Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2025

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHWEIKERT. Mr. Chair, I thank the Chairmen, and one of my favorite ranking members.

Mr. Chairman, part of what we are trying to accomplish here--we are going to have two amendments basically in different categories doing this--is if we look over some of the GAO reports from the last couple of years, some of the issues we have had in claims payment processing, if we actually look at the last GAO line items, long-term services support, GAO thought there was about $38 billion in questionable issues. If we come down on even some of the pension processing, there is about $10 billion in questions.

We are in the age of sort of a miracle of technology.

We also know, when we read over some of the reports coming out of the VA, there are issues on trying to hire staff, trying to hire staff that is qualified, to handle the amount of claims and data and those things that come in. All we are trying to do here is sort of push in the direction of using the technology that is now amongst us.

Many of us will refer to AI, but, in some ways, it is bigger than that. It is an algorithm. It is AI, but it is the ability to use data to mine through to see that this is where things aren't working the way they should, here is where we are missing, and here is where there is fraud.

The first amendment is on expediting claims. If you have claims and they are fitting certain formats, the fact of the matter is you should be able to go through them at an incredibly rapid rate with an incredibly high level of accuracy if you adopt the technology.

Our argument is that getting the technology right is moral. It is also fiscally really sensible.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the amendment, even though I am not opposed to it.

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Mr. SCHWEIKERT. Mr. Chairman, I yield to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Wasserman Schultz) for the purpose of a colloquy.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Chair, I would be happy to engage in a colloquy.

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Mr. SCHWEIKERT. You have a much higher degree of expertise. Both of you do in regard to VA issues. I do taxes and Medicare financing.

One of the reasons we were hopeful about this is because it is sort of a closed ecosystem. It gives us the chance, as we have learned with a number of pilot programs, to use this because we know the rules here, and we are saying: Here is a chance to do a test, a pilot program, and if it works with the VA, then, hopefully, our future is being able to move it into other parts of the government.

Am I being unrealistic?

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Using artificial intelligence and anything we can do to efficiently and effectively make sure that we can assist the VA in processing claims is a good thing. We are likely at the nascent stage of being able to use that kind of technology.

As this is an increase-decrease amendment, essentially it gives you an opportunity to come here and talk about the importance of highlighting the need to expedite claims, which are improving. Thankfully, we are in a much better place in terms of the backlog. I know Secretary McDonough is very focused on making sure that we can continue to do that. Having your advocacy on the floor today is helpful in spotlighting the issue and making sure that we can advance at a more rapid rate.

Mr. Chair, I yield back to the gentleman.

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Mr. SCHWEIKERT. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the gentlewoman being willing to tolerate me and engage in that.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. SCHWEIKERT. Mr. Chair, this is sort of a derivative of the previous amendment. The previous amendment was to speed up and expedite claims. This one is actually now to crawl through, and if my colleagues geek out like I do on how the artificial intelligence crawls through data stacks and can identify outliers or patterns, this one actually utilizes that same sort of data to streamline oversight, to reduce fraud, to basically identify where you have areas that are saying: This doesn't look right. Why is there a difference between different parts of the VA or different parts of the country?

The amendment is specifically focused on financial management. Where one is moving claims and helping veterans be able to see what their benefits are and moving it faster, this one actually looks at the books because we have to have a moment of honesty.

If Members basically take the number of veterans that use the VA and divide it by the spending, you are somewhere around $38,000 per veteran that use the facilities. That is an outlier in any category of healthcare.

Could this help us understand what we are doing well, but also where there are outliers? In some ways, this was a way to help me deal with my discomfort with the costs per delivery. I couldn't identify what was wrong. This should help GAO and other experts simply identify that the VA is doing this great, but we have an issue here.

I am hoping this technology brings that to the surface.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Chairman, I claim time in opposition to the amendment, even though I am not opposed to it.

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Mr. SCHWEIKERT. Mr. Chairman, to the Members here: I appreciate the kind words.

Mr. Chairman, we are on the edge of a revolution of being able to understand these massive data sets. If we do this well, maybe the constant conversation we have here between the left and the right of government, the spending and lack of money issues--are we about to step up and start to embrace the technology that may make what we do, what we are responsible for, better, faster, cheaper, and maybe in some ways because of that efficiency, more moral?

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

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