Latest news with #VeteransAffairs
2 days ago
- Business
Senate kicks off fraught appropriations process against shutdown deadline
The Senate on Wednesday took a step toward approving its first appropriation bill, agreeing to advance military construction and Veterans Affairs spending in a 90-8 vote. But lawmakers have a long way to go to avoid a government shutdown, with 12 appropriations bills to get through before the Sept. 30 deadline. The House, which has passed two appropriations bills, saw its legislative session ended early by Speaker Mike Johnson amid turmoil over the Trump administration's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files. The Senate is set to begin its August recess next week, though Senate Majority Leader John Thune has kept open the possibility of canceling the weekslong break at President Donald Trump's request to advance his nominees. And unlike many of the things that Republicans have done this Congress, passing any of the 12 appropriations bills in the Senate will require 60 votes to pass. Thune, during an appearance on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures," said "we've got to find a way" to start moving the measures. "We are going to need to get appropriations done. That will require some cooperation from Democrats and hopefully they will be willing to make sure that the government is funded," Thune told host Maria Bartiromo. Democrats seek to strategize on funding Democrats met behind closed doors on Tuesday to try to hash out a cohesive strategy for approaching government funding ahead of the s hutdown deadline. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries also met with their Democratic appropriators. At a brief joint press conference afterward, Schumer and Jeffries said Democrats were committed to a "bipartisan, bicameral" appropriations process but blamed Republicans for making a clear path forward to averting a shutdown difficult. "As has always been the case we are prepared to engage in those discussions in good faith, but House Republicans are not there. House Republicans are in fact marching us toward a possible government shutdown that will hurt the American people. We remain ready, willing and able to have the type of appropriations process that will yield a good result for the American people, but that process must be bipartisan and bicameral in nature," Jeffries said. Schumer said Senate Democrats supported the first appropriations bill on military construction and VA funding because it will help veterans and undo some cuts made by the Department of Government Efficiency -- but that other issues wouldn't be as simple. Democrats are weighing a number of considerations as they think about how to deal with government funding, especially with most saying they feel scorned after Republicans struck $9 billion in previously-approved funds from the federal budget. Republicans were able to pass the rescissions package, which included cuts to foreign aid and public broadcasting, without any Democratic support. Democrats say it amounts to a betrayal of a previous agreement that's left them reluctant about future deals. "Speaking for myself, I am really hard put to vote for appropriations when I know Republicans are just going to ride roughshod and reverse them down the line on a strictly partisan basis," Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, said on Monday. "The pattern of partisan betrayal on the part of my colleagues gives me a lot of pause so I am really torn about it." Sen. Peter Welch, a Vermont Democrat, echoed those sentiments. "There's a trust issue that we have to have to legislate where you reach an agreement and then there's a switch-a-roo on rescissions and you have 60 votes and it suddenly goes to 50," Welch said. "What we thought was solid and set in stone suddenly melts away, that is a problem." Thune on Tuesday also called for a bipartisan path forward on the appropriations process, but put the onus on Democrats to work with Republicans. "The Democrats have indicated, because they're so upset over the rescissions bill last week -- which, by the way, cut one-tenth of 1 percent of all federal spending -- that somehow they can use that as an excuse to shut down the appropriations process and therefore shut down the government," Thune said at a press conference with Senate Republican leadership. "We think that would be a big mistake, and hopefully they will think better of it and work with us." The White House, though, has made the case the government funding process should be "less bipartisan." "It's not going to keep me up at night, and I think it will lead to better results, by having the appropriations process be a little bit partisan. And I don't think it's necessarily leading to a shutdown," White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought told reporters last week. "Who ran and won on the on an agenda of a bipartisan appropriations process? Literally no one. No Democrat, no Republican," he added. "There is no voter in the country that's went to the polls and said, 'I'm voting for a bipartisan appropriations process.'" Democratic Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the vice chair of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, said on the Senate floor before Wednesday's vote that she thought his process should move forward in its historically bipartisan fashion despite Republicans' recent moves to work on government funding through a rescissions package. "To be clear, if Republicans continue cutting bipartisan deals with more rescissions, that's not cooperation," Murray said. She added, "So for anyone considering the partisan route, you cannot write a bill without talking to Democrats and then act surprised when Democrats don't support it. You want our votes. You work with us, and this bill today that we're considering shows that is possible."
