Congressional Testimony
Congressional Testimony
Here's a look at documents involving congressional testimony and member statements
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Ex-Ducks Unlimited Chief Conservation Officer Schmidt Testifies Before House Natural Resources Subcommittee
WASHINGTON, March 17 -- The House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries released the following testimony by Paul R. Schmidt, former chief conservation officer for Ducks Unlimited, Palmyra, Virginia, and former assistant director for migratory birds at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, from a March 4, 2026, hearing entitled "Oversight of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act":* * *
Chair Hageman, Ranking Member Hoyle and members of the Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries, it is my honor to testify at this oversight hearing on the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
My name ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, March 17 -- The House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries released the following testimony by Paul R. Schmidt, former chief conservation officer for Ducks Unlimited, Palmyra, Virginia, and former assistant director for migratory birds at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, from a March 4, 2026, hearing entitled "Oversight of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act": * * * Chair Hageman, Ranking Member Hoyle and members of the Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries, it is my honor to testify at this oversight hearing on the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. My nameis Paul Schmidt, and I have almost 50 years of experience in wildlife conservation with a focus on migratory birds for most of those years. I served in many management positions in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from 1978 to 2011, ultimately serving as the senior executive responsible for the Migratory Bird Program from 2003-2011. I served as the Chief Conservation Officer for Ducks Unlimited from 2011-2017. Upon retiring from Ducks Unlimited, and returning to Virginia, I began working as a consultant for numerous projects including assisting in the siting of wind turbines to avoid waterfowl populations, assisting in the protection of critical bald eagle nesting sites, and launching an innovative bird conservation initiative called Road to Recovery by serving as its first executive director for 4 years. I have testified before this Committee several times previously in those various roles, but today I come before you in my semi-retirement representing only myself.
The Migratory Bird Treaty Act has served the citizens of United States and the over 1000 avian populations of the country for 108 years. This foundational environmental law has provided guideposts for the lawful taking of birds and was one of the first of many federal laws and policies that would help provide and maintain healthy wildlife populations in the United States.
The four bilateral treaties that underpin this law have built global partnerships to protect our shared environment. The MBTA is the bedrock upon which we conduct bird conservation and build partnerships ensuring sustainable populations. Importantly, the law provides the legal framework to prevent human activities from being harmful to bird populations. It demonstrates government's (Congress and the Executive Branch) commitment to protect and conserve birds.
Recent scientific papers published in Science in 2019 (Rosenberg, et.al. Decline of North American Avifauna) and more recently in 2026 (Leroy, et.al. documenting the recent acceleration of declines in "hotspots" in southern and warm parts of North America) demonstrate the need for strong legislation and partnerships to understand declines and deliver conservation to reverse those declines. Rosenberg, et.al. was the first-ever comprehensive assessment of net population changes in the U.S. and Canada. It revealed across-the-board declines scientists called staggering. All told, the North American bird population is down by nearly 3 billion birds since 1970 with devastating losses among birds in every biome. The most recent study by Leroy, et.al. documents that these losses are accelerating in some biomes. These studies are a clarion call to action.
It has been documented many times that a healthy avifauna is important for a healthy environment broadly and indeed for a vibrant and healthy society. As birds go so goes our environment and our own health as humanity. America has been blessed with a culture that values a healthy environment, and we have used science to guide our work in conservation for decades. It is prudent to continue to research these issues and use science to guide our decisions and collective conservation to protect our environment for us and the generations that will follow.
Birds are a significant economic driver in the United States, contributing an estimated $279 billion in annual economic output supporting 1.4 million jobs and generating billions in tax revenue through birding-related activities and equipment. Nearly 100 million Americans engage in birding, which provides, alongside natural pest control for agriculture, a major boost to local economies.
Birds bring people together! North America is blessed to have a long tradition of partnerships, not only between governments, but also throughout society to include non-governmental entities such as non-profit conservation organizations, universities, and individuals. Working together in partnerships is critical to our success in conservation and recovery of populations. Our government leaders recognized the need for partnership by negotiating and signing bilateral treaties with countries with which we share bird populations including Canada, Mexico, Japan and Russia. These treaties have served us well as important platform to coordinate conservation actions across borders for the benefit of over a thousand species of migratory birds that call the United States home for part of their lifecycle. There are plenty of successful examples of government-non-government partnerships that work to benefit birds such as our migratory bird joint ventures, North American Waterfowl Management Plan, Partnerscapes, Partners in Flight, grassland birds initiatives, Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network, Flyway Initiatives, Road to Recovery, species working groups, wind and wildlife partnerships, North American Bird Conservation Initiative and more. These partnerships provide a platform upon which deliver conservation that will recover populations provided there is appropriate investment from the partners.
Among these partnerships, one of the most recent movements is the Road to Recovery, which strives to have regional partnerships called "working groups" come together with a specific and stated goal of recovering a species or several species called "Tipping Point" species, that without targeted and effective conservation will become listed as threatened or endangered under the ESA. The Road to Recovery Initiative has identified 112 species in this category for which conservation is urgently needed.
Current funding levels are not sufficient to recover bird populations on the brink of being listed as threatened or endangered, but there are existing funding streams that contribute to the recovery of birds such as North American Wetlands Conservation Fund, the Neotropical
Migratory Bird Conservation Fund, and funding for Joint Ventures. Additionally, and most importantly, funding for the basic bird conservation mission of the Fish and Wildlife Service has suffered significant decreases over the past decade such that Migratory Bird Management functions within the Fish and Wildlife Service have been severely hampered. Unfortunately, none of these funding levels are sufficient to meet the needs and challenges facing bird populations in 2026.
Underpinning all this conservation work must be solid science and monitoring programs that provide managers and private landowners with key information. Such monitoring programs as the U.S. Geological Survey Breeding Bird Survey, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Breeding Waterfowl Survey, Waterfowl Surveys more broadly, bird banding programs, and others, must be fully funded to provide us with current data on populations and trends that ensure we are do the right things for the right populations in the right places. This includes information on declining populations as well as those that are far exceeding population goals and causing problems for private and public property and causing nuisances to public activities. All the partners (government and non-government) rely heavily upon these datasets to execute sound and effective conservation. At present none of these critical monitoring programs are receiving the funding necessary to continue these longstanding and critical databases.
With effective laws and sufficient funding, we have demonstrated the ability to recover species.
The MBTA is credited with saving Snowy Egrets and many other species from extinction, including the Wood Duck, Sandhill Crane, American Golden-Plover and many more. Today, the MBTA protects most of the country's native bird species, including songbirds, shorebirds, raptors, wading birds, and more from unauthorized taking or killing. The law and its regulations, particularly the broad, unequivocal prohibition of take under Section 703 of the Act, provided a backstop for efforts to stabilize and conserve bird populations and continue today to be the foundation for a wide array of bird conservation initiatives. The Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and Endangered Species Act are credited with recovery of our national symbol, the Bald Eagle, along with lesser known species such as the Kirtland's Warbler and Redcockaded Woodpecker.
Bird conservation is good for our environment, good for our health, and good for our economy.
And best of all, it is nonpartisan or bipartisan! Birdwatchers and sportsmen alike contribute to our conservation successes and support bird conservation. And they expect our government to lead the conservation efforts. For us to continue to successfully meet the challenges of recovering and maintaining healthy bird populations we must have strong, effective, and wellfunded laws like the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, North American Wetlands Conservation Act, and Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act; and robust funding for the science and conservation delivery necessary to prevent ESA listing as well as overpopulations of birds.
Thank you again for the opportunity to testify to this important law and associated government programs. I am at your service and ready to help find solutions to problems vital to Americans and critical to healthy bird populations. I look forward to responding to any questions you have and opening a dialogue that would look to develop a long-term strategy where birds and people thrive.
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Original text here: https://docs.house.gov/meetings/II/II13/20260304/119004/HHRG-119-II13-Wstate-SchmidtP-20260304.pdf
Ex-Army Lt. Col. Johnson Testifies Before House Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee
WASHINGTON, March 17 -- The House Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Health released the following testimony by Army Lt. Col. Alan Johnson (ret.), former aeromedical physician assistant, from a March 5, 2026, hearing entitled "Hidden Wounds: Effectively Supporting Veterans with TBI." TBI stands for traumatic brain injury.* * *
Chairwoman Miller-Meeks, Ranking Member Brownley, and distinguished Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today.
My name is Alan Johnson and I am a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel and Aeromedical Physician Assistant who proudly served my ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, March 17 -- The House Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Health released the following testimony by Army Lt. Col. Alan Johnson (ret.), former aeromedical physician assistant, from a March 5, 2026, hearing entitled "Hidden Wounds: Effectively Supporting Veterans with TBI." TBI stands for traumatic brain injury. * * * Chairwoman Miller-Meeks, Ranking Member Brownley, and distinguished Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today. My name is Alan Johnson and I am a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel and Aeromedical Physician Assistant who proudly served mycountry for more than 27 years. I am testifying today not on behalf of the Department of War but in my personal capacity. To that end, I offer my experience as a military medical provider, a researcher, a survivor of a ballistic missile attack by Iran, and then as a patient.
On January 8, 2020, while deployed to Al-Asad Airbase with the 34th Expeditionary Combat Aviation Brigade, I was attached to Delta Company, 2nd Battalion, 82nd Aviation Regiment, 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division. On that day, the terrorist nation Iran carried out the largest ballistic missile attack on US forces in history. They fired 15 ballistic missiles at our base. These missiles were acquired through nefarious financing networks and carried warheads weighing roughly 1,500 pounds.
During the attack, I was sheltered in an indirect fire shelter. These shelters are designed to protect against rockets, small arms, grenades, or mortar fire; not the ballistic missiles that reigned down on us. I have no memory of the first three missile impacts because the third missile impact knocked me unconscious. I woke up just in time to experience missiles four, five, and six. All of these missiles were in close proximity to my position, with number six impacting 60 feet away from me. The subsequent massive percussive wave knocked me unconscious for a second time.
These missiles struck occupied critical operational areas without interception, resulting in catastrophic damage to mission-essential infrastructure, living quarters, and support systems.
Environmental testing after the attack, detected radioactive isotopes, heavy metals, and toxic chemicals at the site. The propellant in these missiles also contained another toxin, ammonium perchlorate, a powerful oxidizer and irritant linked to adverse health effects.
Because of the attack, I have been diagnosed with TBI, PTSD, cranial nerve damage that causes double vision, broken teeth, chronic insomnia, ringing in my ears, neck pain, balance problems, and difficulty in word finding. I feel more emotionally distant from my wife, children, and friends. I worry about whether I will ever again be the husband, father, and friend that I was before that attack, as I have experienced hypervigilance, paranoia, and depression. I am also currently in a thyroid surveillance program due to a number of new thyroid nodules that have developed since the attack and exposure to the toxic environment.
After the attack, I immediately began treating the service members around me. Many Soldiers I treated, now live with injuries similar or more severe than mine. Specialist Jason Quitugua was diagnosed with a TBI that caused him headaches, insomnia, PTSD, and severe depression. He succumbed to his injuries and died of suicide on October 7, 2021. The injuries he suffered when Iran intentionally targeted our base ultimately cost him his life.
As this Committee may be aware, Congress has provided victims of Iranian terrorism, including service members, with certain remedies in Federal Court. Unfortunately, unlike other victims who succumbed to their wounds in Iranian attacks, Jason's family has been denied justice because his injury was a TBI, rather a more visible injury that is easier for a federal judge to understand. Jason's family has done its best to educate the court, but a statement from any member of this committee on the devastation that TBI-caused suicide has wrought on service members would go a long way towards achieving justice for Jason and similarly situated victims of TBI.
Another case I will never forget is Chief Warrant Officer Two Thomas Caudill. I recall digging through the rubble of my clinic to search for medication to help his symptoms. After screening him with the MACE 2, I diagnosed a traumatic brain injury and arranged for his medical evacuation to a higher level of care in the theater. He was returned to theatre after begging doctors to finish his deployment. The imaging before his return to the battlefield was clear, yet his injuries were underestimated because traumatic brain injuries often do not appear on typical imaging, even when the damage is real.
Let me be clear: many Soldiers in our unit passed the MACE 2 screening tool due to conscientiously under-reporting their symptoms, as they wished to remain in their mission essential roles. They were subsequently not correctly evaluated immediately after the attack.
Many personnel resumed their work duties and immediately began aiding in cleanup, including digging through rubble that we later learned was contaminated. Many of these Soldiers have experienced ongoing mental health and medical issues, including similar thyroid issues I have discovered.
I co-authored two peer-reviewed studies regarding Traumatic Brain Injuries due to blast injury at Al-Asad. In the first study we identified over 20% additional patients that were diagnosed with mild traumatic brain injury four weeks after the attack. In that study, 34 of 35 patients met criteria for mild traumatic brain injury that were within 100 meters of an impact. [1] In our second study of 583 exposed personnel, more than 80 percent experienced blast exposure, and nearly half remained symptomatic four to six weeks later, with sleep problems, anxiety, and headaches. [2] However, many of the Soldiers I evaluated after the missile attack passed the MACE 2 exam because it cannot detect delayed symptoms, subtle cognitive changes, or injuries from repeated blast exposure.
Specialist Patrick Ben, who assisted in the clean up, later experienced episodes of thyrotoxicosis periodic paralysis in which he would lose sensation of his extremities before being rushed to the emergency room with temporary paralysis. He was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism, Graves Disease, and Thyrotoxicosis Paralysis, and underwent a thyroidectomy.
I have become aware of at least half a dozen other service members from the attack with thyroid problems. However, I lost contact after being medically retired, and cannot verify each case. That is the problem - without long-term monitoring or a structured surveillance program, injured Soldiers can disappear from care.
Since the attack, improvements have been made, but prevention must be the first line of defense. These injuries were the catalyst for necessary bunker improvements and Air Defense Artillery support. However, modern warfare involves repeated blast exposures and complex environmental hazards. Our prevention, monitoring, and treatment of Veterans must keep pace with these realities. The identification and treatment of TBIs still require significant improvement, including better immediate screening, mandatory follow-up evaluations, and long-term monitoring of exposed service members.
My recommendations are as follows:
1. Improved field TBI screening tools as current tools like MACE-2 can be difficult to administer and miss mild or delayed brain injuries in austere combat environments.
2. Brain MRI and MRV imaging after blast exposure as hidden injuries such as bleeding, torn brain tissue, tumors, or blood clots often do not show up on routine exams.
3. Baseline and follow-up neuropsychological testing as cognitive problems from blast exposure may appear months later and cannot be detected by imaging alone.
4. The increased use of other cancer screening methods as toxic exposure increases cancer risk and such cancers may not present for years following exposure.
a. Scheduling a baseline screening colonoscopy before the recommended typical age.
b. A baseline and periodic CT urogram (to evaluate cancers such as urinary and reproductive systems).
c. A baseline and periodic CT of the chest/abdomen/pelvis (to evaluate cancers such as lung and pancreatic cancer).
d. Thyroid ultrasound screening and annual follow up (as thyroid nodules and tumors develop after toxic exposure, and early detection improves outcomes).
5. Annual increased baseline laboratory testing (CBC, CMP, PSA, thyroid panels, Lipase) as baseline labs allow doctors to detect subtle changes over time and identify disease earlier.
6. Investment in research into therapies that aim to restore brain function, not just manage symptoms as many veterans are seeking alternative or experimental treatments because traditional care has not resolved their injuries.
In closing, modern war is evolving with successive blasts and chemical exposures. The prevention, monitoring and treatment of Veterans must fall in line with the dynamically changing battlefield. The VA recognizes that service in Iraq exposed troops to toxic environmental hazards. Systematic tracking and long-term study of medical conditions related to those exposures may not be keeping pace with the urgency of suicide prevention efforts.
VA research on traumatic brain injury is valuable and advancing care. However, it begins after a diagnosis is made. The problem is that not every injured service member is diagnosed, whether due to underreporting, delayed symptoms, or limitations in early screening. At Al-Asad, we saw missed early detection, limited imaging after blast exposure, and no structured long-term monitoring of environmental exposures. If the diagnosis is missed, the research and care never begin.
The Department of Veteran's Affairs recently found those who have experienced head trauma, have an increased suicidal ideation, suicide attempt, and death by suicide rate in comparison to other Veterans. From 2001 through 2023, suicide rates were consistently higher among veterans diagnosed with TBI. In 2023, the suicide rate for veterans with a recent TBI diagnosis was more than 94 percent higher than for veterans without a TBI diagnosis. [3] While the VA also recognizes that service in Iraq exposed troops to toxic environmental hazards, we do not study it in the same way we do suicides or the prevention of them, for example. While the VA has important research programs that are working toward restoring function after TBI, these efforts mostly help veterans cope with symptoms. They do not detect it early, or track long-term exposure. By the time a veteran enters these programs, the damage is often already done. We badly need to expand the systematic monitoring and reporting of research into therapies intended to restore brain function. This, we hope, will prevent Soldiers like SPC Jason Quitugua from becoming statistics.
Early identification is not only a medical issue. It is a compensation and treatment issue.
Service members injured in terrorist attacks like the Al-Asad missile strike often depend on documented blast exposure and medical diagnosis to access VA care and compensation. Due to recent legal rulings, many injured veterans are now unable to recover compensation from other sources they once could, even when their injuries are well documented. If we fail to diagnose and track blast injuries early, these veterans lose both care and the financial support Congress intended for them.
The legal avenue that Congress created for these victims has effectively been closed off by the courts. In Hansen v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 185 service members and their families, many of them from Al-Asad, sued Iran for the January 8, 2020 missile attack. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed the case. The court ruled that because the attack did not result in fatalities among the plaintiffs, it did not constitute an "extrajudicial killing" under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) terrorism exception. In other words, the very fact that these service members survived an attack Iran intended to be lethal was used against them.
They were denied the right to even seek justice because they lived.
This judicial interpretation contradicts what Congress intended when it enacted the FSIA terrorism exception. The exception was designed to give victims of state-sponsored terrorism a path to accountability, not to limit that path only to those killed. The D.C. Circuit's narrow reading, now being considered for certiorari by the Supreme Court in Borochov v. Islamic Republic of Iran, restricts claims to only those involving fatalities, leaving the vast majority of injured victims with no legal recourse whatsoever. This Committee should know: if Congress does not act, there is no guarantee the Supreme Court will correct course. The legislative fix is ours to make.
Moreover, the Al-Asad attack did result in a fatality. Jason Quitugua succumbed to his TBI when he committed suicide. The court's refusal to treat TBI in the same manner as a fatal injury to any other vital organ represents a gap in education and perception that this Committee is well suited to address. This institution's familiarity with the scourge of TBI and its deep credibility as a champion for veterans would go a long way towards convincing federal courts to take TBI as seriously as any other potentially fatal injury.
This gap in justice, when combined with the uneven coverage we have discussed today within the VA monitoring and care system, creates a dangerous and unjust situation. A service member wounded in a terrorist attack may not receive timely diagnosis through proper screening, may not be enrolled in a structured long-term monitoring program, and now may be told by a court that they have no legal remedy against the state sponsor that targeted them. Each of these failures compounds the others. Without early identification and documentation of injuries, a veteran loses both access to VA care and any evidentiary foundation for a legal claim. Without a legal claim, Iran, which has wounded thousands of American troops over the past two decades, faces no accountability and no consequence. These service members are falling through every crack at once.
Hundreds of service members were exposed in the Al-Asad attack. Many are still suffering today. Congress can help by requiring better screening, follow-up care, and long-term tracking of blast-exposed troops so that no injured service member disappears from care, simply because their injuries were missed in the chaos or fog of war.
Finally, considering what our service members abroad are facing with new Iranian missile attacks this week, your work with this committee on these issues have become even more critical. Thank you for your time and your commitment to our service members, active and retired.
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Footnotes:
1. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 2025 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report, Part 1: Overview (2025).
2. Annika Lenz et al., Shockwaves of War: Neurobehavioral Symptom Analysis Post-Al Asad Missile Strike, Military Medicine (2025).
3. Hainsworth JB et al., The 8 January 2020 theatre ballistic missile attack..., BMJ Neurology Open (2023).
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Original text here: https://docs.house.gov/meetings/VR/VR03/20260305/119020/HHRG-119-VR03-Wstate-JohnsonA-20260305.pdf
DOD Drone Dominance Program Manager Metz, Senior Advisor West Testify Before Senate Armed Services Committee
WASHINGTON, March 17 -- The Senate Armed Services Committee released the following joint testimony by Travis Metz, drone dominance program manager, and Owen O. West, senior advisor for drone dominance, both of the U.S. Department of Defense, from a March 5, 2026, hearing entitled "The American Small Drone Industrial Base":* * *
Chairman Wicker, Ranking Member Reed, and Members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to speak to the Committee about the Department of War's (DoW) efforts to unleash American drone dominance. Your leadership to enact long-needed acquisition reforms in the ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, March 17 -- The Senate Armed Services Committee released the following joint testimony by Travis Metz, drone dominance program manager, and Owen O. West, senior advisor for drone dominance, both of the U.S. Department of Defense, from a March 5, 2026, hearing entitled "The American Small Drone Industrial Base": * * * Chairman Wicker, Ranking Member Reed, and Members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to speak to the Committee about the Department of War's (DoW) efforts to unleash American drone dominance. Your leadership to enact long-needed acquisition reforms in theFiscal Year (FY) 2026 National Defense Authorization Act and reconciliation funding in the One Big Beautiful Bill is enabling the Department to move faster. We look forward to partnering with you to implement congressional guidance to deliver the best technology to our warfighters at speed and scale.
Background
Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), otherwise known as drones, are reshaping the character of war, and transforming the way our forces must fight. Small one-way attack drones now account for most casualties in Ukraine. The legacy systems that our forces have relied on for decades are now vulnerable to low-cost, attritable systems. Our adversaries are scaling their UAS technology, tactics, and industries at an alarming rate. Secretary Hegseth has ordered the War Department to act decisively to develop new defensive and offensive capabilities to match these threats. Led by the Joint Interagency Taskforce (JIATF) 401, the Department is developing advanced counter-UAS capabilities and measures to protect Americans both at home and abroad from adversarial threats posed by drones.
The Drone Dominance buying program (DDP) was made possible by congressional acquisition reforms and budget funding combined with intent from the President and Secretary of War. On June 6, 2025, President Trump released Executive Order 14307 "Unleashing American Drone Dominance," which provides a whole of government strategy to strengthen U.S. global leadership in UAS technology and adoption./1
On July 10, 2025, Secretary Hegseth released the "Unleashing U.S. Military Drone Dominance" memorandum implementing the President's direction. This memorandum is focused on: 1) bolstering a nascent U.S. drone manufacturing base; 2) empowering a technological leapfrog through fielding a variety of low-cost drones to our warfighters; and 3) integrating drone capabilities into all relevant combat training./2
Drone Dominance Program
The War Department will unleash American drone dominance by bolstering the U.S. drone manufacturing base, harnessing the ingenuity of warfighters, arming combat units with low-cost attack drones, and training senior officers to overcome bureaucratic risk-aversion culture in drone procurement and training.
