S. 2193: Caring for our Veterans Act of 2017 - Progress

A massive spending deal that Congress struggled to resolve by Tuesday morning purportedly contains extensive reforms for the Department of Veterans Affairs, including an overhaul to the controversial and much-debated Veterans Choice program.

Lawmakers are working on a $1.3 trillion deal that would fund federal agencies through the end of the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. It was uncertain Tuesday morning when Congress would unveil or vote on the spending bill. They face a Friday deadline or else trigger a partial government shutdown.

Negotiators worked late into Monday night, delayed by several hot-button initiatives vying to be tacked onto the bill as policy riders. According to multiple news reports, lawmakers hadn’t settled on proposed changes to Affordable Health Care, funding for President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall, a path to citizenship for recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, and other issues that could potentially be included.

As the debate continued Tuesday, eight major veterans organizations were fighting for VA reforms to survive the negotiations.

The American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, AMVETS, Disabled American Veterans, Paralyzed Veterans of America, Vietnam Veterans of America, Wounded Warrior Project and Military Officers Association of America called this moment a “historic opportunity” to pass multiple VA reforms at once.

Besides revamping the Choice program, the spending bill contains a gradual expansion of caregiver benefits to veterans injured before the 9/11 terrorist attacks, they said. It would also create a systematic review of VA infrastructure, with the intention of disposing of aging and underused facilities nationwide.

“Although this veterans legislation has only recently been shared with our organizations, it is based on months and months of consultation with our organizations and many other stakeholders,” they wrote Monday in a letter to congressional leaders. “While not perfect, we believe that this legislation represents a fair compromise that will help to strengthen veterans’ health care for future generations, while ensuring that caregivers of veterans of all generations get the support they deserve.”

The reforms were each previously introduced in Congress as separate bills, but all of them have been deadlocked in recent months. If they fail to pass as part of the spending bill, which creates a fast-track for approval, it’s uncertain when Congress would take them up again.