Veteran Committee Chairman Requests Federal Investigation of Former VA Secretary, Other Biden Officials
The chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee has asked the Justice Department to investigate former Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough and other VA leaders for their handling of the fiscal 2024 budget, questioning whether they intentionally misled Congress when asking for an extra $15 billion to cover a projected funding shortfall.
Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., wrote Attorney General Pam Bondi on Tuesday calling for a review of the VA leaders involved, including McDonough, Under Secretary for Benefits Joshua Jacobs, Under Secretary for Health Dr. Shereef Elnahal and "any other officials."
"The suggestion that senior VA officials submitted materially inaccurate funding requests, failed to disclose critical budget information in testimony before Congress and letters written by the former VA secretary, and delays in informing Congress of revised funding needs, in my opinion, warrant immediate and independent review by your office," Bost wrote in his letter.
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"If any criminal or civil violations occurred, those responsible must be held accountable," Bost said.
In July, the VA said it would face a $12 billion shortfall in its health-care budget and a $3 billion deficit for benefits by the end of the year as a result of increased costs in medical services and disability compensation, largely attributable to the PACT Act, the legislation that expanded health care and benefits to millions of veterans exposed to environmental pollutants during their military service.
Congress approved the $3 billion for benefits in September, but in November, the VA told Congress that the funding was not used to cover costs for fiscal 2024 and it actually had $2.2 billion left in its benefits accounts by the end of the year. It would use the extra funding, according to a memo sent to Congress, for the start of fiscal 2025.
"While the supplemental funding was not immediately utilized, it was critical that we had this funding on hand -- because if we had even been $1 short on Sept. 20, we could not certify our payment files and more than 7 million veterans and survivors would have had delays in their disability compensation, pension and education benefits on Oct. 1," the memo said.
Congress elected not to spend the additional $12 billion requested for the VA's health-care budget -- a projection that by November also had been revised downward to $6.6 billion -- but it did include $6 billion to cover health-care costs in the fiscal 2025 funding bill passed in March.
A VA Office of Inspector General investigation into the budget issues at the Veterans Benefits Administration determined that accounting errors and fewer-than-expected claims approvals led the VA to inaccurately anticipate its year-end costs.
"The OIG found that improvements in financial oversight, reporting accuracy, and communication processes would have provided greater clarity and may have obviated the need for the supplemental funding request," the IG wrote in a report released in March.
The OIG also found that for the $12 billion request for the Veterans Health Administration, the VA "relied on outdated data and assumptions, including lower-than-actual costs for new medications and both direct and community care."
Bost said the reports raised concerns, however, as to whether the VA leaders "knowingly withheld material budget information, submitted inflated funding requests, provided false testimony to Congress, or otherwise acted to obstruct congressional oversight," according to his letter.
California Rep. Mark Takano, the ranking Democrat on the House Veterans Affairs Committee, condemned Bost's call for an investigation, calling it a "desperate political stunt" that "weaponizes the justice system."
In a statement released Wednesday, Takano said the Justice Department already had reviewed the matters and found no evidence of criminal misconduct.
"The truth is simple: at the end of the last administration, VA was achieving record-high levels of veteran satisfaction, workforce productivity, and health care outcomes. Former Secretary McDonough and his team led VA through one of its most successful eras in history. They deserve to be honored -- not smeared by partisan attacks," Takano said.
"The American people -- especially our veterans -- deserve better than sham investigations and political theater becoming the new normal," Takano added.
The Justice Department on Wednesday confirmed that it had received the letter but declined to comment.
Related: VA to Step Up Rollout of New Electronic Health Records System in 2026
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