The House is preparing to vote early this week on the $3 billion VA supplemental bill, lawmakers stall out on partisan CR push, and JD Vance speaks in favor of community care.
It’s a busy busy time in our nation’s capital. The House and Senate are packing the next few weeks with hearings and markups as the days left in the legislative calendar continue to dwindle. The House Veterans Affairs Committee will hold three subcommittee hearings this week and one markup. The Senate Veterans Affairs Committee has scheduled its first hearing since June on Wednesday, examining the VA’s budget challenges.
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In this week’s Nimitz Report:
- VA supplemental funding bill: House set to vote early this week
- JD Vance: VP pick supports community care options for veterans
- Gulf War era vets, check your email: VA conducting next portion of health study
😓 Funding woes for the GOP: Senate Republicans are reportedly hoping that House Speaker Mike Johnson’s partisan stopgap plan fails. The current riders promoting additional voter registration requirements threaten to delay Congress’s recess in two weeks (and shut down the government).
WHO’S HAVING EVENTS THIS WEEK?
Wednesday, September 18th
- 🧑🔬 Subcommittee Hearing: “Examining VA’s Challenges with Ensuring Quality Contracted Disability Compensation Examinations,” House Veterans Affairs Committee (HVAC) Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs Subcommittee at 10:15 am. Watch here.
- 📝 Subcommittee Markup: Reviewing Pending Legislation, HVAC Health Subcommittee at 2:30 pm. Watch here.
- 📞 Subcommittee Hearing: “Dial 988 +1: Examining the Operations of the Veterans Crisis Line,” HVAC Health Subcommittee at 2:30 pm. Watch here.
Thursday, September 19th
- 💸 Subcommittee Hearing: “VA’s Open Cash Register: Fraud, Waste, Abuse and Revenue Operations,” HVAC Technology Modernization Subcommittee at 9 am. Watch here.
- 💲 Committee Hearing: “Providing for Veterans: Addressing Current and Future VA Budget Challenges,” Senate Veterans Affairs Committee (SVAC) at 3 pm. Watch here.
NEWS DRIVING THE WEEK
Congressional News
The House is expected to hold a vote early this week on the timely supplemental funding bill for the Department of Veterans Affairs. Rep. Mike Garcia, who is leading the effort, is optimistic about the bill’s passage. The VA has warned that a failure to pass the additional funds before September 20 (Friday) could mean that 7 million veterans will see delayed pension, GI bill, and college tuition assistance benefits on October 1. Rep. Garcia, and several other members of Congress, have attributed the funding shortfall to “mismanagement and bad budgeting from the VA and probably, you know, not managing other accounts correctly that have affected these VA benefits.”
Lawmakers are eagerly awaiting word from House Speaker Mike Johnson on his next steps to address the upcoming government funding deadline. While he may have concepts of a new plan, his attempt last week to pass a six-month continuing resolution with a bill requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote failed to be considered due to opposition from his own party. The Speaker has signaled he may try again on the partisan stopgap measure, but experts believe he will likely encounter the same result. As a reminder, the government will shut down if not funded by September 30.
Veteran News
Sen. JD Vance has said he would support expanding veterans’ ability to use private doctors, according to a podcast interview with the Republican VP nominee released last Wednesday. Vance elaborated that while parts of the VA’s health care system “actually work very well,” he believes that veterans should have more options to seek private health care. He specifically pointed to rural veterans who struggle with travel times and associated costs. This issue continues to cause strife between Republicans and Democrats, the latter holding that the GOP is attempting to “privatize the VA.”
A recent opinion piece in the Washington Post highlighted the story of a fallen U.S. service member and the important work of the National Cemetery Administration (NCA) in honoring his memory. The NCA is responsible for maintaining graves and honoring veterans across the country, and its employees are dedicated to serving them and their families with dignity and care. For seven consecutive evaluations, the NCA has received the highest score in the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), a respected standard for measuring consumer experiences developed by the University of Michigan. In its most recent assessment, the NCA earned a score of 97 out of 100, tying its own previous record as the highest in the survey’s history.
This month, researchers at the VA will reach out to Gulf War-era veterans regarding a long-term health study called the Gulf War Era Cohort Study. This will be the fourth time the VA will conduct outreach for this study as the department seeks to understand how “chronic conditions such as Gulf War Illness, neurological issues, cancers, and long COVID” impact veterans who did and did not deploy to the 1990-1991 Gulf War theatre of operations. The VA encourages all who were invited to participate to respond, even if they have not participated previously.
National News
Over the weekend, former President Donald Trump was once again the target of “what appears to be an attempted assassination” at his golf club in Florida. The suspect appeared in federal court earlier today and was charged with federal gun crimes. According to reports, he was camped outside a golf course with food and a rifle for nearly 12 hours. President Joe Biden again condemned the attempt and said that political violence “solves nothing.”
WHAT ELSE WE’RE WATCHING 👀
Monday, September 16th
- ⭐ Fielding Technology and Innovation: Industry Views on Department of Defense Acquisition. House Committee on Armed Services. 9 am. Link here. This hearing will be covered in a Nimitz News Flash for our companion publication, Nimitz Tech. Subscribe to receive these updates here!
Tuesday, September 17th
- Ensuring a Trustworthy Government: Examining the National Security Risks of Replacing Nonpartisan Civil Servants with Political Appointees. House Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs. 10 am. Link here.
Wednesday, September 18th
- A Country Without Borders: How Biden-Harris’ Open-Borders Policies Have Undermined Our Safety and Security. House Committee on Homeland Security. 10 am. Link here.
- ⭐ Foreign Threats to Elections in 2024 – Roles and Responsibilities of U.S. Tech Providers. Senate Committee on Intelligence. 2:30 pm. Link here. This hearing will be covered in a Nimitz News Flash for our companion publication, Nimitz Tech. Subscribe to receive these updates here!
Thursday, September 19th
- How the CCP Uses the Law to Silence Critics and Enforce Its Rule. House Select Committee on the CCP. 9:15 am. Link here.
- Israel and the Middle East at a Crossroads: How Tehran’s Terror Campaign Threatens the U.S. and Our Allies. House Committee on Foreign Affairs. 10 am. Link here.
- Beyond the Border: Terrorism and Homeland Security Consequences of Illegal Immigration. House Committee on Homeland Security. 10 am. Link here.
- Oversight of Extremism Policies in the Army. House Committee on Armed Services. 1 pm. Link here.
I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!-Former President Donald Trump (September 15, 2024) (source)
FOR FUN
The weather’s cooling off, the pumpkin spice is returning to grocery store shelves, and several DC spots are hosting Oktoberfest starting this weekend! Danielle will be checking out one of them on Saturday, but for a more complete list of events, click here.
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