DDP operationalizes acquisition reform priorities set by both congress and the Secretary of War. It combines a clear demand signal to industry--$1.1 billion over the next 18 months-- with four open competitions judged by military experts. Winning vendors (mostly new entrants to the defense base) connect to frontline testing units and iterate in weekly or monthly cycles, not years using rapid acquisition pathways. Across the program's four phases, unit prices decrease, production volumes increase, and operational capability rises. Our intent is to purchase over 200,000 drones by January 2028 that can dominate in the toughest battlefield environments.
On February 3, 2026, the War Department announced the 25 vendors invited to compete in Phase I of the DDP. The Phase I evaluation--the Gauntlet--will begin 18 February at Fort Benning, where military operators will fly and evaluate vendor systems. The Gauntlet will conclude in early March, when approximately $150 million in prototype delivery orders will be placed among a dozen expected winners, with deliveries beginning shortly thereafter.
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1 The Executive Office of the White House, "Unleashing American Drone Dominance." June 6, 2025. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/06/unleashing-american-drone-dominance/.
2 Department of War, "Unleashing U.S. Military Drone Dominance." July 10, 2025. https://media.defense.gov/2025/Jul/10/2003752117/-1/-1/1/UNLEASHING-U.S.-MILITARY-DRONEDOMINANCE.PDF.
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That first order of 30,000 one-way attack drones will aggregate demand, providing expansive opportunities for American companies building drones and drone components. The increase in demand for American-sourced components may also put a strain on these manufacturers and their sub-tier suppliers. Once illuminated, supply chain constraints will be addressed at the Department of War by Industrial Base Policy and the Office of Strategic Capital.
The DDP will progress through three more phases, each one independent of the other, providing opportunities for new, more capable entrants along the way. Each subsequent phase will increase operating environment complexity. The application of counter-UAS will increase, requiring further technological development by vendors to manage denied communications, denied navigation, etc. The government expects successful completion of the mission tests will require vendors to incorporate various features that reduce the cognitive load of the soldiers operating the sUAS.
Each subsequent phase will increase the number of units purchased and decrease the maximum vendors receiving orders (from 12 vendors in Phase I to ~3-5 vendors in Phase IV).
We anticipate the average price per unit will decrease as unit purchases spike.
Throughout all phases, and in accordance with the President's Executive Order, American manufacturing is preferred, strengthening the U.S. defense industrial and manufacturing base. Already, in Phase I, new entrants are being inspected to ensure NDAA compliance. Starting in Phase II, the government expects to preclude buying any systems that utilize motors or battery systems from covered countries. This focus throughout the evaluation process will be to inspect new entrants, from Bills of Materials to capitalization stacks and physical components, to ensure NDAA compliance and a healthier domestic market.
Conclusion
This is an urgent matter. Our combat units must be swiftly armed with and have reliable access to lethal drones that can perform in any combat environment. Secretary Hegseth has directed the Department to both assist the U.S. supply chain and drive large volumes of consumable sUAS into military units, courtesy of funding and acquisition direction supplied by congress. We look forward to working with you to enable rapid fielding and adoption of UAS technology at a pace that will ultimately outperform our adversaries by harnessing our world leading entrepreneurs and capital markets.
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Original text here: https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/west_opening_statement.pdf
Covenant House New Jersey CEO Einbond Testifies Before Senate Judiciary Subcommittee
WASHINGTON, March 17 -- The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism released the following written testimony by Julia Einbond, CEO of Covenant House New Jersey, Newark, from a March 3, 2026, hearing entitled "Lost and Exploited: Confronting Child Trafficking and the Failure to Protect America's Most Vulnerable":* * *
Chairman Hawley, Ranking Member Durbin, and distinguished Members of the Subcommittee: Thank you for the opportunity to testify.
Chairman Hawley, we are grateful for your leadership and for your representation of Missouri, where Covenant House serves vulnerable ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, March 17 -- The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism released the following written testimony by Julia Einbond, CEO of Covenant House New Jersey, Newark, from a March 3, 2026, hearing entitled "Lost and Exploited: Confronting Child Trafficking and the Failure to Protect America's Most Vulnerable": * * * Chairman Hawley, Ranking Member Durbin, and distinguished Members of the Subcommittee: Thank you for the opportunity to testify. Chairman Hawley, we are grateful for your leadership and for your representation of Missouri, where Covenant House serves vulnerableyouth in the St. Louis area. Ranking Member Durbin, thank you for your longstanding bipartisan commitment to protecting children and families.
Senator Booker, Covenant House New Jersey is fortunate to have you as a strong advocate for the thousands of youth facing homelessness and trafficking we have served during your tenure.
We are also grateful to Senators Cornyn and Cruz of Texas, whose state is home to Covenant House programs.
I am the CEO of Covenant House New Jersey and appear before you additionally on behalf of Covenant House International, the largest charitable organization in the Americas serving youth overcoming homelessness, including survivors of human trafficking. For more than fifty years, Covenant House has provided refuge and opportunity to youth with nowhere else to turn.
Today, our network reaches more than 63,000 youth annually across five countries, offering housing, education, workforce development, mental health services, legal support, and trauma-informed care. Last year alone, we reached more than 2,000 of those youth at Covenant House New Jersey.
In New Jersey, we are designated by the Office of the Attorney General as the statewide coordinator of human trafficking victim services -- serving individuals regardless of housing status or age. In the last five years, we have identified and served over 500 survivors of human trafficking. One in four of those individuals experienced child trafficking.
In addition to my service provider role, I am a licensed attorney, a four-times published author of peer-reviewed journal articles on human trafficking, and a consultant for the National Human Trafficking Training and Technical Assistance Center and the Runaway and Homeless Youth Training and Technical Assistance Center. In partnership with researchers from Mount Sinai Hospital, I co-developed the first scientifically validated screening tool for sex and labor trafficking. I was invited to present at the American Public Health Association conference ten years ago when human trafficking was first formally named a public health issue, and our work has been cited around the globe.
I see firsthand how we have failed to protect America's most vulnerable children.
Imagine the threat a child must feel to believe -- even for that one fateful moment -- that a trafficker is their best or only option. Now imagine how different that child's life could be if every child in America had a stable home, food, and a safe support system -- not as a recourse after the unimaginable has occurred, but as a baseline of what it means to grow up in this country. Human trafficking is not an aberration that arrives without warning. It is the predictable consequence of unmet need, and we have the tools to interrupt it.
I would like to tell you about Brandon. To protect his privacy, I have changed some details of his story.
Brandon's story began before he was old enough to understand what was happening to him. At four years old, he was sleeping on park benches with his mother and siblings before being removed from her care and placed in foster care for neglect. His first placement -- a children's shelter -- was marked by emotional, verbal, and physical abuse. By the age of seven, he had begun selling drugs, believing it would give him some measure of control and keep him from feeling like a victim.
As a teenager, Brandon stood on street corners with a backpack over his shoulder and a box of candy in his hands, pretending to sell sweets. The candy was a cover. Inside the backpack was crack cocaine that a dealer had forced him to move. When he once miscounted the money he owed, the punishment left him hospitalized with metal pins in his shoulder. He was told he would die if he tried to quit. Brandon was arrested multiple times during these years. His hospitalization and each arrest were opportunities -- moments when a trained eye might have recognized that this was not a young criminal, but a child being controlled, exploited, and threatened with his life. No one did. It was not until a foster care caseworker transferred him to a new home hours away, finally breaking the dealer's geographic grip, that Brandon was able to escape. His trafficking was not identified until years later, when he arrived at CHNJ's door as a young adult experiencing homelessness - burdened with experiences as a victim of child trafficking.
Brandon's story is not exceptional. It is a blueprint -- a blueprint for how children fall through every gap we have failed to close, and how the consequences of that failure compound across a lifetime.
There are three things this Subcommittee must understand to make progress against child trafficking: vulnerability drives it, early identification stops it, and services at every stage are essential to combating it.
First, vulnerability is the common thread. Human trafficking affects people from all demographic and social groups, and we see this broad range in our work in New Jersey. The connective tissue among victims is not their background -- it is their vulnerability. Brandon's path to trafficking was paved long before a dealer ever approached him: by homelessness, by abuse in the very system meant to protect him, by the absence of any stable adult who could offer him a safer sense of control than the one the streets provided. Children who lack housing, family support, and safe community connections are the traffickers' targets. They are not random victims. They are children our systems have already failed to reach, and traffickers fill that void deliberately and ruthlessly. If we want to stop trafficking before it starts, we must treat vulnerability as the crisis.
Second, identification -- of vulnerabilities and of trafficking itself -- is intervention. We cannot protect children we cannot see. Brandon was arrested multiple times as a child and trafficking was never identified -- not once. Every arrest was a missed opportunity to ask a different set of questions, to look beyond the charge and see the child behind it. This is not because the signs were invisible. It is because the systems that encountered Brandon were not trained to recognize them, were not equipped with validated screening tools, and had no clear protocol for what to do if they had. The research exists, the methods are available; what is missing is the will to deploy them at scale. Screening, training, and universal education tools must be integrated into every system that touches vulnerable youth -- juvenile justice, child welfare, schools, and shelters -- not as an afterthought, but as standard practice. We know that a youth who is homeless and has a history of arrest is six times more likely to have experienced human trafficking than a youth experiencing homelessness who has not. Brandon was both. No one connected those dots until it was far too late.
Third, services save lives -- and the sooner they are provided, the greater their impact.
Children want to know how you can help them. Traffickers succeed precisely because they have a ready answer to that question, however coercive and false. Service providers have a better answer, and the sooner we can give it, the better we can protect children. In New Jersey, we are developing a pilot program with law enforcement to screen for trafficking experiences at the point of arrest and divert identified survivors to services rather than criminalization. Had that program existed when Brandon was first arrested -- had there been trauma-informed services, stable housing, and real alternatives ready to meet him -- his story might have been interrupted years earlier. These kinds of innovative, collaborative approaches can connect vulnerable young people to support sooner and fundamentally change the landscape of trafficking in our communities. But even with the delay of services until years after his entry into child trafficking, Brandon was able to benefit from service intervention. Brandon was working, was stably housed, had saved over $4,000, and was waiting to rent his first apartment of his own the last time I saw him.
Law enforcement approaches alone have not ended human trafficking. But scalable, well-funded services can accelerate the fight and make it far harder for traffickers to continue violating our laws and our children with impunity. To that end, I urge this Subcommittee to fund the Runaway and Homeless Youth and Trafficking Prevention Act. The investment is modest.
The stakes could not be higher.
Policy Recommendations
Reauthorize the Runaway and Homeless Youth and Trafficking Prevention Act (RHYTPA) (S. 2012/H.R. 3856)
As noted earlier, one of the most effective anti-trafficking strategies is preventing youth homelessness. RHYTPA, led by Senators Durbin and Collins, is a bipartisan bill that would reauthorize and modernize the federal Runaway and Homeless Youth Act. Among other provisions, this legislation prioritizes street outreach to survivors of sexual abuse and trafficking, requires staff training on trafficking, and supports prevention services.
RHYTPA is prevention infrastructure. It complements this Committee's enforcement focus by reducing the supply of vulnerable youth targeted by traffickers.
Stabilize Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) Funding (S. 1892/H.R. 909)
VOCA funding is the lifeline that sustains frontline providers serving survivors of human trafficking. Last year, Covenant House New Jersey experienced a 50 percent reduction in funding for our Human Trafficking Victim Services program supported by VOCA. While we have worked tirelessly to preserve every critical service, this level of instability jeopardizes continuity of care and places the recovery of vulnerable survivors at risk. In mid-January, the Crime Victims Stabilization Act passed the House by voice vote. Covenant House strongly supports this bipartisan bill introduced in the Senate by Senators Murkowski and Durbin and supported by many colleagues to ensure survivors are not further harmed by service disruptions.
Support Domestic TVPRA Reauthorization (H.R. 1144)
We support the Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act of 2025 introduced by Representative Chris Smith, which includes education and prevention provisions informed by Covenant House New Jersey's work.
Specifically, this bill would support a survivors' employment and education program, including job training, case management, life-skills training, and other wrap-around social services. The bill would also authorize $35 million each year for OVC's Housing Assistance Grants for Victims of Human Trafficking.
Prevention education -- particularly in schools and community settings -- and safe housing are essential complements to enforcement efforts.
Thank you again for the opportunity to testify and for your commitment to protecting America's most vulnerable children.
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Original text here: https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/a9e703d7-06c4-059e-1488-e7ed64b9e030/2026-03-03-PM_Testimony_Einbond.pdf
Homeland Security Secretary Noem Testifies Before Senate Judiciary Committee
WASHINGTON, March 17 -- The Senate Judiciary Committee released the following written testimony by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem from a March 3, 2026, hearing on the oversight of the agency:* * *
Chairman Grassley, Ranking Member Durbin, and distinguished Members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was established in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks-- one of the darkest days in our nation's history, that resulted in the death of nearly 3,000 Americans. Its mission then is just as critical ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, March 17 -- The Senate Judiciary Committee released the following written testimony by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem from a March 3, 2026, hearing on the oversight of the agency: * * * Chairman Grassley, Ranking Member Durbin, and distinguished Members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was established in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks-- one of the darkest days in our nation's history, that resulted in the death of nearly 3,000 Americans. Its mission then is just as criticalas its mission now: protect the American people, prevent acts of terrorism, and secure our homeland.
Every action DHS takes is guided by that mission and responsibility. Thanks to President Trump's leadership and the hard work of the men and women of DHS, our department has delivered historic results and made our communities safer.
Since the start of President Trump's second term, daily encounters along the southwest border have declined by 96 percent compared to the Biden administration's daily average, reaching the lowest levels ever recorded in U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) history.
In President Trump's first year, total Border Patrol apprehensions along the southwest border were less than an average single month under the Biden administration. Border apprehensions are at the lowest level since data tracking began in 1992.
Currently, the Border Patrol's daily average encounters at the southwest border are just over 200, compared to over 5,000 per day under the Biden administration.
For ten straight months, Border Patrol has released zero illegal aliens into the interior of the United States. Tens of millions of illegal aliens were released into American communities by the Biden administration.
Put simply, the Trump Administration has ended the open border invasion that allowed millions of violent criminals to roam freely into the interior of our country and put millions of Americans at risk. President Trump has kept his promise to secure our borders and enforce the rule of law.
These results reflect our department's commitment to public safety and the enforcement of the laws that Congress enacted.
The Trump administration has reestablished clear consequences for unlawful entry, strengthened enforcement posture, and eliminated incentives that previously encouraged large-scale illegal migration. This administration has also significantly strengthened interior enforcement to make our American communities safer. In President Trump's historic first year back in office, nearly 3 million illegal aliens left the United States as a result of this administration's enforcement efforts -- including an estimated 2.2 million self-deportations and more than 675,000 removals. A majority of aliens arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have a criminal record and have been charged with or convicted of secondary crimes in addition to their initial crime of being in the United States illegally.
During this period, ICE has arrested over 1,500 Known or Suspected Terrorists (KST's), more than 7,700 gang members, many of whom were allowed into the country under the Biden Administration. These actions reflect a focused effort to prioritize illegal aliens who present the greatest threat to public safety and national security.
In late December, ICE concluded Operation Angel's Honor -- a 14-day targeted enforcement operation -- resulting in more than 830 criminal illegal alien arrests under the authority of the Laken Riley Act, which mandates detention of illegal aliens accused of certain criminal offenses.
These enforcement actions send a clear message: if you violate our laws and endanger American communities, there will be consequences.
At the same time, DHS has taken unprecedented steps to protect some of the most vulnerable victims of the Biden administration's border crisis - unaccompanied children. Under President Biden, more than 450,000 unaccompanied alien children were lost because of his dangerous open-border policies. Tens of thousands of children the previous administration failed to track, protect, or account for were left vulnerable to sex trafficking, abuse, and exploitation by violent cartels, gangs, and smugglers.
Under President Trump, the DHS and the Department of Health and Human Services have already located over 145,000 of these children -- and we will not stop until every last one is found. Protecting children and our communities is not political, it's a moral responsibility that our officers at DHS are committed to fulfilling.
Beyond immigration enforcement, DHS has delivered measurable results in disrupting narcotics trafficking and transnational crime. Fentanyl trafficking at the southern border has been cut by more than half compared to the same period in 2024. The Coast Guard seized enough cocaine this past year to prevent quantities capable of killing more than 193 million Americans from reaching our streets.
DHS has also reinforced the border through physical and technological investments. Nearly $14 billion has already been obligated for border wall construction from the $46.5 billion appropriated, and we are on track to finish the border wall by 2028.
We have also reviewed internal spending decisions to ensure taxpayer resources align with mission requirements, saving more than $13.2 billion through the cancellation or redirection of projects that did not directly advance homeland security priorities. Those funds have been redirected toward frontline enforcement, readiness, and operational capacity.
I want to address the dangerous environment in which our officers are operating today. ICE officers are facing a serious and escalating threat environment, the result of deliberate mischaracterizations of their heroic work via rhetoric that demonizes law enforcement. DHS has documented an 8,000 percent increase in death threats against ICE officers and their families, as well as a more than 1,300 percent increase in assaults while carrying out lawful enforcement operations. These threats are not abstract -- they include direct threats against spouses and families, doxxing, and harassment intended to intimidate law enforcement personnel and dissuade them from deporting illegal aliens. Our officers are fathers and mothers, sons and daughters. They put their lives on the line every day to uphold the law, and their families should never face threats over policy disagreements.
Our federal agents and officers operate in increasingly high-risk environments, routinely facing violent resistance while fulfilling their sworn duty to protect the American people and uphold the rule of law. There is a direct correlation between operational safety and local cooperation. In jurisdictions that reject sanctuary policies and work in lockstep with federal partners, operations proceed safely, utilizing proven de-escalation protocols that result in stronger, more secure outcomes. On the other hand, jurisdictions that openly defy and obstruct law enforcement create lawless environments that endanger their own citizens.
Inaccurate and/or intentionally deceptive narratives that vilify federal agents and officers do not advance justice. Rather, they endanger law enforcement personnel, erode public trust, and fuel unnecessary conflict. Our officers and agents do not write immigration statutes; they carry them out, often in dangerous conditions, confronting cartel violence, human traffickers, and transnational criminal organizations. To counter this and increase transparency, consistent with best practices, we are expanding our existing training on de-escalation and standard operating procedures.
Building on the success of our current programs, where many of our personnel are already trained and operating with advanced equipment, we are increasing the use of body-worn cameras. The Department of Homeland Security has accelerated deployment of these cameras for federal agents and officers in Minneapolis to increase accountability and ensure clearer documentation of enforcement encounters.
I recognize that Members of this Committee hold differing views about immigration policy. But it is important to distinguish between disagreements over policy and the Department's operational responsibility to enforce existing law passed by Congress and the duty our department has to protect our homeland.
Going forward, DHS remains focused on sustaining the most secure border in our nation's history; maintaining historic lows in unlawful entry; increasing removals of illegal aliens; dismantling transnational criminal organizations; strengthening cybersecurity and infrastructure resilience; and ensuring the immigration system functions in a lawful, orderly, and consistent way.
The latest Democrat-led shutdown of DHS is reckless, unnecessary and directly undermines America's national security and harms the men and women of DHS and their families. Despite the House passing a bipartisan, bicameral full-year DHS funding bill, Senate Democrats chose to block funding and hold the department hostage.
As a result, critical national security missions -- including border security, immigration enforcement, aviation security, disaster response, cybersecurity, and protection of critical infrastructure -- are being strained. Our ability to plan for a safe and successful World Cup is being hindered. More than one hundred thousand dedicated DHS employees are once again being asked to work without pay for the third time in five months.
The impact on the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is particularly concerning.
While lifesaving response operations may continue in the short term, a shutdown delays reimbursements to states, disrupts recovery efforts, furloughs personnel who coordinate with local partners, and halts critical preparedness activities -- including first responder training and hurricane season planning. If a catastrophic disaster were to strike during a funding lapse, available resources would be strained and recovery timelines extended. I would hope we can all agree that FEMA should not be defunded and the men and women protecting our country deserve to be paid.
Beyond FEMA, the shutdown is also degrading the capabilities of other frontline DHS components that the American people depend on every day. At the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), two thirds of our workforce have been furloughed. The members of CISA tasked with fighting threats and who are furloughed cannot do their job to protect us against nefarious actors. While CISA can continue to respond to imminent threats and maintain its 24/7 operations center, proactive work that keeps our adversaries at bay -- developing new cyber defenses, issuing timely directives to federal agencies, advancing implementation of critical incident reporting requirements, and delivering assessments, training, and exercises to state, local, tribal, territorial, and private-sector partners -- is delayed or halted.
In the cyber domain, standing still is falling behind, and a shutdown hands an unnecessary advantage to hostile nation-states and criminal organizations that are probing our critical infrastructure every hour of every day.
The shutdown also places tremendous strain on the men and women of TSA, the Secret Service, and the Coast Guard. At the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), roughly 95 percent of the workforce is designated mission-essential; they will continue screening millions of passengers and billions of bags, including during record travel volumes and in the run-up to the 2026 World Cup, but many will do so without pay. That financial hardship drives higher absenteeism, longer checkpoint wait times, and poses a real risk to our ability to sustain the level of aviation and surface transportation security that Americans expect and deserve. In the Secret Service, approximately 94 percent of personnel are mission-critical and will continue to carry out a mission that requires zero errors to protect the President, Vice President, other senior leaders, and major events such as the State of the Union, the G20, and the World Cup. However, the shutdown stalls the very reforms Congress has demanded in areas like airspace security, training, hiring, and technology, and constrains the Secret Service's ability to plan and resource future National Special Security Events and provide critical training to state and local partners. For the Coast Guard, a funding lapse means crews will continue to stand the watch in dangerous environments--interdicting drugs, conducting search and rescue, and defending our maritime approaches--while key training is curtailed and maintenance and contracted work are deferred.
Over time, that combination erodes readiness, harms recruitment and retention, and undermines the Coast Guard's ability to safeguard the maritime economy.
At a time when we have produced the most secure border in history and removed nearly 3 million illegal aliens from our country, disrupting the Department responsible for those gains is indefensible. Undermining the work of our agency --- especially in ways that also weaken disaster preparedness and responses nationwide - puts our communities at risk. The Department must be reopened and fully funded to ensure our homeland is prepared to respond to possible threats or retaliatory measures. I want to thank the men and women of DHS for their professionalism, dedication, and commitment to keeping America safe and patience during this time. Our success is only possible because of their service and sacrifices.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. I look forward to your questions.
