerges from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, an estimated millions of Americans remain in need of mortgage and rental assistance.
To provide continued relief to the Veteran and service member community — the Department of Veterans Affairs is extending by an additional month — the foreclosure and eviction moratoriums through July 31.
Extending the COVID-19 moratoriums on foreclosures and evictions will allow households that may have fallen behind on their mortgages more time to recover. Ultimately the extension will help thousands of VA home loan borrowers stay in their homes, and provide those hard-hit by the pandemic, the time needed to get back on a regular monthly mortgage payment schedule.
In addition to the multiple ways VA already helps borrowers avoid foreclosure, the department is implementing a short-term mortgage repayment assistance program via the VA Partial Claim Payment program, to bring certain borrowers current on their mortgage as they resume regular mortgage payments. VAPCP will be available for COVID-19 impacted borrowers to help them remain in their home and continue to enjoy the benefits of homeownership.
Once the moratoriums end, VA will take additional steps to prevent foreclosures on VA-backed mortgages until borrowers are reviewed for COVID-19 home retention options that are affordable.
VA will announce additional steps in July to offer borrowers payment reduction options that will enable more homeowners to stay in their homes. Additionally, VA will also continue to allow homeowners who have not taken advantage of forbearance to date to enter into COVID-related forbearance through Sept. 30 of this year.
The VHA Homeless Programs Office offers a wide range of resources and services for Veterans facing housing crises, having helped more than 850,000 Veterans and their families exit homelessness or remain in stable housing since 2010.
The VHA Homeless Programs Office Supportive Services for Veteran Families program gives homeless prevention assistance and has taken a proactive approach to reach Veterans at risk of homelessness during the pandemic. The SSVF program’s Shallow Subsidy intervention initiative will also assist by providing a modest subsidy for two years to extremely low-income Veterans who are at risk of homelessness.
Veterans who are homeless or at imminent risk of becoming homeless can call or visit their local VA Medical Center or contact the National Call Center for Homeless Veterans at 1-877-4AID VET 877-424-3838 for help.
The White House, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the Departments of Agriculture and Housing and Urban Development also have resources for homeowners and renters needing help.
]]>The contributions of Dr. Richard Stone, Retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. to the country and Department of Veterans Affairs are immeasurable. I admire and rely on him a great deal and have been discussing this important assignment and his role with him for months.
I respect his decision to leave, especially given the reason he told me he would do so: to ensure the incoming Under Secretary, whom I strongly believe needs to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate, has the opportunity to fully assume leadership of the Veterans Health Administration.
We owe Dr. Stone an immense debt of gratitude for his leadership, especially during the pandemic. When COVID-19 first began to spread, Dr. Stone was among the first people Veterans and their families heard from, delivering a simple and urgent message: “We are going to be here [for you] just like we have been for the last 100 years.” Under Dr. Stone’s leadership, VHA’s excellent employees have done exactly that — vaccinating millions, saving lives and risking everything to serve those who served our country.
As much as I hate to see Dr. Stone go, I am grateful to him for staying through mid-July, during which time I will continue to lean on him and learn from him. I’m proud to call Dr. Stone a friend and I thank him for his decades of service. Our nation is safer, and our Veterans are healthier because of his work.
]]>President outlines proposals to invest in critical health care improvements and increased opportunities for Veterans
The Biden-Harris administration today submitted to Congress the president’s budget for fiscal year 2022.
As the administration continues to make progress defeating the pandemic and getting our economy back on track, the budget makes historic investments that will help the country build back better and lay the foundation for shared growth and prosperity for decades to come.
This bold budget request by President Biden to Congress will ensure VA is moving swiftly and smartly into the future, with much-needed monetary investments in our most successful and vital programs. To fulfill VA’s sacred promise to care for our nation’s Veterans, families, caregivers and survivors, we must return the investment Veterans have made in America through their service.
The budget includes the two historic plans the president has already put forward — the American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan — and reinvests in education, research, public health and other foundations of our country’s strength.
The total 2022 request for VA is $269.9 billion (with medical care collections), a 10% increase above 2021. This includes a discretionary budget request of $117.2 billion (with medical care collections), a 9% increase above 2021. The 2022 mandatory funding request totals $152.7 billion, an increase of $14.9 billion or 10.8% above 2021. VA’s 2022 request is in addition to the substantial resources provided in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.
