The Virginia Military Survivors and Dependents Education Program (VMSDEP) provides education benefits to children and spouses of severely injured or killed veterans. Amid the rising costs of the program in recent years, an effort to downsize it appeared in the state budget that lawmakers passed and Youngkin signed earlier this summer. That move was met with swift pushback from military families, who called for the changes to be reversed.

Virginia lawmakers reach deal on military tuition program

A point of contention throughout the summer has been who should take the credit — or blame — for the changes, as lawmakers met several times attempting to resolve matters. Members from both parties have acknowledged a desire to fix what several deemed a “mistake,” and to study the matter further.

“Clearly, we did this in the budget and quite a few of us didn’t understand the implications,” Sen. Richard Stuart, R-King George, said during a Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee meeting earlier in the day. “We are trying to fix it.”

Enter military spouse Kayla Owen, who’s prodded lawmakers all summer to protect the program.

During public comment at the committee meeting, Owen said that she didn’t feel like the day’s proceedings should be something legislators should pat themselves on the back too much for. While speaking to the committee, she urged lawmakers to stop “sneaking contentious or highly controversial legislation through the budget.”

The statement gave Stuart and Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, pause; they both asked Owen if she’d rather they leave and not pass the bill.

Both in a rebuttal to Owen and in an interview with media after the committee meeting, Lucas stressed that the changes to the program originally stemmed from the governor’s administration.

“Nothing was tucked into my budget,” Lucas said. “The bill came out of the governor’s office. So I just want to make sure I cleared that up.”

Virginia education program cuts for military families spark backlash

Curious about details leading up to the now-repealed changes to the program, Owen has sought internal communications from the governor’s office for insights into how the changes came about in the first place. Despite being a member of a task force Gov. Glenn Youngkin created to study the program and its future sustainability, Owen’s Freedom of Information Act request was denied.

After the legislature’s actions, Youngkin signed the bills and said in a statement he and lawmakers “took the necessary step to reverse and fully repeal changes to VMSDEP and provided significant new funding for the program. We will continue our work to make Virginia the best place for our military, veterans, first responders and their families to live, work, raise a family, and retire.”

Beyond the bills passed Thursday to continue funding the program for two years, Virginia’s Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission will conduct a study and Youngkin’s task force will analyze the program, as well.

Owen said she hopes the situation will encourage lawmakers to stop using the budget to legislate, as changes to VMSDEP done through a standalone bill originally would have been able to undergo a robust committee process. She suggested that the original VMSDEP changes were made “under the cloak of darkness.”

“Everybody’s blaming each other and it’s like that Hamilton song ‘Room Where It Happens’ — nobody else is in the room where it happens!”

With the matter resolved for now, lawmakers will have their eyes on the various groups that are analyzing VMSDEP. As the costs of the program rise, Lucas stressed that lawmakers need to figure out how to make sure it can last for future generations.

“[The passage of bills on Thursday] will allow us to have a solution while we await results from the JLARC study and other groups to ensure that the program is sustainable in the long term,” Lucas said.

When the legislature reconvenes for its 2025 session, it could take up adjustments to the program.

For Owen, who has spearheaded military families’ advocacy for keeping the program, she said Thursday’s actions are “a sigh of relief until January.”

Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Samantha Willis for questions: info@virginiamercury.com. Follow Virginia Mercury on Facebook and X.

The Russian state-sponsored hacker infiltrated a Microsoft platform called Microsoft Azure Government, which provides storage, databases and other services to the VA and other government agencies.

VA press secretary Terrence Hayes told Military Times in an email that the server was breached “for just one second, presumably to see if the credentials worked” by a group called Midnight Blizzard, or Nobelium, which has ties to the Russian government, according to Microsoft.

“After investigating the matter, we determined that no patient data was compromised,” Hayes told Military Times. “VA found that Midnight Blizzard used a single set of stolen credentials to access a Microsoft Cloud test environment around January. ... We are continuing to look into this matter with Microsoft to ensure that all veteran patient data remains protected and that we are not compromised in the future.”

Stars and Stripes previously reported the hack.

Microsoft said the attack originally targeted corporate email accounts within the company, including the company’s senior leadership, in an effort to find information related to the group Midnight Blizzard itself. The hacker used a spray attack, which involves using a variety of predictable, simple passwords to try and gain access to an account, according to Microsoft.

“The attack was not the result of a vulnerability in Microsoft products or services,” Microsoft officials said in a January statement. “To date, there is no evidence that the threat actor had any access to customer environments, production systems, source code or AI systems.”

Hayes told Stars and Stripes that the attack was unrelated to a Feb. 21 hack, which involved a private vendor, Change Healthcare, responsible for processing health care payments.

That attack included an expansive breach of the U.S. health care system, possibly including the VA. Fifteen million veterans were notified that their private health care information could have been compromised, Veterans Affairs Sec. Denis McDonough said in April.

The cybersecurity attack also included the Peace Corps and the U.S. Agency for Global Media, an independent news group of the federal government that produces Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and Free Asia, according to Stars and Stripes.

Senate Finance Chair Louise Lucas and House Appropriations Chairman Luke Torian announced late Tuesday that they plan to introduce identical legislation to repeal changes to the Virginia Military Survivors and Dependents Education Program in the two-year budget that took effect on Monday. Members of the Senate and the House of Delegates will return to Richmond on July 18 to vote on the agreement.

Virginia Senate fails to pass bill on military tuition program

The new legislation will propose an additional $90 million in taxpayer funds to pay for the program, in addition to the $40 million already included in the budget. The program’s costs have risen from $12 million to $65 million in five years. Previously, state colleges and universities have covered the costs with state funds and tuition from other students.

Lucas said the new proposal would set aside $65 million each year for the program, while the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission studies it, along with a task force appointed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin and a Senate work group.

“This study and the allocation of what now will be $65 million per year for the program provides me with the comfort that we will not place the burden of the escalating cost of the program on other students through their tuition charges,” Lucas said in a statement.

To rein in the program’s rising costs, the budget deal passed by the General Assembly in May restricted eligibility to associate and undergraduate degrees, required participants to apply for other forms of financial aid and tightened residency requirements.

After vehement protests from military families, the House of Delegates voted last week to repeal the new restrictions, but the Senate took no action after meeting twice in two weeks to work on the issue.

Youngkin praised the agreement.

“A full, clean repeal with additional financial support for the VMSDEP program, unencumbered by any other provisions, is great news for our military heroes, first responders, and their families,” Youngkin posted on the social platform X.