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Original text here: https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/aac40f92-c58d-1d9d-a07d-d3bc58fd7e58/2026-03-03_Testimony_Noem.pdf
Government Accountability Institute President Schweizer Testifies Before Senate Judiciary Subcommittee
WASHINGTON, March 17 -- The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution released the following testimony by Government Accountability Institute President Peter Schweizer, Tallahassee, Florida, from a March 10, 2026, hearing entitled "Protecting American Citizenship: Birthright Citizenship for Illegal Aliens and Tourists":* * *
Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member, and distinguished members of the Committee:
Thank you for the opportunity to testify today on a matter of profound national security and sovereignty concern: the exploitation of America's birthright citizenship policy through birth ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, March 17 -- The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution released the following testimony by Government Accountability Institute President Peter Schweizer, Tallahassee, Florida, from a March 10, 2026, hearing entitled "Protecting American Citizenship: Birthright Citizenship for Illegal Aliens and Tourists": * * * Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member, and distinguished members of the Committee: Thank you for the opportunity to testify today on a matter of profound national security and sovereignty concern: the exploitation of America's birthright citizenship policy through birthtourism and related practices, particularly by nationals of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and elements connected to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
As we welcomed the first American newborn of 2025 in the early morning of January 1, that child was born not to American parents, but to Chinese citizens. The mother had deliberately traveled to U.S. soil--in this case, the territory of Saipan in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI)--to ensure the child received automatic U.S. citizenship under current interpretations of the Fourteenth Amendment. This is the practice known as birth tourism.
The scale of this exploitation is staggering, yet the U.S. federal government does not systematically track it. Chinese officials have estimated 50,000 of their citizens per year engage in birth tourism; scholars such as Australian professor Salvatore Babones suggest the number is closer to 100,000 annually, potentially resulting in millions of new elite. American "citizens" reared and acculturated in Communist China. Chinese data firms reported 150,000 arrivals for this purpose in 2018 alone.
This practice has flourished over the past 15 years, meaning that at least 750,000--and possibly up to 1.5 million--Chinese nationals now hold U.S. citizenship by birth on American soil. These individuals grow up in China, often educated in CCP-controlled schools with distorted views of U.S. history, values, and culture. They have no lived connection or demonstrated allegiance to our country, yet they possess full rights as U.S. citizens: the ability to vote in elections, relocate here at will, and--upon turning 21-- sponsor their parents as permanent residents.
Even more insidious is the use of surrogacy in the United States to produce children for senior CCP officials and elites. These children are born to American surrogate mothers--often specifically requested to be Caucasian, blonde, and blue-eyed--granting them automatic citizenship. The children are then taken to China and raised there.
A prominent example emerged in May 2025, when authorities discovered 15 children, ages two months to 13 years, in an Arcadia, California mansion owned by a Chinese businessman and CCP insider. He used his own company, Mark Surrogacy Investment LLC, to arrange surrogacies across multiple states. In total, 21 children were linked to him. The Wall Street Journal recently ran a story about another Chinese executive who is said to have over 100 children via surrogacy.
These cases highlight a largely unregulated surrogacy industry in states like California, where over 100 companies with "surrogacy" in their names are owned by Chinese individuals. IVF and surrogacy services for Chinese clients have even been tied to China's Belt and Road Initiative.
China officially says that it does not allow dual citizenship and that surrogacy is illegal. However, Beijing's government run news outlets explain and encourage the practice of birth tourism to the Chinese elite. As far back as 2011, China Daily, the government's main newspaper, offered a lesson in American constitutional law to their millions of readers, explaining, "Thanks to the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, children born on US soil automatically become US citizens, regardless of where their parents hail from." The paper noted how awareness of the amendment had contributed to a rise in "birth tourism," and "more intermediaries providing cross-border baby delivery service [in China]."
"As soon as the baby takes its first breath, the names of the clients go on the birth certificate immediately," a birth tourism executive bragged in a nationalist website called Global Times in China. The title of the article was "Rent-A-Womb."
There has little if any concern expressed in official CCP organs about "dual loyalties" with the practice.
The CCP allows thousands of birth tourism and surrogacy companies to openly advertise their businesses in China. Why? Clearly because Beijing views it as beneficial to China.
These practices represent a potential long-term national security vulnerability.
As the State Department noted during the Obama administration in testimony to a Senate committee: Permitting short-term visitors with no ties to the U.S. to obtain visas primarily for birth tourism "creates a potential long-term vulnerability for national security," allowing children to bypass naturalization scrutiny.
This is not merely immigration policy; it is civilizational defense. Thank you for your attention. I welcome your questions.
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Original text here:
Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans CEO Hunter Testifies Before House Veterans' Affairs Committee
WASHINGTON, March 13 -- The House Veterans' Affairs Committee released the following testimony by Kyleanne Hunter, CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, from a March 3, 2026, joint hearing with the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee entitled "Legislative Presentation of Veterans of Foreign Wars & Multi VSO: Student Veterans of America, Jewish War Veterans, Blinded Veterans Association, Fleet Reserve Association, Minority Veterans of America, National Association of County Veterans Service Officers (NACVSO), Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA)":* * *
Chairmen Moran and ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, March 13 -- The House Veterans' Affairs Committee released the following testimony by Kyleanne Hunter, CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, from a March 3, 2026, joint hearing with the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee entitled "Legislative Presentation of Veterans of Foreign Wars & Multi VSO: Student Veterans of America, Jewish War Veterans, Blinded Veterans Association, Fleet Reserve Association, Minority Veterans of America, National Association of County Veterans Service Officers (NACVSO), Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA)": * * * Chairmen Moran andBost, Ranking Members Blumenthal and Takano, thank you for the opportunity to present the legislative priorities for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA). IAVA is the nation's only organization dedicated to advocating specifically for the post9/11 generation.
At IAVA our advocacy begins and ends with one principle: evidence matters. Our 2026 Policy Priorities reflect our commitment to evidence-based advocacy that is grounded in the lived experience of our members.
To build these priorities we listened carefully to what veterans told us through our surveys, flash polls, and direct engagement. We then turned to the data and research to identify policies that address their concerns. This year, our members identified health care access, economic stability, support for Afghan allies, equity for women veterans, and the promotion and strengthening of civic engagement as top issues.
Below is a summary of the key issues.
1. Veterans' Health Care
Access to high-quality health care remains the top concern among IAVA members. While the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) delivers care that often meets or exceeds private-sector standards, veterans continue to face systemic barriers including fragmented care under expanded community care programs, inconsistent access to mental health services, persistent suicide risk, especially among younger and women veterans, disability claims backlogs and outdated IT systems, and uneven implementation of toxic exposure benefits under the PACT Act.
2026 Priorities Include:
* Full funding and rigorous oversight of PACT Act implementation
* Strengthening suicide prevention through lethal means safety legislation
* Expanding rural and tele-mental health access
* Supporting innovative therapy research and clinical trials
* Modernizing disability claims systems to reduce delays
2. Economic Stability for Veterans and Their Families
Veterans demonstrate strong employment and homeownership rates overall, yet significant disparities persist--particularly for women veterans, veterans of color, disabled veterans, and single-parent households. Key challenges include underemployment despite high education attainment, barriers in transferring military credentials to civilian licensure, housing cost burdens for post-9/11 veterans, and continued veteran housing insecurity despite progress.
2026 Priorities Include:
* Improving credential transferability for veterans and military spouses
* Strengthening Housing First models and wraparound services
* Protecting and modernizing VA home loan programs
* Updating GI Bill policies to reflect modern education delivery
* Enhancing oversight of VA benefits modernization
3. Afghan Allies and National Security
Supporting Afghan allies is both a moral obligation and a national security imperative. The unfinished evacuation and Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) backlog have left thousands in limbo, while veterans report deep moral injury tied to perceived abandonment of wartime partners.
The treatment of Afghan allies directly impacts U.S. global credibility, future military partnerships, veteran mental health and moral injury and strategic trust in American commitments.
2026 Priorities Include:
* Passage of the Afghan Adjustment Act & Fulfilling Promises to Afghan Allies Act - Restoration and streamlining of SIV processing
* Legal protections for Afghan evacuees in the U.S.
* Long-term institutional reforms to prevent future allied abandonment
4. Equity for Women Veterans
Women are the fastest-growing segment of the veteran population, yet persistent inequities remain in health care access, claims processing, and research inclusion. Ongoing gaps include inconsistent access to reproductive health services, high denial rates for Military Sexual Trauma (MST) claims, infrastructure deficiencies at VA facilities, lack of menopause and aging research, and geographic and racial disparities in care.
2026 Priorities Include:
* Rigorous oversight of the Deborah Sampson Act
* Expanding access to comprehensive reproductive health care
* Strengthening MST claims training and accountability
* Advancing gender-specific research initiatives
* Expanding mammography and menopause care access
5. Strengthening and Protecting Civic Engagement
Veterans consistently express concern about democratic institutions, voting access, misinformation, and preservation of civil rights. For veterans, democracy is not abstract--it is tied directly to the oath they swore to defend the Constitution. Members report concern about mis- and disinformation, efforts to limit equity in military service, voting access barriers and erosion of democratic norms
2026 Priorities Include:
* Supporting legislation that strengthens voting rights and transparency
* Protecting equitable access to military service
* Promoting civic participation and informed engagement
Across all of these priorities, it is clear that strong legislation alone is not enough.
Implementation, oversight, transparency, and accountability are essential to closing the gap between policy intent and the impact of legislation on individuals. In addition to legislative advocacy, we are also committed to holding Congress accountable for oversight, proper funding of programs, and transparency in implementation.
This written testimony provides the evidence behind each of the key policy priorities. America's veterans deserve policies that are rooted in research and data, not emotion or political whims.
IAVA is committed to ensuring that our veterans remain out of the political fray, and we will fight for solutions that improve their lives and make America a place where all who served can prosper. We look forward to working with all of you throughout the coming year.
Veterans' Health Care
Issue Summary
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) consistently delivers high-quality care. However, veterans face substantial systemic barriers to accessing timely, coordinated, and equitable health services. Research confirms that the quality of VA direct health care is equal to or better than that of non-VA care (including community care) across many clinical domains, including mental health (Apaydin et al., 2023). Yet access to VA direct care facilities remains a challenge for many veterans. The expansion of community care through the MISSION and Choice Acts has not uniformly improved veterans' access to healthcare; rather, it has introduced new challenges related to care fragmentation and administrative burden (Gebregziabher et al., 2024). Mental health services, particularly for post-9/11 veterans, remain inconsistently accessible, despite the VA's deployment of evidence-based models such as Primary Care- Mental Health Integration (PC-MHI) and tele-mental health (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine [NASEM], 2018; Resnik et al., 2024). Further, veteran suicide continues to pose a public health crisis. Although initiatives like Risk ID and REACH VET have demonstrated utility in identifying high-risk individuals, a large proportion of veterans who die by suicide have had no recent VA contact, suggesting that VA-centric approaches alone are insufficient (Hepner et al., 2025). Meanwhile, disability claims backlogs, compounded by systemic inefficiencies and underinvestment in IT modernization, delay access to care and benefits, and contribute to poor outcomes (U.S. Government Accountability Office [GAO], 2025).
What we heard from Members
In IAVA's Fall 2025 survey, members consistently highlighted access to quality health care and mental health services as their top concerns. It consistently emerged as the highest-priority area in which IAVA should be involved. Survey respondents expressed concern about navigating the VA system, the disability claims process, and the consistency of care across facilities. While most trust the VA more than community care, many face challenges with distance, provider shortages, and perceived quality gaps. Suicide prevention and mental health access remain urgent, as veterans continue to face high rates of mental health challenges (Shafer et al., 2022).
Policies such as the PACT Act are viewed positively, though veterans reported mixed satisfaction with its implementation.
Nearly three-quarters of survey respondents (73%) reported using VA services for physical health care. Among those using VA services, almost all (95%) receive physical health care directly from a VA facility rather than a community care provider. Approximately 40% respondents reported using VA services to receive mental health services. Among those who do receive VA mental health care, most (85%) receive that care directly from a VA facility.
Overall, respondents reported higher trust in the VA than in community care, though trust levels were lower for mental health than physical health across both systems. Specifically, 59% of respondents said they trust the VA to meet their physical health care needs, compared with 45% who said they trust community care. For mental health, 42% reported trusting the VA to meet their needs, compared to 35% who reported trusting community care. More than half of respondents (54%) said VA providers understand how their military experience influences their physical and mental health needs. In contrast, 32% of respondents felt that community care providers understand this context.
44% of respondents reported filing a PACT Act claim. Of those who have filed, 51% received increased benefits or new presumptive conditions. 47% were satisfied or very satisfied with the outcome, while 32% were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied. Currently, 47% of filers are receiving VA healthcare for PACT Act presumptive conditions.
Key Research Takeaways
The quality of care within VA facilities remains high, particularly in surgical and chronic care, but access and patient experience metrics vary widely across facilities and geographies (Apaydin et al., 2023). The expansion of community care, while beneficial in some cases, often results in care discontinuity and additional burdens on veterans. Nearly 70% of surveyed veterans reported difficulty obtaining test results or medical records from non-VA providers, leading to fragmented care and elevated rates of emergency room visits and hospital readmissions (Gebregziabher et al., 2024). Women veterans disproportionately rely on community care for services not universally available within the VA, such as reproductive health, yet they also encounter greater scheduling difficulties and reimbursement-related issues (Gebregziabher et al., 2024).
Geography plays a role in how veterans access healthcare. Rural veterans are more likely to rely on the VA as their primary source of healthcare access and on tele-health to access prescriptions and for pain management care than urban veterans (Chen et al., 2022; Rosen et al., 2024). Access to mental healthcare is mixed. Prior to the pandemic, urban veterans were more likely to use VA mental health services, but as more individuals moved to rural areas and the prevalence of VA telehealth services rose, a slightly greater proportion of rural veterans accessed VA mental health services via telehealth (Leung et al., 2023).
Differences in accessing health care services at the VA also vary by racial and ethnic identity. In the post-9/11 generation, Hispanic, Black, Asian, and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander veterans were more likely than non-Hispanic White veterans to utilize VA health care services (Aronson et al., 2020). Additionally, Hispanic and Asian veterans were more likely to use VA counseling services than either Black or White veterans (Aronson et al., 2020).
Regarding community care use, Black and Hispanic veterans were less likely than White veterans to use community care for primary care in both urban and rural areas. Further, Hispanic and Black rural veterans faced longer wait times than White veterans when accessing community care (Rosen et al., 2024). When accessing community care in urban settings, White veterans had longer wait times than both Black and Hispanic veterans (Rosen et al., 2024).
Veterans also have unique health risks. The toxins veterans have been exposed to, whether a result of environmental factors or military equipment, have unique physical and psychological health impacts. These include increased risks of certain cancers, respiratory conditions, and chronic multisystem illnesses (DeBeer et al., 2017). Additionally, post-9/11 veterans are at an increased risk of head trauma, particularly in conjunction with other injuries. A 2023 analysis of combat-related injuries sustained in Iraq and Afghanistan found that over 75% of those whose injuries received an Injury Severity Score (ISS) of 9 or higher were accompanied by a significant blast event in conjunction with their traumatic injury (D'souza et al., 2023). Blast events carry an increased risk of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), as well as sleep disruptions, hormonal changes, mental health changes, and increased risks of other neurological conditions. These conditions most often do not present acutely with the trauma but emerge in subsequent years after the incident and significantly evolve in how they present in patients (Phipps et al., 2020). Such complex injuries require not only specialized care but also specialized medical training to understand the cumulative and interactive effects of multiple traumas and exposures on a given condition (DeBeer et al., 2017).
In terms of mental health services, over half of post-9/11 veterans with probable care needs do not engage in care, often due to low awareness of eligibility, stigma, or bureaucratic hurdles (NASEM, 2018). Integrated care models and telehealth have demonstrated measurable success in increasing first-appointment attendance and in reaching rural or otherwise disconnected veterans (Resnik et al., 2024), yet these programs remain under-resourced and inconsistently implemented nationwide.
Suicide prevention remains a central challenge. Despite targeted programs, 40% of veterans who died by suicide in 2022 had not recently interacted with the VA health care system (Hepner et al., 2025). Subpopulations at increased risk include younger veterans, women veterans, and those recently discharged or of lower socioeconomic status. Notably, 74% of veteran suicides involve firearms, underscoring the critical importance of lethal means safety initiatives (Hepner et al., 2025). Interest in understanding alternative therapies, such as psychedelics, to address underlying drivers of suicidality has become increasingly popular in policy and veteran circles, yet more research is needed to fully understand their effectiveness (Pagano & Pagano, 2025; Wolfgang & Hoge, 2023).
Post-9/11 veterans are more likely to experience interrelated mental and physical health care conditions than veterans of previous generations. Nearly a quarter of post-9/11 veterans have a formal post-traumatic stress disorder diagnosis, and significantly more report symptoms even if not formally diagnosed (US Department of Veterans' Affairs, 2025). Additionally, over 40% of female veterans report having experienced military sexual trauma (MST), and the number is slightly higher for those who have deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan and have a physical combatrelated injury (Barth et al., 2016).
Evidence-to-Policy Gaps
While VA health care delivery is grounded in high-quality evidence-based practices, systemic barriers persist in access, navigation, and care continuity. Legislative efforts have expanded veterans' formal eligibility for care, but research underscores a gap between policy and practice. Complex application processes, insufficient outreach, and inadequate coordination between VA and community providers hinder the translation of legislative intent into effective care delivery (NASEM, 2018; GAO, 2025). Additionally, more research is needed on potentially promising alternative therapies and on ensuring that current efforts to restructure VA Health Care access and delivery align with best practices.
Moreover, while interventions such as PC-MHI and Risk ID have shown promise, they lack consistent implementation, funding, and scalability. Telehealth has improved access but remains constrained by infrastructure limitations, especially in rural areas (Resnik et al., 2024).
Lastly, disability benefits administration continues to be hampered by outdated systems and inconsistent quality control, delaying veterans' access to critical services and exacerbating health disparities (GAO, 2025).
2026 IAVA Legislative and Policy Priorities
IAVA supports strengthened oversight and full funding of the PACT Act, including the continuation of the publicly facing implementation dashboard and full appropriation of the Toxic Exposure Fund. To improve veteran suicide prevention efforts, IAVA backs the Saving Our Veterans Lives Act of 2025 (H.R. 1987/S. 926), which focuses on safe firearm storage and lethal means safety. IAVA calls for expanded mental health access, particularly in rural areas, through stable funding for Clinical Resource Hubs and increased appropriations to address staffing shortages. To improve treatment effectiveness, IAVA supports the Freedom to Heal Act of 2025 (H.R. 6434/S. 3346) and the Innovative Therapies Centers of Excellence Act of 2025 (H.R. 2623), which would expand access to clinical trials and emerging therapies. IAVA also urges greater transparency and veteran education around available mental health and toxic exposure resources.
Economic Stability for Veterans and Their Families
Issue Summary
Veterans' economic outcomes post-transition are marked by both measurable strengths and persistent disparities. Yet military service remains one of the few pathways to upward social mobility (Switzer, 2023). National labor statistics show that, on average, veterans have lower unemployment rates and higher household incomes than non-veterans (Bureau of Labor Statistics [BLS], 2024; Schuler et al., 2025). Veterans also tend to own homes at higher rates than civilians (Derpo, 2024). These overall gains, however, obscure underlying inequities for specific subgroups. Female veterans, veterans of color, and single-parent veterans remain disproportionately affected by underemployment, wage gaps, and barriers to stable housing (Blue Star Families, 2022; Radford et al., 2024; Smucker et al., 2024). Though the post-9/11 GI Bill has markedly improved educational attainment among veterans, translating these credentials into employment with equitable compensation remains a challenge. Additionally, while Housing First initiatives have significantly reduced veteran homelessness, over 32,000 veterans still experience housing insecurity annually (Tsai, 2023; U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 2024). Credentialing barriers, inconsistent program evaluation, and insufficient integration across employment, education, and housing supports further complicate the transition process for many veterans.
What we heard from Members
In IAVA's Fall 2025 survey, we heard multiple concerns about economic well-being - a foundational aspect of veteran reintegration and long-term health. Respondents expressed concerns about inflation, the cost of living, and job stability, underscoring the need to prioritize benefits that support veterans' successful transition to civilian life and provide economic security for their families. Respondents also noted that economic stability includes fair access to employment opportunities, housing, and education benefits that recognize military service.
In IAVA's 2022 member survey, 63% of respondents reported using their GI Bill benefits to pursue educational opportunities after military service, and nearly three-quarters (73%) noted that they would not be able to afford school without it. The majority (58%) of respondents stated that they were employed full time, and of those employed full time, 30% stated that they were under-employed. When discussing employment struggles, the most cited was a lack of proper credentials or the inability to transfer military credentials to a civilian employer.
Key Research Takeaways
Military service remains one of the few pathways that allow individuals to advance their socioeconomic status, particularly by moving from poverty into the middle class (Switzer, 2023).
This is particularly true for individuals who have experienced multi-generational poverty, as military service and associated veterans' benefits provide the twin benefits of economic independence and familial support (Bennett & McDonald, 2013). However, despite the positive impacts of military service, there remain areas of disproportionate advantage and areas where veterans still fare worse than civilians.
One benefit veterans are eligible to receive is financial compensation for service-connected illness or injury. This benefit is intended to offset the loss of income resulting from the lasting effects of these experiences. Research on the effectiveness of these payments is fractured and mixed. Total earnings for veterans with disability ratings have been found to be lower overall than those without, yet substantial variation existed between those with the lowest and highest disability ratings (Bass & Golding, 2014). However, clarity is limited, as Bass & Golding's (2014) study focused only on male veterans, even though women were the fastest-growing group of veterans at the time (Schultz et al., 2022). Women veterans, even when fully employed, have significantly lower overall earnings than their male counterparts (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2022).
A 2012 RAND study found that the loss in civilian earnings was more than offset by VA disability payments (Buddin & Han, 2012). However, the study uses data that is now over 25 years old and predates more recent changes to the mental health disability schedule. More recent work done by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that for veterans with mental health conditions, disability compensation does not completely offset losses (Silver & Zhang, 2022). In fact, the modest increases would significantly decrease the likelihood of a veteran experiencing food insecurity or homelessness as a result of employability challenges resultant from their service-connected mental health condition (Silver & Zhang, 2022).
Veterans who leverage education benefits through the post-9/11 GI Bill have higher college completion rates than their non-veteran peers, especially among female veterans and veterans of color (Radford et al., 2024). Despite these gains, disparities in earnings persist postgraduation. Single-parent veterans, particularly women, continue to experience barriers to economic mobility despite higher educational attainment than their age-matched peers. This is mostly due to a lack of supports including affordable childcare, rigid academic schedules, and inadequate affordable housing (Smucker et al., 2024).