Additionally, the President’s FY 2022 Budget includes $18 billion as part of the American Jobs Plan to address VA health care infrastructure needs in the short- and long-term, together with $260 million for the American Families Plan to support the administration’s commitment to provide supplementary support to Veterans who are parents, in order to offer a holistic, family-friendly approach to care.
At the Department of Veterans Affairs, the $117.2 billion discretionary request would:
- Work to eliminate Veteran homelessness and prevent Veteran suicide. The budget includes $2.2 billion in discretionary appropriations for Veteran homelessness programs, to include $486 million in American Rescue Plan funding. This will support expanded case management services to help more Veterans gain permanent housing through housing vouchers and prevent homelessness among low-income Veteran families. Additionally, the budget includes $598 million for Veteran suicide prevention outreach programs that address the risks for suicide, with the goal of intervening before a Veteran reaches a point of crisis. VA will also support the new Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program.
- Help our Veterans build civilian lives of opportunity with the education and jobs worthy of their skills and talents. The budget supports the president’s commitment to help Veterans with education and job training by making key investments in the Veterans Benefits Administration. This includes an increase of $81.5 million for the Digital GI Bill Modernization Effort to better serve Veterans who are using their GI Bill benefits. Funding also increases by $5 million for Veterans’ Clean Energy Job Training in conjunction with the Department of Labor, and by $3.6 million for the VA Disability Employment Pilot Project to assist eligible Veterans with service-connected disabilities seeking employment opportunities.
- Ensure VA welcomes all Veterans, and diversity, equity and inclusion are woven into the fabric of the department. The department is making a strong commitment to ensuring VA welcomes all our Veterans, to include women, those of color and whom are LGBTQ+. To support that commitment VA has created a new Office of Resolution Management, Diversity and Inclusion which will benefit from an increase of $12.9 million to strengthen VA’s diversity program.
- Keep faith with our families and caregivers. The budget provides approximately $1.4 billion, an increase of $350 million for the Caregiver Support Program. Through this program the Veterans Health Administration provides support to individuals who act as caregivers for Veterans. The 2022 budget supports the phased expansion of the Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers to include all eligible Veterans, no matter when they served.
Enacting the budget policies into law this year would strengthen our nation’s economy and lay the foundation for shared prosperity, while also improving our nation’s long-term fiscal health.
For more information on the President’s FY 2022 Budget visit: https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/.
]]>From VA Secretary Denis McDonough and HUD Secretary Marcia L. Fudge
WASHINGTON — The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 2020 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress found that on a single night in January 2020, there were 37,252 Veterans experiencing homelessness in America, an increase of 0.4% over 2019.
This number does not account for the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has added to the nation’s housing challenges, including among Veterans.
AHAR showed investments from Congress along with strong collaboration between the Departments of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) brought about a 47% reduction in Veteran homelessness between 2010 and 2016. However, a GAO report found that, since 2016, progress towards ending Veteran homelessness has stalled. We find this pattern deeply concerning. No Veteran who has served this country — let alone more than 37,000 on a given night — should experience homelessness.
We, the secretaries of VA and HUD, are aligning efforts and joining forces to work towards ending Veteran homelessness. We are mobilizing the strength of our two departments to do everything in our power to ensure every Veteran has access to safe and stable housing.
We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to tackle this crisis. The American Rescue Plan included more than $10 billion in funding for individuals who are experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness. The American Jobs Plan would invest $213 billion to produce, preserve, and retrofit more than two million affordable homes.
Our collaboration is the first step of a multi-phased whole-of-government effort that will ultimately help us end Veteran homelessness. We will evaluate existing strategies, implement new approaches when necessary, and execute a plan to ensure we achieve tangible results that incorporate best practices, feedback, and lessons learned from Veterans, advocacy groups, and other stakeholders.
To fulfill this mission, we will:
- Make ending Veteran homelessness a top priority – VA and HUD will prioritize this effort at the highest levels. Staff in both agencies will collaboratively develop a strategy to significantly reduce the number of Veterans experiencing homelessness, as well as a strategy to ensure that no Veteran experiences homelessness in the future. The secretaries will participate in listening sessions with stakeholder groups, including Veterans with lived expertise. Information and materials gathered will be analyzed for use during quarterly meetings with homeless program staff from both departments to inform decisions about changes to policies and programs. We will develop targets, assess progress, and hold our agencies accountable.