Another five hours at the Capitol Monday produced no breakthroughs in the slow-burning controversy over the Virginia Military Survivors and Dependents Education Program (VMSDEP), which provides tuition-free college to spouses and children of military members killed or disabled as a result of their service.

Virginia education program cuts for military families spark backlash

For weeks, military families and advocates for veterans have been calling for the immediate reversal of cost-cutting measures aimed at VMSDEP that the legislature and Gov. Glenn Youngkin approved earlier this year. On Friday, the House of Delegates unanimously approved the full repeal bill the families support.

After watching Monday’s Senate session devolve into multi-directional bickering that produced nothing, military families described Virginia’s halls of power as a place where rampant egos have gotten in the way of listening to regular people.

“We are living a political nightmare,” said Kayla Owen, a Fredericksburg-area military spouse leading Friends of VMSDEP, the main advocacy group pushing for the program’s restoration.

The lack of action means the recently approved changes to the VMSDEP program won’t be rolled back under the deadline policymakers have been working toward for weeks. Monday was the official beginning of the state’s fiscal year, which meant the new budget containing the VMSDEP reforms went into effect.

The new changes, which don’t apply to current VMSDEP recipients but will apply to anyone attempting to begin using the program in the future, impose a stricter Virginia residency requirement, prevent the waivers from being used for advanced degrees or a second undergraduate degree and require participants to first pursue other forms of financial aid.

On Monday, the Senate’s Democratic leaders battled Youngkin’s administration, the Democratic-led House and Senate Republicans. At the end of the day, Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, portrayed his caucus as the only group in the mix making a serious effort to preserve VMSDEP while reining in its ballooning costs. He accused others of playing politics.

The Friends of VMSDEP group said that, as far as it’s concerned, the blame for the current situation lies squarely with Surovell and Senate Finance and Appropriations Chair Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth.

Lucas and Surovell haven’t gotten on board with proposals to fully repeal the VMSDEP changes. Instead, they’ve offered a series of alternate proposals, none of which have passed their own chamber.

The latest proposal Senate Democrats unveiled Monday would have provided $45 million in new funding to offset VMSDEP’s growing financial impact on the state’s public colleges and universities, which legislative analysts say have grown from about $19 million in 2019 to more than $65 million in 2023. Their offer came close to fully repealing the stricter eligibility rules imposed earlier this year, but preserved one modest reform that would’ve required VMSDEP participants to make “satisfactory academic progress” toward earning a degree. The academic progress rule wouldn’t take effect until 2025.

That proposal, Surovell said on the Senate floor, gave VMSDEP supporters “pretty much everything they asked for,” plus tens of millions in new funding.

“Unfortunately we are unable to get some good work done that we had hoped to get done,” Surovell said after it became clear that Senate Republicans were not going to lend their votes to help the body fast-track the bill and allow it to pass on Monday.

Because the Senate is in a special summertime session, the body needed to take a two-thirds vote to waive a rule requiring the VMSDEP bill to be published for at least 48 hours prior to Monday’s vote.

Senate Republicans, who repeatedly asked their Democratic counterparts to pass a clean repeal bill as the House had done, noted that the General Assembly’s rules also required the House to agree to waive the 48-hour rule. Because of that, they said, the Senate technically couldn’t even execute the plan Democratic leaders had come up with for Monday.

If the Senate had passed a clean repeal bill, the Republicans argued, the VMSDEP controversy could have been over on Monday.

“We want to get it done today. This is not politics,” said Senate Minority Leader Ryan McDougle, R-Hanover. “This is a disagreement about how we get it done.”

At a meeting of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee Monday afternoon, Surovell said the House’s clean repeal bill was “constitutionally defective” because of a technical formatting issue that had nothing to do with the underlying policy. Therefore, he said, the Senate could not pass that bill and could instead only pass the slightly different repeal bill Lucas had introduced on Monday.

Sen. Bryce Reeves, R-Spotsylvania, offered to draft a new bill addressing the technical issue Surovell flagged. Lucas said that, according to Senate customs, she is the only senator allowed to introduce budget-related legislation as the chair of the committee that handled the budget.

“It is my hope that the governor and the House will join me in announcing that we have an agreement,” Lucas said as she introduced her latest proposal.

Lucas and Surovell said they spent several hours meeting with Youngkin Monday morning attempting to come to an agreement on the VMSDEP issue.

It didn’t work.

In a statement Monday evening, Youngkin criticized the Senate for failing to pass a VMSDEP bill after a similarly fruitless outcome when the Senate took up the issue on June 18.

“The Senate Democrat leadership is hurting our military heroes, first responders and their families every time they show up and do nothing, as well as wasting time and taxpayer money,” Youngkin said. “A full, clean repeal, which passed out of the House unanimously, and was supported by a bipartisan majority in the Senate, could have been signed today.”

Del. Mark Sickles, D-Fairfax, a high-ranking House member who works on budget issues, briefly appeared before his Senate counterparts during their committee hearing. Sickles too said that if the Senate could go just a little further toward agreeing with the position of the House and the governor, the issue would be “over today.” If the Senate insisted on trying to pass a bill that didn’t quite match, he said, the way forward would remain unclear.

“Really, there’s not that much difference between the two bills now,” Sickles said in an interview.

At the end of the day, the Senate left town without announcing any plans to return.

If the legislature can’t pass a bill, Youngkin hinted he might force both chambers to return.

“The Senate and House need to agree to return next week, on the same day, so we can settle this issue once and for all, with the clean, and full, repeal bill,” the governor said. “If they can’t agree on coming back together to fix this, I will call them back to do exactly that.”

Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Samantha Willis for questions: info@virginiamercury.com. Follow Virginia Mercury on Facebook and X.

Upon their return in mid-July, however, all members of Congress will feel the legislative time crunch as they confront a long list of tasks and a tight summer schedule ahead.

Both chambers are set to reconvene July 8, break one week later for the Republican National Convention, and then work for two more weeks before recessing for the summer. That’s only three weeks of legislative work between July 1 and early September.

Unfinished business includes a full Senate vote on the annual defense authorization bill, a full Senate vote on Veterans Affairs funding for fiscal year 2025 and votes in both chambers on the annual military appropriations measures. The hope is to finish all three by Sept. 30, although that goal may be overly ambitious given the limited schedule ahead.

Congressional staff are expected to negotiate all three measures behind the scenes in the coming months, though final votes may wait until after the November elections.

Wednesday, June 26

Thursday, June 27

Jackson has served in the role for only eight months, but had previously served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for force readiness at the Pentagon since the start of President Joe Biden’s presidency. The chief of staff role at VA serves as the top advisor to the secretary and deputy secretary.

