Chuck: More $$ for VA jobs

Sen. Chuck Schumer on Sunday demanded millions of dollars more for the Department of Veterans Affairs to fill critical health-care jobs where vacancies could jeopardize hundreds of thousands people nationwide.

“The point is a simple one: Our veterans should not have to fight a war with the VA to receive the kind of health care they both need and deserve,” Schumer said.

The Senate minority leader referred to an Aug. 31 VA report revealing that the agency had yet to fill 45,239 jobs — including 40,456 in the Veterans Health Administration.

Department offices in New York state have more than 1,800 vacancies, mostly in New York City and on Long Island. Schumer said the unfilled positions are putting the state’s 800,000 vets at risk.

“To know that there are 45,000 critical jobs . . . unfilled is unacceptable and demands immediate action,” he said at a press conference outside the VA Medical Center in Manhattan.

The New York Democrat added that this week, he will push for an addition of roughly $750 million in the Senate Appropriations Bill for in-house VA medical care.

He will also demand that the VA use the funds to develop a plan to fill the vacancies and report its progress to Congress.

A VA spokesperson denied that the vacancies are diminishing health services, saying the openings are the result of normal turnover.