VA Secretary press conference July 23, 2024

Terrence Hayes (VA Press Secretary):  Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to this month’s press conference. You may have noticed I’m not actually in the room. That’s because I was unfortunately, last week, tested positive for COVID, so I’m in recovery. But thanks to the amazing broadcast team, I’m able to join you today. And again, I want to just thank everybody for being here today. We have a lot to cover and I know that the boss is in the room with two of our amazing colleagues from VBA. So, I’ll go ahead and turn it over to the boss. Over to you, Secretary McDonough.

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary):  Terrence, thanks so much. It’s good to see you, man. And as I said to you just earlier today on screen, you look great. We miss you around here, so hurry back and thanks for helping us out with this today. Thanks to our team, our partners in the press corps for joining us today. I’m only going–I know you have plenty of questions, so I’m going to save any comments for questions. And I want to just introduce in order of speaking, two awesome VBA colleagues who have some exciting news to report today in the context of VBA’s role in VA providing more care and more benefits to more Veterans than ever. So first we’ll hear from Ken Smith, who is the Assistant Deputy Under Secretary for Operations Management at VBA. And after Ken, we’ll hear from Lasheeco Graham, who is the Chief Financial Officer at VBA. So, Ken, over to you.

Ken Smith (Assistant Deputy Under Secretary for Operations Management, VBA):  All right, good morning and thank you, Mr. Secretary, for allowing me to join you today. VA continues to deliver more earned benefits to more Veterans than ever before, and today I’m proud to announce that VA has granted benefits to 1.1 million Veterans and their survivors in fiscal year ’24, an all-time record. In total, VBA has awarded $137 billion in benefits, including 127 billion in compensation and pension benefits to Veterans and survivors this year. It’s important to note that VA surpassed last year’s production total, which was a previous all-time record, with more than 60 days remaining in fiscal year 2024, we’re currently on pace to surpass last year’s record by more than 27%. We’ve been able to deliver more care and more benefits to more Veterans than ever before thanks to the increased claims processing capacity authorized by the PACT Act, which was signed into law by President Biden in August 2022 and represents the largest expansion of Veteran care and benefits in generations. Of the claims granted so far in 2024, more than half, 655,808, were PACT Act related. Whenever a Veteran applies for benefits, our goal is to work with them to gather evidence to get to ‘yes.’ With this approach, we’ve been able to grant benefits for 65% of claims, including 75% of PACT Act related claims, continuing the trend since passage of PACT Act. The success of our PACT Act outreach campaign has far exceeded our most aggressive projections. More Veterans, family members, and survivors are applying for more of their earned benefits than ever before. And that’s a good thing. Thank you, and I’ll turn the floor over to my colleague, Lasheeco Graham.

Lasheeco Graham (Chief Financial Officer, VBA):  Thank you, Ken, and good morning. Right now, due in large part to the historic PACT Act, VA is delivering more care and more benefits to more Veterans than ever before. These results are life changing for Veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors. And VA will continue to push to make sure that they get all of the care and benefits they deserve. In total, 6.7 million Veterans are receiving compensation and pension benefits. This is up from 6.3 million last year. As Ken spoke to earlier, VA has made great strides in ensuring compensation and pension benefits have been delivered to Veterans in record numbers. I wanted to reiterate that VA has exceeded compensation and pension production expectations by completing more than two million claims to date, resulting in more than $127 billion in earned benefits to Veterans and survivors. Thanks to the largest outreach campaign in VA history, more and more Veterans, family members, and survivors are applying for a variety of benefits than ever before, such as memorial fares, GI Bill education benefits, home loans, and more. Last year, Veterans submitted more than 2.4 million claims applications, another all-time record, and 39% more than what was submitted in 2022. And so far this year, Veterans are on pace to submit even more claims and exceed initial expectations. VA encourages all Veterans, family members, caregivers, and survivors to learn more about VA and apply for their world class healthcare and earned benefits today. We will continue to reach out to Veterans and encourage them to come to VA while ensuring we continue to deliver care and benefits to Veterans at a record rate. And I’ll turn it back over to Terrence.

Terrence Hayes (VA Press Secretary):  Thank you, Lasheeco. Truly appreciate it. We’ll go ahead and open the Q and A period. We will start with Patricia Kime.

Patricia Kime (Military.com):  Thank you for doing this. I appreciate it. We had to address the things that have been going on in Congress with your $15 billion shortfall–projected shortfall. Early in the year, there was concern about community care being the issue, but now we’re hearing that it’s too many people working at VHA, and now VBA is short because of the GI Bill. Where did this all start? How are you going to solve it? And how are Veterans going to get their benefits by the end of the year? And will you have any–will there be any projected unemployment cuts, that kind of thing?