In a statement, Jackson said she is stepping down to spend more time with her family.

“It has been an honor and a privilege to serve alongside the dedicated women and men in the Department of Veterans Affairs in our mission of ensuring veterans and their families, caregivers, and survivors get the care and benefits they have earned and so richly deserve,” the statement said.

A dental debacle: Why veterans struggle to navigate VA’s oral care

Her last day as the VA chief of staff will be July 13. VA officials have not yet announced a temporary or permanent successor.

Jackson served eight years as a naval reserve officer, holding assignments in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, Naval Special Warfare, and the Chief of Naval Operations’ Strategic Studies Group.

Her appointment to the senior VA post last fall meant the department had its six top department leadership jobs all filled for the first time since 2014.

That lasted for only seven months. Jackson’s departure comes almost one month after Under Secretary of Memorial Affairs Matthew Quinn stepped down from his role in the department. Ronald Walters has been serving as acting under secretary since Quinn’s exit.

Unlike the under secretary role, which requires Senate confirmation, the chief of staff post can be filled without prior approval from Congress.

Jackson’s predecessor, Tanya Bradsher, left the role to become VA Deputy Secretary.

The move is the latest in a series of cancers and respiratory conditions added to the department’s list of presumptive illnesses in recent years as part of the PACT Act, sweeping veterans legislation passed two summers ago which has impacted millions of veterans nationwide.

In a statement, VA Secretary Denis McDonough said the decision to add the three illnesses are part of a broader push to “provide health care and benefits to as many toxic-exposed veterans as possible” and as fast as possible.

Department officials did not say how many individuals may benefit from the new announcement.

More than 1 million vets have received new toxic exposure benefits

The policy change covers veterans who served in the Gulf War or who deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Uzbekistan after 2001. Veterans who served in other locations in southwest Asia may also be eligible.

Presumptive status allows veterans applying for benefits to skip paperwork establishing their condition as a result of military service. That can cut months of wait times off the benefits process.

Veterans whose claims are approved may also be eligible for benefits dating back to August 2022, when the PACT Act was signed into law. Department officials said they will review all claims of veterans suffering from the three cancers, as well as survivors, from the last two years and automatically grant financial payouts if possible.

Individuals who have not previously filed for the illnesses can start a new claim through the VA website.

The department last month granted its 1 millionth claim related to the PACT Act and has paid out more than $5.7 billion to veterans over that time frame.

In a letter to Army Human Resources Command, Nehls, an Army veteran, asked for an investigation into the handling of the award, given to infantrymen involved in ground combat operations. The 56-year-old served 21 years in the Army Reserve, deploying to both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Nehls was awarded his CIB while serving as a civil affairs officer with the 101st Airborne Division in Afghanistan in 2008. Last month, CBS News reported the award was revoked in 2023 after an Army review determined he was not eligible for the badge.

According to the CBS News investigation, Nehls’ Combat Infantry Badge was revoked because he was serving as a civil affairs officer and not as an infantryman at the time of his award.

But Nehls has continued to wear a CIB lapel pin while tending to business around Capitol Hill and on campaign stops, prompting scrutiny from a host of media outlets.

In Wednesday’s letter, Nehls accused Army officials of ignoring his previous requests on the issue and insisted that he was eligible for the combat badge.

“I further believe this is a concerted effort to discredit my military service and continued service to the American people as a member of Congress,” he wrote. He also urged officials to “get it right” in regards to revising his military records and reauthorizing the award.

Nehls did not respond to requests for comment on the letter or the badge.

In an interview with NOTUS this week, Nehls said that his service records show a designation as an infantry soldier and suggested that he was being targeted by Army leaders because he is “Mr. MAGA guy.”

Earlier this year, the Office of Congressional Ethics announced it would look into reports that Nehls improperly used campaign funds for personal use, unrelated to the combat badge controversy.

Nehls’ congressional website says he earned two Bronze Star medals during his time in the service, but CBS News also reported that only one of those awards is in his official military record. He retired at the rank of major in 2009.

The findings, from University of Missouri economics professor Joseph Haslag, point to a dramatic return on taxpayer investment in veterans homes since the end of World War II, when the home loan program began. The study was backed by Veterans United Home Loans, a Missouri-based lender, to mark the June 22 start date of the program.

“This historic benefit has helped millions of veterans and military families build wealth and shaped the growth of the American middle class,” Chris Birk, vice president of mortgage insight at Veterans United, said in a statement. “Today, this hard-earned benefit is more important than it has ever been.”

The home loan program is one of the most popular and best known benefits for American veterans. Individuals who qualify can receive lower interest rates, smaller closing costs and often do not need to make any down payments to finalize the loans.

VA urges mortgage firms to extend foreclosure pause until next year

VA home loan volume reached a record high in 2021, at more than $447 billion, according to department statistics. The department is currently backing more than 3.7 million active home loans, including more than 400,000 new loans in 2023 alone. Officials are expected to issue their 30 millionth home loan later this year.

Haslag found that over the last eight decades, the total value of loans purchased through the program has reached about $3.2 trillion.

But those costs are largely held by veterans themselves. The loan program serves as a guarantee against default for lenders, meaning the costs to taxpayers only occur when individuals fail to make payments on their mortgages. Without that backing, many of those home purchases (and related local economic benefits) would not have occurred.

As a result, Haslag wrote in his analysis, the program “has been a huge success” for the country in terms of positive economic impact.

Veterans United officials, who financed more than $17 billion in VA home loans last year, said that despite the program’s popularity, company surveys of veterans showed that about one-in-five veterans believe the benefit can only be used once, among other misconceptions.

Lawmakers in recent years have eyed possible changes to the program to speed up appraisal times and cut down on regulations surrounding the department home loan process, but largely left the benefit unchanged.

More information on the benefit is available through the department’s website.

As a room full of government officials listened Monday, Fenty told the group that her daughter — who was 28 days old in 2006 when her dad, Lt. Col. Joe Fenty, was killed in a helicopter crash — is now 18, preparing to go to college and hoping to eventually go to medical school.

But a tuition waiver program Fenty assumed would help pay for her daughter’s education, the Virginia Military Survivors and Dependents Education Program, has been thrown into limbo due to state leaders’ controversial efforts to cut the program’s growing costs.

“Societies that do not share the cost of war topple,” Fenty said, adding that she hopes the Virginia General Assembly will “right this wrong.”

