Senate passes Veterans Affairs reform bill

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release)– The Senate on Wednesday, June 11, voted nearly unanimously, 93-3, for a bill to expand hospitals and clinics run by the Department of Veterans Affairs and to hire more doctors and nurses to provide timely, quality care for veterans.

The bipartisan bill by Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (Independent-Vermont.) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) would let veterans facing long delays for doctor appointments at VA facilities go elsewhere. Their measure also would hold VA officials accountable for trying to conceal patient wait times.

“Our job is to make certain that every veteran in the country gets quality health care in a timely manner,” Sanders said. “At a time when 2 million more veterans have come into the VA in the last four years, we must ensure that there are enough doctors, nurses and other health care  professionals to meet the needs of veterans in every facility in the country.”

The Sanders-McCain emergency funding bill would:

Authorize leases for 26 new medical facilities in 17 states and Puerto Rico.

Designate funds for hiring more VA doctors and nurses to provide quality care in a timely manner.

Expand existing VA authority to refer veterans for private care. Veterans experiencing long delays at the VA could seek care instead at community health centers, Indian health centers, Department of Defense medical facilities or private doctors. The two-year program also would offer those same options to veterans who live more than 40 miles from a VA hospital or clinic.

Give VA the authority to fire or demote senior leadership staff for poor performance but provide expedited appeals to the Merit Systems Protection Board in order to prevent abuses of the new management powers for political or other inappropriate reasons.

Eliminate wait times as part of employee performance measures, which are used in determining bonuses for VA employees.

Make certain that all recently-separated veterans taking advantage of the Post 9/11 GI Bill get in-state tuition at public colleges and universities. For the first time, those same education benefits would be extended to surviving spouses of veterans who died in the line of duty.

Establish independent commissions on ways to improve the VA; one to look at how the VA can do a better job delivering health care and another to make recommendations on how VA can improve the management of construction projects.

There were comments from some of the Jewish U.S. senators who voted for the bill:

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minnesota) said “This measure will help ensure that veterans in Minnesota and across the country get the medical care they have earned and deserve without having to endure months and months of waiting. It also will ensure accountability for VA officials to reassure veterans  and their families who have had their faith in the VA shaken by recent scandals. Now I hope we can quickly get a final agreement on the legislation with the House and get this measure enacted so veterans are no longer forced to wait for care.”

Sen.Dianne Feinstein (D-California)  “Today the Senate showed that when we put our minds to it, we can get things done. The bill that passed the Senate is a big step toward fixing the systemic problems within the VA. This legislation will help shorten appointment wait times for veterans, improve health care quality and address accountability issues. Importantly, the bill will provide VA with resources to address structural access shortages while taking steps to ease wait times in the short-term. I urge the House of Representatives to work quickly with the Senate to produce a final bill that will allow veterans to receive the health care they need and invest in VA health care system.”

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut):   “By passing this broad, historic, bipartisan bill to ensure that delays in treatment are eliminated and bad actors at VA health centers are held accountable, the Senate took a critical step toward keeping faith with veterans. A country that truly values its veterans should not subject them to deadly delays, secret waiting lists, and false records. The men and women who served our country earned and deserve timely access to the very best health care. VA health centers need a complete and comprehensive overhaul that includes more medical resources and healthcare providers, as well as expanded access to outside providers where necessary, and aggressive accountability enforced against incompetent and corrupt officials. I urge the House to approve this bill – right away – so that trust in VA health care can begin to heal, and our nation’s heroes receive world class, first class medicine, when they need it.”

Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colorado):  “The VA needs to do better, and soon. This bill gives the VA tools to bring down wait-times and bring VA medical care up to the quality we should expect for our country’s veterans. This is only the first step in many, and we must commit to continued diligence as these changes are implemented and the agency makes the structural reforms necessary to improve its ability to be effective and responsive. That includes improving access to care in rural areas and improving the process for building new health care facilities, like the VA hospital under construction in Aurora that has been riddled with complications.”

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Preceding compiled from news releases issued by U.S. Senate members