Senator Murray: “Our veterans deserve the absolute best care—so when the time comes for me to negotiate with my Senate colleagues, I’m always thinking about what I can do to make life better for veterans and military families back home.”
ICYMI: Senator Murray Secures Historic Investments for Working Families and Washington State in End of Year Funding Package — MORE HERE
(Washington, D.C.) — U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member of the Appropriations and Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committees, announced $135.2 billion in non-defense discretionary funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and related agencies, as well as $168.6 billion in mandatory funding as part of the Fiscal Year 2023 omnibus bill to support veterans and military families.
Notably, included in the end of year funding package is Senator Murray’s Planning for Aging Veterans Act of 2021. Senator Murray introduced her bill last year after being contacted by a constituent whose father is a catastrophically disabled Army veteran who has resided at a state veterans home in Washington state for over eleven years. Because he resides in a state veterans home, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) cannot easily furnish his medications. Planning for Aging Veterans Act would ensure that VA will pay for the medications of catastrophically disabled veterans who reside in state veterans homes and on whose behalf VA is paying a per diem for nursing home or domiciliary care.
“As the daughter of a World War II veteran and Purple Heart recipient, I take my job as a voice for Washington state veterans very seriously,” said Senator Murray. “Our veterans deserve the absolute best care—so when the time comes for me to negotiate with my Senate colleagues, I’m always thinking about what I can do to make life better for veterans and military families back home.”
“The funding I fought to secure in the end-of-year package we just passed is going to help take care of our veterans and their families in Washington state. Whether that means making sure veterans have the support they need to build healthy families, or holding VA accountable to provide veterans with the care and services they’ve earned, every aspect of this appropriations bill puts us on track to fulfilling our promise to our vets.
“I’m especially proud to see inclusion of my Planning for Aging Veterans Act in this year’s package. It’s really important to me that we continue looking ahead to ensure VA is able to provide the best services possible for our aging veteran population,” continued Senator Murray. “No veteran should face challenges getting their basic needs meet. This legislation takes a vital step toward improving the quality of life for so many veterans byexpanding care for those living in state-run veterans homes. It’s my job to be a strong voice for Washington state veterans in the Senate and I’m very glad we could get this bill passed.”
The Planning for Aging Veterans Act
Senator Murray’s bill would pave the way for future investments in long-term care, improve coordination between VA and state veterans homes, and expand the care veterans residing in state veterans homes receive. Among its many provisions, the legislation would close a gap in VA policy to ensure catastrophically disabled veterans residing in state veterans homes receive their medications without a copayment, as they would if they resided elsewhere. This legislation would:
- Clarify VA policy to ensure catastrophically disabled veterans residing in state veterans homes receive their medications without a copayment, as they would if they resided elsewhere
- Require VA to develop a strategy addressing the current and future long-term care needs of veterans to identify areas for future investment.
- Standardize the process across VA for medical centers entering into sharing agreements with state homes.
- Require that any deficiencies during state home inspections are reported to the VA and inspection reports are published on the VA website.
- Create a pilot program which will provide geriatric psychiatry assistance to eligible veterans at state homes.
- Instruct VA to work with public housing authorities and local organizations to assist aging homeless veterans in accessing existing housing and supportive services.
Electronic Health Records Modernization
Senator Murray fought to secure critical language in the end of year package to ensure accountability and transparency from VA in its implementation of the Electronic Health Records Modernization. The bill requires VA to submit to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations quarterly reports detailing obligations, expenditures, and deployment implementation by facility, including any changes from the deployment plan or schedule. The bill also states that 25 percent of the funds will not be available until July 1, 2023, and are contingent upon VA providing the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations a report detailing the status of outstanding issues impacting the stability and usability of EHR. Language in the legislation also reiterates that there has been serious usability problems that have contributed to instances of patient harm and reduced employee productivity and supports VA’s decision to pause further deployments to address problems with the new system and improve the operation at existing sites. Language in the legislation also directs VA to provide a report to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations detailing steps taken to:
- Revise and enhance the EHR training program;
- Independently validate the efficacy and training of the super user program;
- Ensure proper medication management and accurate patient data;
- Demonstrate that patient record flags that identify veterans who are at high risk for suicide are properly displayed;
- And implement a policy for regular updates to affected employees about progress on and estimated completion dates for issues arising from trouble tickets.
Honoring our PACT Act
Senator Murray helped to secure $5 billion for the Cost of War Toxic Exposures Fund, part of a 22 percent increase over Fiscal Year 2022 largely driven by the PACT Act Senator Murray helped pass earlier this year. The PACT Act, which President Biden signed into law, will expand the toxic-exposure coverage for post-9/11 veterans and create a framework for coverage going forward.
Homelessness Prevention
Senator Murray helped secure$2.7 billion – $541 million more than in Fiscal Year 2022 – to support critical services and housing assistance for veterans and their families experiencing housing insecurity. Over $750 million for Supportive Services for Veterans Families Program (SSVF), over $557 million for the HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD–VASH) program. Senator Murray restarted the long dormant HUD-VASH program in 2008 and has successfully secured funding for it every year since.
Women Veterans Health Care
Senator Murray helped secure $840.5 million for gender specific women’s health care, and to continue upgrading medical facilities to meet the growing needs of women veterans.
Mobile Health Clinics
The omnibus bill supports robust funding for mobile health clinics and encourages VA to expand their mobile clinics in order to serve more veterans. Notably, Senator Murray successfully secured a mobile clinic for Chehalis earlier this year.
A summary of the funding can be found here.
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