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary):  Yeah. Thanks so much for the question. So, the fact is, as we just heard very clearly from Ken and Lasheeco, that we’re providing more care, in this instance, more benefits to more Veterans than ever before. So, the issue–the reason we need additional resources is because we are doing that enabled by the PACT Act and by a very aggressive outreach plan and outreach execution.

So, let’s disaggregate the two questions. First, VBA, right before the end of last fiscal year, we asked Congress to lift the authorized level of mandatory funding available to pay C&P and readjustment benefits at VBA. They did that as they often do. We–we did that because we anticipated a very aggressive outreach plan. We’ve been tracking this closely, talking with our partners over the course of the last several months, and it’s become clear that because we are producing at the levels that Ken and Lasheeco just talked about, that we would need Congress to lift that authorized mandatory level one more time before the end of the fiscal year to the tune of about $3 billion. The reason being is that we anticipate ultimately producing somewhere north of 2.5 million claims this year. We had been planning for an aggressive growth rate up to 2.4 million. But again, because we’re performing and producing at such a high level, we need to raise that authorized level one more time. That will cover increased benefits paid under C&P claims, as well as increased utilization of readjustment benefits to include GI Bill, VR&E, and dependent GI Bill benefits. That’s all in FY ‘24. That’s VBA. I think the second part of your question relates to resource needs in FY ‘25 for VHA. What we’ve talked about is more Veterans are enrolling in VA for their health care. 412,867 Veterans have enrolled in VA care over the last 365 days. That is an increase of 27% over last year and the most since 2017. In total, since the PACT Act was passed, more than 710,000 Veterans have enrolled in VA. So, more Veterans are choosing VA. Second, more Veterans are using their VA healthcare. We’re on track this year to provide 127 million health care appointments for Veterans. That also is an increase from last year, which was an all-time high of 120 million appointments. So, in light of this fact, we have determined that next year, we already have the advance appropriation for next year–that for next year we need a quantum more–about $12 billion, to ensure that we can continue to provide record levels of care to record levels of Veterans. Last point, your question about whether we anticipate needing to downsize employees, as it relates to FY ‘24 and VBA. This is a fairly straightforward request that Congress, as I said, just did once before the start of this fiscal year, we anticipate they could do it again. We’d like that to happen by the middle of September so that all of the payments to Veterans go out to them this year. We don’t anticipate any downsizing in staff as it relates to VHA. Similarly, we think that the request that we’ve made will allow us to maintain operations at that record level. And that’s why I’ve been talking with Congress about this over the course of the last several months. We’ve talked about it in this room. I’ve said to you guys that as you’ve asked questions about hiring levels, I’ve said that we think we have the budget we need, but we’re watching it closely. And if we need additional assistance, we’ll be going back to Congress. And in light of the fact that we’ve been carrying out the most aggressive outreach plan and the most aggressive outreach execution in the history of VA, we do need this additional funding for VBA this year, for VHA next year.

Patricia Kime (Military.com):  Just to follow up, I mean, the PACT Act will be two years old in just a few days. Couldn’t you all have anticipated this? I mean, the influx? I mean, there must have been some kind of charts and layouts of that. So, can you respond to that? And also, you know, is anybody going to be held accountable for the projections that may not be accurate?

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary):   You know what? We’re providing more care and more benefits to more Veterans than ever, and we’re doing that at record high trust levels. More Veterans are choosing VA, more Veterans are filing claims at VA, more Veterans are being rewarded their earned benefits from VA, and more Veterans are using their healthcare at VA. And as we’re providing that timely access to world class care and timely access to earned benefits, we’re doing it at trust levels the highest that VA has seen, point one. Point two, we’ve been watching very closely all year. I’ve been talking to you about it each month that because of the aggressive outreach plan that we’re carrying out, that we were watching very closely are spent. And I kept saying we believe we have what we need, but if we need more, we’re going to come back and ask for it, because we want Veterans to choose VA. And at record levels, Veterans are choosing VA. So, we watched how we’re doing on execution and staff on board through this calendar year. We are watching and executing on execution of community care throughout the course of this year, and we’ve been watching execution of direct care in the system throughout this year. And on each of those indicators, we’re performing above expectation. That’s a good thing for Veterans and consistent with what I’ve been saying throughout the course of the year, if we need additional resources, we’ll ask for them. We’ve done that.

