Biden’s Effort to Politicize the Department of Veterans Affairs Is Unacceptable

M ore than 150 years ago, President Lincoln signed a law establishing a home to care for wounded soldiers. On March 3, 1865, a month before the Civil War ended, the world’s first government institution solely dedicated to caring for honorably discharged volunteer soldiers was created. Subsequent presidents continued to build on Lincoln’s legacy by establishing state veterans’ homes, providing medical and hospital care, and enrolling veterans in insurance and disability programs. All of these efforts eventually led to President Reagan’s official establishment of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in 1988.

The VA is one of few agencies in the federal government that has largely stayed above the political fray. Even during times of political upheaval, the U.S. has continued its tradition of prioritizing care for the men and women who have sacrificed for our country.

Unfortunately, President Biden’s VA has lost sight of its core mission. Veterans, many of whom experience notoriously long wait times to receive care through the VA, now grapple with an administration that prioritizes a progressive agenda over their benefits.

Two years ago, President Biden’s VA announced it would begin facilitating taxpayer-funded abortions at VA medical centers and through community-care providers in direct violation of a 1992 law that explicitly prohibits the VA from doing so. While members of Congress have submitted numerous inquiries seeking data surrounding the implementation of the new policy, the VA has refused to answer basic questions such as the number of abortions facilitated through the VA, the methods through which the abortions are being conducted, the number of gestational weeks at which point the abortions are occurring, or even how much this new policy is costing the American people. President Biden and VA officials have evaded questions long enough. That’s why, last week, I introduced the VA Abortion Transparency Act, a bill that requires the VA to issue quarterly reports to Congress about how taxpayer dollars are being used to facilitate abortions.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time the VA has prioritized Joe Biden’s woke agenda over providing timely and quality care to veterans. In 2017, under President Trump, Congress passed the bipartisan VA Accountability Act, which gave VA supervisors the authority to fire 4,000 VA employees who were not doing their jobs. Last year, as part of a settlement agreement, the VA announced that the agency would issue job offers and back pay to nearly every employee who had been fired. This is an absolute disgrace — and a slap in the face to our veterans who deserve the best care our country has to offer. Sadly, this decision from the VA is just one of many in which veterans are not put first under President Biden.

In December 2023, the media reported that the VA was using taxpayer funds to facilitate the reimbursement of health-care claims for illegal aliens. There is nothing more infuriating than hearing from a veteran about how long it took for the VA to approve their referral for a community-care provider, and meanwhile, illegal aliens can access community-care doctors without issue. So I introduced the No VA Resources for Illegal Aliens Act to make sure the VA is not spending resources on managing health-care claims for illegal aliens. Once again, the Biden administration was caught prioritizing its far-left agenda over our brave veterans.

In the latest offense, the department recently issued a statement regarding its “gender-affirming care” policy after activist groups filed a lawsuit to try to force the VA to cover gender-transition surgeries. Despite the fact that the VA has an entire page on its website dedicated to sexuality, gender, hormone therapies, and gender-transition surgeries, the far-left groups still are not satisfied. Taxpayers should never be forced to foot the bill for an extremely controversial, elective procedure. I haven’t spoken to every veteran, but I get the sense that most of them aren’t looking for another woke statement from the VA; they just want the basic benefits they were promised when they signed up to serve our country.

As we have seen, Joe Biden doesn’t care about the rule of law or fulfilling the mission of the VA. He cares only about driving the progressive-Left agenda to get reelected, and he’s using American taxpayer dollars to pay for it. His actions show that the Democratic Party cares more about illegal immigrants, sex-transition surgeries, and abortions than it cares about having a VA that’s 100 percent committed to providing quality care as quickly as possible.

I know firsthand how important it is for veterans to get the care they need. My dad fought bravely in World War II, earning a Purple Heart in recognition of his combat injuries. American heroes like my father deserve a VA that is solely committed to providing them with timely, quality care. It’s past time for the VA to return to its founding mission instead of continuing to bankroll Joe Biden’s extreme agenda. As a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, I will not rest until every single veteran gets the care they deserve. Veterans have given their blood, sweat, and tears for our country. It is incumbent upon Congress to guarantee that the VA is focused on the quality care and delivery of benefits that veterans deserve.