At the first meeting of a bipartisan task force Gov. Glenn Youngkin convened to study the VMSDEP program and its growing financial impact on Virginia’s public higher education system, Youngkin administration officials and General Assembly members said they were committed to listening to military families and see their well-being as a top policy priority. Fenty was one of several military spouses and veterans selected to serve on the task force, which she called “both an honor and an agony.”

Over the course of several hours Monday afternoon at the Virginia War Memorial building in Richmond, public officials mostly took a rhetorical beating from military veterans and Gold Star spouses who said they felt betrayed by an insular, out-of-touch political class.

“These past two months have shown me the ugly side of Virginia’s government,” said task force member Donna Lewis, a mother of three whose husband was killed in combat in Iraq. “Countless senators and delegates we met with said they were told the impact on our families would be minimal.”

Lewis said she hoped the task force would be productive, but was skeptical after watching what she called “institutional betrayal in its highest form.”

General Assembly leaders have pointed to data showing the VMSDEP program, which provides tuition waivers to spouses and children of military members killed or permanently disabled as a result of their service, has grown exponentially over the last five years. With VMSDEP beneficiaries essentially given the opportunity to go to college for free, some Virginia universities have raised concerns that they can’t continue absorbing the costs of enrolling a growing number of VMSDEP beneficiaries that don’t pay tuition. Those added costs, some policymakers have argued, will ultimately be felt by taxpayers at large or by tuition-paying students who might have less ability to pay than families receiving military benefits.

According to data presented by state officials, VMSDEP participation has grown by nearly 350% over the last five years, jumping from 1,400 students in 2019 to 6,400 in 2023.

The revised program imposes a stricter Virginia residency requirement, prevents the waivers from being used for advanced degrees or a second undergraduate degree and requires participants to first pursue other forms of financial aid and only use VMSDEP for remaining costs.

The attempted trimming of the program enraged military veterans and their families, who have bristled at the idea they’re becoming a burden on public universities that they say don’t seem particularly hard up for cash. Supporters of the VMSDEP program also contend it’s a benefit earned through the sacrifices of adults and children alike and shouldn’t be tied to a family’s ability to pay like other forms of financial aid. Policymakers’ attempts to shield current VMSDEP beneficiaries from the changes fell short, the critics argue, by being unclear and leaving many families uncertain about their status.

The General Assembly is already planning to reconvene later this month to undo the changes to the VMSDEP program and take a closer look at its eligibility rules and how they could be reformed. The task force, made up of General Assembly members, cabinet officials, higher education officials, veteran services officials and military families themselves, is supposed to be studying VMSDEP and issuing recommendations for the 2025 legislative session.

“You have made numbers come alive,” Youngkin Secretary of Education Aimee Guidera told the crowd at the conclusion of Monday’s meeting. “And that’s what matters. And it’s emotional.”

House of Delegates leaders have specified their chamber will return on June 28 and intend to fully reverse the VMSDEP changes. Speaking with reporters after Monday’s meeting, House Appropriations Chairman Luke Torian, D-Prince William, said he and others who supported the VMSDEP changes had sincere concerns about the program’s growth and were trying to look out for the state’s best interests.

“Obviously, from what we’re hearing, it went sideways,” Torian said. “We’re going to move forward. We’re going to address the concerns.”

The plan for the state Senate is less clear, but Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, said the Senate expects to announce more detail later this week.

Senate Finance and Appropriations Chair Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, attended Monday’s task force meeting virtually and gave only brief introductory remarks.

“There is no stronger supporter of our military families than I am,” said Lucas.

The task force was part of Youngkin’s response to a furor that erupted when the VMSDEP changes were included in a bipartisan budget deal approved on May 13. Though changes to VMSDEP were on the table in the General Assembly’s regular session, the final budget deal was mostly crafted behind closed doors and approved quickly.

At the time, both parties were eager to get the overdue budget done and avert the prospect of a government shutdown come July 1. But Youngkin, who signed the budget, and the General Assembly, which passed it by a wide margin, are now under pressure to come back before July 1 to reverse the VMSDEP changes and restore the program to its former state.

The task force’s first meeting mostly focused on introductions and taking public comment, almost all of which was infused with indignation at the officials listening from the other side of the table.

Jason Redman, a former U.S. Navy Seal and Old Dominion University graduate who was badly wounded in Iraq, said people signing up for military service are given assurances that, if the worst happens, their loved ones will be taken care of.

“You’re saying that it is too hard to sustain this program to families that have buried a loved one for your freedom,” Redman said. “To warriors who have endured loss of limb, eyesight, function, disfigurement and permanent disability. … This is appalling.”

Brian Smith, a military veteran who said he now works as an eighth grade civics teacher, said that during his service he could never make promises to his daughter that he would be there for any particular holiday or birthday. Expecting VMSDEP to cover college costs, he said, was a promise he thought could be kept.

“What lesson am I taking back to my eighth graders about government?,” he said. “Can you help me out with that?”

Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Samantha Willis for questions: info@virginiamercury.com. Follow Virginia Mercury on Facebook and Twitter.

This article originally published on Virginia Mercury as “At task force meeting, military families rip ‘ugly side of Virginia’s government.’” Military Times has edited the headline.

Unlike the House Armed Services Committee — which held its markup of the measure during a daylong, public session last month — the Senate panel traditionally debates defense policy and budget issues in closed sessions.

This year, two subcommittees will hold legislative discussions in open hearings on Wednesday. The personnel panel has held public sessions to discuss their decisions for the last few years, while the seapower committee will break tradition by holding a public hearing this time.

The committee’s final draft is expected to be released by Friday. It will detail differences with the House version of the bill and set the outline for chamber negotiations for the rest of the summer. A final compromise is expected sometime this fall.

The defense authorization bill has passed through Congress for more than 60 years and is considered must-pass legislation by lawmakers because of the numerous pay and policy provisions it includes each year.

Tuesday, June 11

Wednesday, June 12

Thursday, June 13

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender veterans are more likely to struggle to access health care, suffer from depression and face a host of other serious medical issues than their heterosexual peers, according to a new study released Tuesday.

Researchers from the Rand Epstein Family Veterans Policy Research Institute said the findings point to the need for improved outreach to minority groups into the veterans community to ensure veterans are getting the information they need.

“Our findings underscore the importance and urgency of efforts to improve health services and outcomes for LGBTQ+ veterans, including actions to ensure that all those veterans are able to use the benefits for which they are eligible and can access appropriate care when needed,” the study authors wrote.

Past studies have hinted at medical care disparities for LGBTQ+ veterans, but the latest Rand report used state-collected data from more than 2 million American citizens over a six-year span to track trends among the minority veteran groups.

