Congressman Young Questions VA Officials on Veterans Crisis Line Progress
Press Release
Iowa Congressman David Young continued his fight to hold the VA accountable for fixing the problems with the Veterans Crisis Line in a Capitol Hill hearing on Tuesday. Young was invited by the U.S. House Veterans Affairs Committee to sit as a special guest because he authored a federal law enacted in late 2016 to address the numerous failures of the VA's Veterans Crisis Line.
Young's law was in response to concerns voiced by Iowa veterans and the VA's Inspector General about unanswered calls, emails or other communications, and failed attempts to receive help from the Veterans Crisis Line. The experiences veterans conveyed to Congressman Young directly dispute previous assurances from the VA to House Veterans Affairs Committee that problems like these had been addressed.
Young was given the opportunity to question the VA Inspector General Michael Missal; Veterans Health Administration Deputy Undersecretary for Operations and Management Steve Young and acting Executive Director of the Office of Member Services Matthew Eitutis, who oversee the Veterans Crisis Line on progress they are making to fix the problems.
"When the first reports on the Veterans Crisis Line came out, I was angered to learn the lack of simple quality assurance processes and training procedures contributed to many of the problems impacting the Veterans Crisis Line. It's the reason I worked with the House Veterans Committee to get the No Veterans Crisis Line Call Should Go Unanswered Act passed and signed into law." said Congressman David Young. "As was highlighted during the hearing, you're only as strong as your weakest link, and there is still work to be done to make sure America's veterans can get the quality assistance they have earned regardless of when they request it."
Young's law requires a plan to address the many concerns at the Veterans Crisis Line to be submitted to the House and Senate Committees on Veterans' Affairs within 180 days of enactment. In addition to Congressman Young's monitoring of the implementation of the requirements of the law, he is planning on visiting the two Veterans Crisis Line call centers to personally assess the progress of the needed improvements.
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