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Today, Rep. Tom Barrett (R-Mich.), the Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Technology Modernization delivered the following opening remarks, as prepared at the start of the subcommittee’s oversight hearing to examine the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) Office of Information and Technology, including its proposed budget to ensure operations are cost-effective and headed in the right direction to meet today and tomorrow’s veterans’ needs.

Good afternoon. The Subcommittee will come to order.

I want to start by thanking our witnesses for being here to discuss VA’s Office of Information and Technology, or O.I.T.

Let’s set the stage: nothing at VA can function without technology. Every benefit and service that VA provides is delivered on the back of technology.

It is a simple statement; but it gets to the heart of why O.I.T.’s mission is so important.

VA needs reliable, modern technology in order to provide the high-quality benefits and services that our veterans deserve.

Since its creation in 2016, O.I.T. has been constantly fighting a two-front battle.

First, to maintain and secure existing technology systems.

And second, to replace or modernize what is broken or outdated.

Due to the scale and complexity of VA, O.I.T. has never been able to claim victory on both fronts.

While it’s easy to ask for more money, history has shown that funding alone has not been the answer to many of O.I.T.’s persistent issues and raises important questions. 

Is O.I.T. getting the best possible results from their technology investments?

Is O.I.T. prioritizing cost-effectiveness and veteran outcomes in their decision making? 

Does O.I.T. operate a certain way because it is the best way? Or is it because this is the only way they’ve ever done it?

This Subcommittee owes these questions more scrutiny. 

I was pleased to see that President Trump’s VA budget request for Fiscal Year 2026 laid out a new “smarter, not bigger” strategy for O.I.T. that takes direct aim at many of O.I.T.’s problems. 

According to this strategy, O.I.T. will take advantage of past investments in automation and digital services to streamline and become a more cost-effective organization.

They plan to change workflows and align similar functions across services to be more efficient.

O.I.T. will be making substantial investments in cybersecurity monitoring and infrastructure readiness to ensure that their hardware and software can meet the demands of VA growing operations.

I look forward to hearing about these plans, and more, from our VA witnesses today.

As technology changes and new problems arise, O.I.T. needs to be flexible and adaptable in order to deliver the best outcomes for veterans.

O.I.T.’s priorities should determine how the organization is structured. Not the other way around.

However, we can’t talk about “smarter” I.T. strategy without talking about the all the money that VA has spent on I.T. projects that have not delivered as expected. 

For years, this Committee has highlighted the wasteful spending, over budget projects, and poor outcomes that seem to come with all I.T. projects at VA.

O.I.T needs to be involved in the conversation from the very beginning before VA buys new I.T. systems, starts projects, or makes major investments.

As I said before, nothing in VA functions without technology, so there must be real ownership and emphasis from VA Central Office to involve the experts at O.I.T. in technology decisions.

Doing so might help avoid costly disasters down the road.

Earlier this year, I held an oversight hearing on VA’s software licensing management where we dug into the reasons why VA struggles to track whether the software licenses they purchased are actually being used.

VA still does not know exactly how much money they are wasting on unused or duplicative software licenses.

This Committee has heard examples of software that VA purchased, tested, and then put on a shelf never to be used again.

That is taxpayer money that is not being used to fix or modernize VA’s I.T. because it was spent on I.T. that nobody will ever use.

Major I.T. projects that support healthcare systems, education benefits, and financial management are way over budget and have consistently fallen below expectations.

These are just a few examples, and there are many more.

The people of Michigan’s 7th Congressional District sent me to Congress to make VA smarter and work better for our nation’s veterans. 

As the Chairman of this Subcommittee, my job is to make sure that the billions of dollars that VA spends on I.T. is accounted for and produces real results.

The strategy that O.I.T. is taking seems to focus on being more careful with big projects, making sure they deliver results, spend money wisely, and are involved in I.T. decisions from the start.

I look forward to discussing this strategy, and more, with our witnesses here today.

Lastly, I am looking forward to working with the President’s nominee for VA C.I.O., Mr. Ryan Cote, after he is confirmed by my Senate colleagues.

O.I.T. has an important mission and the work that O.I.T. is doing today, as well as the work that Mr. Cote will do, has a direct and meaningful impact on veterans’ lives.

With that, I yield to Ranking Member Budzinski for her opening statement.