Parallel research identifies racial disparities in employment and earnings outcomes, suggesting that systemic barriers continue to limit access to high-quality employment for minority veterans (Blue Star Families, 2022). Further, although federal transition programs invest heavily in education benefits, evidence reveals limited impact on long-term employment outcomes or underemployment, with some participants in the Transition Assistance Program (TAP) earning less than nonparticipants (Kleykamp et al., 2024). Credentialing challenges remain acute, especially where military-acquired skills do not align with state licensure standards, leading to delayed workforce entry and underemployment (Government Accountability Office [GAO], 2022).
Housing is also a concern of the veteran community. Veterans are more likely to own homes than their age-matched civilian peers, yet, within the home-owning population, their homes tend to be of lower value (Derpo, 2024). Overall, veterans have a lower housing cost burden than non-veterans (defined as spending 30% or more on housing costs), yet veterans who joined the military after September 11, 2001, have a higher housing cost burden than nonveterans (Schwarm et al., 2023). Veterans are at lower risk of foreclosure than age-matched civilians, yet veterans who do not own homes are at higher risk of eviction than their civilian peers (Tsai & Hooshyar, 2022). It has historically been difficult to determine overall homeless rates for the veteran population, given the difficulty of defining the totality of the veteran population in the United States. However, recent models indicate that veterans experience higher rates of both housing insecurity and chronic homelessness than non-veterans in all 50 states and the District of Columbia in the early 2000s (Mast, 2023). The Department of Veterans Affairs launched its Ending Veteran Homelessness Initiative in 2010 and implemented coordinated housing-first strategies. Research shows that in the first dozen years of the initiative, veteran homelessness fell by 55.3%, while the general population's homelessness fell by 8.6% (O'Toole et al., 2024). Yet while these housing first strategies are demonstrably effective in reducing homelessness and improving housing retention, scalability and wraparound service provision remain inconsistent across regions (Tsai, 2023).
Evidence-to-Policy Gaps
Although employment rates among veterans are strong overall, underemployment and job quality metrics are poorly tracked, obscuring labor mismatches and skill underutilization (BLS, 2024; GAO, 2022). Subpopulations, including single-parent, minority, and disabled veterans, continue to fall through policy and programmatic gaps. Credentialing and licensing initiatives have proliferated but lack outcome evaluations, rendering it difficult to assess return on investment or to identify best practices (Kleykamp et al., 2024). Recent trends in increased housing costs must also be addressed through the VA home loan and housing protection programs. Additionally, despite strong evidence of the efficacy of housing first approaches, veteran homelessness persists, with many at risk due to insufficient affordable housing and limited access to financial safety nets (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 2024; United For ALICE, 2022). Financial hardship also affects a substantial share of veterans who fall outside traditional poverty metrics but remain unable to meet basic needs, particularly in high-cost-of-living areas (United For ALICE, 2022). This population remains largely unaddressed by current federal support frameworks, which continue to prioritize unemployment over underemployment or economic precarity.
2026 IAVA Legislative and Policy Priorities
IAVA supports national reforms to improve the transferability of credentials for veterans and military spouses, including provisions to establish national credentialing standards and the Military Spouse Hiring Act (H.R. 2033/S. 1027). IAVA advocates for strengthening Housing First approaches by expanding wraparound services and increasing case management capacity to address housing placement delays. Priorities also include advancing protections within the VA home loan program and sustaining congressional oversight of VA benefits modernization, especially updates related to mental and reproductive health care. IAVA further calls for the removal of outdated restrictions on GI Bill distance learning to align with current education delivery models.
Afghan Allies and National Security
Issue Summary
The 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan not only left tens of thousands of Afghan allies vulnerable to retribution from the Taliban but also imposed severe emotional and psychological burdens on the American veteran community. Research confirms that veterans viewed the evacuation effort as incomplete and disorganized, resulting in significant moral injury and a perceived breach of American values (Center for Deployment Psychology [CDP], 2023; Galston, 2021). According to an internal audit by the U.S. Department of State (2023), as of March 2023, more than 152,000 principal Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) applicants remained in Afghanistan awaiting adjudication, reflecting a systemic failure in meeting allied protection commitments.
Public and veteran support for assisting Afghan allies remains high, yet policy implementation has not kept pace with the urgency of need (Association of Wartime Allies & Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America [AWA & IAVA], 2022). Meanwhile, challenges facing Afghan evacuees in the United States, such as underemployment, lack of permanent legal status, and inadequate support for integration, persist, straining both resettled communities and the veterans who continue to advocate on their behalf (Migration Policy Institute [MPI], 2022; U.S. Department of State, 2023).
What we heard from Members
In IAVA's Fall 2025 survey, respondents reported that support for Afghan allies is both a moral obligation and a matter of national security. Nearly 75% of respondents believe the U.S.
government has not done enough to support Afghan allies who risked their lives alongside American forces. Specifically, 66% do not believe the presidential administration is doing enough, and 74.5% do not believe Congress is doing enough. When asked about the main provisions of the Fulfilling our Promises to Afghan Allies and the Afghan Adjustment Acts, 78% agreed or strongly agreed with the provisions of these two acts. Similarly, 73% agreed with the main provisions of the Enduring Welcome Act. Respondents also specifically called for expediting visa processes, reuniting families, and ensuring safety for allies already in the U.S.
Many (67%) expressed moral injury over how the withdrawal from Afghanistan was handled, emphasizing the need for accountability and renewed leadership on this issue. Additionally, 70% of respondents noted that the recent detention of Afghans by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement led to personal shame and moral injury.
Key Research Takeaways
During the nearly two decades of military operations in Afghanistan, over 300,000 Afghans worked directly to assist and support US interests. These individuals were essential to US operations, and in return for the aid they provided, they were promised a pathway to safety.
Many Afghans who assisted the US and allied forces were targeted by the Taliban.
The SIV program for Afghans was established in 2009 as a means to create a safe pathway to US residency for those Afghans who worked closely alongside US forces in Afghanistan (Afghan Allies Protection Act of 2023). It recognized that Afghans who served the US government faced risks to their life and livelihoods and that providing a pathway to US residency would better incentivize others to support the US Operations. This original act has been amended several times (e.g., in FY2019 and FY2023) to expand the number of SIVs provided to Afghans. Yet the program has not been perfect - even before withdrawal, there was evidence of backlogs and improper resourcing of the SIV program. The 2018 Afghan & Iraqi Allies v. Pompeo case found that the government's delays in issuing SIVs were unacceptable and led to the adoption of more streamlined timelines (Afghan and Iraqi Allies Under Serious Threat Because of Their Faithful Service to the United States v. Rubio, 2025). A February 2022 report noted that "the threat the Taliban posed to the stability and safety of Afghans who had put their lives on the line to support the U.S. mission" was a core issue, and that the SIV program was experiencing significant delays and backlogs even before the fall of Kabul (U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, 2022).
The failings of the SIV program contributed to the development of other means of safe and legal passage to the US. Humanitarian Parole was used during the evacuation to ensure as many Afghans as possible were evacuated. To achieve parole, Afghans underwent vetting at US government facilities around the world, including screenings and interviews. Upon arrival in the US, they undergo additional screenings. While there have been concerns, the resettlement of Afghans in the US has been among the most secure refugee resettlement processes in our nation's history (Akgul et al., 2025). When arriving in the US, Afghans do not have an easy road.
Recent analyses demonstrate that Afghan SIV holders resettled in the United States encounter significant barriers to workforce participation, with only 23% reporting employment within 90 days of arrival, often due to credentialing challenges and limited access to childcare (U.S.
Department of State, 2023). These initial outcomes are compounded by insufficient federal resources to support long-term integration, particularly in employment and language acquisition. In January 2026, the SIV program was suspended, and all travel from Afghanistan was banned (Proclamation No. 11043, 2025)
The emotional toll on veterans is equally documented; over 70% of Afghanistan veterans reported feeling betrayed by the withdrawal, and many identified helping Afghan allies as a personal moral imperative that would improve their own well-being (AWA & IAVA, 2022; Galston, 2021). Mental health experts further note that the withdrawal contributed to elevated experiences of moral injury among veterans, which has been linked to increased psychological distress and worsening of PTSD symptoms (CDP, 2023). VA researchers have found that moral injury is directly linked to an increase in suicidal thoughts and behaviors (Griffen et al 2025), further highlighting the connection between the treatment of Afghans and the health of our veterans. Furthermore, the volunteer-led rescue efforts, such as those coordinated by AfghanEvac and informal digital networks, underscore the vacuum left by government operations and have placed emotional strain on participating veterans, many of whom have reported burnout and trauma from the experience (AfghanEvac, 2023; Lawrence, 2021).
Advocating for the US to keep its promise to our Afghan Allies is not just about the individuals who enabled US and allied actions in Afghanistan, but the future of our national security. Since World War I, the US has had a history of relying on foreign nationals or recent immigrants to further its military goals, with distinct promises of post-war life in the US for those who supported wartime efforts (Baigorri-Jalon, 2010). These individuals have an outsized impact on the ability of the US to achieve its tactical and strategic military objectives, and, more importantly, have the largest impact on how the US is perceived in the post-war environment (Baker, 2010; Amich, 2013). How we treat our Afghan Allies today will have a direct impact on the US' ability to engage with local populations in future wars.
Evidence-to-Policy Gaps
Currently, tens of thousands of Afghans remain in limbo due to the 2026 travel ban and the closure of Camp As Sayliyah (CAS). The State Department is currently offering to pay Afghans who were at CAS awaiting processing to come to the US (Lewis, 2026). Yet, despite bipartisan legislative proposals, including the Afghan Adjustment Act, Congress has yet to pass permanent legal protections for the approximately 80,000 Afghan evacuees in the United States on temporary humanitarian parole (MPI, 2022). This unresolved status leaves thousands in legal limbo and undercuts American credibility abroad (Kim et al., 2024). At the same time, the SIV backlog remains unacceptably high, with the Department of State citing bureaucratic inefficiencies and inadequate staffing as key barriers to timely processing (U.S. Department of State, 2023). Existing federal resettlement programs offer strong short-term outcomes but lack continuity beyond the 90-day window, particularly for professional integration, credentialing recognition, and language services (AWA & IAVA, 2022; MPI, 2022). Simultaneously, veterans have received insufficient support to address the moral injury and trauma connected to the withdrawal and the ensuing rescue efforts, with existing VA mental health services not scaled to meet this unique demand (CDP, 2023). The case of Afghan Allies illustrates broader national security concerns arising from the US's treatment of its allies. Many veterans raise concerns that the betrayal of trust will have long-term impacts on the ability of the US to gain allies in future wars, and fear for how our current allies will view our trustworthiness. As researchers warn, failure to honor commitments to Afghan allies may damage future American military operations by diminishing trust among prospective local partners (Coffey, 2025; Kim et al., 2024).
2026 IAVA Legislative and Policy Priorities
IAVA strongly supports the passage of the Afghan Adjustment Act and the Fulfilling Promises to Afghan Allies Act to provide permanent legal status and reestablish lawful pathways to citizenship for evacuated wartime allies. IAVA also backs the Enduring Welcome Act of 2025 as a critical step in reaffirming America's commitment to those who served alongside U.S. forces.
To address ongoing resettlement challenges, IAVA calls for increased staffing and resource allocation to reduce the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) backlog and streamline processing for atrisk applicants. More broadly, IAVA urges Congress to institutionalize long-term frameworks that protect current and future allies, and to invest in interagency coordination that reinforces the United States' global credibility and strategic partnerships.
Equity for Women Veterans
Issue Summary
The literature identifies several core deficits in the VA's approach to women veterans. First, gaps in clinical infrastructure and provider availability limit access to critical services, particularly in reproductive health, mental health, and military sexual trauma (MST) care (Schultz et al., 2023; VA OIG, 2018). Second, the quality and continuity of care for women veterans vary significantly by region and facility, with rural veterans and women of color reporting the greatest challenges in navigating care and in accessing culturally competent care (Carter et al., 2016; Department of Veterans Affairs, 2024). Third, longstanding issues in VA claims adjudication for MST-related PTSD persist, with high denial rates and inadequate training for evaluators contributing to disparities (VA OIG, 2018).
What we heard from Members
IAVA's Fall 2025 survey confirmed that the experiences of women veterans remain central to IAVA's advocacy, particularly in ensuring equitable access to care and recognition. The Deborah Sampson Act has improved access, but gaps persist in both implementation and experience.
While most women respondents (88%) report being offered care by female providers and receiving preventive health services, fewer (57%) find the process easy to navigate. 85% of women respondents reported receiving primary or preventive healthcare through the VA, specifically for women's health (e.g., mammogram screening, gynecological visits).
Reproductive healthcare remains a top issue for IAVA members. In a December 2025 flash poll about the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC)'s legal opinion regarding the Department of Veterans Affairs' authority to provide abortion-related care, nearly 70% of members somewhat or strongly supported veterans being able to access abortion care and counseling through the VA. Almost three-quarters of members (72%) support veterans being able to discuss abortion and pregnancy options openly with their VA health care provider.
Key Research Takeaways
Women veterans are the fastest-growing segment of the veteran population, yet their experiences in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) system often remain marked by structural inequities, inconsistent access to tailored services, cultural misalignment, and a lack of research on women-specific outcomes. Women also face unique challenges that the VA is still not prepared to address (Schultz et al., 2023). Research highlights substantial gaps in the delivery and quality of care for women veterans, particularly in reproductive health, traumainformed behavioral health, and services for survivors of military sexual trauma (VA OIG, 2018; Carter et al., 2016).
The VA reports that nearly 1 in 3 women veterans reports having experienced military sexual trauma (MST; U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 2026), and independent research finds that number higher, closer to 44% (Nichter et al., 2022). Research has found that MST results in a greater likelihood of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms than combat-related trauma, yet MST claims are denied at a higher rate than combat-related claims (Webermann et al., 2024). Additionally, MST carries physical consequences. For example, there is a strong connection between MST and adverse maternal outcomes, including low birth weight and still births (Nilini et al., 2022). Recent research also shows a strong correlation between MST and overall chronic pain (Shapiro et al., 2023). The VA has continued to invest in psychological care for MST survivors, but evidence suggests there is a need for more physically focused care.
Women veterans also face unique challenges related to reproductive and gender-specific healthcare. Women veterans who deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan face more significant reproductive healthcare challenges than their civilian or non-deployed peers, including infertility, psychological barriers to reproductive health, musculoskeletal injuries, and impacts of exposure on reproductive organs (Zephyrin, 2016). More recent research is finding connections between non-deployment-related exposures unique to military life and adverse reproductive health outcomes in women veterans (Clark, 2025) and an elevated risk for breast cancer (Jester et al., 2024).
While the VA has made strides through recent legislative mandates and administrative improvements, implementation is uneven, and many facilities remain unprepared to fully serve women veterans (GAO, 2016). According to the VA's own Barriers to Care study, women veterans report feeling invisible within the VA system, facing stigma and discomfort in predominantly male environments (Department of Veterans Affairs, 2024). These challenges are compounded by intersectional factors: women of color, LGBTQ+ veterans, and those with caregiving responsibilities face heightened barriers in both accessing care and navigating benefits systems (Carter et al., 2016; Schultz et al., 2023).
Despite significant increases in the number of women utilizing VA services and receiving benefits, equity in outcomes remains elusive. The 2023 Women Warriors Report underscores the disconnect between policy intent and lived experience, revealing high rates of dissatisfaction with VA responsiveness and access to women-specific services, particularly reproductive care, menopause management, and MST treatment (Wounded Warrior Project, 2023). Inconsistencies persist not only in the availability of gender-specific providers but also in the physical environment, with many facilities still lacking appropriate signage, privacy accommodations, and lactation spaces (GAO, 2016; IAVA, 2025). Though policies such as the Deborah Sampson Act sought to mandate structural reforms, enforcement mechanisms, and accountability systems have not been fully institutionalized. The absence of robust oversight continues to limit the potential of these reforms to meaningfully improve women veterans' health outcomes.
Additionally, although the volume of research on women veterans' healthcare has almost doubled between 2016 and 2023, there remains a noticeable lack of research on the impact of aging on this population and a persistent lack of inclusion of women veterans in clinical trials (Goldstein et al., 2025). Recent legislative initiatives have emphasized the importance of expanding women-specific services and addressing barriers to benefits access. However, effective implementation has lagged behind statutory commitments. For instance, the VA Barriers to Care study documents ongoing confusion among veterans about eligibility, service availability, and how to file gender-specific claims (Department of Veterans Affairs, 2024).
Further, research shows that women veterans are more likely to delay or forgo needed care due to childcare responsibilities, mistrust of the VA, or fear of re-traumatization (Wounded Warrior Project, 2023). Collectively, these findings suggest a critical need for trauma-informed, gender-responsive, and culturally competent care models embedded across all levels of the VA health system.
In addition to health outcomes, women veterans remain worse off financially than their male peers (US Bureau of Labor Statistics 2022). This is despite the fact that women veterans are significantly more likely to use GI Bill benefits and earn more advanced degrees than their male peers (American Institutes for Research, 2024). While the percentage of women veterans using VA Home Loan benefits continues to rise, women veterans remain underrepresented in homeownership compared to their male counterparts (Schwarm et al., 2023).
Evidence-to-Policy Gaps
While laws like the Deborah Sampson Act represent progress, the persistent lack of infrastructure, provider training, and oversight undermines their effectiveness. Many VA sites have not met requirements for gender-specific staffing or space accommodations, leaving women veterans underserved despite policy directives (GAO, 2016; Brownley, 2025).
Furthermore, claims processes for conditions such as MST-related PTSD continue to exhibit high denial rates and systemic bias, suggesting the need for more rigorous evaluator training and standardized adjudication procedures (VA OIG, 2018).
The 2022 Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) opinion had historically served as legal guidance while the VA developed and implemented its own rule on abortion access for veterans post the overturn of Roe v. Wade. In December of 2025, the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) issued a new legal opinion regarding the Department of Veterans Affairs' authority to provide abortion-related care. In this opinion, OLC concluded that the VA may not provide abortion services under any provision of Chapter 17 of Title 38, and it formally withdrew key portions of a September 21, 2022, OLC opinion that had supported the VA's authority to provide limited abortion care and counseling in cases of rape, incest, or when a veteran's health was at risk. The December 2025 opinion reverses that position and raises new questions about veterans' access to reproductive health care, the scope of VA medical authority, and the role of Congress in determining veterans' health policy. The new opinion reinforces how reproductive health access remains constrained by both policy and practice.
When VA policy did permit abortion under limited circumstances, access varied significantly depending on facility capacity and geographic location, with little transparency regarding provider readiness (Schultz et al., 2023). Additionally, there are no universal VA guidelines on menopause care, leaving many veterans without adequate support for a predictable and significant health transition (IAVA, 2025). These shortcomings reflect broader systemic gaps in integrating the unique health care needs of women veterans into VA policy, practice, and strategic planning. Without targeted investment and ongoing accountability, these gaps will continue to compromise health outcomes and perpetuate inequities.
2026 IAVA Legislative and Policy Priorities
IAVA is calling for rigorous oversight of the Deborah Sampson Act's implementation, including assessment of facility-level adherence to mandates around women's health access, MST services, and staffing benchmarks. IAVA supports the Reproductive Freedom for Veterans Act (H.R. 4876) to guarantee abortion access and counseling services for veterans regardless of state restrictions. To improve response systems for survivors of military sexual trauma, IAVA backs the Improving VA Training for Military Sexual Trauma Claims Act (H.R. 2201) and the Servicemembers and Veterans Empowerment and Support Act of 2025 (H.R. 2576/S. 1245).
IAVA further supports advancing gender-specific medical research through the bipartisan Servicewomen and Veterans Menopause Research Act (H.R. 2717/S. 1320), as well as legislative efforts to expand access to mammography screening for veterans. These priorities reflect IAVA's commitment to health equity, trauma-informed care, and accountability across the VA system.
Strengthening and Protecting Civic Engagement
Issue Summary
Veterans have historically served as visible defenders of democratic ideals and civil rights, both during active service and in civilian life. However, emerging data from recent years offer a more complex and urgent portrait. While most veterans engage in activities such as voting, civic volunteering, and running for elected office, research also highlights growing distrust in public institutions and a concerning susceptibility to misinformation and anti-government extremism among a small but notable segment of the veteran population (Helmus et al., 2023). Civic engagement among veterans also varies widely by demographic characteristics, with veterans of color and women veterans often encountering distinct structural barriers to full participation in democratic life (Blue Star Families, 2024). Despite these challenges, veterans remain overrepresented in elected office and continue to view public service as a key extension of their military ethos (Jones, 2025; Shane, 2023). These dynamics underscore both the opportunity and responsibility to strengthen democratic alignment within veteran communities.
What we heard from Members
IAVA's Fall 2025 survey shows that IAVA members overwhelmingly identified strengthening and protecting civic engagement as rooted in the principles of American democracy as a top priority. Veterans emphasized the importance of constitutional integrity, accountability, and adherence to the rule of law. They themselves overwhelming reported the importance of civic engagement, with over 90% reporting that they voted in both national and local elections, nearly 75% reporting helping or encouraging others to vote, and nearly two-thirds (65%) participating in direct advocacy activities such as organizing petitions, attending rallies, or meeting with elected and party officials. Over half of respondents (62%) believe that their actions matter. Civic engagement is connected to democracy. Respondents described democracy as grounded in free and fair elections, citizen participation, and core freedoms such as speech, assembly, and belief. However, they also noted growing barriers to participation, including restrictive voting laws, misinformation, intimidation, and the outsized influence of money in politics. Nearly 70% feel that it should be easier for citizens to vote, and the government should safeguard practices such as mail in ballots, flexible and expanded polling hours, and reducing geographic barriers to accessing polling places. Many veterans see safeguarding democratic institutions as a patriotic duty, a continuation of their service to the nation. Our members also expressed concern over executive overreach when it comes to restricting civil liberties. Over 80% of respondents disagreed with the executive branch using its power to inflame social issues (such as the ban of transgender miliary service members), and 98% believe that Americans should all enjoy the same legal protections regardless of their political beliefs.
Key Research Takeaways
Recent studies show that veterans are more likely than civilians to participate in civic life through voting and public leadership roles. For instance, veterans currently comprise roughly 19% of members of the 119th Congress, a figure that far exceeds their share of the general population (Shane, 2025). Military service remains one of the most positively viewed qualifications among voters, reflecting sustained public trust in veterans' leadership capacity (Jones, 2025). However, civic participation is not evenly distributed. Women veterans and veterans of color report lower levels of engagement and fewer pathways to civic influence, prompting calls for more inclusive leadership development initiatives (Blue Star Families, 2024).
