Secretary McDonough

Terrence Hayes (VA Press Secretary):  Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to today's press conference. Before we begin, I'd like to first thank our VA Press Corps for being great professionals these past four years. Your reporting has helped VA educate and inform Veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors nationwide about the benefits and care available to them.

As we close out the holiday season, my thoughts have been drawn to the passing of former President Jimmy Carter. President Carter was a steadfast supporter of Veterans throughout his time in the White House.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to today's press conference. Hopefully everybody's preparing for the holidays. This will be the last time that we see everybody heading into the holiday period. So we definitely wish each and every one of you a happy holidays.

We have a lot to cover today. We have multiple guests joining us to share some news as well as some overviews. So with that, I'll go ahead and kick it over to the boss, over to Secretary Denis McDonough.

John Levi, thanks very much for that kind introduction. Ron Flagg, thank you very much for allowing me to join you all this afternoon. Danielle Brooks, thanks for your service in the Army. And congratulations on LSC’s 50 years of service in expanding and improving access to justice for all Americans.

Good morning. Emily Wilkins, thanks for that kind introduction, and for leading this important organization. Let me recognize the Press Club’s American Legion Post and its commander, Tom Young, and all the Veterans Service Organizations represented here.

VA delivered more care and more benefits to more Veterans than ever before in fiscal year 2024 — exceeding last year’s record totals.

VA proposed establishing a first-of-its-kind grant program aimed at increasing access to VA programs and benefits.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen and welcome to this month's press conference. We're excited. We have a lot of folks joining us today to provide you with a lot of great things that we're doing across the enterprise. So I won't speak too much longer, I'll go ahead and get the Secretary up here and introduce our two guests, and then turn it over to the reporters for questions. So with that, I'll turn it over to Secretary Denis McDonough.

Thanks so much to everybody. Good morning to you. Thank you for inviting me to join you for your 16th Judicial Conference.

You had me a couple of years ago. The fact that you welcomed me back notwithstanding the intervening time as Secretary I take as a mildly positive sign. We’ll see how the reviews are on that at the end of the speech.

Matt [Miller, Dir. VA Office of Suicide Prevention], thanks for that kind introduction and for the opportunity to join the team here this morning to kick off Day 2 of this important Gathering.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs will award $806.4 million in grants to help homeless and at-risk Veterans through the Supportive Services for Veteran Families and Homeless Providers Grant and Per Diem programs.

This training is some of the most important, lifesaving training VA does. And getting it right is never easy. Expectations are necessarily and understandably very high, because the stakes for our Vets are so high.