- Lead with an evidence-based Housing First approach – Evidence and past progress on reducing Veteran homelessness demonstrate a Housing First approach works. Together, our agencies will ensure targeted interventions (such as HUD-VA Supportive Housing, Supportive Services for Veteran Families, and Grant and Per Diem) help Veterans obtain stable housing as quickly as possible without barriers or preconditions.
- Reach underserved Veterans – Reducing Veteran homelessness will require new approaches to serving Veterans for whom prior efforts may have fallen short. These include Veterans with less than honorable discharge status, as well as Veterans who are women, members of racial and ethnic minority groups, transgender and gender non-conforming, aging, and/or living in rural areas. We will ensure our interagency effort identifies and removes barriers to VA care and services, so benefits are equitably available among underserved Veteran communities.
- Ensure the delivery of quality supportive services – Supportive services are critical to helping Veterans find and retain housing, and to use it as a platform for achieving health, recovery, and economic success. Working diligently with federal and community stakeholders, we commit to identifying ways to ensure Veterans have access to quality supportive health, mental health, and medical legal services alongside employment and housing assistance, whether provided by VA or community partners.
- Increase the supply of and access to affordable housing – A significant obstacle to ending Veteran homelessness is the lack of affordable housing, especially in many urban centers. We will work jointly, including examining opportunities through the American Rescue Plan and the American Jobs Plan, to increase the supply of affordable housing and ensure Veterans have access. Our agencies will do this by engaging landlords, and affordable housing developers, supporting the use of federal programs to create and subsidize affordable housing, identifying ways to improve Veteran access to these housing units, and supporting state and local collaboration to finance and create affordable housing.
Working to end Veteran homelessness requires a multi-agency effort, coordinated through the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. Together, we can enhance how we deliver services and provide opportunities to Veterans to ensure we bring the full force of the federal government to end Veteran homelessness.
]]>President outlines proposals to invest in critical health care improvements for Veterans and modernizing VA’s systems
WASHINGTON — The Biden-Harris administration today submitted to Congress the president’s priorities for fiscal year 2022 discretionary spending.
The funding request invests in the core foundations of our country’s strength and advances key U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) priorities, including addressing Veteran homelessness, suicide prevention, caregiver support, and modernizing information technology systems to enhance customer service experience and ensure Veterans receive world-class health care.
The discretionary request ensures that all our Veterans, including women Veterans, Veterans of color, and LGBTQ+ Veterans, receive the care they have earned and enable them to create civilian lives of meaning and opportunity.
The president’s 2022 discretionary request includes $113.1 billion in discretionary funding for VA, a $8.5 billion or 8.2% increase from the FY 2021 enacted level. This funding is in addition to the substantial resources provided in the American Rescue Plan. The president’s FY 2022 discretionary request::
- Protects those who protected us. The discretionary request includes $97.5 billion for VA medical care, $7.6 billion (an increase of 8.5%) above the 2021 enacted level. These funds, which are in addition to the more than $15 billion designated for Veterans’ medical care in the American Rescue Plan, will continue to improve access to VA healthcare, including increases in funding for women’s health, mental health, suicide prevention and Veterans’ homeless programs. The discretionary request includes $2.1 billion for Veterans’ homelessness programs, an increase of 4.4% over the 2021 enacted level, excluding supplemental funding, to further the administration’s goal of achieving a systematic end to Veteran homelessness. The funding will also further support the department’s efforts to address substance use disorders and expand services related to military sexual trauma.
- Prioritizes Veteran suicide prevention outreach. The discretionary request includes $542 million, nearly $230 million above the 2021 enacted level, for existing programs dedicated to Veteran suicide prevention outreach, including funding to increase the capacity of the Veterans Crisis Line.
- Invests in research critical to Veterans’ health needs. The discretionary request includes $882 million, the largest year-over-year increase in recent history, for medical and prosthetic research. This historic investment will advance the department’s understanding of the impact of traumatic brain injury and toxic exposure on long-term health outcomes as part of its continuing prioritization of research focused on the needs of disabled Veterans.
- Advances VA’s electronic health record program. The discretionary request includes $2.7 billion to continue modernizing VA’s Electronic Health Record (EHR) to ensure Veterans receive world-class health care well into the future.
- Modernizes VA information technology. The discretionary request includes $4.8 billion in total resources for VA’s Office of Information and Technology to support Veteran-focused technology development and cloud modernization, deliver efficient IT services, and enhance customer service experience.
