But when some Senators pushed back, saying that without getting up-to-date data, they couldn’t make informed decisions about funding, McDonough agreed that the reporting lag was “maddening” and he pledged that as VA Secretary he would “marshal data, get it consumable, and have it inform policy now.”
As part of the Biden administration’s emphasis on inter-departmental collaborations, McDonough has already teamed up with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to meet with survivors of MST and listen to their stories in order to work on strategies for prevention, abuser accountability, and effective treatment and healing services for the survivors. He also has been in discussions with Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge to make sure there is active coordination between their two departments as they work to find solutions for housing chronically homeless vets. And McDonough has been touring VA facilities across the nation to learn from staff and the veteran clientele about what’s working well – and what isn’t.
But the fact is, some veterans are so disenchanted with the VA they have simply ceased to engage with it. And for a percentage of those – no one knows quite how large a percentage – that disaffection with the Department of Veterans Affairs extends to disgruntlement with the federal government overall. In the violent siege of the Capitol earlier this year, the participation of veterans was clearly evident. As a bureaucrat, not a veteran, McDonough needs to understand that the VA is faced with something far beyond a public relations problem. It is existential.
So there’s a long road ahead.
On the bright side, the SAVE LIVES Act that President Biden signed into law on March 24 included entrusting the VA with expanded capacity to deliver the COVID-19 vaccine to all veterans – whether or not they’re officially enrolled in the VA’s health care system – as well as their spouses and caregivers. Before March 24, the VA had fully vaccinated almost 1.6 million individuals. One short month later, the VA has ramped up to administer over 5 million shots of the vaccine.
Other federal funding has been approved to upgrade VA resources and facilities and, more immediately, to help veterans with unemployment assistance and health care copayments.
Biden has been pumping out relief via executive order, too. He renewed a Trump-era order that delays collecting debts from veterans. (His predecessor had allowed that to lapse before he left office.) Biden also repealed Trump’s ban on transgender Americans joining the military. And he raised the minimum wage to $15 for federal contractors, which is expected to have a positive impact on boosting the morale and job stability of the nursing assistants and food service workers who work in VA facilities, which should translate to better service given to the veterans.
The East Wing of the White House also is getting in on the action. First Lady Jill Biden has resurrected the Joining Forces initiative that she’d worked on with Michele Obama ten years ago. She’s been traveling to military bases around the country to listen to the concerns of military families. Dr. Biden said she wants to focus on the well-being of military and veteran families by encouraging the employment of military spouses, providing military families with better access to quality child care, and supporting the children of military families by figuring out ways to enhance their classroom experience.
“Military families are as critical to our national defense as a rudder is to a ship,” she said.
To take that metaphor one step further, it looks like the Biden Administration intends to have an all-hands-on-deck approach when it comes to Building Back Better for people who are serving or have served our country. To do any less would be a breach of promise.
Military spouses share stories with First Lady Jill Biden