Advocates criticize VA response after LGBTQ harassment incidents

The results showed a range of problems across different topics and subject groups. For example, 82% of heterosexual female veterans reported having a medical checkup annually, but only 68% of bisexual female veterans reported the same.

Twice as many bisexual or transgender male veterans stated they could not afford medical care in the past year than their heterosexual peers (6% versus 12% for bisexual vets; 13% for transgender vets).

About one in six heterosexual female veterans reported problems with poor mental health. For gay female veterans, that figure is one in four. For bisexual female veterans, it’s one in three.

Male veterans saw similar trend lines, though the difference was less severe.

Researchers said veterans living in states with policies friendly towards LGBTQ+ individuals saw less of a disparity in health care outcomes based on their sexuality and gender identity, indicating that the problem transcends post-military benefits and services.

But the study’s authors recommended further research into the issue, and “expansion of LGBTQ+-affirming services within the Veterans Health Administration” to address potential gaps in care.

The full report is available on the Rand website.

The threat marks the second consecutive year White House officials have opposed the House’s initial draft of the Veterans Affairs budget over social issues. The measure is expected to pass the House largely along party lines later this week.

In a statement released by the White House, officials blasted the appropriations bill as “harming access to reproductive healthcare, threatening the health and safety of LGBTQI+ Americans, endangering marriage equality, hindering critical climate change initiatives, and preventing the administration from promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

Republicans back abortion ban in $360B VA budget draft for next year

Along with a 10% boost in overall funding for VA programs and operations, the House Republicans appropriations plan includes language blocking department medical staff from conducting abortions or providing gender-affirming care.

Advocates supporting those services have insisted that both are critical to providing full health care to veterans. Republicans have accused VA leaders of politicizing department operations and diverting resources needed for other veteran care.

GOP lawmakers also included provisions in the bill which would block COVID-19 vaccine mandates for health care personnel and stop the department from reporting names of veterans deemed incompetent to handle their financial affairs to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, potentially denying them the right to own firearms.

Last year, similar social issue provisions were stripped out of the final VA budget bill after the White House issued its veto threat. Senate Democrats are unlikely to go along with the provisions this year either, although that chamber has yet to move ahead on its appropriations measures.

The appropriations process is expected to last through the summer and possibly past the end of the fiscal year, which is Sept. 30.

Republican lawmakers questioned whether some senior leaders should be fired because of the scandal, which they said has undermined public faith in the department.

“Ultimately, the responsibility for this failure falls on your shoulders,” House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Mike Bost, R-Ill., told the secretary at a hearing on the issue Tuesday. “And if leaders below you fail, and are not held accountable, you must be held to account.”

The contested bonuses were part of the $117 million Critical Skill Incentive Payments program authorized by Congress two years ago. Money from that fund has been given to more than 13,000 staffers with high-demand skills in an effort to keep them in VA hospitals and benefits offices.

GOP senators demand firings of senior staff after VA bonus mistakes

But at least 182 senior employees who were not eligible for the awards also received payouts through the program. All of the bonuses were more than $30,000, and several were given more than $100,000.

VA Inspector General Michael Missal testified on Tuesday that the mistakes stemmed from several senior leaders — particularly Under Secretary for Health Shereef Elnahal and Under Secretary for Benefits Joshua Jacobs — misinterpreting the law, either through ignorance or intentionally skirting it to hand out generous cash rewards to senior officials.

“Our work found lapses in governance, judgment, due diligence, communications and accountability at multiple levels in VA,” he said.

Missal told lawmakers he “would not have confidence” in Elnahal or Jacobs based on their handling of the bonus issues. Republican lawmakers decried the mistakes as unforgivable, especially given that the money was intended to retain front-line employees instead of bureaucrats.

“The administration decided that pushing paper in Washington, D.C. was a critical skill to VA’s mission that was worthy of a maximum bonus,” Bost said. “Don’t be fooled, this money could have been spent on hardworking VA employees, outside the beltway, who might’ve used it to send their son or daughter to college, not to buy a new Porsche.”

Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wisc., said during the hearing that Elnahal, McDonough and President Joe Biden should all resign over the issue.

Missal’s report largely absolves McDonough of blame in the bonus mistakes. VA leaders have been working to recoup the improper bonuses for several months. About 92% of the money has been recovered, the secretary said.

McDonough noted in his testimony that his office reported the error to lawmakers last fall shortly after he was made aware of the internal problem, illustrating that there was not an intent to hide information from oversight officials.

And committee Democrats attributed the mistakes — which they also labeled as serious and concerning — to a misunderstanding of the law and a lack of proper review procedures within the department. They called for reforms to the department’s oversight system regarding bonuses, but did not call for firings related to mistakes.

But Republican lawmakers were angry that their request to hear directly from Elnahal and Jacobs was superseded by McDonough’s decision to testify on Tuesday, vowing that those leaders will soon face harsh questioning on Capitol Hill.

McDonough said he opted to testify instead of allowing them to appear because of the seriousness of the issue, and to explain broader efforts to correct the errors. He promised a response to the inspector general’s recommendations in the near future.

He also said some of the senior executives may still be eligible for other bonuses in the future, but they will not be awarded in batch or through the critical skills program.

Both the inspector general and committee leaders also promised continued focus on the issue in coming months.

The VA budget bill was passed in a Republicans-only vote in the House Appropriations Committee on May 23. It’s typically one of the first appropriations measures passed annually by the chamber, despite concerns this year from Democrats over social issues added to the funding measure.

The Defense Department’s budget plans could be before the full chamber in the next few weeks as well, with House Appropriations Committee leaders anticipating a panel vote on the funding outline Wednesday.

Moving both this week would give House leaders a chance to promote their chamber as ahead of the curve on the critical legislation, since neither measure has advanced past the committee stage in the Senate. However, even with early action, passage of the final budget bills is not expected until fall at the earliest.

Tuesday, June 4

Wednesday, June 5

House Veterans’ Affairs Committee officials had requested that Under Secretary for Health Shereef Elnahal and Under Secretary for Benefits Joshua Jacobs — two officials at the center of the bonus issues — testify on their roles in the mistakes. Instead, McDonough will field questions from lawmakers on the errors and steps taken to correct them.

Earlier this month, a VA inspector general report criticized Elnahal, Jacobs and several other department leaders for mistakenly awarding about $11 million in cash incentives to 182 senior employees who were not eligible for the awards. McDonough, who was largely absolved in the report, has already rescinded the payments.

But that has not calmed lawmakers’ fury over the mistakes, some of whom have questioned whether the moves were made out of ignorance of the law or intentionally.