Despite these positive indicators, researchers warn of emerging risks. RAND's national survey found that while a strong majority of veterans reject political violence and anti-democratic beliefs, a small proportion express support for extremist ideologies or groups - exacerbated by disinformation campaigns that co-opt military identity (Helmus et al., 2023). Additionally, highprofile events such as the participation of veterans in the January 6th Capitol riot have fueled public concern, although leaders like former Secretary of Defense James Mattis have emphasized that such individuals represent an extreme minority and do not reflect the broader veteran population (Loewenson, 2023). Longstanding evidence also demonstrates veterans' historical role as civil rights leaders, particularly among Black service members who used their military experience to challenge segregation and advance justice movements (Bell, 2017).
Recent efforts to limit transgender military service represent another critical fault line between civil rights and military policy. Evidence from both RAND and the Palm Center demonstrates that banning transgender individuals from serving openly harms military readiness, morale, and recruitment, while producing no measurable benefit to cohesion or deployability (Palm Center, 2020; Schaefer et al., 2016). In fact, DoD-funded research found strong support for transgender service among active-duty personnel, especially among women, LGBTQ+, and racial/ethnic minority service members, suggesting that inclusive policy aligns with evolving military norms and values (Dunlap et al., 2020).
Simultaneously, legal challenges to the domestic use of military force have reinforced the constitutional boundaries of military authority. In 2025, federal and state courts blocked President Trump's attempts to deploy National Guard troops to cities like Los Angeles and Memphis, declaring them violations of the Posse Comitatus Act and state law, respectively (Copp & Horton, 2026; National Immigration Law Center, 2025; Nunn, 2025). These rulings underscore the judiciary's role in upholding the rule of law and affirm the expectation that military personnel, including National Guard members, many of whom are veterans, are not to be used as political tools absent a lawful emergency.
Evidence-to-Policy Gaps
Although most veterans continue to uphold and participate in democratic processes, research highlights several critical policy gaps. First, while veterans exhibit high rates of civic engagement overall, minority veterans remain underrepresented in leadership roles, underscoring the need for targeted mentorship and public service pipelines (Blue Star Families, 2024). Second, current federal and state programs often fail to address the digital exploitation of veteran identity, which is being leveraged by extremist actors to lend legitimacy to misinformation campaigns (Helmus et al., 2023). Third, although civic education is a common focus in military transition programming, there is little coordination across institutions to ensure sustained veteran participation in democracy post-discharge (National Conference on Citizenship & We the Veterans, 2025). Fourth, attempts to ban transgender individuals from military service, despite strong internal support and minimal cost, highlight a policy gap in codifying inclusive service, leaving personnel vulnerable to abrupt political reversals (Palm Center, 2020; Schaefer et al., 2016). Lastly, the lack of clear standards and oversight for the domestic deployment of National Guard units highlights a pressing need to strengthen legal and institutional safeguards to prevent the misuse of military force for political ends (Nunn, 2025; Copp & Horton, 2026).
2026 IAVA Legislative and Policy Priorities
IAVA supports policies that ensure full and fair access to democratic participation for all veterans, including reforms that allow independent voters to participate in primary elections, such as the Let America Vote Act (H.R. 155). IAVA calls for strengthened digital literacy and targeted protection against political disinformation, including support for the Protect Elections from Deceptive AI Act (S. 1213/H.R. 5272), which bans AI-generated deceptive political content.
IAVA further advocates for expanded public service transition programs to support veterans' continued civic engagement and leadership. As part of a broader commitment to civil rights, IAVA supports anti-discrimination protections for veterans impacted by bans on transgender military service, erosion of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, and other threats to equal opportunity in the armed forces and beyond.
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(Original text here: https://docs.house.gov/meetings/VR/VR00/20260303/118976/HHRG-119-VR00-Wstate-HunterK-20260303.pdf)
Indian Pueblo Cultural Center President Fragua Testifies Before House Natural Resources Subcommittee
WASHINGTON, March 13 -- The House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Indian and Insular Affairs released the following testimony by Monique Fragua, president and CEO of the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Indian Pueblos Marketing Inc., from a March 4, 2026, hearing on the Albuquerque Indian School Act (H.R. 6162):* * *
Chairman Hurd, Ranking Member Leger Fernandez, distinguished members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify in support of H.R. 6162, the Albuquerque Indian School Act of 2025.
My name is Monique Fragua. I am the President and ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, March 13 -- The House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Indian and Insular Affairs released the following testimony by Monique Fragua, president and CEO of the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Indian Pueblos Marketing Inc., from a March 4, 2026, hearing on the Albuquerque Indian School Act (H.R. 6162): * * * Chairman Hurd, Ranking Member Leger Fernandez, distinguished members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify in support of H.R. 6162, the Albuquerque Indian School Act of 2025. My name is Monique Fragua. I am the President andChief Executive Officer of the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center (IPCC) and Indian Pueblos Marketing, Inc. (IPMI). Both corporations are owned and operated by our 19 Pueblos of New Mexico and are located on the former Albuquerque Indian School (AIS) property. I am a proud member of the Pueblo of Jemez and am honored to be the first woman to lead both organizations.
The vision for our organizations located on this property includes creating unique and successful businesses, providing professional and economic advancement opportunities for our workforce, nurturing self-sustainable developments while providing financial returns to our Pueblos, and promoting our Pueblo arts, culture, and lifestyles.
History of the Albuquerque Indian School Property
The AIS was established on a 66-acre campus in 1881 by the Presbyterian Church and came under federal control shortly thereafter. It was part of the broader federal Indian boarding school system that, as documented by the Department of the Interior's Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative, used assimilationist policies that caused lasting harm to Indigenous communities. The school closed in 1981, and its legacy is one that our 19 Pueblos have worked to transform from a symbol of forced assimilation into a vibrant center of cultural preservation and economic empowerment.
Since 1969, Congress has undertaken a long and deliberate process of returning the former AIS property to our 19 Pueblos. This effort has been remarkably bipartisan, spanning multiple decades and involving members of both parties, including former Senator Pete Domenici, former Senator Jeff Bingaman, former Senator Tom Udall, Senator Martin Heinrich, Senator Ben Ray Lujan, former Representative Manuel Lujan Jr., former Representative Michelle Lujan Grisham, and now Representative Melanie Stansbury.
A Proven Legislative Record of Success
H.R. 6162 is the latest chapter in a well-established, successful legislative framework. Congress has previously transferred portions of the former AIS property into trust for our 19 Pueblos, and each transfer has resulted in measurable economic development, job creation, and cultural preservation. I want to briefly describe this history because it demonstrates that Congress's investment has yielded extraordinary results.
Public Law 95-232 (1978): The first 11 acres were conveyed and used to build the IPCC. Since our founding, we have operated successfully and self-sufficiently, celebrating our 50th Anniversary this year.
1993 Trust Acquisition: The next 44 acres of the former AIS property were placed in trust, leading to the creation of successful land development protocols with the City of Albuquerque. This portion of the property is now home to two large office buildings occupied by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and a hotel owned by our 19 Pueblos.
Public Law 110-453 (2008) - The Albuquerque Indian School Act: Congress directed the Secretary of the Interior to convey an additional 8.5 acres to be held in trust. These parcels included the last remaining AIS structure built in 1931 and designed by Architect Joseph Padilla, a tribal member from the Pueblo of Isleta. The building had been slated for demolition, but IPMI saved it by financing its renovation. The building now houses the Native American Community Academy (NACA), an award-winning public charter school serving Native students in grades K-12.
Public Law 114-69 (2015) - The Albuquerque Indian School Land Transfer Act: This legislation, signed into law in October 2015, transferred 11 acres consisting of four tracts-- consolidating several parcels contiguous with previous land transfers. My predecessor, Mr. Michael Canfield, testified before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs in support of the companion bill, S. 2465, introduced by former Senator Udall and Senator Heinrich. In his testimony, Mr. Canfield described our Pueblos' vision for the property and the successful track record of development. That legislation passed both chambers and was signed into law with bipartisan support.
H.R. 6162: Completing the Vision
H.R. 6162, introduced by Representative Stansbury with the companion bill S. 3219 introduced by Senator Heinrich and Senator Lujan, directs the transfer of three remaining tracts of land--totaling 9.89 acres--currently under the custody of the General Services Administration (GSA). These parcels were historically part of the AIS and are contiguous with property already held in trust.
Tract 1: Approximately 3.5 acres on which stands a 76,000-square-foot warehouse.
Tract 2: Approximately 5.7 acres.
Tract 3: Approximately 0.5 acres.
Consistent with prior transfers, the bill provides that the land shall be used for the educational, health, cultural, business, and economic development of our 19 Pueblos; shall remain subject to existing private and municipal encumbrances, rights-of-way, restrictions, easements of record, and utility service agreements; and expressly prohibits Class I, Class II, and Class III gaming under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. The bill also provides for a right-of-way easement on Tract 1 to allow the GSA to retrieve or relocate Federal property from the warehouse.
Proven Economic Impact and Future Development
Today, our campus stands as powerful proof of what our 19 Pueblos can achieve when entrusted with our ancestral lands. What began with less than $1 million in annual revenue has grown into an enterprise generating over $60 million each year. We employ over 300 people--45% Native American--with tribal members in top management roles.
The IPCC is one of the top three most visited attractions in New Mexico, welcoming thousands of global visitors annually. It is the only place in North America to host traditional Native American dances every weekend year-round. Our campus includes a world-class museum, gallery spaces, a library and archives, an education department, and restaurant featuring award-winning Nativesourced Pueblo-inspired cuisine, and a trusted destination for authentic handcrafted Native American art.
In August 2024, we opened the Indian Pueblo Entrepreneur Complex, a social enterprise designed to support native and local entrepreneurs as they accomplish their goals for success. Over the past two years, our campus has expanded to include Indian Pueblo Kitchen at the Albuquerque International Sunport, a Tesla supercharging station, and a grocery store - La Montanita Co-op.
In December 2025, we were awarded a $30,000 grant from Visit Albuquerque for the Pueblo Pathways initiative, which will offer immersive monthly experiences including Pueblo-led storytelling, artisan markets, Indigenous culinary tastings, and cultural performances.
The three tracts identified in H.R. 6162, represent a significant opportunity to further expand our economic development mission. Our leadership has long been in discussions with the GSA about acquiring this adjacent property. With this additional land, the campus can reach its full potential by providing multiple access points and providing space for growth, increasing the number and types of economic development activities available to our 19 Pueblos and the broader community.
Cultural Significance and Healing
This legislation carries profound cultural meaning beyond its economic impact. The AIS was one of the oldest and largest off-reservation boarding schools in the United States. As documented by the Department of the Interior's 2022 Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative report, New Mexico had at least 43 federal Indian boarding schools--the third most of any state--and these institutions caused lasting trauma through policies of forced assimilation.
Returning this land to our 19 Pueblos represents an act of restorative justice. Where our children were once taken from their families and stripped of their languages, cultures, and identities, our Pueblos have built a campus that celebrates and sustains Pueblo culture, educates our Native youth in a culturally grounded environment, and generates economic opportunities rooted in Indigenous values. Each parcel returned brings our Pueblos closer to reclaiming a site of historical pain and transforming it into a beacon of cultural resilience and self-determination.
Broad Support
This legislation enjoys broad, bipartisan support. The effort to return the former AIS property to our 19 Pueblos has been championed by Republican and Democratic members alike over more than five decades. The City of Albuquerque has been a consistent partner in this process, supporting prior transfers and working collaboratively with our Pueblos on land development. The 19 Pueblos, the State of New Mexico along with business and economic development organizations have likewise supported our efforts.
Conclusion
Chairman Hurd, Ranking Member Leger Fernandez, and Committee Members, H.R. 6162 continues a proven process that has delivered strong results for our 19 Pueblos, the City of Albuquerque, and the State of New Mexico. Every prior transfer of the former AIS property has led to successful economic development, cultural preservation, and community investment. We have demonstrated exceptional stewardship of this land, growing a campus from a modest campus into a nationally recognized cultural and economic hub generating over $60 million annually and employing over 300 people.
This bill does not ask for anything new or untested. It follows the exact same framework that Congress has used successfully through Public Law 95-232, Public Law 110-453, and Public Law 114-69. It includes the same protections--the gaming prohibition, the preservation of existing encumbrances, and the requirement that the land be used for the educational, health, cultural, business, and economic development of our 19 Pueblos.
We are thankful that the IPCC and IPMI on behalf of the 19 Pueblos of New Mexico have earned the trust of Congress through decades of responsible development and proven results. H.R. 6162 will allow us to continue advancing our vision for this property and expand economic, educational, and cultural opportunities.
Thank you again for inviting me to testify today. I am happy to answer any questions the Subcommittee may have.
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Original text here: https://docs.house.gov/meetings/II/II24/20260304/119002/HHRG-119-II24-Wstate-FraguaM-20260304.pdf
BIA Director Mercier Testifies Before House Natural Resources Subcommittee
WASHINGTON, March 13 -- The House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Indian and Insular Affairs released the following testimony by Bryan Mercier, director of U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs, from a March 4, 2026, hearing on legislation to provide for the equitable settlement of Indian land disputes regarding land in Illinois (H.R. 2827), the Albuquerque Indian School Act (H.R. 6162) and Seneca Nation Law Enforcement Efficiency Act (H.R. 7065):* * *
Good morning, Chair Hurd, Ranking Member Leger Fernandez, and Members of the Subcommittee. I am Bryan Mercier, Director ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, March 13 -- The House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Indian and Insular Affairs released the following testimony by Bryan Mercier, director of U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs, from a March 4, 2026, hearing on legislation to provide for the equitable settlement of Indian land disputes regarding land in Illinois (H.R. 2827), the Albuquerque Indian School Act (H.R. 6162) and Seneca Nation Law Enforcement Efficiency Act (H.R. 7065): * * * Good morning, Chair Hurd, Ranking Member Leger Fernandez, and Members of the Subcommittee. I am Bryan Mercier, Directorof the Bureau of Indian Affairs at the Department of the Interior. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today on legislation affecting Tribal Nations.
H.R. 2827, To provide for the equitable settlement of certain Indian land disputes regarding land in Illinois, and for other purposes
This bill would confer jurisdiction to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims to hear, determine, and render judgment on a land claim of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma under its treaty with the United States known as the Treaty of Grouseland. Jurisdiction would expire within one year unless a claim is filed. The legislation further provides that the court render judgment without regard to the statute of limitations and any delay-based defense. Any and all future claims of the Tribe, tribal members, descendants, or predecessors in interest, to land in Illinois would be extinguished.
The Department recognizes the importance of resolving longstanding land claims. The Department looks forward to continuing to work with the Sponsor, the Subcommittee, and, as appropriate, the Department of Justice to ensure that any final legislation appropriately balances judicial access, finality, and the United States' trust obligations.
H.R. 6162, Albuquerque Indian School Act of 2025
H.R. 6162 would transfer approximately 9.89 acres of federal land into trust for the educational, health, cultural, business, and economic development of the 19 Pueblos in the State of New Mexico - the Acoma, Cochiti, Isleta, Jemez, Laguna, Nambe, Ohkay Owingeh (San Juan), Picuris, Pojoaque, San Felipe, San Ildefonso, Sandia, Santa Ana, Santa Clara, Santo Domingo, Taos, Tesuque, Zia, and Zuni. The federal land, managed by the General Services Administration, was historically part of the Albuquerque Indian School. The bill would prohibit gaming activities on the land.
The Department supports this legislation as it would further advance tribal sovereignty and self-determination. We welcome the opportunity to work with the Sponsor and the Subcommittee on technical modifications to ensure timely relocation of all federal tenants so that transfer can occur within the bill's 90-day timeline.
H.R. 7065, Seneca Nation Law Enforcement Efficiency Act
Subject to the written concurrence of the Attorney General of the United States and the Seneca Nation of Indians, this legislation would nullify the applicability of the Act of July 2, 1948, with respect to the reservations of the Seneca Nation of Indians in New York. Currently, the jurisdiction on the reservations of the Seneca Nation of Indians is concurrent between the United States, New York State, and the Seneca Nation. If enacted, this would remove New York State's concurrent jurisdiction.
The Department recognizes that jurisdictional clarity is essential to effective law enforcement and public safety in Indian Country. We support continued dialogue among the Department of Justice, the Seneca Nation, the State, and other affected stakeholders. The Department defers to the Department of Justice regarding the balance that this bill strikes and other concerns.
Conclusion
Thank you, and I am pleased to answer any questions the Subcommittee may have.
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Original text here: https://docs.house.gov/meetings/II/II24/20260304/119002/HHRG-119-II24-Wstate-MercierB-20260304.pdf
Legislative Priorities of Minority Veterans Senior Policy Advisor, Executive Director Testify Before House Veterans' Affairs Committee (Part 1 of 2)
WASHINGTON, March 13 -- The House Veterans' Affairs Committee released the following joint testimony by the Minority Veterans of America from a March 3, 2026, joint hearing with the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee entitled "Legislative Presentation of Veterans of Foreign Wars & Multi VSO: Student Veterans of America, Jewish War Veterans, Blinded Veterans Association, Fleet Reserve Association, Minority Veterans of America, National Association of County Veterans Service Officers, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America".The presenters were Sharon Arana, policy analyst, Executive Director ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, March 13 -- The House Veterans' Affairs Committee released the following joint testimony by the Minority Veterans of America from a March 3, 2026, joint hearing with the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee entitled "Legislative Presentation of Veterans of Foreign Wars & Multi VSO: Student Veterans of America, Jewish War Veterans, Blinded Veterans Association, Fleet Reserve Association, Minority Veterans of America, National Association of County Veterans Service Officers, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America". The presenters were Sharon Arana, policy analyst, Executive Directorand co-founder Lindsay Church and Col. Lorry M. Fenner (ret.), senior policy advisor.
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Chairmen Moran and Bost, Ranking Members Blumenthal and Takano, and Members of the Committees,
We are Minority Veterans of America (MVA), an intersectional movement of minority veterans committed to fostering belonging and advancing equity for service members and veterans who are racial, gender, sexual, and religious minorities. MVA works on behalf of more than 9.5 million minority veterans and is home to over 3,600 members across 49 states, four territories, three countries, and the District of Columbia. Through our programs, we directly serve veterans, service members, and their families. On behalf of our dedicated staff, volunteers, and the communities we represent, we extend our gratitude for the opportunity to contribute to this Joint Hearing.
Since our inception in 2017, MVA has worked to advance solutions that address the distinct and often compounded challenges that our communities face. We have witnessed firsthand how discrimination and inequities that minority veterans experienced in uniform frequently follow them into civilian life. Minority veterans encounter persistent barriers to healthcare, benefits, housing, and employment opportunities through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and other federal systems. These barriers are rooted in longstanding systemic inequities and discriminatory policies. Today, they are being exacerbated by the deliberate erosion of protections that once sought to mitigate these harms, and the politicization of our very existence under this administration.
Over the last year, these challenges have accelerated. Under President Donald Trump and Secretary Doug Collins, VA has been thrown into chaos. Thousands of employees, including clinicians and veteran staff, have been terminated or pushed out under the banner of "efficiency." These losses come despite pre-existing staffing shortages, which were already strained further by the expansion of benefits under the PACT Act.1 The consequences are tangible: longer wait times, overburdened providers, reduced continuity of care, and increased reliance on Community Care referrals.
Simultaneously, this administration has dismantled core anti-discrimination and equity protections within VA.2 Offices dedicated to advancing equitable access have been closed or weakened. Policies and public-facing materials related to gender identity, inclusion, and LGBTQIA+ visibility have been removed or reduced in many facilities. These actions create confusion, fear, and compound the barriers already faced by women, LGBTQIA+, Black, Indigenous, immigrant, and other racial and religious minority veterans seeking care.
Beyond VA, veterans rely on the broader social safety net to survive, including Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) benefits. Proposed and enacted cuts3 across these programs are not abstract budgetary adjustments; they are deliberate decisions that directly affect whether veterans and families can afford food, housing, and lifesaving medications. For veterans living on fixed or limited incomes, these supports are essential to stability and dignity.4 Reductions to these programs disproportionately harm minority veterans, who are more likely to face economic insecurity due to systemic barriers. When lawmakers vote to slash these supports, they are voting to abandon veterans who are already living on a knife's edge.
We are also deeply concerned about VA's interim final rule amending 38 C.F.R. Sec. 4.10, which directs examiners to evaluate veterans based on how their conditions present with medication, even when treatment masks the true severity of impairment. Although VA announced on February 19 that it is pausing enforcement, the rule remains in regulation.
Its continued presence creates uncertainty and undermines trust.
The mere issuance of this rule generated widespread panic in the veteran community.5 Veterans reported fearing they would need to reduce or discontinue essential, and often life-saving, medications - including antidepressants, antipsychotics, pain management, and seizure-control treatments - to accurately demonstrate the full severity of their conditions.
For many, this fear was destabilizing and dangerous.
A pause in enforcement does not resolve underlying harm. As long as the rule remains in regulation, veterans and clinicians cannot be certain how or when it may be applied. VA must fully withdraw this rule, and Congress must ensure that no veteran is ever forced to choose between following prescribed medical treatment and protecting their disability rating.
In the face of these overlapping crises, Congress must prioritize legislation that centers the unique needs of minority veterans and rejects the use of our communities as political bargaining chips. Executive actions, agency directives, and legislative riders that single out minority communities are not abstract policy debates. They determine whether minority veterans receive care or are pushed deeper into instability.
Below, we outline our legislative priorities in detail. Veterans' access to care and benefits is not only a moral obligation, it is a statutory and contractual commitment made by the federal government to those who served. While we feel the moral weight of this responsibility every day in our work, federal veteran policy ultimately rests on binding legal obligations. If moral responsibility alone does not compel action, the law must. The priorities that follow are necessary to meet those legal obligations, repair the damage already inflicted, and ensure that every veteran receives the care, dignity, and protections they were promised and have earned.
Health Equity
Health equity is not a luxury or a rhetorical device. It is a fundamental obligation to the people who have already paid with their bodies, minds, and families in service to this country. Yet over the past year, we have witnessed an aggressive campaign to roll back protections, restrict care, and erase the very data that makes inequities visible. These actions disproportionately impact minority veterans, who already experience higher rates of chronic illness, mental health conditions, service-connected disabilities, and premature mortality.6 For example, Black and Indigenous veterans experience chronic conditions at 1.5 times higher than white veterans, and women veterans are more likely to experience posttraumatic stress disorder than their male counterparts7.
Under the current administration, VA has:
* Removed or weakened anti-discrimination and equity language in hospital by-laws and internal policies, diminishing accountability for equal treatment8.
