Trump can save his legacy with veterans and maybe rescue the midterms, too
No president in modern history did more for veterans than Donald Trump in his first term. His administration delivered the “Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act,” the “Veterans Appeals Improvement and Modernization Act,” and the Forever GI Bill, each one a win for veterans. That legacy was set to grow even further in his second term. Now career VA bureaucrats are blocking the reforms that would extend it. That will cost veterans their lives, and it could cost Republicans the midterms.
The most significant of these reforms was the “VA MISSION Act of 2018,” which gave veterans the right to choose between VA and community care. Congress is now debating the “Take Care of America’s Veterans Act,” built in part on that same MISSION Act foundation, with a vote expected in the coming weeks.
The Biden administration rolled back those MISSION Act gains. Access to community care narrowed and wait times at VA facilities grew. A VA inspector general investigation found that delays at the Fayetteville, Ark., VA contributed to a cancer patient’s death. In Hampton, Va., the VA cut off chiropractic care for veterans managing chronic pain, leaving many of them choosing between opioids and no treatment at all.
Veterans expected a second Trump administration to reverse that damage. Instead, career staff inside the VA have worked to slow it down, failing to consistently follow the MISSION Act or Secretary Doug Collins’s reform guidance. Many of them built their careers inside that system, and they resist anything that gives veterans more reason to walk out the door for care. They do not believe in the choice Trump won for veterans in 2018. They would rather keep veterans inside a failing system than lose control of it.
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A Rasmussen Reports survey conducted with Veteran Action shows the erosion already under way. Trump holds 60% approval among military voters, but only 53% rate his administration’s handling of veterans’ issues positively, and just 57% of likely military voters would back the Republican candidate. Veterans want what they were promised: 90% support giving veterans the choice to use healthcare providers outside the VA, and 94% want a Veterans’ Bill of Rights that spells out the rights they already have.
That bill delivers what veterans are asking for. It bundles roughly 60 measures, including the “Veterans’ ACCESS Act” and the “Major Richard Star Act,” and would make good on the promises made to veterans about their healthcare, benefits and services.
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Veterans are not interested in more promises. They want action, and they could decide close elections this November. Maine’s Senate race is one of the most competitive in the country, and Republican Sen. Susan Collins faces a combat veteran challenger there. Seventy-five percent of veteran voters say they are more likely to support a candidate who backs the “Veterans’ ACCESS Act.” Congress needs to hear that before it votes.
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VA leadership can send that message now, without waiting on Congress. Collins should make clear, publicly, that the department backs the “Take Care of America’s Veterans Act” without reservation, start the pilot programs the bill calls for, and direct every regional office to stop slow-walking community care referrals.
The VA career staff chose to protect themselves once before. At the Phoenix VA, where staff kept secret wait lists to hide how long veterans waited, more than 200 veterans died with open appointment requests still pending. The department cannot afford to make that choice again. The VA needs to decide, now, whether it exists to serve veterans or to protect itself. Veterans’ lives depend on getting that answer right.
Opposition to the bill is already organized. Democrats such as Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal and California Rep. Mark Takano, the unions and self-serving veterans’ organizations have all come out against it. They would rather defend the system as it is than give veterans the choice they have earned.
Veterans have earned a VA that works for them, not the other way around. Trump delivered that kind of reform once. Now the “Take Care of America’s Veterans Act” gives Congress the chance to make it last. As Theodore Roosevelt put it, “A man who is good enough to shed his blood for his country is good enough to be given a square deal afterwards.” Our veterans deserve that square deal now and forever.
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