Veterans face two separate challenges to the VA that have come to a boil this week – one from Trump, one from the Republican House.
One concerns Trump and the makeup of a commission focused on closing VA facilities. The other concerns transferring funding of veterans’ healthcare from VA facilities to private entities.
On Wednesday, Trump signed a law with a provision to establish a commission charged with conducting a nationwide “asset review” of VA infrastructure. If the commission is stacked with advocates of dismantling the VA and privatizing most care, the results could be disastrous. Congress remembers the great power of the base-closing commissions in shutting down military facilities, but at least they were able to vote the recommendations up or down. Not so with this commission; it will be empowered to make final decisions. There are likely to be regional winners and losers, and some decisions may be made to accommodate real estate developers, not veterans.
The make-up of the commission had been a sticking point with veterans groups and lawmakers concerned about the facilities-closing review. In the statute written by Congress, it was required that several members come from traditional veterans service organizations, as well as a private-sector health care administrator, a senior government official with medical management experience, and an asset management expert. No representative of the VA’s own workforce will be included.
The composition of the commission is crucial for Congress because they are handing over tremendous responsibility and authority. In a statement by Trump just hours after signing the bill into law, he limited what he would do to consult with lawmakers in appointing members of an asset review commission. Just consult. He said he will “welcome their input” but says final decisions on who will be on the panel will remain with him. Say hello to the Koch-created Concerned Veterans for America, the major organization demanding privatization no matter what the cost, financial or otherwise.
This is worrisome. If Congress trusted Trump to make sound choices, it would not have written the law the way it did. This is not like appointing officials with executive powers. A facilities closing commission reports to Congress for action. Trump should not be free to make it the Koch Commission.
The second challenge came in a House appropriation bill. The House voted on Thursday to approve the rule for floor debate of an appropriation (the Military Construction – VA bill) to be adopted Friday. That rule for the debate dealt with the problem that Veterans Choice Program, to the vehicle for privatizing veterans health care, continues to burn through billions of dollars. It dealt with the problem by tossing in an extra $1.1 billion.
The money going into privatized care is not free. Quite clearly, the conservative forces in Congress want to switch priority for veterans’ care funding from VA facilities to private facilities. When more is lavished on private care, less is available for maintaining the quality of VA facilities. It facilitates a vicious circle of underfunding VA and using the resulting problems and shortfalls as a rationale for privatization.
It is not a coincidence that both of these challenges to VA care occurred the same week. There is a conservative agenda on this subject. Stacking a facilities-closing commission with enthusiasts for shutting down veterans care in areas like the North and East is part of that agenda. Putting appropriations to use on private health care, not VA facilities, is part of the same agenda. What is happening now is materially advancing that agenda.
A third development warrants noting. This week, administration official circulated a memo to Hill staffers opposing a Senate plan which would raise non-defense spending caps in coming years to cover the cost of new VA activity. The White House argues, instead, that money should come from cuts elsewhere in the federal bureaucracy, and the caps should stay in place. But, this is part of the same agenda. Important and valuable government programs, like the VA, would be cut, so that the money can be diverted to private health care institutions.
For people concerned about maintaining viable public veterans’ health care, it has been a disheartening week.