* Ended gender-affirming care with no plans to restore it, and publicly framed the rollback as necessary to protect other veterans' benefits, pitting gender diverse veterans against the broader veteran community9.
* Shut down or hollowed out offices responsible for identifying and addressing racial and gender disparities in care and benefits, including units focused on equity assurance and civil rights enforcement10.
* Adopted an interim disability rating rule, amending 38 C.F.R. Sec. 4.10, that instructs clinicians to evaluate veterans based on their medicated, managed state rather than the underlying severity of their conditions, effectively treating successful treatment as justification for reduced compensation. As mentioned above, Veterans have reported fearing they must stop life-saving medications to maintain their disability ratings11.
Health equity cannot exist in this environment. It requires durable protections that cannot be erased by administrative action. Specifically, Congress must ensure:
* Strong, enforceable anti-discrimination protections in statute, not merely policy guidance subject to reversal.
* Robust demographic data collection, transparent reporting, and public accountability to identify and remedy disparities. Congress should mandate annual equity audits with publicly reported results
* Protection and expansion of reproductive and gender affirming care within VA's medical benefits package.
* Safeguards against rating practices that penalize veterans for adhering to prescribed treatments or taking necessary medications.
* Mandatory cultural competency, anti-bias, and LGBTQIA+ care training for all VA staff and contractors, including third-party disability compensation examiners.
* A written "no retaliation" policy for veterans who report inequities or discrimination in care.
Minority veterans, especially those at the intersection of multiple identities, face compounded risks and require policies that account for these overlapping disparities.
Without these measures, health equity will remain aspirational rather than operational.
Executive Orders Targeting Transgender Americans and Impacts on Veterans
The cumulative effect of executive orders and agency guidance targeting transgender Americans has been devastating for transgender and nonbinary veterans. Within VA facilities, these directives have already resulted in:
* Removal of gender identity language and inclusive signage, signaling retreat from previously affirmed protections12.
* Rescission of VHA Directive 1341, triggering widespread disruptions in care that veterans are only discovering as they encounter sudden, unannounced barriers13.
* Widespread confusion among patients and providers about whether gender-affirming care will continue, under what conditions, and with what exceptions14.
* Politicization of critical, evidence-based, and life-saving medical care15.
* Increased harassment and hostility toward transgender veterans and staff in some facilities, as inflammatory rhetoric from political leaders filters into clinical settings.
These harms compound existing disparities. Nationally, transgender people face elevated rates of suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and suicide completion. Transgender veterans face greater risk, due in part to service-connected trauma, military sexual trauma, and systemic discrimination in housing, employment, and healthcare. Peer reviewed studies show that transgender veterans are over three times more likely to report suicide attempts than cisgender veterans16. Against this backdrop of heightened vulnerability, the rescission of VHA Directive 1341 in 2025 has already disrupted access to medically necessary gender-affirming care, creating new barriers that transgender and gender diverse veterans are only discovering when they seek treatment.
It is critical to note that VA did not eliminate gender-affirming care itself. Treatments such as hormone therapy, reconstructive surgeries, and related interventions remain widely available and routinely provided to cisgender veterans. Cisgender patients, in fact, use gender-affirming medical interventions more often across clinical contexts17, including hormone therapy for menopause and endocrine disorders, chest and pelvic reconstruction, and procedures that restore gendered embodiment following illness or injury. Research further underscores that gender-affirming care is routinely used across diverse patient groups and is part of standard medical practice18. VA eliminated these services only when used to treat gender dysphoria, effectively restricting care based not on the treatment, but on who the patient is. This is discrimination in practice and impact, and it places transgender veterans at even greater risk in a system where their health outcomes are already disproportionately poor.
Leading medical authorities have consistently affirmed that gender-affirming care is medically necessary and associated with improved mental health outcomes and reduced suicidality. The American Medical Association notes that evidence shows transgender and gender-diverse individuals experience significantly poorer mental health outcomes, including elevated depression and suicidality, and that access to gender-affirming care is associated with improved health and well-being19. The American Psychological Association has adopted formal policies supporting the use of evidence-based gender-affirming care20.
The World Professional Association for Transgender Health continues to publish internationally recognized clinical standards underscoring the medical necessity of this care21.
For transgender veterans, these clinical realities intersect with service-connected disabilities, PTSD, military sexual trauma, and moral injury, creating heightened risk when medically necessary care is delayed or denied22. Veterans in rural areas, veterans of color, and those facing economic instability experience even greater barriers and disproportionately severe consequences. When VA restricts or destabilizes access to gender-affirming care, it is not engaging in ideological disagreement. It is making a policy choice that endangers veterans' lives.
When VA leadership publicly questions, delays, or restricts access to gender-affirming care based solely on who they don't like, they are not engaging in abstract policy disagreement.
They are signaling to transgender veterans that their healthcare - and their lives - are contingent on shifting political priorities, creating fear and instability that can have deadly consequences.
Congress must act to provide clarity and permanence by:
* Codifying nondiscrimination protections in VA statute, including gender identity and sexual orientation, through legislation such as the Veterans Healthcare Equality Act of 2025 (H.R. 5635).
* Directing VA to restore, protect, and fully implement gender affirming care within the medical benefits package, including hormone therapy, surgical care, prosthetics, and mental health services.
* Prohibiting the use of executive orders or internal directives to eliminate or restrict access to gender-affirming care absent explicit statutory change.
* Ensuring the dismantling of DEI programs does not translate into de facto discrimination in referrals, clinical decisions, or facility-level policies, including requiring ongoing cultural competency and anti-bias training for all VA personnel.
* Mandating that VA report regularly to Congress on the implementation, access, true costs, and outcomes of gender-affirming care to ensure transparency and accountability.
* Including explicit protections for minority veterans at the cross-sections of multiple identities, like transgender veterans of color, to address compounded disparities and systemic barriers.
Access to gender-affirming care is not optional or experimental. It is a life-saving medical intervention that is integral to the health, safety, and dignity of transgender veterans. VA must treat it as such, in both policy and practice. Veterans should never have to wonder whether the care they rely on will survive the next election cycle. Stability, clarity, and equal protection under the law are not special privileges, they are part of the promise made to those who served.
Disability Ratings, Medication, and 38 C.F.R. Sec. 4.10
VA's interim final rule amending 38 C.F.R. Sec. 4.10 was a serious misstep. By directing evaluators to rate veterans based on how their conditions appeared while medicated, the rule signaled that following a treatment plan could be used against veterans when determining disability compensation. Even though Secretary Collins has now announced that VA will rescind the rule outright, the damage is done. Its publication caused real fear and distress among veterans who believed they might have to reduce or stop life saving medications in order to "prove" the severity of their conditions. It also fits a troubling pattern of VA under Secretary Collins of moving too quickly, minimizing and dismissing legitimate veteran concerns when things go wrong, and only reversing course when public outcry becomes overwhelming or oversight demands it. Veterans deserve a department that treats their stability, trust, and safety as a first order priority, not an afterthought that is addressed only after harm has already occurred.
Comprehensive Reproductive and Family Planning Services, Including Abortion
The Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization erroneously overturned the federal constitutional right to abortion and set off a wave of state bans and restrictions that fall hardest on those who cannot control where they live or serve, including service members and many veterans. In response to this crisis, the Department of Veterans Affairs issued a rule in September 2022 furnishing abortion counseling and, in certain circumstances, abortion care to veterans and CHAMPVA beneficiaries23. That rule became a lifeline for veterans in states with total or near-total bans.
In his confirmation hearing, Secretary Collins signaled that as Secretary, he intended to revisit VA's abortion rule. The first concrete step came when VA issued a proposed rule in August 202524, initiating a rulemaking process that drew thousands of public comments, many expressing deep concern about rolling back abortion access for veterans and CHAMPVA recipients. Despite this overwhelming feedback, the administration moved forward. Over the holidays, the Department of Justice issued guidance reinterpreting VA's authority25, which VA relied upon to effectively ban abortion on the spot. VA subsequently finalized a rule that removes abortion counseling and care from the medical benefits package entirely, including in cases of rape, incest, and health endangerment.
The final rule has already created fear and instability for the nearly 300,000 women and gender-diverse veterans of reproductive age who rely on VHA for care, and for CHAMPVA beneficiaries who have no alternative pathway to coverage. These veterans now face the most extreme abortion restriction across federal programs and live in a fractured reproductive health landscape where state bans collide with federal rollbacks, leaving them with few, if any, safe options.
Congress has a clear path to intervene. A Congressional Review Act resolution (HJ Resolution 144/SJ Resolution 103) has already been filed. We urge Members to support the CRA and restore abortion access for veterans and CHAMPVA beneficiaries in cases of rape, incest, and threats to the patient's health or life. Veterans and their families should never have fewer rights in the country they served to protect, nor should their access to lifesaving care depend on the political ideology of a single administration.
Congress must:
* Reverse VA's rollback through the CRA and codify abortion counseling and care in law.
* Ensure that contraception including emergency contraception, and comprehensive family planning services are fully covered and accessible, and proactively available across all VA facilities and community care networks, including in rural, remote, and underserved areas.
* Expand access to assisted reproductive technologies (ART), including in vitro fertilization (IVF), for all veterans who need them, not limited by narrow service-connection criteria that disproportionately disadvantage women and minority veterans.
Legislative Ask:
* Support and advance H.J. Res. 144 and S.J. Res. 103, the joint Congressional Review Act resolutions to overturn VA's rollback and restore abortion access for veterans and CHAMPVA beneficiaries.
* Support H.R. 4876, the Reproductive Freedom for Veterans Act, which would codify abortion counseling and care in statute.
* Support and advance H.R. 220, the Veterans Infertility Treatment Act of 2025, and related legislation to expand and stabilize access to family-building services for veterans and their families. Congress should also consider additional statutory protections ensuring that reproductive healthcare benefits cannot be rolled back or restricted by administrative action.
Access to comprehensive reproductive care, including abortion, contraception, and fertility services, is essential to health equity, autonomy, and the well-being of women and minority veterans. Without these protections, veterans are forced to navigate life-altering healthcare decisions based on politics rather than medical need.
Maternal Healthcare for Veterans
Maternal health is veteran health. Service related injuries, toxic exposures, PTSD, and chronic stress all shape pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum recovery. A 2024 report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that severe maternal morbidity among veterans nearly doubled between 2011 and 2020, rising from 93.5 to 184.6 per 10,000 VA-paid delivery hospitalizations, with the highest rates among Black veterans. This demonstrates not only a growing public health crisis but also a stark racial disparity that requires immediate, targeted intervention26.
This crisis did not start with the current administration, but it is being exacerbated by workforce cuts, attacks on equity initiatives, and uncertainty around reproductive rights.
The Maternal Care Coordinator (MCC) program has helped many pregnant and postpartum veterans navigate fragmented systems, yet GAO has already identified gaps in monitoring and mental health screening that need to be addressed. Reductions in staff and dismantling DEI infrastructure simultaneously amplify the risk of preventable harm, particularly for minority and rural veterans.
VA must:
* Fully implement GAO's recommendations on maternal health monitoring, including tracking severe maternal morbidity and perinatal outcomes by race, ethnicity, gender, and other relevant characteristics, and strengthening perinatal mental health screening and follow-up.
* Protect and expand the MCC program with sufficient staffing, specialized training, and authority to coordinate complex care across VA and community networks, particularly for minority and rural veterans who face compounding barriers.
* Ensure that maternal health equity is embedded in VA's broader suicide prevention, toxic exposure, reproductive health, and women's health strategies, rather than treated as an afterthought.
* Require standardized reporting and accountability measures for maternal health outcomes, including disparities, adverse events, and patient satisfaction.
A truly comprehensive reproductive health system for veterans must include abortion care, contraception, IVF, and other assisted reproductive technologies, adoption support, and robust maternal and perinatal mental health services. Anything less is a political choice that abandons veterans and ignores evidence-based medical needs.
Demographic Data Preservation
Efforts to understand and support veterans through demographic data have been underway since the 1840 census, which first tracked Revolutionary War and War of 1812 veterans by age and disability27. Over the decades, these efforts have evolved into progressively detailed data collection systems that inform policy, funding, and clinical care for an increasingly diverse veteran population. Today, demographic data is the backbone of modern, equitable veteran care, enabling programs and services that meet the needs of all veterans.
By providing insights into patterns of service-connected injury, disability, and healthcare utilization, demographic data allows VA to identify disparities, allocate resources effectively, and design targeted interventions. It also underpins compliance with statutory obligations, civil rights enforcement, quality assurance, and Congressional oversight.
Over the last year, however, the administration has taken deliberate steps to dismantle this infrastructure, steps that threaten the visibility, safety, and health outcomes of minority veterans. VA's removal of gender identity from medical records, narrow demographic reporting, and restrict the use of equity-related data elements directly obstruct clinicians' ability to deliver safe, evidence-based, trauma-informed care and impede VA's ability to identify patterns of discrimination, disparities, and systemic harm.
For transgender and nonbinary veterans, the removal or suppression of gender identity data poses immediate clinical risks. Providers rely on this information to determine appropriate screenings, anticipate medication interactions, and provide individualized care.
When clinicians are forced to rely solely on birth-assigned sex, veterans face increased risk of misdiagnosis, missed or incorrect preventive screenings, and inappropriate or unsafe treatment plans that can be life-threatening. These data gaps also undermine system-level prevention efforts. The most recent VA Suicide Prevention Annual Report was released months late and removed the critical demographic data necessary for cross-tabulation to best understand suicide risk among minority and underrepresented veterans. Without accurate and complete data, VA cannot design or evaluate targeted suicide prevention interventions or fulfill its responsibility to protect the veterans most at risk. Removing data about problems the Department does not want to acknowledge does not make those problems disappear. It conceals risk, weakens oversight, and leaves the very veterans most in need without the protections that accurate reporting is meant to provide.
The broader erosion of demographic data collection echoes harmful historical practices, including the erasure of racial and ethnic data in earlier decades, which concealed disparities in GI Bill access, disability compensation, and home loan approvals28. When data disappears, inequities become easier to deny, harder to fix, and disproportionately harm the communities that already face the greatest structural barriers to care. Preserving and expanding accurate demographic data is essential to ensuring that all veterans receive equitable care, protections, and benefits.
Congress must:
* Require VA to maintain, publicly report, and use complete demographic data, including race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability status, and socioeconomic indicators.
* Prevent any administration from restricting or eliminating demographic data essential to clinical care, oversight, civil rights enforcement, and quality assurance.
* Mandate that gender identity, sexual orientation, and other key data elements remain accessible to providers in the electronic health record for clinical decision-making.
* Ensure that VA's reporting systems, including those tracking harassment, assault, adverse clinical events, and disparities in benefits administration, use standardized, consistent demographic fields and remain transparent to Congress for oversight and accountability.
* Require routine analyses of disparities and publicly available equity dashboards to allow Congress, advocates, and the public to monitor progress and systemic inequities.
Without accurate, complete demographic data, VA cannot meet its statutory obligations, and minority veterans cannot receive equitable care. Preserving this data is not merely an analytical requirement, it is an essential safeguard against discrimination, erasure, and preventable harm.
Dismantling of DEI and Health Equity Programs
Over the past year, VA has dismantled the equity programs that were created to ensure fair, safe, and competent care for all veterans. DEI offices have been closed, staff placed on leave, contracts supporting equity initiatives canceled, and trainings on culturally competent and trauma-informed care eliminated29. These changes were made in response to federal directives to end DEI initiatives across government, and they represent one of the most significant and harmful reversals of equity progress in history.
This is not administrative streamlining. It is the removal of the very systems designed to identify, monitor, and address disparities in care and benefits. Without DEI and health equity infrastructure, VA loses its ability to monitor inequities in disability compensation, maternal health, chronic disease management, mental health care, and gender-based safety. The long-term impact will be deeper disparities, poorer health outcomes, and widening gaps in trust and access for minority veterans.
Congress must:
* Restore and protect VA equity and health equity programs, including dedicated offices, staffing, community contracts, and funding to support culturally competent care, data collection, and equity audits.
* Ensure that VA maintains robust anti-discrimination protections, inclusive and evidence-based clinical training, and accountability mechanisms for all staff.
* Conduct proactive oversight to prevent any administration from dismantling or under-resourcing the infrastructure necessary to identify, track, and correct disparities in access, care quality, and benefits delivery.
* Mandate public reporting on equity initiatives, including progress metrics, staffing levels, and program outcomes, to ensure transparency and accountability to Congress and the veteran community.
Eliminating DEI does not reduce bureaucracy. It endangers veterans, undermines trust, and weakens VA's ability to fulfill its statutory and ethical obligations. Rebuilding and protecting this capacity is essential to ensuring equitable, safe, and high-quality care for every veteran.
Housing and Homelessness: The Need for Equitable Solutions
Stable housing is a basic precondition for health, safety, and successful transition after military service. The latest federal data tells a complicated story. On a single night in January 2024, 32,882 veterans were experiencing homelessness, an eight percent decline from 2023 and a 55 percent drop since 200930. Veterans are the one major population group that continues to see reductions in homelessness, even as overall homelessness in the United States rose 18 percent to roughly 770,000 people31.
That progress is real. It is the result of sustained, bipartisan investments in local continuums of care and in evidence-based programs like Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) and VA's supporting housing program operated in conjunction with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD-VASH). It is also fragile, and it has never been evenly shared.
Black veterans remain dramatically overrepresented32 in the homeless veteran population, making up about 31% of homeless veterans while representing roughly 14% of the overall veteran population. Earlier analyses found Black male veterans at 34% of homeless veterans but only about 12% of all veterans33, a disparity that persists across systems. This disparity reflects the cumulative effects of structural racism in housing, employment, lending, and the criminal legal system - systems that intersect with veteran status and compound risk.
Gender and identity based disparities are equally clear. In the 2024 Point in Time count, 88.8 percent of veterans experiencing homelessness identified as men, 10.1 percent as women, and approximately 1 percent identified as transgender, nonbinary, or another gender identity, even though transgender and gender diverse veterans make up only about 0.1 percent of the overall veteran population34. Veterans who identified as a gender outside of the traditional binary system were less likely to be sheltered and made up 1.8% of the unsheltered homeless veteran population, a pattern HUD itself notes may reflect both heightened vulnerability and shelter policies that fail to respect gender identity.
Transgender veterans already face elevated risk. Earlier HUD analyses documented an 89% increase in transgender veteran homelessness between 2015 and 201835, even as overall veteran homelessness declined.
Instead of strengthening protections, recent federal policy changes have introduced new dangers in emergency shelter and housing placement. HUD has announced that it will stop enforcing the Equal Access Rule (77 FR 5662, 2012, see also 81 FR 64763, 2016), which required HUD-funded shelters and housing programs to serve individuals in accordance with their gender identity and prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status36. At the same time, HUD has reportedly stopped investigations into some gender identity discrimination complaints37 and has begun dismissing cases for lack of jurisdiction, despite clear allegations of transgender individuals being denied shelter or evicted because of who they are38.
These policy shifts are not neutral. When HUD signals that gender identity protections no longer need to be enforced, it effectively invites shelters to revert to placement based on sex assigned at birth or to exclude transgender people entirely. For veterans, that can mean being housed in facilities where they are misgendered, harassed, assaulted, or turned away altogether. Transgender and nonbinary veterans already report high rates of unsafe or hostile experiences in congregate shelters and often choose unsheltered homelessness and living in their vehicles over an environment where they are not recognized or protected39.
At the same time, the administration has proposed changes to more than $3 billion in Continuum of Care grant funding that would shift resources away from permanent supportive housing and Housing First models, impose work requirements, and restrict funding to organizations that serve transgender communities and other marginalized groups40. A coalition of states has sued to block these changes, warning that they could strip housing from more than 170,000 people and disproportionately harm LGBTQIA+ people and other vulnerable populations (see State of Washington, et al. v. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 25-cv-626, 636). Housing First and permanent supportive housing models have repeatedly been shown to reduce chronic homelessness among veterans; weakening them risks reversing a decade of measurable progress.
For minority veterans, these decisions send a clear message: if you are Black, Indigenous, a veteran of color, a woman, or identify as a member of the LGBTQIA+, community, you are more likely to experience homelessness, more likely to be unsheltered, and now less likely to be protected when seeking emergency shelter or permanent housing. That is unacceptable in any system, but it is especially intolerable from agencies whose missions are grounded in honoring veteran service and sacrifice.
Congress must:
* Protect and expand HUD-VASH, SSVF, and other evidence-based, Housing
First-aligned programs that have driven the decline in veteran homelessness, with explicit equity benchmarks to reach veterans disproportionately affected by homelessness.
* Codify gender identity-based access to emergency shelter and housing services for all HUD- and VA-funded programs, restoring and strengthening the Equal Access protections so that veterans are housed according to their gender identity.
* Prohibit the use of federal homeless assistance funds to discriminate on the basis of gender identity, sexual orientation, race, religion, or marital status, and restore full enforcement of civil rights investigations for housing discrimination.
* Require VA and HUD to collect and report disaggregated data on veteran homelessness by race, gender, sexual orientation, disability status, and geography, and to develop targeted, time-bound plans to close documented gaps.
* Conduct robust oversight hearings on proposed funding and regulatory changes to ensure that evidence-based housing interventions are not weakened or politicized.
Located in Seattle, Washington, MVA operates Q'mmunity House41, the nation's only transitional housing program created by and for LGBTQIA+ veterans. Q'mmunity House is home to five individual private rooms designed to provide safe, affirming transitional housing for LGBTQIA+ veterans. In the single year since opening, we have reached full capacity, supported two graduates into permanent housing, and we now continue to receive more placement requests than available beds. The sustained demand reflects a clear and urgent reality: Identify-affirming housing is not a niche service, it is a life-saving intervention for veterans who cannot safely access traditional shelter systems.
As federal shelter rules weaken and as transgender service members face renewed barriers to service under unjust policies such as the Military Trans Ban, the need for safe, affirming transitional housing has increased. Q'mmunity House is proof of what is possible when veterans have access to housing where they are protected, respected, and not forced to choose between shelter and their personal safety.
Ending veteran homelessness is possible. The last decade proves that targeted investments and evidence-based housing programs can drive measurable reductions when they are protected and fully funded. The question now before Congress is whether it will reinforce the policies that work, restore essential civil rights protections, and ensure equitable access to housing - or allow preventable policy reversals to push the most vulnerable veterans back into danger.
Suicide Prevention: Addressing a National Crisis
As VA and Congress have routinely recognized, suicide remains one of the most urgent public health crises facing veterans. The VA's 2026 Suicide Prevention Annual Report42, released later than expected and without the demographic detail typically needed for targeted prevention, showed that veteran suicide deaths have continued to rise. The steepest increases remain among younger veterans, women veterans, and Indigenous veterans. The report also highlighted persistent concerns about undercounting and incomplete data, but it did not include the identity-based cross-tabs that are essential for understanding suicide risk among LGBTQIA+ and gender-diverse veterans.
