Summary
Ahead of anticipated Congressional deliberations resuming on legislation to overhaul and extend the Veterans Choice Program (VCP), we have prepared a side-by-side comparing key legislative proposals. The chart includes an analysis of the VA’s draft proposal issued last fall, as well as House and Senate VCP reform legislation – including nuanced competing proposals in the upper chamber.
Following a failed attempt to secure a VCP compromise in the federal omnibus spending measure passed last week, the House and Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee leaders face a dwindling timeframe to reach a bipartisan, bicameral resolution to reform the VCP and ensure continued federal funding beyond the VCP fund’s projected June exhaustion.
House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Phil Roe (R-TN) and his Senate counterparts, Chairman Johnny Isakson (R-GA) and Ranking Member Jon Tester (D-MT), reportedly intend to revive their agreement next month following the Congressional recess. The agreement was ultimately stymied over Democrats’ objections to the increased degree to which federal funding would be diverted from the VA system toward privatized care, as well as broader VA oversight considerations