News & Opinion

House lawmakers grilled Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki in a full committee on Tuesday, following a damning Inspector General’s report in April showing that veterans were waiting an average of 50 days for mental health evaluations, though the VA had reported that most were seen within 14 days. Read more »

Members of Congress expressed doubts Tuesday on plans by the Department of Veterans Affairs' to hire 1,900 additional workers to improve access to mental health care. Rep. Jeff Miller, chairman of the House committee with jurisdiction over veterans' issues, said the VA's plans to beef up staffing looked like a knee-jerk reaction to a critical inspector general's investigation that was in the works. Read more »

On March 27, the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs held a hearing entitled, “From the Ground Up: Assessing Ongoing Delays in VA Major Construction.” The purpose of the hearing was to address delays in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) construction process, and identify why the completion of multiple facilities has been delayed several years past original completion dates. The committee focused on four medical facilities still under construction in Las Vegas, Denver, New Orleans, and Orlando (Fla.). Read more »

While Americans disagree on foreign policy, everyone can agree that our warriors and their families should be given the best medical treatment for ailments from their time of service. That certainly is the case for more than 750,000 people who might have been contaminated by harmful chemicals in the tap water at Marine Corps Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. The contamination struck from 1957 to 1987. Read more »

The House Budget Committee is poised to pass two measures on Monday to avoid across-the-board federal budget cuts in January and also restore $8 billion in previously approved defense cuts. Read more »

I attended Wreaths Across America at Barrancas National Cemetery in Pensacola, Florida, this past Christmas. Barrancas is the final resting place to more than 40,000 veterans and their loved ones. The cemetery traces its roots back to the Civil War, where both Union and Confederate soldiers were buried in the cemetery’s 94 picturesque acres onboard Naval Air Station Pensacola. Read more »

The House Veterans Affairs Committee sent a bill to the full House on Friday that would move veteran-specific job training program and homeless vet reintegration programs from the Department of Labor to the Department of Veterans Affairs. Read more »

The House Veterans’ Affairs Committee moved Friday to strip the Labor Department of veterans’ employment and rehabilitation programs. Read more »

President Obama is wrapping up a week of talking about student loans with the signing of an executive order that attempts to limit deceptive or misleading practices by schools that target current and former service members and their families. Read more »

Douglas Bragg, the director of the Department of Veterans Affairs’s Oakland Regional Office, will appear next month before members of the California Congressional delegation to answer questions about the performance of his office, which handles all disability claims filed by veterans from Bakersfield to the Oregon border. Read more »