Plan would have shifted funding to bolster Choice
WASHINGTON — The House rejected Monday a plan to allow the Department of Veterans Affairs to shift $2 billion from other programs to cover a sudden budget shortfall in its Choice program of private-sector care following opposition from veterans’ groups.
The vote was 219-186 on a bill to provide a six-month funding fix, falling short of the two-thirds majority needed to pass.
House negotiators now planned to meet with the Senate, where lawmakers were crafting a separate proposal.
Put in place after a 2014 wait-time scandal at the Phoenix VA hospital, the Choice program allows veterans to receive care from outside doctors if they must wait 30 days or more for an appointment or drive more than 40 miles to a VA facility. VA Secretary David Shulkin has warned that without congressional action Choice would run out of money by mid-august, causing disruptions in medical care to thousands of patients.
Rep. Phil Roe of Tennessee, the chairman of the veterans’ panel, argued quick action was needed to address the shortfall. He rejected descriptions of the proposal as “privatization.”
Sen. Johnny Isakson of Georgia, the Republican chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, has been working to reach a compromise. The panel’s top Democrat, Jon Tester of Montana, introduced a bill earlier this month that would provide equal levels of extra funding for Choice and VA programs.
Eight major veterans’ groups expressed opposition to the House plan, voicing displeasure after it was released last Friday after days of closed-door negotiations.
At its national convention Monday in New Orleans, the leader of Veterans of Foreign Wars took aim at Trump over the House plan, describing the proposal as unacceptable privatization. VFW National Commander Brian Duffy said it would lead to higher out-of-pocket costs for veterans and harm their care.
“It would violate the campaign promise that President Trump told our convention a year ago — a promise that the VA system would remain a public system because it is a public trust,” Duffy said.