These discretionary investments reflect only one element of the president’s broader agenda. In the coming months, the administration will release a budget that will further detail this discretionary funding request and provide a comprehensive fiscal vision for the nation that reinvests in America, supports future growth and prosperity, meets U.S. commitments, and does so in a fiscally sustainable way.
For more information on the president’s FY 2022 discretionary funding request visit: the President’s FY22 discretionary funding request.
]]>The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is steadfast leading the way in President Joseph Biden’s Jan. 22 Executive Order to deliver economic relief to Americans amid the COVID-19 crisis by addressing economic hardships the Veteran community faces during the ongoing pandemic.
Through no fault of their own, our Veterans and their loved ones continue to face economic hardship due to the pandemic. I want to assure Veterans, their family members, survivors and caregivers that we are doing everything we can to lessen their burden and worry.
Effective today, VA will extend the existing moratorium on evictions and foreclosures until March 31, 2021. VA borrowers experiencing financial hardship due to COVID-19 can review VA guidance for borrowers or call 877-827-3702 for additional information.
VA is also looking for immediate ways to help over 2 million Veterans maintain their financial footing by exploring options to ease the burden of federal collections on compensation and pension overpayments, and medical and education-related debts.
VA will provide updated information and guidance for Veterans at va.gov on this effort as soon as possible. VA is focused on lessening these financial hardships for America’s Veterans. We will continue to work with our partners in Congress and Veterans Service Organizations to honor our Veterans and their families by providing care and benefits they earned and deserve.
]]>Today Americans celebrate the life and memory of the Rev. Martin Luther King. His call for equality and service has never been more timely. He clearly believed that our Nation must work together to solve the issues confronting all of us. He preached that hate is only cured with love and he lived a life that followed that ethos. Take time to read his words and more importantly to serve your community for the betterment of the lives of our fellow Americans.
]]>Statement from Secretary Robert Wilkie:
I am sad to report the passing of an American soldier. Lt. Col. Bobby Harris, USA (ret.) will be laid to rest in the Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery. His life is a testament to the thousands of young Americans who without question fought and sacrificed all in Southeast Asia. His legacy is one all Americans can be proud of—faith, family and devotion to the ideal of America.
]]>VA Secretary Robert Wilkie today released the following statement on the death of Chuck Yeager:
“Chuck Yeager will forever be known as the first to break the sound barrier in 1947, in an experimental rocket plane named after his wife.
“But let us not forget Yeager’s brave life of service to this country in wartime. Yeager was a shining example of how love of country can propel ordinary Americans to do extraordinary things.
“When Yeager first tried to become a pilot, he didn’t meet the educational requirements to receive flight training. But when World War II broke out, he proved he had the right stuff. He would bring down more than 10 German planes during the war, including five in one day. Yeager would fly missions in Korea and Vietnam, and after his retirement, he would continue to serve his country as a consultant and test pilot.
“When President Reagan awarded him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1985, he called Yeager ‘a hero in war and peace.’
“Yeager, whose humble demeanor is so often a trait of America’s greatest heroes, said in 2011 of his exploits, ‘You do it because it’s your duty. It’s your job.’
“Today we thank God for Americans like Chuck Yeager and mourn the passing of this American hero.”
]]>Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie released the following statement after President Trump signed the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act:
“People in distress and in need of timely care should face the fewest obstacles possible to get help. The bill President Trump signed today will soon make it easier for those at risk to be quickly connected to a trained responder and will help save lives.”
Currently, anyone in need of timely crisis suicide prevention resources can reach the National Suicide Prevention Hotline by dialing 1-800-273-8255. Veterans who call that number can press 1 to be connected to the Veterans Crisis Line.
During the transition to 988, Americans who need help should continue to contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by calling 1-800-273-8255 (1-800-273-TALK) and through online chats. Veterans and service members may reach the Veterans Crisis Line by pressing 1 after dialing, chatting online at www.veteranscrisisline.net, or texting 838255.
]]>Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie released the following statement after President Trump signed the Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act, into law.
“This legislation moves America closer to a goal that all citizens can support: increasing the local resources available to our men and women who answered the call to defend this Nation. This law will expand mental health care services at VA facilities and at the same time provide grants to make it easier for Veterans to access non-VA resources in their communities.
