Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2025
Floor Speech
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Mr. STEUBE. Mr. Chairman, I rise to urge support for Congressman Self's amendment, which will prohibit the funds from this bill to be used to give critical skills incentive, or CSI, bonuses to senior executives at the VA Central Office.
Recently, the VA Office of Inspector General released a report that found that the VHA and the VBA improperly awarded over $10 million of these bonuses to senior bureaucrats in the VA Central Office. What is worse is that this was no technical glitch or error. This was a strategic move by the Under Secretaries of Health and Benefits to line the pockets of D.C. bureaucrats.
Just this week, we held a hearing in the House Veterans' Affairs Committee where Secretary McDonough tried to explain their actions. However, their actions are inexcusable. Meanwhile, this is a slap in the face to rank-and-file VA employees, such as the nurse making sure a veteran has a quality visit to a VA hospital or the caseworker assisting a veteran with a claim, who will work their tails off day in and day out to serve our heroes.
I served in the U.S. military, and one of the guiding principles is that leaders eat last. Clearly, in this instance, the bureaucrats at the VA ate first.
This is why I have sponsored this amendment, which would prohibit the VA from using these bonuses to pad the pockets of their bureaucratic friends, and I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Chair, I claim the time in opposition to the amendment.
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Mr. STEUBE. Mr. Chair, VA money and the money that is appropriated by this body from taxpayers should go to the service of our veterans and not to millions of dollars in bonuses for senior bureaucrats.
Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Chair, I think if you take a look at the expenditures made by many Members of Congress in our offices, you would see that we responsibly use some of our funding to provide bonuses for the service of our own employees. That happens all across the Federal Government, just like it does across the private sector. It happens a lot less significantly understandably because public service is a noble profession, one that people choose to engage in; however, we want to make sure that we attract top talent to public service.
Eliminating the ability for the entire VA to provide that kind of merit-based bonus is irresponsible, and it will make it less likely that we have the top-quality talent willing to make the sacrifice to come and serve our veterans at the VA.
Why would we do that? That makes no sense. This was an error. It is being corrected. It is almost completely corrected. Unfortunately, the gentleman from Florida and the sponsor of this amendment are going way too far and hurting our ability to make sure that we can take care of our veterans with the top talent that they deserve.
Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. STEUBE. Mr. Chair, I rise today in support of my amendment that would prohibit the Department of Veterans Affairs from using any funds under this bill to process medical claims for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
In December of last year, I led a letter to the VA, along with 23 other Republican Members, after receiving reports that the VA had contracted with ICE to process medical claims for illegal aliens in ICE custody.
Considering the record numbers of illegal aliens streaming across our border, thanks to the Biden administration's reckless policies, we were concerned that the VA personnel were being taken away from their mission to serve our veterans.
I am pleased that the underlying bill prohibits the VA from providing benefits directly to illegal aliens; however, my amendment is still necessary to ensure that the VA resources are focused solely on veterans since the current interagency arrangement allows the VA to provide this service to ICE.
The VA exists to serve American veterans who risked their lives to protect our great country. For far too long, the VA has fallen short in its mission: ``To fulfill President Lincoln's promise `To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan' by serving and honoring the men and women who are America's veterans.''
Unfortunately, veterans continue to experience unacceptable wait times in receiving medical care and disability benefits. In particular, the VA's disability claim backlog has been a source of significant frustration in the veteran community.
After several years under the Trump administration in which the VA disability claims backlog was consistently under 100,000 claims, the backlog has nearly tripled under the Biden administration to 278,000 as of last week. This is an abject failure, and our veterans deserve better from the VA.
Despite the longstanding issues with its claims backlog and customer service issues, VA personnel are being tasked with serving claims for government-funded healthcare for illegal immigrants, not veterans.
VA resources should be used solely for veterans and their survivors. Congress appropriates funds to the VA to provide services to our veterans, not illegal immigrants. Our veterans serve our country, and it is high time that our government starts serving them.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Chair, I claim the time in opposition to the amendment.
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Mr. STEUBE. Mr. Chair, the gentlewoman just admitted that the VA is administratively using resources to help illegal immigrants. I think the VA's mission, being a veteran myself, should be to support veterans, not illegal immigrants.
In my first Congress, I served on the VA Committee, and you heard time and time again, despite adding more and more money to the VA, they can't deal with the backlogs. If they need more funds to do that, then why are we using resources that are at the VA to assist illegal immigrants and the processing at ICE?
I think that is completely unconscionable, not only as a veteran and somebody that served this country, but I think if the people in my district certainly knew that money and resources that was appropriated to the VA are being used to help illegal immigrants through ICE, would be completely objectionable to everybody in my district.
Mr. Chair, I ask all of the Members of this body to support this great amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Chair, perhaps the gentleman has selective hearing because there are no funds being spent by the VA to process these claims because ICE pays the VA from their budget to process the claims.
There are no resources that are expended by the VA because the funding comes from ICE's budget. This amendment is inapplicable to our bill and is just a culture war opportunity to bash immigrants. It is irresponsible. It is also fiscally irresponsible because the claims from ICE have to get processed, and they would have to stand up an entirely separate claims processing system in order to get those claims processed.
This saves money and does not take any funding away from processing claims for our veterans.
Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
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