The absence of this information is not a minor omission. Accurate identity-based data is necessary to identify disparities, evaluate interventions, and prevent deaths. Removing or withholding these data points creates critical gaps in understanding in the system and makes it harder to reach the populations most at risk.
These findings reflect a system under extraordinary strain. They also reveal a growing disconnect between veterans who need timely, culturally competent mental health care and the institutions responsible for providing it. Suicide prevention cannot succeed if the infrastructure required to reach the most vulnerable veterans is weakened or dismantled, or if the data needed to guide interventions is incomplete.
Tailored Strategies for Vulnerable Populations
Suicide risk is not distributed evenly across the veteran population. Racial minority veterans, LGBTQIA+ veterans, women veterans, and veterans living in rural areas face compounding risk factors, including discrimination, social isolation, barriers to culturally competent care, economic instability, and limited access to mental health services.
The erosion of DEI and health equity programs within VA has removed critical infrastructure designed to identify and address these disparities. Without disaggregated data, culturally informed outreach, and equity-focused care coordination, VA's ability to close gaps in suicide risk is severely compromised.
At the same time, workforce shortages and staff reductions have increased delays in mental health appointments, reduced continuity of care, and placed additional strain on the Veterans Crisis Line and community-based providers43. Suicide prevention depends on timely access to care; delays and fragmentation increase and compound risk.
Targeted strategies must include:
* Culturally informed, trauma-responsive mental healthcare that reflects veterans' identities and lived experiences.
* Strengthened peer support programs and networks, particularly for LGBTQIA+, ethnic and racial minority, and women veterans.
* Expanded access to telehealth and broadband-supported services to reach rural and homebound veterans.
* Reliable care coordination for veterans managing complex conditions, including PTSD, substance use disorders, chronic pain, and service-connected conditions.
* Sustained investment in community partnerships that are trusted by minority veterans and can provide identity-affirming support.
The 2026 Suicide Prevention Report highlights the need for sustained, identity-informed interventions. Yet recent policy decisions, including workforce reductions, restrictions on equity programming, and attacks on inclusive care, move VA in the opposite direction.
Outdoor Recreation as a Suicide Prevention Tool
Outdoor recreation is an evidence-informed protective factor against suicide. Time in nature has been associated with reducing stress, improving mood regulation, creating stronger social connections, and decreased feelings of isolations, key drivers of suicide risk.
Veterans consistently report that structured outdoor programs provide relief from hypervigilance, foster community, and create a renewed sense of purpose44.
For many minority veterans, however, access to outdoor spaces is limited by cost, geography, transportation barriers, disability access limitations, and the legacy of exclusion that marginalized communities have historically experienced in public lands and outdoor culture. Without intentional outreach and equity-focused program design, these benefits are not evenly distributed.
The Congressionally Mandated Task Force on Outdoor Recreation for Veterans (Task Force) developed more than two dozen recommendations to expand access, improve infrastructure, and integrate nature-based programming into clinical and community pathways. These recommendations represented a meaningful opportunity to strengthen upstream suicide prevention.
However, the Task Force's work was derailed last year when the administration stalled the report's release and directed the removal of its equity-based recommendations45. In protest, MVA resigned from the Task Force after the report was pulled back under the guise of bureaucracy for further politically motivated review, delaying its release and undermining its purpose by excluding the very recommendations designed to support the veterans who face the greatest barriers to outdoor access.
Congress must:
* Ensure full access to the complete unedited Task Force report.
* Protect the integrity of its recommendations, including those addressing equity and access barriers.
* Safeguard future task forces and advisory bodies from political interference that undermines evidence-based findings.
* Create a responsible office or program within VA responsible for continuing the critical work of the Outdoor Recreation Task Force.
* Integrate outdoor recreation and nature-based programming into VA suicide prevention strategies as complementary, preventitive interventions; not as substitutes for clinical care, but as vital components of a comprehensive approach.
Outdoor recreation is not a symbolic gesture. It is a community-supported, evidence-informed protective intervention that strengthens connection, belonging, and resilience. Veterans cannot afford to lose strategies that prevent crises before they occur.
EXPLORE Act Oversight
The Expanding Public Lands Outdoor Recreation Experiences Act (EXPLORE) Act remains one of the most important bipartisan efforts to expand outdoor recreation access for veterans and all Americans. Its goals are to promote mental health, community connection and overall well-being through structured outdoor programming However, full implementation will only succeed if Congress exercises strong, ongoing oversight.
Oversight must ensure that equity requirements are preserved in implementation plans, that grants and programs are distributed to reach women, LGBTQIA+, and minority veterans as well as those living in rural or under-resourced areas, and that program outcomes are transparent and measurable. Without this oversight, the EXPLORE Act's potential to reduce isolation, improve mental health, and contribute meaningfully to suicide prevention will not be fully realized.
Suicide prevention requires more than statements of commitment. It requires sustained investment in evidence-based, identity-informed programs; protection and expansion of proven interventions;, and rigorous monitoring to ensure that all veterans, particularly those historically excluded from outdoor and community resources, can participate safely and fully..
Congress must take decisive action to:
* Monitor agency progress on EXPLORE Act implementation, especially Title II, Subtitle B (Sections 221-226), and enforce equity mandates.
* Protect funding for outdoor recreation programs that serve vulnerable populations, including minority, women, LGBTQIA+, and rural veterans.
* Ensure that metrics and reporting track participation, access, and outcomes for historically underserved communities.
* Integrate EXPLORE Act programming into broader VA and community suicide prevention strategies as part of a holistic, preventative approach.
The most recent VA Suicide Prevention Report underscores the urgency of these actions. By safeguarding the EXPLORE Act's veteran and equity-focused requirements and ensuring full, transparent implementation, Congress can help create a preventative framework that saves lives and strengthens well-being for all veterans.
VA Sexual Assault and Gender Based Harassment Prevention
Veterans cannot safely access care in a system that tolerates sexual harassment and assault. For women, LGBTQIA+, and racial minority veterans in particular, harassment at VA facilities is not an abstraction. It is an everyday barrier that drives people out of care, retraumatizes survivors, and destroys trust.
Oversight and Implementation of the Deborah Sampson Act Section 5303
Section 5303 of the Deborah Sampson Act required VA to create a comprehensive policy to prevent and respond to sexual harassment and sexual assault in VA facilities and to report regularly to Congress. VA issued VHA Directive 5019.02 on harassment and sexual assault prevention in 2022, but implementation has been inconsistent and is now being actively undermined.
Under Secretary Collins, VA inactivated required harassment prevention and accountability training for staff, then scrambled to replace it after public scrutiny. Ranking Member Blumenthal has documented that required trainings were halted or scaled back even as reports of harassment and assault surged46.
It is not sufficient for VA leadership to assert that there is "no wrong door" for reporting when the Department has simultaneously dismantled the very mechanisms that give such a framework substance. A reporting pathway is only meaningful if the underlying infrastructure including mandated training, clear investigative protocols, functional accountability systems, and reliable demographic data, remains intact. In their absence, the promise of accessibility becomes purely rhetorical.
Over the past year, VA has suspended or weakened required harassment-prevention and accountability training, inactivated or hollowed out equity offices responsible for monitoring disparate impacts, and narrowed or removed demographic data fields essential to identifying patterns of gender-based harassment. These actions have occurred at the same time that reports of sexual harassment and assault have increased. That combination of rising incidents and reduced prevention capacity represents a fundamental failure of compliance, oversight, and risk management.
This is not a partisan critique. It is a structural one. Regardless of administration, veterans and employees have a right to enter a VA facility without exposure to foreseeable harm. A functional harassment-prevention system is not discretionary; it is a statutory obligation under the Deborah Sampson Act, a workplace safety requirement under federal employment law, and an ethical prerequisite for delivering healthcare. Veterans seek medical treatment, not environments where they must navigate hostility or vulnerability to abuse.
VA must restore and enforce the training, data systems, and accountability structures required to make the concept of "no wrong door" legally meaningful and operationally credible.
Key Data Points from Recent Reports
Recent data show a sharp increase in reported harassment and assault at VA facilities:
* Reports of sexual harassment at VA facilities more than doubled between 2021 and 2024, rising from 600 to 1,541 cases, according to the most recent report to Congress47.
* Allegations of sexual assault at VA facilities rose from 323 to 472 in the same period.
* A 2025 VA research snapshot found that, even after years of work, ten percent of women veteran primary care users reported harassment in VA healthcare facilities in 202348. This is an improvement from twenty five percent in 2017, but it still means one in ten women veterans experienced harassment in the place they rely on for care.
These numbers represent real people. They are not simply the result of better reporting.
Veterans describe catcalling, leering, comments on their bodies, and being made to feel unwelcome or unsafe at VA because of their gender or identity.
At the same time, broader VA safety reports show large increases in overall safety incidents in VA facilities. Rising sexual harassment and assault incidents are occurring in a context of weakened oversight, canceled contracts, and attacks on equity and civil rights infrastructure.
The Threat of Erasing Gender Based Harassment Data
The crisis is compounded by efforts to erase or restrict demographic and gender identity data. When VA removes gender identity fields, narrows demographic reporting, or dismantles equity focused programs, the Department undermines its own ability to identify patterns of gender based harassment and assault. Incidents that target gender and sexual minority veterans cannot be fully tracked or addressed if VA does not allow providers and reporting systems to recognize who is being harmed.
Without complete demographic data, Congress cannot see which facilities have disproportionate problems, which populations are most at risk, or whether VA interventions are working. Erasing gender identity in records does not make harassment neutral. It makes it invisible.
Addressing Gender Based Harassment and Assault in VA Facilities
VA has policies on paper, but policies without enforcement and accountability are meaningless. To fulfill the promise of the Deborah Sampson Act and meet its statutory obligations, VA must:
* Reactivate and strengthen mandatory harassment and sexual assault prevention training for all staff, including leadership, with specific content on gender-based harassment and LGBTQIA+ harassment.
* Maintain clear, accessible, survivor centered reporting channels that do not force veterans to navigate multiple offices or repeatedly recount traumatic experiences.
* Provide transparent, timely, and historical data to Congress and the public on harassment, sexual assault, and safety incidents by facility, including information about outcomes, remediation, and discipline.
* Restore and protect demographic and equity data so that VA can identify which veterans bear the highest burden of harassment and violence.
Ensuring Safe and Inclusive Environments for All Veterans
No veteran should have to choose between their safety and their healthcare. Yet, for many women, LGBTQIA+, and racial minority veterans, that is exactly the choice they face when they walk into some VA facilities. If Congress allows harassment prevention training to be shut down, equity offices to be dismantled, and critical data to be erased, then the protections promised in the Deborah Sampson Act will exist only on paper.
Congress must hold VA leadership accountable for full, robust implementation of Section 2303, insist on honest, complete, and historically robust reporting, and make clear that a VA facility is not truly "accessible" if veterans have to endure harassment or assault to receive care.
Department of Defense Priorities
While the Department of Defense (DoD) is outside of the jurisdiction of these Committees, the challenges minority veterans face inside VA often begin long before they enter the veteran system. The conditions within the DoD shape long-term health outcomes, access to benefits, and trust in federal institutions. Addressing inequities in VA care requires confronting the policies in the military that create or worsen those harms.
Ending Sexual Violence and Harassment in the Military
Sexual violence and harassment remain pervasive across the military, and recent actions by the Department of Defense have intensified, rather than mitigated, this crisis. Despite statutory reforms designed to strengthen independent prosecution pathways, DoD's most recent reporting continues to show high rates of unwanted sexual contact, severe underreporting, and persistent retaliation against survivors49. The burden falls most heavily on lower enlisted service members, women, LGBTQIA+ service members, and service members of color.
Under current leadership, the Department has taken actions that undermine confidence in its commitment to prevent sexual violence. The Secretary of Defense himself has been the subject of wide-spread publicly reported allegations of rape and sexual harassment which were asked about extensively in his confirmation hearings before this body, and he was still appointed50. In addition, he invited individuals with widely reported histories of violent or sexual misconduct allegations, including former UFC coach James Krause, to address service members at the Pentagon51. He also brought in his longtime pastor, Mark Burns, a figure known for extremist rhetoric and inflammatory statements about LGBTQIA+ people, women, and other marginalized communities52. These choices communicate a clear signal about the Department's values and priorities. They create an environment where survivors reasonably question whether senior leadership is committed to preventing sexual violence, upholding civil rights protections, or ensuring the safety and dignity of those who serve.
The real-world consequences of these failures are visible and devastating. The murder of Specialist Denisha Montgomery Resendez after reporting sexual assault to her chain of command remains one of the starkest examples of systemic breakdown53. At Fort Hood, a physician facing multiple allegations of misconduct was allowed to continue treating patients for years54. At Joint Base Lewis-McChord, another doctor accused of sexual misconduct and retaliation remained in practice despite extensive complaints55. Each case illustrates a recurring institutional pattern of delayed response, inadequate safeguards, and failures in oversight.
These harms have been compounded by the Department's decision to pause and revise sexual harassment and assault prevention training in order to remove references to gender identity, LGBTQIA+ vulnerability, and other protected characteristics. Service members have reported uncertainty about reporting processes, confusion about available protections, increased fear of retaliation and reliance on outside structures and organizations for support. These changes reverse years of incremental progress on behalf of the survivor community and elevate long-term mental health risks that follow service members into veteran status.
Congress must ensure that the Department of Defense maintains independent prosecution pathways, enforces robust anti retaliation protections, and restores comprehensive prevention training that accurately reflects the realities of sexual violence and the populations at highest risk. Without these safeguards, DoD cannot meet its statutory obligations or ensure that service members are protected from harm while in uniform.
Lifting Barriers to Transgender Service
Policies that restrict or ban transgender individuals from military service harm both readiness and the well-being of those who serve. Transgender service members have endured repeated cycles of policy reversals, each one disrupting careers, healthcare access, family stability, and unit cohesion. The reinstatement of the ban and forced removal of those currently serving has created new uncertainty and has already resulted in forced discharges, forced retirements, indefinite administrative leave, and cases where service members have been functionally and administratively detransitioned while they wait for decisions that never come. Over the last year, the Department of Defense and the service branches have issued inconsistent, confusing, and intentionally discriminatory policy changes that have upended the lives of service members who have worn the uniform with pride.
These policies do not improve readiness. They remove qualified personnel, deepen staffing shortages, and force the Department to drop recruitment and retention requirements just to fill critical gaps. They send a clear message that identity, not qualifications or merit, determines who is allowed to serve.
Congress should act by passing H.R. 515, the Ensuring Readiness, Not Discrimination Act, which would codify nondiscrimination protections for transgender service members in federal law and prevent future administrations from reinstating a ban. Congress should also require DoD to report on the true costs of the Military Trans Ban, including the expenses associated with premature discharges, the number of service members stranded on administrative leave, the volume of stalled voluntary separations, and the financial and operational costs of replacing service members whom the Department has chosen to remove.
Women in Combat and Service
Women serve in every branch of the Armed Forces and in every occupational specialty, including front-line combat roles. Their record is clear. For more than two decades of sustained conflict, women have led troops, flown combat missions, engaged the enemy, and made sacrifices equal to any of their peers. Their capability and readiness are proven, documented, and indispensable to national security.
Despite this, women continue to face systemic barriers, including unequal access to career advancement, lack of properly fitted equipment and protective gear, and disproportionately high rates of sexual harassment and assault56. These disparities undermine both individual opportunity and overall force readiness.
Recent announcements that the Department of Defense will "review" women's roles in combat have raised significant alarm. Any effort to reconsider or reverse longstanding policies that allow women to serve in all military occupations is unacceptable. Women have already demonstrated, through service and dedication to this nation, that they are fully qualified and fully capable. Reopening settled questions of eligibility threatens to politicize military readiness and signals to women that their service is contingent rather than valued.
These concerns are compounded by the dismantling of gender-equity programs and the suppression of sex-specific research, both of which are essential to ensuring proper equipment, medical readiness, and fair evaluation systems. Rolling back these programs will make service less safe, less equitable, and less effective for women, and these harms will follow them into the VA system, where gender-specific structures are also being weakened.
Congress must make clear that women's equal opportunity to serve, including in combat, is not negotiable. Congress must require DoD to maintain accurate sex-specific data, continue research on women's health and readiness needs, enforce equal opportunity standards, and ensure that no review becomes a backdoor mechanism to reinstate discriminatory restrictions.
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(Continues with Part 2 of 2)
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Original text here: https://docs.house.gov/meetings/VR/VR00/20260303/118976/HHRG-119-VR00-Wstate-FennerL-20260303.pdf
Student Veterans VP Barlet Testifies Before House Veterans' Affairs Committee
WASHINGTON, March 12 -- The House Veterans' Affairs Committee released the following testimony by Tammy I. Barlet, vice president of government affairs at Student Veterans of America, from a March 3, 2026, joint hearing with the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee entitled "Legislative Presentation of Veterans of Foreign Wars & Multi VSO: Student Veterans of America, Jewish War Veterans, Blinded Veterans Association, Fleet Reserve Association, Minority Veterans of America, National Association of County Veterans Service Officers (NACVSO), Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA)":* * *
Chairmen ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, March 12 -- The House Veterans' Affairs Committee released the following testimony by Tammy I. Barlet, vice president of government affairs at Student Veterans of America, from a March 3, 2026, joint hearing with the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee entitled "Legislative Presentation of Veterans of Foreign Wars & Multi VSO: Student Veterans of America, Jewish War Veterans, Blinded Veterans Association, Fleet Reserve Association, Minority Veterans of America, National Association of County Veterans Service Officers (NACVSO), Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA)": * * * ChairmenMoran and Bost, Ranking Members Blumenthal and Takano, and Members of Senate and House Committees on Veterans' Affairs, Student Veterans of America (SVA) submits this testimony with deep respect for the responsibility these Committees carry and with equal respect for the students whose futures are shaped by the policies you steward, to, through, and beyond higher education.1 Education remains one of the nation's most enduring covenants with those who serve and steady, structural guarantor of national security.2 When it is designed with care and administered with fidelity, it becomes a durable engine of mobility, dignity, and continued civic contribution.
The student veteran population is changing in ways that demand attentiveness rather than nostalgia. Today's veterans arrive on campus older, frequently with families, often balancing employment and caregiving alongside coursework.3 They pursue education across modalities that reflect necessity rather than preference. Policy that assumes a single, linear student experience no longer serves the population it intends to honor.
SVA's recommendations for 2026 are grounded in proximity to these realities. They reflect sustained engagement with student veterans on campuses across the country, rigorous research translated into practice, and an institutional memory informed by nearly two decades of advocacy. Our aim is straightforward and exacting: to align federal education benefits with the realities of veterans' lives and the trajectories they seek to build. We invite policymakers, educators, and partners across sectors to engage with these priorities as a matter of shared stewardship and enduring national interest.
Introduction
Founded in 2008, Student Veterans of America (SVA) emerged from a grassroots coalition of GI Bill users whose education benefits no longer aligned with the realities of the higher education system they entered. These veterans organized around the shared concern that the promise of the GI Bill risked erosion without sustained advocacy to preserve the fidelity of its purpose. Their efforts helped shape and secure the Post-9/11 GI Bill, ensuring that education benefits reflected both the scale of modern service and the demands of contemporary education.
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1 SVA's mission is to "act as a catalyst for student veteran success by providing resources, network support and advocacy to, through, and beyond higher education." SVA's vision is "empowering student veterans to lead and live their best lives." For more on the mission and vision of the organization, see https://studentveterans.org/.
2 Eberstadt, N., & Abramsky, E. (2022). The changing global distribution of highly educated manpower, 1950-2040: Findings and implications. American Enterprise Institute. https://www.aei.org/research-products/report/the-changing-global-distribution-ofhighly-educated-manpower-1950-2040-findings-and-implications/
3 Student Veterans of America. (2023). SVA Census. https://studentveterans.org/research/sva-census/
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That momentum did not end with legislative success. As veterans carried these benefits onto campuses and into classrooms, they became instruments of economic mobility and professional reinvention. They entered higher education with earned capability and clear intent, even as many institutions struggled to keep pace with their transition. The organization today was born from this, as SVA evolved into a national organization dedicated to advancing veteran success through policy, research, and campus-based leadership.
Today, SVA's system of record lists more than 1,600 chapters at colleges and universities in the United States and abroad. These chapters are the backbone of the student veteran ecosystem. They serve as hubs of peer support, leadership development, and institutional engagement, often acting as the first point of contact for veterans navigating enrollment, benefits, academic challenges, and transition stress. On many campuses, SVA chapters function as informal advising networks, referral points for basic needs support, and trusted partners to campus leadership. An estimated 840,000 students currently use GI Bill benefits,4 and nearly 600,000 of them attend institutions with an SVA chapter.5 Through this network, SVA helps veterans navigate higher education while fostering belonging, purpose, and persistence.
Saddleback College Student Veteran Club
At Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, California, the Saddleback College Student Veterans Club has become a connective presence within campus life, linking the experiences of military-affiliated students to the broader academic community through sustained engagement, collaboration, and service. The chapter operates as a bridge, translating veteran experience into shared civic understanding while strengthening inclusion across student, faculty, and administrative spaces.
One of the chapter's most consequential contributions has been the establishment of a Senator for Veteran Students within the Associated Student Government. This role institutionalized veteran representation in campus governance and improved coordination among the VETS Center, Counseling Services, and student leadership. The result has been clearer communication, greater visibility, and a more consistent understanding of veteran needs across the college.
The chapter also integrates veteran perspectives into the cultural and social life of the institution. Through joint programming with other student organizations and campus departments, including forums centered on women veterans, family-oriented events, and college-wide galas, the chapter creates spaces where the veteran experience is both recognized and shared. These efforts invite engagement from non-military students and reinforce veterans as contributors to the intellectual and civic fabric of the campus.
Beyond the college, the chapter sustains partnerships with local organizations that reflect a continued commitment to service. Members participate in environmental stewardship through coastal cleanups, coordinate food deliveries for families in need, and engage with veteran service organizations across Orange County. These activities extend the chapter's presence beyond campus while reinforcing intergenerational ties within the veteran community.
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4 According to the VBA Annual Benefits Report Fiscal Year 2023, updated February 2024, there were 843,135 recipients combined of the Post-9/11 GI Bill (chapter 33), MGIB-AD (chapter 30), MGIB-SR (1606), DEA (chapter 35), and VEAP (chapter 32).
5 The number of those receiving GI Bill benefits reported by campus in the VA's GI Bill Comparison Tool dataset were crossreferenced with campuses present in the SVA system of record as having an SVA chapter.
