After extensive review, The American Legion believes the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act offers the strongest opportunity to advance long-stalled legislation for veterans and their families.
American Legion National Commander Dan K. Wiley has released the following statement:
"For over a century, The American Legion has been the leading veterans service organization advocating for passage of nearly all major expansions or reforms to healthcare and benefits that benefit veterans and their families. When the situation required, we advocated for sensible, non-traditional approaches to enact legislation where traditional legislative efforts repeatedly failed.
The American Legion and the broader veteran community have been frustrated at the lack of action on the Major Richard Star Act despite strong bipartisan, bicameral support. That is why Legion leadership and our government affairs team have remained open to every possible avenue to get this critical legislation across the finish line and have been encouraged to see it garner more attention in the last two months than it ever has. We appreciate the introduction of a viable path forward for the Major Richard Star Act and over 60 other pieces of critical legislation through the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act (TCAVA).
After thorough consideration of the legislative and regulatory environment, which included conversations with legislators who both agreed and disagreed with the bill, we believe TCAVA is the best path forward to get these crucial bills enacted into law.
The bill includes provisions from 62 bipartisan, bicameral pieces of legislation that have almost all been through the legislative process, and represent a supermajority of The American Legion’s legislative priorities supported through testimony. Aside from Major Richard Star, there are bipartisan bills to strengthen support for veterans in need of adaptive prosthetics; expand successful suicide prevention programs; enhance TBI research and treatment; create dedicated spaces for women veterans; increase the speed and accuracy of claims and appeals; improve transition and educational assistance, and; give VA the ability to recruit, hire, and retain the best medical professionals our veterans deserve while strengthening direct-care infrastructure.
For too long, many of these bills have stalled due to increased budgetary tension on discretionary VA programs, and those tensions will only increase in the coming years. Moreover, there has been an increasing inability for Congress to move mandatory spending bills without an offset due to the Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) budget rules.
We acknowledge and recognize concerns regarding the proposed offset — legislating changes to the Veterans Affairs Schedule for Rating Disabilities (VASRD) for future, not currently awarded, veterans who claim service-connected sleep apnea and tinnitus, mirroring regulations VA independently published in 2022. Despite opposition from the veteran community, VA has signaled its intent to finalize these regulations through the rulemaking process and public comments, including congressional testimony. After years of discussion on the necessity of updating the VASRD, spanning different political administrations, and after thorough review of existing medical evidence and a public comment period, we do not believe VA will rescind the regulations if and when they are finalized. As such, the projected savings to mandatory spending would be used by the Treasury Department for non-veteran budget priorities.
The American Legion understands calls for waiving congressional PAYGO rules for veterans. We agree that, in an ideal world, future veterans should not pay for healthcare and benefits expansions. The Legion has advocated for that path for years, during previous Congressional sessions where different parties controlled one or both chambers, and have had no success as it relates to Major Richard Star or other bills included in this text. It simply does not reflect the political environment that exists today.
Critics may focus on trade-offs, but the alternative is continued gridlock on major reforms in an increasingly challenging budgetary and political environment. Legislative success requires a pragmatic path forward, not just good intentions. By advancing this package, Congress can achieve real progress for the veteran community and address long-standing inequities.
The American Legion will always defend the healthcare and benefits veterans currently receive and will not support policies that retroactively reduce those benefits, which this bill does not do. Therefore, we urge Congress to pass the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act and finally deliver results for veterans and families who have been waiting too long already. We will continue working with lawmakers in both chambers, our coalition partners, and veterans nationwide to secure the strongest possible outcome that honors our commitments to veterans and their families.”
- Legislative