Delegation Urges VA Secretary to Withdraw Plans to Close Hot Springs VA from Obama Admin. Budget Proposal

Press Release

U.S. Sens. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and John Thune (R-S.D.) and Rep. Kristi Noem (R-S.D.) today urged Department of Veterans Administration (VA) Secretary Robert McDonald to withdraw all plans to reconfigure the Black Hills Health Care System (BHHCS) from the Obama Administration's budget proposal. Last week, the administration's budget request proposed measures to close Hot Springs VA facilities, despite previous assurances that the VA would not act without finishing a fair and thorough Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

The delegation writes: "…the VA's FY 2016 Congressional Budget Submission targeting the Hot Springs VA Medical Center is a direct reversal of the VA's repeated assurances that it would not proceed with a predetermined outcome. The request also serves to deepen the distrust of impacted veterans who well remember the VA's budget request to vacate the campus without conducting an EIS. We request that the VA expressly remove all Enhanced Use Lease provisions pertaining to the Hot Springs VA from its FY 2016 budget request and judiciously proceed with the EIS."

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