Patricia Kime (Military.com):  Thank you, Mr. Secretary.

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary):   Thank you.

Terrence Hayes (VA Press Secretary):  Thank you, Patricia. Are there any other questions?

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary):   Shortest press conference in the history. Oh, no.

Terrence Hayes (VA Press Secretary):  Oh, okay, Quil.

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary):   Now we have Ellen in the room.

Quil Lawrence (NPR):  Hey, how y’all doing?

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary):   Good, man. How are you?

Quil Lawrence (NPR):  Good. I don’t really have a question unless you’re in the running for VP. No, I’m kidding. I wanted to ask you about the ruling in Los Angeles regarding the West LA VA campus and how–what you’re going to do in the light of that ruling that VA is discriminating against the most disabled Veterans because of the income requirements to move into the housing, et cetera. Do you have any comment on that?

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary):   You know, obviously, we’re following it very closely, Quil, one. Two, we’re making sure that we understand the ruling. It’s kind of a ruling in three parts. I think you’ve identified the second issue, and this really relates to a policy that’s executed in the main by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which relates to how they account for federal assistance and who or what–which Veterans qualify for access to certain programs if they’re getting federal assistance. I think you’ve heard us talk about our view on that, which is that we’ve been looking, working very hard to identify a way to make sure that our Veterans can get access to housing irrespective of their disability rating and irrespective of the support that they get from VA. So, we think that the judges identified an issue that we’ve been working on. We appreciate the court’s interest in the issue, and inasmuch as we’ve been trying to address this issue, we’ll continue to try to address it. And I think the court gives us new urgency to do so.

Quil Lawrence (NPR):  Do you know if you can do this without congressional help?

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary):   Well, we’ve been talking to Congress about it, too. Those–we’ve asked for their help on it, and so we’ll see if they move on it. But as I said, the focus that we have here is, you know, urgency consistent with the fact that we want Veterans to be in houses–in housing, one. And two, I think the court ruling gives us even more urgency to those efforts.

Quil Lawrence (NPR):  Okay. And just one more follow-up on also a housing related question. Any news on VASP? And particularly as you were discussing budget, the cost.

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary):   Yeah, we’ve–no. I don’t have any new news on that, Quil. I think we’ve committed to you guys to keep you updated on when we have new news we’re executing on the VASP, and, you know, as we–as we have new news on that, we’ll let you know. We have no proud–we have no concerns about the budget support for this program. I think we’ve made that pretty clear, too. But we’ll obviously keep updating you if there’s news to update you on.

Quil Lawrence (NPR):  Okay. And if you are in the running for vice president, you’re gonna tell us first, right?

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary):   Right. Yeah, I–with 100% confidence that I will not be found to be inaccurate. You can take to the bank that I am not in the running to be vice president. So—-

Quil Lawrence (NPR):  Thanks.

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary):   Which is good news for the country [laughter]

Terrence Hayes (VA Press Secretary):  Gotta love Quil. Any other questions from—-

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary):   Ellen in the room, Terrence.

Terrence Hayes (VA Press Secretary):   Does Ellen have a question? I missed seeing her today.

Ellen Milhiser (Congressional Synopsis):  Hi, Terrence. I hope you’re feeling better soon. Thank you for doing this, Secretary. Yesterday–last night at a hearing on the EHRM, several of the congressmen were questioning, in light of the need for supplemental funding and the fact that you’ve hired so many more people in VHA, which is causing part of this cost overrun, the fact that you surged hundreds of people into Lovell to implement the EHR, the fact that you need, apparently, hundreds more people to implement the EHR at a new site and to keep it operating. The committee was questioning how affordable the EHR is, and Representative Self questioned specifically, when do you see a return on investment on this? And he sort of scoffed at notions of improved patient care and quality and safety and whatever. What do you say to him as to when are we going–when will the government see a return on investment, and what will that look like?

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary):   Yeah, I just want to reiterate one point, which is we’re providing more care and more benefits to more Veterans than in the history of VA, and we’re doing it at trust levels across each component that we’ve not seen, right. And so, I’m really proud of our team and the work that they’re doing at VHA, at VBA, at NCA, at OINT, and in every corner of the country. Second, on the EHRM question, I know that our witnesses respond to the question, so I associate myself with their comments.

Ellen Milhiser (Congressional Synopsis):  Speaking of witnesses, Ms. Duke admitted to–told the committee that they became aware of the fact that increased workforce at VHA was contributing to the shortfall–expected shortfall in funding, and they became aware of that in January. Why wasn’t any of this included in the president’s budget that was submitted? How did you submit a budget that still has $12 or $13 billion in shortfall?

