Press Releases

Today, Rep. Mike Bost (R-Ill.), the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, released the following statement after the House passed the Biden Administration’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 package along party lines.

“For the last year, Congress has worked together – Republicans and Democrats alike - to provide the support veterans need to face COVID-19. Until now, that is,” said Ranking Member Bost. “I continue to have grave concerns about the partisan package Congressional Democrats sent to the President today. The additional $17 billion taxpayer dollars it would give VA is a slush fund for the Biden Administration. We have next to no information about why that money is needed or how it will be used. I will be watching like a hawk to make sure every cent of it helps veterans recover from this pandemic, not to further partisan priorities.”

“I am, however, pleased that a slimmed down version of my legislation, the Veterans Economic Recovery Act, will soon become law,” continued Ranking Member Bost. “It is the small, sole bright spot in this otherwise completely partisan proposal. That said, it does not go nearly far enough. The pandemic has left hundreds of thousands of veterans out of work. Women veterans have been particularly hard hit by those job losses. Yet, Democrats voted against my attempts to help more of them get back on their feet. I will continue to work to provide unemployed veterans with the support they need until every veteran looking for a job can find one.”