[{"_1":2,"_99":-5,"_100":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,75,87],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":72,"_74":72},"mediaId",6109681,"mediaKeyId","2760010-23a654e9f0ad084033392ab9d3422397","parentId",2760010,"title","Committee weighs bills to streamline community scheduling, improve access and expand residential mental health care","audioSeconds",2675,"startMs",1851000,"endMs",4526000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=2760010-23a654e9f0ad084033392ab9d3422397&start=1851&end=4526","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2760010-23a654e9f0ad084033392ab9d3422397/thumbnail_1851000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6109681/Committee-weighs-bills-to-streamline-community-scheduling-improve-access-and-expand-residential-mental-health-care","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6109681-42fcd263607616c4c550013c3046834a/orig.mp4?Expires=1770679268&Signature=eJrCDIxKOv9R3r9rF4V4KJsyUCSnxBljVbcqbWXoNqIyzHsV8ISRtwqgSb6B~v1-ZTulzJ6BDyjnrMdLZ~sb5GS3rJHtJp2xWBc7UTeusRBQUxa-uWHaWNRtrfuwfmGHhkuek203WVpPxFGTSiNZRUYxs88k7M2v70bSSFn8qJXnQ-5bRQuRYuLVqJGYByV6Wg8ZCV0JCAT-Hqxk8-xxazAY2axod3NcHC4Z8fbYzulDB3-5nyT~~pQYNiq3zSGROHxS~8icNOOg6N633S~54Yh0tTnx9WywoYjnmwbGyyocnxxo6a8M1pt6Jtqv7GZPb7n7aby0Htf3lPzRg~5CcQ__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs","date","2025-03-11T00:00:00Z","article","Senators and witnesses at the Senate Veterans' Affairs hearing discussed bipartisan bills aimed at improving veterans' access to care in both VA facilities and the private community — with particular attention to scheduling systems and residential mental health programs.

In testimony, Mark Engelbaum of the Department of Veterans Affairs said the VA \"strongly supports the Veterans Assuring Critical Care Expansions to Support Service Members Act of 2025 or the Access Act as it is known,\" subject to amendments and appropriations, and that the department is willing to work with the committee to refine technical language. Engelbaum also said the department \"appreciates the committee's interest and focus on helping improve VA scheduling systems.\"

Senators and witnesses emphasized two main benefits: faster scheduling for community care and clearer statutory access standards so veterans understand their options under the Mission Act. Al Montoya, Deputy Chief Operating Officer of VHA, described external provider scheduling (EPS) as a tool that can speed community scheduling: \"Without external provider scheduling, it takes roughly 30 minutes for a veteran to get scheduled in the community. Whereas with EPS, it's actually about 7 minutes for that to happen.\"

Veteran service organizations including the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars supported codifying minimum access standards to reduce local inconsistency. Patrick Murray of the VFW told the committee the VFW \"fully agrees the Secretary of Veteran Affairs should have the ability to remove bad employees,\" but warned against arbitrary cuts that would undercut VA direct care. Murray and other witnesses urged the committee to fund improvements to both community care and VA direct care so the community network does not become a one‑way replacement for an underfunded VA system.

On residential mental health and addiction treatment programs (RRTPs), witnesses said these services can be life‑saving and should be treated as a distinct category in access rules because they are often located away from population centers \"by design\" to support recovery. Veteran accounts included instances in which veterans seeking RRTP placements were referred to inappropriate programs or denied because the facility was not in a particular third‑party administrator's network. The VFW and other witnesses said codified access standards and better coordination would reduce denials and improve outcomes.

The VA cautioned that newly authorized commissions or data requests should not inadvertently impede the department's ability to respond to urgent care needs. Engelbaum used the department's quadrennial review as an example of a non‑disruptive review process but asked the committee and stakeholders to align new oversight mechanisms to avoid redundancy.

Next steps: VA witnesses asked to work with the committee on technical fixes. Senators asked the VA to provide more operational detail, including how EPS and VA internal scheduling reforms would interoperate and what safeguards would preserve inpatient and residential care capacity while expanding community options.

