Conferees Ok VA Bill
House and Senate negotiators late Monday signed a conference committee agreement on legislation that would allocate about $17 billion to overhaul the Department of Veterans Affairs. The agreement, filed in the House of Representatives shortly before midnight, includes $5 billion for strengthening the VA by recruiting more doctors, nurses and other medical providers and other measures. It allots $10 billion to help veterans access care from private doctors if they have been on waiting lists for more than a month or don't live near VA facilities. Some $2 billion more is set aside for additional veterans benefits. “Planes and tanks and guns are a cost of war,” Sanders said. “'So is taking care of the men and women who use those weapons and fight our battles.”
