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Monday
Jul282014

House, Senate Reach Agreement on Repairing VA Problems

The leaders of the House and Senate Veterans Affairs committees unveiled a tentative deal on Monday on legislation meant to improve veterans' health care and tackle the litany of scandalous problems at the VA, in a bid to get the wheels turning on a solution ahead of the looming August recess.   

"This starts the conversation," said Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., who leads the House veterans committee. "The VA is not sacred -- veterans are." 

The proposal would authorize at least $17 billion in spending over the next three years to fix the veterans health program, with about $5 billion of that offset elsewhere in the budget. Congressional aides say the agreement includes funding to make it easier for veterans who can't get prompt appointments with Veterans Affairs doctors to obtain outside care and funding to hire doctors, nurses and other medical staff. 

The plan also grants the VA secretary authority to immediately fire senior executives, while providing employees with streamlined appeal rights.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., chairman of the Senate veterans panel, proposed a bill last week that would cost about $25 billion over three years. Miller, his House counterpart, responded with a plan to approve $10 billion in emergency spending, with a promise of more spending in future years. 

The two lawmakers' differences threatened to derail talks last week, but the lawmakers negotiated over the weekend and produced the plan announced on Monday. 

"The United States Congress is in my view a dysfunctional institution ... so I'm quite proud of what we've accomplished," Sanders said Monday. 

Full Story Here

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