","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","Hearing to Consider Pending Legislation: March 11, 2025","oneSentenceSummary","Senators and witnesses discussed bipartisan bills to improve veterans' access to care by upgrading scheduling systems, codifying community‑care access standards and protecting residential mental health programs.","taxTitle","Veterans Affairs: Senate Committee, Standing Committees - House & Senate, Congressional Hearings Compilation, Legislative, Federal","taxId",2000,"location","","headline","shortSummary",{"_33":76,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":77,"_41":78,"_43":79,"_45":80,"_47":81,"_49":82,"_51":83,"_53":84,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":85,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":86,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":72,"_74":72},6109686,"Advocates press Congress to let surviving spouses remarry without losing VA benefits",2332,7554000,9886000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2760010-23a654e9f0ad084033392ab9d3422397&start=7554&end=9886","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2760010-23a654e9f0ad084033392ab9d3422397/thumbnail_7554000.jpg","/articles/6109686/Advocates-press-Congress-to-let-surviving-spouses-remarry-without-losing-VA-benefits","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6109686-be60780926ce3a28581133f22493da68/orig.mp4?Expires=1770679268&Signature=gB2jeG7DDkTxQEG3HKzi1M0PVgMSRZSnzRZ-yUhqoZGzGW0M6L8A8kM5zGCCfgHJqerGBLmgR~4VPkwL2FuVYFdnSfD3JlmbqOUL-vDaHkKx2eTU86EjOgCGLgZV6ub49dJem3eF8jyB5LCaSyhctNboFNqxb0rB~9S23K3924bfeoY-QanKQOWFs7jclkcJu5Pq8ow1lMQSk~JjT9ETcTl95VrWU8rKT3ZWIKsfm9g0e6shOwKaBUOxwnzk8lepmTh5OjtYS74doWo2bhXD6OV0lQFNY2NCLJWpiXGSlkVv7YUw2Kv24tCP4w6cmcCAr4puHLDKsLGzCOH~ugCBmA__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Survivor advocates told the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee that federal benefits rules force many surviving spouses into impossible choices between financial stability and remarriage.

Ashlyn Hancock Lohman, Director of Government and Legislative Affairs for the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), told senators the Love Lives On Act seeks to eliminate a rule that causes many surviving spouses to lose benefits if they remarry before age 55. \"Honor and sacrifice do not come with an expiration date, and neither should our nation support,\" she said.

Why it matters: TAPS and other witnesses said the rule disproportionately affects younger surviving spouses who may be in their mid‑20s to mid‑30s and who often lack established careers or retirement savings. TAPS provided committee figures: \"Just over 500,000 surviving spouses receive benefits through the VA, but barely 35,000 of them are under the age of 55. That is less than 7 percent. Of those 35,000 surviving spouses, only 5 percent of them have chosen to legally remarry,\" Lohman said.

The witnesses urged several changes: enactment of the Love Lives On Act removing the remarriage age restriction, passage of the Caring for Survivors Act to increase DIC (the testimony cited an average increase of $454 per month under a proposed change), and the Veterans Claims Act to increase oversight of paid claims representatives working with survivors.

TAPS also described experiences in which survivors who did remarry or were living with new partners submitted paperwork to the VA and later received overpayment notices or debt collection letters because the agency's processing lagged. \"They believe if they turn the paperwork into the VA, they've done their due diligence,\" Lohman said. \"And then they get these debt letters stating ... we never processed your paperwork or it took us 2 years to actually stop the payments resulting in a debt on the survivor that debt has to be paid back.\"

Several witnesses noted statutory changes already enacted in the last Congress — including portions of the Elizabeth Dole Act — and urged clearer outreach from the VA so survivors know which benefits and education entitlements have changed. Members asked the VA panel about outreach; VA officials said field offices conduct survivor outreach events and provide notifications to survivors in some cases but did not point to a centralized, nationwide outreach program specifically for all post‑Elizabeth Dole Act changes.

Next steps: TAPS and other survivor advocates asked senators to move the Love Lives On and Caring for Survivors bills and to ensure survivors receive clear information from the VA. Senators on both sides of the dais praised survivors who testified and asked VA officials to work with advocates on outreach and to expedite processing to avoid retroactive debt notices.