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary):  I might just remind you of the monthly press conferences that I had with you over the course of each—-

Ellen Milhiser (Congressional Synopsis):  I remember everything you told us.

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary):  And we talked every month about–as I did at length in our budget hearings, about the president’s FY ‘25 budget and the goal expressed in that budget, that we’d be down to 383,000 FTE. And to execute that, we were in a position to make sure that we were being strategic about our hiring. So, we’ve had this discussion every month, and I kept telling you, as I kept telling Congress during the course of the year, including in each of the public hearings, that we believed we had the funding we needed, but if we needed more, we’d come back and ask [crosstalk] And the thing I said is, the thing I won’t do is I will not stop outreach, and we will continue to allow our local leaders to make strategic hiring decisions. And as they’ve done that, we’ve relooked at that 383,000 FTE goal. And we’ve readjusted that, because when you’re offering the level of care that we’re offering–and I just call your attention to a couple of interesting data that I just got this morning. On our access sprints, which is really not really a sprint anymore, it’s our access policy. Primary care wait times across the system are down 8%. Wait times for mental health care appointments, down 9%. Overall offerings of healthcare appointments, up 16% in the system. And so, in light of that more timely access to more care for more Veterans, we’ve determined that we need to revisit the FTE number, and that’s what we’ve done in the light of day.

Ellen Milhiser (Congressional Synopsis):  Okay. Thank you.

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary):  Thank you. Patty wants to ask another question, but I don’t think we should let her Terrence.

Terrence Hayes (VA Press Secretary):   You said Patricia?

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary):  Yes.

Terrence Hayes (VA Press Secretary):   I saw Jordan walk in the room also, so wasn’t sure if he had a question.

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary):  No, Patricia does have one, so.

Terrence Hayes (VA Press Secretary):   Okay. No worries there. Patricia.

Patricia Kime (Military.com):  Leo isn’t here, so I’m just going to take his question, right.

Terrence Hayes (VA Press Secretary):   Sounds good.

Patricia Kime (Military.com):  So, if Congress doesn’t approve the supplemental funding that you need, what would be disrupted, if any, services? And do you already have sort of a workaround to be able to accommodate whatever funding you need for things?

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary):  Yeah. Well, thanks so much. Let me just say a quick word about Leo. We miss him, you know. I know you do, too. And, you know, we’re pulling for him, one. Two, you know, obviously it would be prudent for us to plan for that, but right now we’re really focused on getting, in the first instance, this very straightforward fix for VBA by the middle of September. And then we’re continuing to talk to Congress about the VHA–the additional needs for VHA in FY ‘25, which obviously starts on October 1st. And so, we’ll keep you abreast between now and then on contingency plans. But the main thing we’re focused on is getting this done. Third point, we’ll keep you abreast on this as we have throughout the course of this entire year, right, this is not a new issue. And we’ll stay on top of this and we’ll make sure that if, as we need contingency plans, we’re talking about those so that we’re informing Veterans as well.

Patricia Kime (Military.com):  So, Veterans will not–come September, Veterans won’t have to worry about their checks, getting their GI Bills—-

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary):  We’re going to continue to talk to Veterans about exactly what they can expect and what they will experience, and we’ll make sure that we’re talking directly to them. And right now, getting this first fix is going to help us address that question in the first instance.

Patricia Kime (Military.com):  Okay. Thank you.

Terrence Hayes (VA Press Secretary):   Thank you, Patricia. Any additional questions in the room or online? All right. Not seeing any, so I’ll go ahead and turn it back over to the boss in case he has any last remarks.

Denis McDonough (VA Secretary):  No, but, you know, as long as we’re doing things that Leo would expect us to do, I just want you to know that as of July 13, 2024, the backlog is 271,345. This is 1339 less than the previous time we were in this room together. It’s also down more than 150,000 since its most recent high point on January 4th. Also, as of January 13, 2024, overall inventory of claims is 970,055. So, 970,055 claims. This is 10,614 more than the previous press briefing. So, I guess I raise this for sake of transparency, but also to end where we began, which is, as Ken and Lasheeco briefed us at the start, VBA is performing at remarkably high levels. It’s translating into remarkably–it’s translating into earned benefits for millions of Veterans. And I’m really proud of VBA for the work they’re doing. So, thanks, everybody. Have a good day. Bye, now.