GOP’s VA overhaul bill narrows some employees’ rights, spurs privatization, union says

This story has been updated June 17 at 10:35 a.m. ET.

Congressional Republicans last week introduced legislation they say will improve the care that veterans receive from the federal government, though Democrats and federal employee unions warn the measure will actually degrade veterans’ benefits and employees’ rights.

The Take Care of America’s Veterans Act (H.R. 9237 and S. 4744) is a package of more than 60 bills relating to the Veterans Affairs Department. Included is the Major Richard Star Act (H.R. 2102), a bill that would grant full military retirement pay to veterans who were forced to retire early due to a combat injury, as well as a provision to increase benefits to severely disabled veterans and the families of service members who died in the line of duty.

“Over the past few months, we have heard from the thousands of veteran voices who want to see Congress pass the Major Richard Star Act to grant thousands of disabled veterans the benefits they are eligible for,” said Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. “Today, I am proud to announce . . . that we have found a path forward for this bill to get it across the finish line, in addition to over 60 bipartisan bills to protect healthcare access, cut out the red tape in the VA disability benefits system, advance economic opportunities, and put veterans—not government bureaucracy—back at the center of VA’s mission—for good.”

But Democrats described the legislation’s introduction as an attempt to add partisan policies to a popular bipartisan bill—a discharge petition currently sits just five signatures short of the 218 needed to force the House to take up the Major Richard Star Act—and said the expanded benefits in the larger bill are offset by $60 billion in benefits cuts that would particularly impact veterans suffering from hearing loss and sleep apnea.

“Veterans have demanded an end to the wounded veterans’ tax for years, and we are five signatures away from forcing a clean vote on the Major Richard Star Act,” said Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., leader of the discharge petition. “The timing tells you everything: this is a distraction. Worse, it’s a distraction that veterans would pay for. The Republican plan cuts existing veterans’ benefits to fund new ones—asking the next generation of veterans to pick up the tab for the last.”

Veterans of Foreign Wars similarly condemned the proposals to offset the proposed benefits increases with cuts elsewhere within veteran care.

“The VFW strongly opposes the Take Care of America's Veterans Act as currently drafted because it asks future disabled veterans to bear the cost of expanding benefits through changing the VA rating schedule for tinnitus and obstructive sleep apnea which are common conditions associated with combat poly trauma,” said VFW National Commander Carol Whitmore. “We have long maintained that veterans' benefits are an earned obligation of the nation, a promise made through the military service contract, and should not be financed through offsets, fee increases or reductions that place additional burdens on veterans, military families and survivors.”

The changes to how disability benefits in connection with tinnitus and sleep apnea are calculated were first proposed via regulations in 2022. The VA said Wednesday that it is still reviewing whether to issue a final rule implementing the plan.

"No changes are planned or imminent," said VA spokesman Quinn Slaven. "VA is still reviewing the proposed rule, which was introduced by the Biden Administration in 2022. VA received significant public comment on the proposal, and it would need to undergo significant changes prior to being finalized. VA learned of the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act last week and continues its discussions with Congress on the costs and impact of the bill’s various provisions. We look forward to continuing to support Congress in this regard."

The GOP’s legislation has also attracted the ire of the American Federation of Government Employees, one of several unions at the VA. AFGE took particular issue with a provision in the bill that would reclassify thousands of VA psychologists from their current status covered by a hybrid of the Title 5 and Title 38 personnel systems to being solely covered by Title 38.

That change would severely abridge those employees’ collective bargaining rights—though those rights are the subject of litigation due to President Trump’s executive order banning unions at the VA and other agencies. Title 38 employees are barred from bargaining over topics related to “direct patient care,” and the department has taken a maximalist view of those restrictions under Trump.

“Eliminating these workplace rights and protections will do nothing to improve the delivery of health care services to our nation’s veterans—in fact, it will have the opposite effect because it will directly impair the VA’s ability to recruit and retain the quality health care professionals our veterans deserve,” said AFGE National President Everett Kelley, himself a veteran, in a statement.

The union also took issue with provisions that would expand the Veterans Community Care Program, the initiative by which veterans can receive VA-sponsored medical care from private sector health care providers. Labor groups have long described the community care program as a Trojan horse to privatize the department’s functions.

“Pushing more veterans to go outside the VA for their care increases costs to taxpayers while diminishing the quality of care that our veterans deserve to receive,” said MJ Burke, AFGE’s National VA Council president. “I don’t think that’s any way to take care of America’s veterans, and I urge lawmakers to reject this bill when it comes up for a vote.”