GOP senators demand firings of senior staff after VA bonus mistakes

On May 21, a dozen Senate Republicans demanded the firing of Elnahal, Jacobs and Deputy Secretary Tanya Bradsher over “the unjustified distribution of bonuses to executives.” On May 30, a bipartisan group of 13 senators — including Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Jon Tester, D-Mont. — also called for personnel actions related to the issue.

“VA’s flagrant misuse of recruitment and retention incentives intended to improve the provision of health care and benefits for veterans by bolstering VA’s front-line workforce is unacceptable and deeply concerning,” they wrote.

The contested bonuses were part of the $117 million Critical Skill Incentive Payments program authorized by Congress two years ago. Money from that fund has been given to more than 13,000 staffers with high-demand skills in an effort to keep them in VA hospitals and benefits offices.

But lawmakers have emphasized that money was designed to retain skilled workers and not simply reward high-level executives for past success.

In a supplemental report released Thursday, the VA inspector general reported new concerns surrounding Elnahal’s involvement in awarding bonuses to 10 senior executives under his direct supervision, an additional violation of program rules.

During a press call on May 24, Elnahal told reporters that he took “full responsibility” for the mistakes and stated that his agency, along with the rest of VA, is working on “implementing the recommendations of the inspector general to make sure that this never happens again.”

McDonough in a Tuesday press conference said he still has confidence in his leadership team but is carefully reviewing the independent investigation to see whether any personnel actions are warranted.

“Responsibility for this rests with me,” he said. “I should have put this into governance to make sure everyone was tracking the rules.”

House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Mike Bost, R-Ill., has called the bonus scandal “a serious problem for the second largest agency in the federal government” and vowed to press department officials for explanations and reforms in coming months.

Tuesday’s scheduled hearing is the first specifically focused on the issue, but lawmakers have hinted that more could follow depending on what the event uncovers. VA Inspector General Michael Missal is also expected to appear at the hearing.

“It’s not just about losing momentum. Right now, it feels like the tide is heading in the opposite direction,” said Kathryn Monet, CEO of the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, which is holding its annual conference in Washington this week.

“We’re just seeing so much more opposition to solutions, so many more challenges to finding ways to help people who are struggling.”

This year’s gathering of hundreds of community and veterans activists includes the group’s typical updates on new federal program rules, best practices for civic organizations and networking opportunities to share ideas on how to house more veterans.

But organizers have also included an emphasis in their sessions on ways to better share the stories and struggles of homeless veterans in the wake of what they see as rising opposition to their outreach efforts.

Vets advocates push Supreme Court to dump laws punishing homelessness

Monet said a growing number of municipalities in recent years have increased criminal penalties for homeless individuals while reducing funding support programs, a situation that complicates an already difficult financial situation for the estimated 36,000 veterans without stable housing on any given night in America.

Last month, the Supreme Court heard arguments in Johnson v. City of Grants Pass, where an Oregon town’s officials approved fines and jail time for people for sleeping outside in public areas as part of an effort to manage homeless encampments in the city.

Advocates called the move unconstitutional. A decision from the high court is expected in coming months.

But Monet said she does not expect the Grants Pass case to be the last high profile conflict of its kind. She said a growing number of groups are sparring with civic leaders over those types of penalties, and an increasingly negative tone towards potential solutions.

“We’re already seeing an unrelenting housing affordability crisis, and now we’re seeing so many cities choosing unproductive responses to homelessness that makes the situation worse,” she said.

Advocates have been lobbying for more federal support for veterans housing programs for the last year, since a pandemic assistance program which provided support services for rent costs and medical travel expenses expired in May 2023.

But persuading leaders to invest in those programs will require public support for the effort.

“Every single one of us has a role to play in shaping and advancing narratives about homelessness, housing security and housing writ large, whether it’s building power so that people can vote, or for specific solutions around housing first and veterans issues,” Marisol Bello, executive director at the Housing Narrative Lab, told attendees at their opening session Wednesday.

Bello said that includes educating officials on the costs of ignoring homeless problems and the long-term benefits of engaging in community solutions.

Specific sessions this week also focused on highlighting housing challenges among elderly veterans, an underreported issue that is growing as the veterans population continues to age.

Monet said she remains optimistic about the ability for communities to continue to aid homeless veterans, but acknowledged that some of the public goodwill of recent years on the issue appears to have disappeared.

When President Barack Obama in 2010 first announced plans to end veterans homelessness across America, the ambitious goal was followed by years of federal and local focus on the issue, reducing the number of former personnel without stable housing by half in eight years.

But those gains have been more modest in recent years. According to federal estimates, the number of homeless veterans dropped only about 5% from 2018 to 2023, and actually increased by several thousand individuals from 2022 to 2023.

The move comes just days before the start of the new Veterans Affairs Servicing Purchase (VASP) program, which will allow the department to purchase defaulted VA loans from outside mortgage servicers, then modify the terms to allow financially strapped veterans to maintain ownership of the properties.

Department leaders expect that effort will help about 40,000 veterans, troops and family members currently struggling with VA-backed home loans.

But others who do not qualify for the program could face property losses starting next month, when the current department-backed moratorium on foreclosures expires.

VA support program to buy up veterans’ defaulted home loans

VA Undersecretary for Benefits Joshua Jacobs said department officials cannot mandate that mortgage companies extend the foreclosure pause, but are working with the outside firms to try and prevent financial harm to veterans and their families.

“We’ve been talking to housing advocates that represent borrowers and we’ve been working with our interagency partners who are also providing home loans to Americans,” he said. “And we have been engaged in conversations, so we anticipate that the industry will comply with this targeted foreclosure moratorium.”

Officials could not provide an estimate on how many veteran loan holders are currently facing the possibility of defaulting on their payments.

The department has moved over the last two years to provide additional support services to VA home loan holders after a pandemic mortgage forbearance program expired in October 2022.

In addition to the new VASP program, veterans can apply for loan modifications and alternative repayment plans through department programs.

“When a veteran falls on hard times, we work with them and their loan servicers every step of the way to help prevent foreclosure,” Jacobs said. “So, today, we’re calling on mortgage servicers to follow this targeted foreclosure moratorium, so we can make sure that veterans get the support they need to stay in their homes.”

Conservative lawmakers have expressed concerns about the possible costs of the program, but VA leaders have argued that keeping veterans in homes will save more money than providing additional services to newly homeless veterans.

In a statement, House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Mike Bost, R-Ill., said the foreclosure extension is an important safety step but “it does not solve the long-term problem.”