","TAPS and other witnesses told the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee that survivors face financial hardship and stigma under current law and urged passage of the Love Lives On Act and related measures to raise Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) and protect survivors from predatory claims representatives.",{"_33":88,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":89,"_41":90,"_43":91,"_45":92,"_47":93,"_49":94,"_51":95,"_53":96,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":97,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":98,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":72,"_74":72},6109689,"Senate committee presses VA on recent firings, planned workforce cuts and cancelled contracts",4896,1067000,5963000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2760010-23a654e9f0ad084033392ab9d3422397&start=1067&end=5963","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2760010-23a654e9f0ad084033392ab9d3422397/thumbnail_1067000.jpg","/articles/6109689/Senate-committee-presses-VA-on-recent-firings-planned-workforce-cuts-and-cancelled-contracts","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6109689-79511b5519d39a4ca59994e4c6b5aa32/orig.mp4?Expires=1770679268&Signature=BT61AWHxjRHV8vcv6USiYJ8Fg0xHdK~Paqt0MqFzF8HFu22630IyYOFZ8IBQS2hGNOxYSANOOOzXZej7kbLGXKDMUTMTBcH3-ynSkUS~W5NHSn7M6tHNz-v3xYWyzcYpKhOeYKRWhn8lL~9MCiWoMNaH1zXmmN469mUd3wZgQhl8s8kmzE-jxHDXr0BzZnKvp0I0bZMWOm3C-KYJYy8XmFlHfFEKmKHVrz4cs9b8u79HFQ4u9xYNKnUZC-H3~KcJs3A3jd3Y-xeYhvN~FjyzQDcRzHKDGq64vJ201f8HmPTds965Vq7K36ADxAnfMDJPuWpGmmAS7FtP2QL8qmCabA__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","At a Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs hearing, lawmakers sharply questioned Department of Veterans Affairs officials about recent workforce actions and contract cancellations that members said risk delaying veterans' care and benefits.

Vice Chairman Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) told the panel the VA \"is in crisis. It is literally a 5 alarm fire for the VA,\" and said he will introduce legislation, the Putting Veterans First Act, to rescind recent firings and require performance-based termination standards and appeals for affected employees.

The committee focused on three related concerns: the VA's recent release of roughly 2,400 probationary employees; a planning factor that has been reported publicly and in internal documents authorizing review of staffing reductions up to about 80,000 positions; and the department's decision to cancel or not renew several hundred contracts, some senators said were central to patient safety or to implementation of prior laws.

Why it matters: Senators said the changes could affect the department's ability to implement the PACT Act and other statutes that expanded care and benefits. Senator Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) warned that firing frontline staff — schedulers, claims processors, custodians and clinical support — could delay appointments, slow claims processing and reduce hospital cleanliness. \"When you fire front desk staff, veterans can't schedule appointments,\" she said.

VA officials said they support many bills on the committee's agenda, and that they have begun an in-depth review of the department's structure. Mark Engelbaum, Assistant Secretary, Office of Human Resources and Administration, told senators the department is conducting a \"down to the micro level examination\" over a multi-month planning process and offered to brief the committee on methodology and documents. Engelbaum said the widely cited \"70,000–80,000\" figure is a planning factor, not a final decision: \"We have just commenced our actual analyses. We have an ongoing analysis that's going to take place over the next 3 to 4 months,\" he said.

Still, several senators and veteran service organizations pressed for immediate transparency. Senator Bernie Sanders and others said that the department had roughly 36,000 health care vacancies at the end of fiscal 2024, including hundreds or thousands of staff in roles they said were mission‑critical — for example, 3,400 registered nurses and 3,400 health care schedulers were among the positions noted by the committee — and that blanket reductions risked undermining care. Engelbaum acknowledged the committee's request for written analyses and told senators he would provide briefings and documents.

Senators also sought detailed accounting of cancelled contracts. Senator Angus King and others asked VA witnesses to list the contracts removed from service and the reasons for termination; the VA witnesses said they would take the request for the record. Senator King noted the administration's public statements that roughly 585–600 contracts had been terminated and urged the committee to obtain full details of what those contracts funded.

VA officials defended the need for reform and better systems. Engelbaum said the VA supports the Restore Accountability Act of 2017 updates in concept (subject to amendment and appropriations) and noted the department welcomes technical collaboration on bills to improve scheduling, community care and fraud prevention. Al Montoya, Deputy Chief Operating Officer of the Veterans Health Administration, said technological improvements could reduce scheduling times in community care from about 30 minutes to roughly seven minutes in some systems, if implemented properly.

Committee next steps: Senators repeatedly requested written metrics, the methodology for staffing decisions, and briefings that explain where cuts would occur and what safeguards exist to preserve PACT Act implementation and other services. Several lawmakers also asked the VA to make Secretary David Collins available to testify directly before the committee about the workforce changes and contract cancellations.

The hearing produced no formal vote or committee action; instead, members pressed for documents and a committee-level briefing before additional workforce actions proceed.

","Senators pressed VA officials over the department's recent dismissal of roughly 2,400 probationary employees, a planning figure cited of as many as 80,000 cuts, and the cancellation of hundreds of contracts — asking for written analyses, metrics and a committee briefing before further reductions proceed.","actionData","errors"]

Article not found

Committee weighs bills to streamline community scheduling, improve access and expand residential mental health care

Advocates press Congress to let surviving spouses remarry without losing VA benefits

Senate committee presses VA on recent firings, planned workforce cuts and cancelled contracts