Axios
3 days ago
- Business
- Axios
Senate takes first step on late government funding bills
The Senate took a bipartisan step forward Tuesday on the first of its annual appropriations bills for the upcoming fiscal year — as the deadline to avoid a government shutdown comes into view. Why it matters: It's an early sign that some Democrats are still willing to work across the aisle to avoid a shutdown, at least for now. The early procedural vote was 90-8. Seven Senate democrats voted against opening debate: Ed Markey (Mass.), Alex Padilla (Calif.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Adam Schiff (Calif.), Bernie Sanders (Vt.), Chris Murphy (Conn.) and Peter Welch (Vt.) — along with Republican Mike Lee (Utah). The bill provides funding for military construction and Veterans Affairs. Republican leaders have indicated they want to attach it to packages that fund agriculture programs, food safety, as well as the Commerce and Justice departments. What to watch: Democrats decided Tuesday to support moving forward with the measure, with the party's leaders noting that it reverses much of DOGE's cuts to programs that enjoy broad, bipartisan support. But they are keeping their powder dry on future appropriations bills and a solution to averting a shutdown at the end of September. Democratic leaders have warned Republicans that seeking more rescissions packages like the one Congress sent to President Trump last week would threaten Democratic support for government funding. Trump's budget chief Russell Vought has thrown gasoline on the fire, not only hinting at more rescissions packages, but also saying the appropriations process should be "less bipartisan." The big picture: Congress is far behind schedule for passing all of the appropriations bill before the Oct. 1 deadline, likely necessitating another stopgap spending measure to avoid a shutdown. The Senate Appropriations Committee has agreed to four appropriations bills so far, all with bipartisan support. In the House, two appropriations — funding defense, military construction and Veterans Affairs — have passed along party lines. Congress has increasingly relied on short-term spending measures called continuing resolutions — which keep spending levels flat from the previous year — to avoid a shutdowns.
Daily Mail
7 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
Area 51 veterans plagued by 'invisible illness' after working on top-secret projects
A group of US Air Force veterans has gone public with their story about how an 'invisible enemy' at the top-secret base Area 51 left them with cancer. The former security guards at the Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR) - a classified site that houses Area 51 - have claimed that the US government betrayed them and essentially handed them a death sentence without their knowledge. Their claims stem from the revelation that NTTR was built in the 1970s on an area of land in the Nevada desert that was found to be contaminated with radiation from years of nuclear testing in the area. However, that 1975 report from the US Energy Research and Development Administration also said it would 'be against the national interest' to stop the military's secret projects at the site. According to David Crete, a former Air Force Sergeant who worked at NTTR from 1983 through 1987, over 490 of his fellow workers at the base have died of severe illnesses since being stationed at the secret facility. Making matters worse, the US Department of Veterans Affairs has refused to cover their medical care because none of the surviving veterans can prove they were exposed to radiation near Area 51. That's because their work was so top secret, all records of their activities have been marked as 'data masked.' 'I have brain atrophy. The left side of my brain is shrinking and dying. That's not too bad. I'm one of the healthy ones,' Crete told the House Veterans Affairs Committee in April while lobbying for legislation to support the Area 51 veterans. Crete added that the average age of death for someone who served in that unit is 65 and the youngest airman to die was just 33. The Air Force veteran was unaware of anyone who worked at NTTR who had lived beyond the age of 80, but the radiation exposure caused even more harm than that. Along with revealing that most of his fellow airmen had developed multiple tumors since retiring, Crete told lawmakers that the radiation had been passed to their families as well. 'My wife had three miscarriages. One of the guys that I worked with, his wife had seven,' the veteran explained. 'All four of my children were born with birth defects or significant health problems. It's not their fault. I'm not saying it's mine, but I brought it home. It was my DNA that was permanently altered from low-dose, long-term, ionizing radiation exposure,' Crete continued. In 2000, then-President Bill Clinton signed a bill that provided compensation and medical benefits to workers who developed illnesses due to exposure to radiation and other toxins while employed at certain government facilities, including nuclear sites. Crete and other veterans from Area 51 who were invited to Washington on April 8 asked that the same healthcare rules that apply to these workers, who were not part of classified projects, apply to them as well. Veteran Mike Nemcic told NewsNation: 'It's just a matter of betrayal. These folks knew, and they purposefully kept it quiet because it was more beneficial to them not to tell us.' has reached out to the Air Force for comment regarding this matter is still awaiting a response. Crete and the other Area 51 veterans were employed by the Air Force's security police squadron to guard the F-117A Nighthawk, America's first stealth bomber, which was being developed and tested at the top-secret facility. Most of what the airmen did at NTTR since the 1970s is still classified, and they've never been able to share what they were doing, not even to their families. Veteran Pomp Braswell said: 'It felt very special, especially at a young age. My mom knew absolutely zero about what I was doing. She knew there was a phone number if she needed to get hold of me, that's it.' According to Crete, the only recognition of their sacrifice at Area 51 came during a conversation with late US Senator John McCain, who served on the Senate Armed Services Committee and allegedly knew what was happening at NTTR. 'He came up to me and he said, 'Your unit ended the Cold War.' If you ever wanted validation that what you did was important, that's just about it,' Crete recounted. Two bills have been introduced in Congress, the Protect Act and the Forgotten Veterans Act, to provide healthcare relief for the veterans affected by their classified work at NTTR.