“VA must put election year politics aside and find a permanent solution so that we do not jeopardize the integrity of the VA home loan program, veterans can stay in their homes, and we do not evolve into a financial burden of billions of dollars in bailouts for lenders,” he said.

The department is currently backing more than 3.7 million active home loans, including more than 400,000 new loans in 2023 alone.

Veterans facing problems with housing bills can contact VA at 877-827-3702, option 4, or visit the VA home loans website.

Overall confidence in the department increased from just over half of users in 2016 (55%) to more than 80% this past quarter, based on figures in VA’s recurring Veteran Signals Survey. That report polled more than 38,000 veterans using a wide range of department services, including medical care, disability benefits, and home loans programs.

“This is meaningful because it is the voice of the veterans that we serve from across all different ages, service areas, locations, and demographics, telling us how we are delivering for them,” said Barbara Morton, deputy chief of the Veterans Experience Office. “We are measuring our performance based on how they feel about us, not just how we think we’re doing.”

Still, the result shows that nearly one in five veterans interacting with VA staffers aren’t satisfied with their efforts, a figure that VA Secretary Denis McDonough said still requires improvement.

More than 1 million vets have received new toxic exposure benefits

“We judge ourselves, not on average, but on the individual veterans’ experiences,” he said. “And hopefully, that improves over time. By putting ourselves under the microscope and releasing the outcome of these assessments in quarterly releases, we think that will continue to grow this slope at a much, much steeper incline.”

VA has set a target of 90% in the trust score for the survey, a mark that officials acknowledged will still require another ambitious improvement.

VA’s overall trust number also reached almost 80% in early 2020, but has hovered just above 75% since then. The 80.4% mark recorded for the second quarter of fiscal 2024 is the highest since the start of the survey.

McDonough credited efforts across multiple administrations for the higher satisfaction numbers. About 80% of veterans surveyed last quarter said they received the care or services they needed when they reached out to VA, and 76% said accessing those options was not difficult. Both of those numbers are up from around 60% in 2016.

Tuesday’s news came two weeks after the Partnership for Public Service rated VA as the fifth best large federal agency for employees, with nearly 72% of staffers surveyed reporting satisfaction with their workplace in 2023.

That number was up more than 3% from the previous year and more than 15% above the survey level from 2016.

Former President Barack Obama surprised volunteers at the Saturday service project, where community members placed American flags at more than 4,000 graves to mark Memorial Day.

The crowd of veterans and local scouts mingled with the 44th president as he helped with the effort. Alexandria National Cemetery is one of the first 14 national cemeteries established in 1862 and is the final resting place of service members dating back to the American Civil War.

“One of the greatest honors of my life was the privilege of serving as commander-in-chief, and with pride also came sometimes heartbreak and loss,” he told attendees ahead of the morning event. “And the sober recognition of the sacrifices that so many Americans and their families have made to preserve our freedom.

“As we go out here, I hope that we just reflect and say a prayer for and say thanks for those who came before us. And for those of you who are still serving those of you who may be serving in the future, thanks to you as well.”

Obama was also joined by Veterans Affairs Deputy Secretary Tanya Bradsher and Deputy Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs VA Glenn Powers at the event.

Federal officials are appearing at a host of Memorial Day events this weekend. VA Secretary Denis McDonough is scheduled to speak at the New York Veterans Cemetery Finger Lakes in Waterloo, New York, on May 27. The town, dubbed the “birthplace of Memorial Day,” first marked the holiday in 1866.

VA Chief of Staff Kimberly Jackson is scheduled to speak during ceremonies at Wood National Cemetery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on May 27. Bradsher is also scheduled to speak at Baltimore National Cemetery in Maryland on May 30.

On Friday, Rep. John James, R-Mich., and Susan Wild, D-Pa., introduced legislation to boost financial coverage of veterinarian costs for retired federal working dogs — including military mutts — to ensure those costs don’t become a burden to their former handlers or new owners.

James, who served with the Army in Iraq, said the bill — named the Protecting America’s Working Dogs Act, or PAW Act — is designed to honor both the service of the animals and the generosity of the individuals who care for them after their service is complete.

“The dogs and their handlers risk their own lives to keep Americans out of harm’s way,” he said. “Unfortunately, current regulations result in the handlers, who are often veterans or law enforcement officers themselves, becoming solely responsible for the medical costs of the retired K-9.”

Paws with a cause: Puppies train to help veterans manage mental health

The legislation would mandate the Department of Justice establish a new pilot program to provide up to $575,000 in grants to non-profit groups providing financial assistance to former federal working dogs.

“The grant program we are proposing in this bill will help our canine heroes and their owners retire with peace of mind after a lifetime of service,” Wild said in a statement.

Groups would have to show they are working with eligible families to cover medical costs or related health care expenses. The program would run for at least four years.

The Defense Department currently uses about 1,600 working dogs in a host of military operations across the globe. As they age, those dogs are either transferred to other law enforcement agencies or offered for adoption to military handlers or other outside families.

House staffers have not said how many groups might be eligible for the program or how much the total grant effort would cost in taxpayer dollars. No timeline has been set for consideration of the measure in the chamber.

The mounting pressure comes less than two weeks after a VA inspector general report criticized several of the leaders for mistakenly awarding cash incentives to 182 senior employees who were not eligible for the awards. VA Secretary Denis McDonough rescinded the payments last fall after learning about the mistakes.

Department officials have said they are working to recover money from the ineligible employees. But 12 Senate Republicans on Tuesday said that is not enough to repair the public damage they believe the mistake has caused.

“[This incident] has revealed a consistent disregard for statutory requirements and VA policies, resulting in the unjustified distribution of bonuses to executives,” the group wrote in a letter to McDonough. “This blatant misuse of taxpayer funds is not just a breach of public trust but also a disservice to the courageous men and women who have selflessly served our nation.”

Watchdog blasts VA for errors leading to $11M in improper bonuses

The letter — signed by four members of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee — calls for the firing of Under Secretary for Health Shereef Elnahal, Under Secretary for Benefits Joshua Jacobs and Deputy Secretary Tanya Bradsher.

Both Elnahal and Jacobs were specifically singled out by the inspector general for mistakes ahead of the bonus payouts.

Earlier this month, House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Mike Bost, R-Ill., expressed concern that the awarding of the bonuses to ineligible employees appeared to be “a calculated effort by senior VA leadership” but stopped short of calling for resignations. He has promised further investigations into the issue.

In response to the letter, VA press secretary Terrence Hayes said officials are working to correct the mistake.