“Care in the community is a critical component of our effort to end Veteran suicide. About 60 percent of the Veterans who die by suicide aren’t getting care from VA, so it’s vital we do all we can to offer intervention and care to Veterans where they live. This bill takes a strong and meaningful step in that direction.”
]]>Today we mourn the passing of a trailblazer and lifelong advocate for women’s rights, Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Graduating at the top of her class at Columbia University law school in 1959 she became a highly successful academician, reaching tenured status at Rutgers law school in 1969. Her career as a jurist began in 1980 with an appointment by President Jimmy Carter to the U.S. Court of Appeals. In 1993, President Bill Clinton appointed her to the U.S. Supreme Court, only the second woman ever appointed to the court. Her tenure was marked by a dedication to human rights and gender equality. She was well-respected by fellow jurists no matter their differing points of view. Her passing, while sad, is a reminder that a person who holds strong principles and commitment to the cause of justice in America can have a lasting impact on our great nation. Along with her family and the nation we grieve her passing, just as we celebrate a life well-lived. God bless her soul.
]]>U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie today released the following statement after a bipartisan group of more than 30 senators called on House leaders to pass S. 785, the Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act, which would expand mental health resources for Veterans both inside and outside VA.
“The Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act is an honest and bipartisan solution to an issue that demands Congress’ immediate attention. The bill would boost care at VA facilities by expanding in-person and telehealth mental health services and allowing Guardsmen and Reservists to receive counseling at VA Vet Centers across the country. It would also expand the amount of non-VA community resources available to Veterans, wherever they may live, a key component of President Trump’s President’s Roadmap to Empower Veterans and End a National Tragedy of Suicide (PREVENTS) initiative. The bill passed the Senate unanimously and we call on the House to give it the timely attention and bipartisan support it deserves.” – Secretary Robert Wilkie
]]>Only when the Civil War came to an end was Union Major General Gordon Granger, upon arriving in Galveston, able to inform all that slavery ended in Texas, which became the last area of the country to fully comprehend Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.
Thus was affirmed Lincoln’s words, from his second inaugural, just a month before his assassination, and a few months before General Granger’s landing in Galveston, that the nation could move to “bind up the nation’s wounds.”
We know that the nation’s wounds would not heal quickly and many practices of racial discrimination would continue. The national stain of slavery, Jim Crow, and their lingering vestiges, requires our ongoing vigilance and dedication to ending this scourge.
Juneteenth, that day General Granger informed Texas, serves as a reminder of the nation’s history, one of the blight of slavery, and one of the possibility of changing our course through war, civil rights legislation, and changes in the hearts of men and women to fully ensure the rights our Constitution so nobly enshrines. We must continue to strive for our fellow Americans to realize that more perfect Union envisioned in our Constitution
]]>WASHINGTON – Today, Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie released the following video message in honor of Memorial Day 2020.
Our country has been blessed with men and women whose sacrifices allowed us to flourish as individuals, as a society and as a nation. On Memorial Day, we pause to remember, honor and express our gratitude to all those Americans who lost their lives in uniform.
The names of many of them are forever memorialized in our Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), State Veterans and American Battle Monuments cemeteries across our country and around the world.
It is true that this Memorial Day is somewhat different. As we fight the COVID-19 pandemic, we do not gather as we normally would to honor our nation’s heroes. But we can still remember and honor them by spending a quiet moment paying homage to their courage and sacrifice.
I also encourage all Americans to pay tribute to deceased Veterans by visiting the Veterans Legacy Memorial. This site contains a memorial page for each Veteran interred in a VA national cemetery. Since May 14, online visitors have been able to leave a written “tribute” in memory and appreciation for a Veteran’s service.
At the end of his second inaugural address on March 4, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln asked that we remember the obligations our nation has, to those who made the ultimate sacrifice during the Civil War.
His iconic speech, etched in granite at the Lincoln Memorial, still guides those of us privileged to work at VA today:
“With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan …”
Those words are the basis of our VA mission to care for our living Veterans and their families. That’s why, later this year, we will memorialize in bronze Lincoln’s charge to the nation at all our VA cemeteries.
From generation to generation, Americans have answered the call to duty from Bunker Hill to Baghdad. In small skirmishes and epic battles, Americans of every generation have stepped forward to fight for freedom when called upon.
And, they are doing so today as they stand guard across our nation and around the world.
May God bless those we honor today, those currently serving America in uniform and all our nation’s Veterans.
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