Yahoo
18-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
VA expects 30K voluntary job cuts by October, erasing need for layoffs
Voluntary retirements and resignations are expected to trim 30,000 Veterans Affairs workforce positions by the end of September, forgoing plans for potential forced resignations this fiscal year to meet administration goals to reduce the size of government, department leaders announced Monday. Already, about 17,000 VA jobs have been vacated since Jan. 1 through a combination of deferred resignations, retirements, normal attrition and department hiring freezes, officials said. Another 12,000 posts are expected to be cleared out over the next two and a half months. VA Secretary Doug Collins in a statement said that because of those significant workforce reductions — equalling a 6% decrease in the roughly 484,000 VA workforce last fall — department leaders are no longer discussing the idea of a department Reduction In Force process. 'Since March, we've been conducting a holistic review of the department centered on reducing bureaucracy and improving services to veterans,' Collins said in a statement. 'As a result of our efforts, VA is headed in the right direction — both in terms of staff levels and customer service.' House passes $435 billion spending plan for VA in fiscal 2026 A VA spokesman said the department is not looking to make any additional 'major changes' to staffing levels beyond that 30,000 cut. Previously, officials had said they may eliminate up to 80,000 department jobs in coming months. For the last several months, department leaders and members of President Donald Trump's White House staff have insisted that workforce cuts are needed to trim down the federal bureaucracy to reduce spending and improve efficiency. However, Democratic lawmakers and union leaders have strongly objected to those claims, saying the increased medical and benefits workload of the department mandates more staffing, not less. They have also said that hiring freezes and staff cuts have begun to hurt veterans benefits, particularly in tasks indirectly related to medical care, such as appointment scheduling and medical supply delivery. But Collins and top VA officials have said the department has multiple safeguards in place to ensure that staff reductions do not impact veteran care or benefits, including exempting more than 350,000 positions from the federal hiring freeze. Department officials also pointed to positive trends in benefits processing and medical care in recent months, continuing trends from the last few years. Collins said in his statement Monday that the staff reductions thus far have 'resulted in a host of new ideas for better serving veterans that we will continue to pursue.' Department leaders said they are looking at 'duplicative and costly administrative functions that can be centralized or restructured' for additional workforce savings, as well as reducing some of the 274 separate call centers the department runs. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
18-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Senate panel backs plans for $456 billion VA budget next year
Senate appropriators on Thursday advanced plans for a $456 billion budget for Veterans Affairs programs and benefits next fiscal year, putting it generally in line with House and White House goals for future department spending. Unlike the House draft adopted last month, however, the Senate VA appropriations plan advanced out of committee with broad bipartisan support and without a bevy of controversial social issue amendments. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, praised the bill's passage as an important step forward for the federal budget process and for supporting America's veterans. 'It helps to fund the VA Health Care System, makes investments to improve mental health care, includes programs to assist in the prevention of veteran suicide, homelessness prevention programs, supports our family caregivers and expands care for our rural veterans,' she said. 'It also funds important veterans benefits, including disabilities, pensions, the GI Bill and employment training programs.' House passes $435 billion spending plan for VA in fiscal 2026 House lawmakers' budget plan for the department totaled about $453 billion, but both the House and Senate drafts call for roughly $134 billion in discretionary funding, money for new program starts and initiatives. That total is slightly less than what White House officials asked for in their budget proposal, but only by about $1 billion. Most of the debate in Thursday's Senate Committee markup focused not on the VA spending plans but instead the controversial rescissions package adopted by the chamber the night before. That measure would pull back about $9 billion in congressionally authorized spending, including money for foreign aid and public media programs. But those objections were not enough to deter most Democrats from backing the Republican-led VA budget plan. The Senate proposal includes language ensuring that veterans 'are never denied care or timely access to care as a result of the damaging or arbitrary cuts to the VA workforce,' a reference to recent workforce reductions at the department. Last week, VA officials backtracked on earlier plans to trim up to 80,000 employees from the department's payroll, instead projecting a reduction of about 30,000 individuals by the end of September. Veterans Affairs leaders have seen regular budget increases annually for more than 20 years, even amid frequent congressional and White House efforts to reduce federal spending. In fiscal 2001, the VA budget — both mandatory and discretionary — totaled just $45 billion. In 2011, it was about $125 billion. In fiscal 2023, the total topped $300 billion for the first time. The House-passed plan for fiscal 2026 would now push that total over the $400 billion level, and cost more than the combined fiscal 2025 budgets of the Army, Air Force and Marine Corps. Senate officials have not said when the budget plan could come before the full chamber for a vote, but Collins said Republican leaders have committed to acting on the issue in coming months.