“Secretary McDonough has made clear from the beginning that he takes responsibility for this issue and has confidence in his leadership team,” he said in a statement. “As soon as VA identified this error, we immediately took steps to address it, and we reported the matter to the inspector general for review.

“We commit to veterans that we will learn from this error and fix it, as we have already begun to do.”

The contested bonuses were part of the $117 million Critical Skill Incentive Payments program authorized by Congress two years ago. Money from that fund has been given to more than 13,000 staffers with high-demand skills in an effort to keep them in VA hospitals and benefits offices.

The legislation, the first fiscal year 2025 budget draft to be approved by a House Appropriations Committee panel this year, also includes nearly $18 billion in military construction funds for next year, including $1.1 billion for construction of 11 new military barracks projects and $2 billion for military family housing initiatives.

“[This bill] honors our commitment to those who’ve worn America’s uniform and supports our military and their loved ones,” committee chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., said at a hearing on the proposal Tuesday evening. “We’re ensuring that our national defense needs are met both at home and abroad, and we’re also upholding our pledge to our veterans.”

If approved, the VA budget would grow about 10% from fiscal year 2024 to fiscal year 2025, a significant jump considering Republicans’ constrained spending targets for other nonmilitary agencies.

But that continues a trend of consistent growth for the department’s steadily increasing benefits and medical care costs. In fiscal year 2001, the entire VA budget amounted to $48 billion in spending. In 2014, that total was $153.9 billion, still less than half of the planned budget for next fiscal year.

Democratic lawmakers on the committee said they were generally comfortable with the spending targets —although they did note broader complaints about planned Republican cuts to other domestic programs — but said they could not support the measure because of several provisions focused on controversial social issues.

Those included language prohibiting VA from conducting abortions in cases other than rape and involving the life of the mother. Since late 2022, department officials have provided abortion services at some VA medical centers in cases where the health of the veteran is at risk, a broader definition that Republican lawmakers insist runs afoul of federal rules.

In the first year of the policy, VA physicians performed fewer than 100 abortions. However, Republican lawmakers targeted the practice in early drafts of last year’s budget bills and appear poised to repeat the strategy again this appropriations cycle.

Democratic lawmakers expressed exasperation at the move.

“Why we have to go through this song and dance again when they were rejected in conference last year is stunning to me,” said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., ranking member on the committee’s veterans panel. “But the message that Republicans are sending is clear: They want to limit women’s access to abortions.”

The legislation also includes bans on “advancing critical race theory” and implementing White House initiatives to promote diversity, equity and inclusion. It also blocks VA officials from reporting veterans deemed incapable of managing their own affairs to national firearms database officials, a practice that critics say denies veterans their Second Amendment rights.

The appropriations bill now heads to the full committee for consideration on Thursday. Lawmakers hope to send it to the full chamber early next month and reach a compromise with Senate negotiators on a final bill ahead of the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.

Senate appropriators — led by majority Democrats — have yet to adopt their first drafts of the VA spending plans.

President Joe Biden will formally announce that the department has reached the 1 million benchmark during an event in New Hampshire later today. The disability claims are related to benefits expanded in the 2022 PACT Act, which includes injuries from military toxins like chemical defoliants and burn pit smoke.

In a press call Monday, VA Secretary Denis McDonough praised the president for his aggressive approach to the law’s implementation, saying it has allowed his department to reach large numbers of beneficiaries faster than expected.

“He pushed us to implement that new law quickly and to its fullest extent, including expanding VA care to new groups of vets years earlier than envisioned [in the statute],” he said. “The PACT Act is making tangible life-changing differences for the vets and survivors we serve.”

Senators push VA to fix problems with vets’ toxic exposure claims

VA has paid out more than $5.7 billion in earned PACT Act-related benefits to nearly 890,000 veterans and survivors through the claims, officials said. The department has also conducted more than 5.4 million toxic exposure screenings over the last two years, designed to help alert patients and physicians to possible lingering service issues.

Department officials have said the approval rate for PACT Act claims is currently about 75%.

However, advocates in recent months have lamented that individuals filing claims related to constrictive bronchiolitis or hypertension continue to struggle to navigate the system and receive compensation for those issues. VA leaders have promised they are looking into the issue.

Department officials have made public awareness of the new PACT Act benefits a focus of their outreach efforts in recent years. Despite the new milestone, they said they expect to continue that work, to ensure that all eligible veterans are aware of the potential help and how to apply for it.

As many as one in five veterans living in America today could be eligible for disability or health care benefits because of the legislation, according to past estimates from the department.

Biden officials have said that veterans issues — particularly helping individuals suffering illnesses related to burn pit smoke in Iraq and Afghanistan — will be a key theme of his presidential re-election campaign.

The five-year-old project — which allows family members to update online memorials of deceased veterans — has grown to include nearly 10 million veterans interred in VA-run cemeteries, Department of Defense sites and thousands of private cemeteries.

VA Undersecretary for Memorial Affairs Matt Quinn said he has been pleased with the progress in recent years but has also heard from veterans who want to prepare their own tributes to better capture their memories of military life.

“By the end of the year, we expect to have that live,” he said. “Then the veteran … can go and fill out the information on their service, what they want their family or others to be aware of. And upon the veteran’s passing, that page will go live.”

VA adds 5 million more veterans to online legacy project

Veterans would not be able to have the pages displayed while they are still alive, but would be able to view it themselves to ensure the information there will be accurate when made public, officials said.

Quinn did not provide any estimates on how many veterans may be interested in the service. Of the nearly 17 million veterans in America today, nearly half are 65 or older.

News of the expansion comes just days ahead of Memorial Day celebrations at VA cemeteries and memorial sites across the country. Quinn said the weekend is the busiest for the National Cemetery Administration each year, although volunteer and crowd numbers still appear slightly lower than before the COVID-19 pandemic forced partial closures of the sites for two years.

“We’re not all the way back yet, but we’re getting close,” he said. “I’d say 75% to 90% of attendees are back in some fashion.”

VA Secretary Denis McDonough is scheduled to speak at the New York Veterans Cemetery Finger Lakes in Waterloo, New York, on May 27. The town, dubbed the “birthplace of Memorial Day,” first marked the holiday in 1866.

VA Chief of Staff Kimberly Jackson is scheduled to speak during ceremonies at Wood National Cemetery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on May 27. VA Deputy Secretary Tanya Bradsher is scheduled to speak at Baltimore National Cemetery in Maryland on May 30 as part of the extended holiday celebrations.

Information on events at all VA sites and the online veterans memorial project is available through the National Cemetery Administration website.