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Through this work, the Saddleback College Student Veterans Club demonstrates how chapters function as
institutional assets. By embedding the veteran voice in governance, student life, and community engagement, the chapter strengthens the campus as a whole while advancing belonging, visibility, and shared responsibility.
The Student Veterans Association at The Ohio State University
The Student Veterans Association at The Ohio State University chapter operates as an anchor for student veterans and military-connected students, supporting academic persistence, professional development, and civic engagement through sustained collaboration and leadership. Working in close partnership with Ohio State's Military and Veteran Services, campus offices, and student organizations, the chapter helps student veterans and their families access resources, build durable connections, and navigate higher education with confidence.
The chapter places particular emphasis on career readiness and leadership development by bringing high-impact opportunities directly to campus. Through convenings that have included Hiring Our Heroes, SVA national leadership, and the President of The Ohio State University, the chapter has strengthened pathways linking military service, education, and employment. This work is reinforced by a strong internal leadership pipeline. Current and former officers participate in the SVA Leadership Institute, including the chapter's Media Secretary and President, and senior student leaders continue to contribute as mentors, sustaining continuity and institutional knowledge.
Beyond the university, the chapter maintains active relationships with state and community partners to expand support networks for military-connected students. The chapter's annual 9/11 Stair Climb, which has included participation by the Ohio Secretary of State, integrates remembrance with civic engagement and public service.
Chapter leaders have also worked to elevate access to mental health resources and visibility for student veterans, including support for campus-wide initiatives focused on wellness and connection.
Through participation in SVA regional programming and the hosting of mentorship-centered professional development events, including engagements with private-sector partners, the Ohio State chapter demonstrates how campus-based leadership can extend outward, strengthening both institutional capacity and community trust. In doing so, the chapter reflects the broader role SVA chapters play in translating veteran experience into academic, professional, and civic contribution.
Nikki Gold, U.S. Navy Veteran, Oregon State University
At Oregon State University, Nikki Gold serves in multiple leadership roles that shape academic governance and veteran representation. A U.S. Navy veteran, SVA Leadership Fellow, and public health science student, Nikki serves as President of the Student Veterans Association, LGBTQ+ Veteran Coordinator at the Holcomb Center, and Undergraduate Trustee for the university. Through these roles, they contribute directly to shaping policy, representation, and belonging for military-connected students across campus and throughout the state of Oregon.
Nikki's path to higher education followed active-duty service as a surface sonar technician aboard guided-missile destroyers in San Diego and Hawaii, where they advanced to the rank of Petty Officer Second Class. In the Navy, Nikki developed a leadership style grounded in responsibility, collaboration, and care for diverse teams. Those same qualities now inform their work in higher education, where leadership is exercised through institution-building rather than command.
At Oregon State, Nikki has strengthened the visibility and influence of student veterans by linking campus initiatives with statewide partners and public agencies. They co-founded Those Who Serve in collaboration with Counseling and Psychological Services, creating a structured peer support space for LGBTQ+ veterans and currently serving members. This work reflects a broader commitment to ensuring that institutional systems recognize the full range of veteran experiences and identities.
Looking forward, Nikki plans to pursue legal education as a continuation of public service. Their aim is to integrate public health, policy, and law in pursuit of systemic change that expands access, strengthens representation, and advances opportunity for veterans and other historically underrepresented communities.
Gregory Hillman, U.S. Marine Corps Veteran, University of Nevada, Reno
Gregory Hillman's work reflects a sustained commitment to individual growth, community restoration, and service grounded in lived experience. An United States Marine Corps veteran with eleven years of service, including five years as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal technician, Greg served in high-risk operational environments that demanded technical precision, sound judgment, and resilience under pressure. His military service, followed by international contracting work, shaped a deep understanding of trauma, responsibility, and the enduring effects of service across the life course.
Following his transition from active service, Greg pursued higher education and service-oriented work with intention. He reframed experience into practice, focusing on healing, learning, and community contribution. He earned an associate degree in theatre, psychology, and social work and is currently completing a bachelor's degree in social work, with plans to pursue graduate study at the University of Nevada, Reno. His academic path reflects a commitment to translating experience into professional capacity.
At Truckee Meadows Community College, Greg serves as a Peer Academic Advisor, supporting students as they navigate higher education, integration, and personal development. His work is particularly impactful for militaryconnected students, for whom he provides guidance rooted in shared experience and informed by professional training. In this role, Greg contributes directly to retention, belonging, and academic persistence.
Beyond campus, Greg serves as Mentor Coordinator at Court Assistance Military Offenders (CAMO) Court in Reno, Nevada, where he supports justice-involved veterans through structured mentorship and accountability-based community engagement. He also volunteers as a guitar instructor with CreatiVets, using music as a connective and therapeutic practice that fosters expression, trust, and recovery. At the University of Nevada, Greg remains active in student leadership and advocacy through organizations including Wolfpack Vets and the Undergraduate Students of Social Work Association. Across these roles, Greg approaches leadership as relational rather than positional. Guided by empathy, curiosity, and a belief in human potential, he works to help others recover dignity, recognize possibility, and pursue purpose, even in the aftermath of hardship.
* SVA understands its responsibility to be one of stewardship and accountability, guided by the chapters and the students whose leadership gives the organization its mandate. At our national headquarters in Washington, D.C., the organization's mission remains to ensure that student veterans are equipped to succeed in higher education and to translate that success into durable economic and civic outcomes. This work is anchored in the understanding that transition is a sequence of choices shaped by access to timely information, credible guidance, and sustained support.
SVA works to ensure that transitioning service members and their families are prepared to make informed decisions about education and economic futures. Through national initiatives such as the SVA Success Hub and the SVA Advising Center, veterans receive structured guidance that helps them navigate benefits, select programs aligned with career goals, and anticipate the financial and professional implications of those choices.
At the campus level, SVA invests directly in chapter capacity. Leadership development, national and regional programming, and ongoing chapter services strengthen local ecosystems of support and ensure that student veterans are not navigating higher education in isolation. These efforts recognize chapters as essential partners in retention, belonging, and institutional engagement.
SVA also advances veteran well-being by supporting access to mental health care during and after transition. Through collaborative efforts such as the Veteran Wellness Alliance6 and partnerships with the Department of Veterans Affairs, SVA helps reduce barriers to care and promotes continuity between campus-based support and federal services.
Through sustained campus visits and direct engagement with institutional leadership, SVA works to ensure that student veterans can access guidance and services responsive to varied backgrounds, identities, and life circumstances.
This engagement reinforces accountability while strengthening institutional understanding of veteran experiences.
Finally, SVA builds and maintains strong connections with employers across the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. Through a networked approach and the SVA Career Center, the organization supports career readiness, facilitates meaningful employment pathways, and reinforces education as a bridge between military service and longterm professional contribution.
SVA's work operates across multiple levels. At the campus level, chapters build community, identify unmet needs, and connect students to resources. Chapter leaders regularly surface barriers related to housing insecurity, food access, childcare, mental health, and benefits administration long before those challenges appear in national data. At the national level, SVA aggregates these lived experiences through research, convenes cross-sector partners, and advocates for policy reforms that align education benefits with contemporary realities. This testimony reflects that integrated approach.
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6 The Veteran Wellness Alliance (VWA) is a coalition of veteran peer-to-peer networks and top mental and brain health care providers, connecting veterans, service members, and their families to high-quality care for invisible wounds. For more information, see https://www.bushcenter.org/topics/veterans/veteran-transition/veteran-wellness-alliance
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The GI Bill is the Front Door to VA
Measured not only by its scale but by its consequences, the Post-9/11 GI Bill has become one of the most consequential federal interventions shaping veterans' economic trajectories in the twenty-first century. Longitudinal analyses of federal education and earnings data demonstrate that veterans who use GI Bill benefits enroll in postsecondary education at high rates and complete credentials at levels that compare favorably with, and in many cases exceed, those of similarly situated civilian learners.7 Among enlisted veterans eligible for the benefit between 2009 and 2019, more than 54 percent made use of GI Bill education benefits, with participation rising to approximately 62 percent when transferred entitlements to spouses and dependents are included.8 These outcomes are associated with measurable earnings gains and improved long-term labor market attachment, reinforcing the GI Bill's role as a primary engine of post-service economic mobility.9
Yet the GI Bill's significance extends beyond education alone. For many veterans, engaging the benefit constitutes their earliest sustained interaction with the federal systems designed to support them after service. That experience quietly shapes how veterans understand the obligations to them and their own willingness to seek assistance in the future. When education benefits function predictably, transparently, and without friction, they establish a foundation of institutional trust.10 When they do not, disengagement follows, often long before veterans learn to dial 1-800MyVA411.
Over the past decade, the administration of the GI Bill has undergone meaningful transformation. Investments in information technology modernization, automation of benefit processing, and customer service reform within the Veterans Benefits Administration have reduced delays and improved reliability.11 These improvements are significant precisely because they reduce visibility in that education benefits are most effective when they recede into dependability rather than demand constant management by the beneficiary. Such gains, however, are not selfsustaining. They require continued oversight to ensure that modernization efforts remain responsive to veteran experience rather than driven solely by system efficiency.
Structural misalignment across federal agencies continues to complicate an otherwise successful program. Veterans routinely navigate overlapping jurisdictions among the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Education, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Labor, each operating with distinct definitions, timelines, and data systems. Research consistently identifies fragmented governance and inconsistent advising as contributors to delayed enrollment, confusion over eligibility, and suboptimal program choice.12 As postsecondary education increasingly includes apprenticeships, short-term credentials, workforce-aligned certificates, and online or hybrid instruction, the costs of this misalignment grow more pronounced. Institutional context further shapes outcomes.
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7 This is shown in reports such as (1) Barr, A., Chen, S., & Eberly, J. (2023). The Post-9/11 GI Bill: Impacts on enrollment, attainment, and earnings. Referenced in Inside Higher Ed coverage: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/student-aid-policy/2024/02/16/new-depth-report-highlights-outcomespost-911-gi-bill; and (2) Cate, C. A., Lyon, J. S., Schmeling, J., & Bogue, B. Y. (2017). National Veteran Education Success Tracker: A report on the academic success of student veterans using the Post-9/11 GI Bill. Student Veterans of America. https://studentveterans.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/NVEST-Report_FINAL.pdf
8 Radford, A. W. (2024). First look at Post-9/11 GI Bill outcomes for enlisted veterans (Working Paper). American Institutes for Research. https://www.air.org/sites/default/files/2024-02/First-Look-Post-9-11-GI-Bill-Outcomes-Enlisted-VeteransFebruary-2024.pdf
9 Barr, A., Chen, S., & Eberly, J. (2023). The Post-9/11 GI Bill: Impacts on enrollment, attainment, and earnings. Referenced in Inside Higher Ed coverage: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/student-aid-policy/2024/02/16/new-depth-report-highlights-outcomes-post-911-gi-bill
10 In 2025, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) experienced a significant increase in veteran trust, reaching over 80%, up from 55% in 2016. This rise in confidence coincides with the "Digital GI Bill" modernization, which has improved claims processing. See more at https://news.va.gov/press-room/veteran-trust-va-increased-25-since-2016-high/
11 U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. (n.d.). Transforming the GI Bill experience. Digital VA. Retrieved February 19, 2025, from https://digital.va.gov/delightful-end-user-experience/transforming-the-gi-bill-experience/
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Veterans who enroll in higher-quality public and nonprofit institutions demonstrate stronger completion rates and more favorable earnings trajectories than peers attending lower-performing institutions, underscoring the importance of transparent information and informed choice for GI Bill users.13 The benefit's promise is realized most fully when veterans are supported in navigating institutional quality rather than left to interpret opaque systems alone.
Looking forward, the durability of the GI Bill will depend on its capacity to adapt without losing coherence.
Continued investment in digital benefits navigation, including mobile-first platforms, real-time decision support, and carefully governed AI-enabled customer service tools, offers a path toward reducing administrative burden while expanding equitable access for veterans balancing employment, caregiving, disability, or geographic isolation. These tools must support human judgment and interagency accountability rather than supplant them.
SVA recognizes the progress achieved through recent reforms and commends the Department of Veterans Affairs for elevating education benefits as a core operational priority. We will continue to advocate that sustaining that progress will require renewed attention to interagency coordination, data-sharing, disciplined oversight of modernization efforts, and deliberate removal of barriers that disproportionately affect rural, disabled, and non-traditional learners.
Treated as a living system rather than a static entitlement, the GI Bill can continue to serve as a foundation for individual advancement and national capacity alike.
VA Claims One-on-One Support ( "The SVA NatCon-VA Claims Clinic")
At SVA's 18th Annual National Conference ("NatCon" in January of 2026), the sustained partnership between SVA and the VA entered its fourth year occupying a growing portion of the exhibitor hall (the "SVA Campus"), with over 200 VA representatives assisting student veterans with benefits counseling, mental health enrollment, and disability claims support. In two days and under four inches of snow, these VA representatives provided one-on-one assistance to 414 veterans, scheduled 201 compensation and pension exams, completed 23 disability ratings on site, and processed an additional 706 disability benefits questionnaires for claims.14 What was most remarkable was the impact this event had on the eight individuals who filed their claims, received an examination, and received a claims decision in under 96 hours. These interactions are a blueprint of what VA engagement should look like nationwide-- proactive, veteran-centric, and focused on delivering real results.
* Looking ahead, SVA remains resolute in its responsibility to safeguard the GI Bill as a lifelong instrument of veteran mobility and empowerment. Modern infrastructure, genuine accessibility, and rigorous interagency coordination are prerequisites for a system worthy of those it serves. The GI Bill embodies a national obligation. In this session of Congress, honoring that obligation requires deliberate action to ensure the promise of education is realized for every veteran, in practice as well as in principle.
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12 Abbey, D. M. (2022). How veterans make meaning of the college choice process in the Post-9/11 era. Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship, 13(4). https://jces.ua.edu/articles/63/files/62e2abdce93bb.pdf
13 Kelchen, R., & Goldrick-Rab, S. (2023). Recent data show minimal change in veterans' enrollment patterns. Ithaka S+R. https://sr.ithaka.org/blog/recent-data-show-minimal-change-in-veterans-enrollment-patterns/
14 This data was provided by the VBA Office of Colorado Springs, Denver Regional Office, who served during the 18th Annual SVA National Conference in Colorado Springs, CO, January 8-10, 2026.
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SVA Research Findings and Initiatives
SVA's annual Census provides further insights into the unique demographics of student veterans.15 Over 85 percent of GI Bill users are prior enlisted, while the remaining 14 percent are former warrant or commissioned officers. The vast majority (about 93 percent) are over the age of 25, with the largest portion between 25 and 35. Over half are married, and more than half have children, with around 20 percent being single parents. Nearly 75 percent of student veterans work while in school, with financial pressures varying significantly by race, ethnicity, and gender seeing 99 percent of student veterans who are Black women working while in school.
When it comes to school and degree choice, student veterans overwhelmingly attend public or nonprofit institutions.16 Most are using their GI Bill to earn bachelor's degrees first, followed by master's degrees, associate degrees, and terminal degrees such as PhDs, JDs, and MDs. Importantly, student veterans outperform the national average in academic success--with an average GPA of 3.35 compared to the national average of 3.15.17 The success rate for student veterans, measured as an aggregate of graduation, persistence, retention, and transfer-up, stands at 72 percent,18 exceeding the national average of 66 percent.19
SVA approaches research as an act of stewardship, oriented toward what is possible rather than what has already occurred. The question before us is not whether veterans can succeed in higher education and the workforce. The evidence is unequivocal that they do.20 The more compelling question is how much more they could achieve if the barriers they navigate were removed and their momentum fully supported.
Across recent analyses, one pattern remains consistent. Veterans who complete postsecondary credentials experience strong labor market outcomes.21 Veterans with bachelor's degrees earn substantially more over their lifetimes than their civilian peers, and those with graduate and professional degrees see even greater earnings advantages.22 Yet these gains coexist with forms of economic stifling that are less visible in annual income data. Delayed entry into the civilian workforce, mis-aligned career opportunities, interruptions in career progression, and constrained access to professional networks translate into slower wealth accumulation and postponed financial security.23 Earnings alone do not capture the full cost of service on economic mobility.
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15 Student Veterans of America. (2023). SVA Census. https://studentveterans.org/research/sva-census/
16 Ibid.
17 Westrick, P. A., Angehr, E. L., Shaw, E. J., & Marini, J. P. (2024, July). Recent trends in college readiness and subsequent college performance: With faculty perspectives on student readiness. College Board. https://research.collegeboard.org/media/pdf/RecentTrends-in-College-Readiness-and-Subsequent-College-Performance.pdf
18 Cate, C. A., Lyon, J. S., Schmeling, J., & Bogue, B. Y. (2017). National Veteran Education Success Tracker: A report on the academic success of student veterans using the Post-9/11 GI Bill. Student Veterans of America. https://studentveterans.org/wpcontent/uploads/2020/08/NVEST-Report_FINAL.pdf
19 Success rate in NVEST was calculated as a non-attrition rate, so for civilian students, the corollary was used. See Education Data Initiative. (n.d.). College dropout rates. https://educationdata.org/college-dropout-rates
20 Cate, C. A., Lyon, J. S., Schmeling, J., & Bogue, B. Y. (2017). National Veteran Education Success Tracker: A report on the academic success of student veterans using the Post-9/11 GI Bill. Student Veterans of America. https://studentveterans.org/wpcontent/uploads/2020/08/NVEST-Report_FINAL.pdf. Of note in this work, SVA has used "success rate" as compared to "graduation rate" because the standard metric of a cohorted four-, six-, or eight-year graduation rate is inappropriate for student veterans (and nontraditional students, writ large) because of the non-linear path these students take from high school and through higher education before starting a career. Success rate is a non-attrition rate that combines graduation, persistence, transfer, and retention. Compared to traditional students, the success rate of student veterans is significantly higher. When cohorted graduation rates are used, often military service or family or work obligations prevent student veterans from remaining in the same cohort, thus diminishing their presence in these metrics.
21 A veteran with a bachelor's degree earns an average of $84,255 annually, compared to $67,232 for civilians. At the advanced degree level, veterans earn $129,082 annually, significantly higher than the $99,734 average for civilians. See more at D'Aniello Institute for Veterans and Military Families. (2019). Student veterans: A valuable asset to higher education. Syracuse University. https://ivmf.syracuse.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Student-Vets_Valuable-AssetFINAL-11.6.19.pdf
22 Ibid.
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It is within this tension between measurable success and structural drag that SVA has focused its most recent research agenda. Economic mobility and career advancement sit at the center of this work. Through partnerships with employers, workforce intermediaries, and technology leaders, SVA has worked to document the pathways by which veterans translate education into meaningful careers. Our recent collaboration with Google examined career trajectories from military service through education and into the workforce in an 11-state Student Veteran Policy Landscape. In doing so, it traced how credentials, digital skills, and employer signaling shape veteran hiring and advancement, surfacing both opportunity and friction in sectors that prize adaptability and leadership yet often misread military experience. These findings have informed employer engagement strategies, career navigation tools, and policy conversations about aligning education benefits with labor market demand24 both at the national and state levels.
Continuing at the state level, SVA is in its second year adapting its National Veteran Education Success Tracker (NVEST) project.25 Generosity from the Greater Texas Foundation and a partnership with the Texas A&M University System, supported by a consortium of Texas state agencies and other higher education institutions, has allowed SVA to create NVEST in Texas, which represents a new phase in evidence building. By institutionalizing a state-based approach to understanding student veterans, this project is moving beyond national averages to capture variation across institutions, regions, and systems. NVEST in Texas is allowing policymakers and educators to see where veterans are succeeding, where they are stalling, and where interventions can be targeted with precision. It is a model for how states can move from anecdote to infrastructure in supporting veteran education and workforce outcomes.
Underlying this work is a recognition that timely, high-quality data is itself a form of access. Veterans are often rendered visible to institutions only after challenges surface or benefits registered, but we know that not all veterans on campus are seen. The annual SVA Census26 and the ongoing LifeCycle Atlas27 are designed to change that temporal lag.
Together, they map how veterans move across education, work, and community over time, capturing nonlinear pathways that defy traditional student classifications. These tools surface who veterans are, when they enroll, how they balance work and family, and where institutional systems succeed or fail to meet them. Earlier access to this data enables earlier intervention, shifting policy from reactive accommodation to anticipatory support.
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23 On average, a delay in workforce entry without the advancement that should come with the skills acquired in the military and credentials of a college degree stifles the accumulation of wealth through compounding interest of investments in retirement, for example. See other examples at Goger, A., & Alvero, A. (2023, November 9). Veteran poverty, by the numbers. Center for American Progress. https://www.americanprogress.org/article/veteran-poverty-by-the-numbers/.
24 Google's investment in veteran career pathway research allowed Student Veterans of America to examine how veterans move from military service into education and ultimately into the workforce. The collaboration identified how credentials, digital skills, and employer signaling shape hiring, early career placement, and advancement opportunities for veterans, highlighting both points of alignment and persistent disconnects between military experience and civilian talent pipelines. These findings are informing employer-facing practices, career navigation guidance for student veterans, and policy recommendations aimed at improving access to high-demand fields and accelerating long-term career progression, including recommendation in credit for prior learning and needs insecurities mitigation.
25 Cate, C. A., Lyon, J. S., Schmeling, J., & Bogue, B. Y. (2017). National Veteran Education Success Tracker: A report on the academic success of student veterans using the Post-9/11 GI Bill. Student Veterans of America. https://studentveterans.org/wpcontent/uploads/2020/08/NVEST-Report_FINAL.pdf
26 Student Veterans of America. (2023). SVA Census. https://studentveterans.org/research/sva-census/
27 Kinch, A. K., & Cate, C. A. (ongoing). Life Cycle Atlas. Student Veterans of America. https://studentveterans.org/research/life-cycle-atlas/
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Economic mobility, however, cannot be disentangled from basic security. SVA's current Basic Needs and Wellbeing Study,28 conducted in partnership with the Institute for Veterans and Military Families, examines the material and social conditions that shape veterans' capacity to persist in education and training during the first year after separation. Food and housing insecurity, financial precarity, caregiving responsibilities, and gaps in healthcare access exert quiet but cumulative pressure on academic and career decision-making. These pressures are compounded by less visible forms of insecurity, including social isolation and disrupted identity during transition.
To capture these dynamics, SVA has advanced a broader understanding of what enables stability. Through the development of 11-state State Student Veteran Policy Landscape project and the LifeCycle Atlas as well complementary measures of social transition wealth, our research recognizes that belonging, trust, and community connection function as stabilizing forces during periods of disruption. SVA chapters repeatedly emerge as critical sites where these forms of support are generated, mitigating risk during moments when veterans are most vulnerable to disengagement. Taken together, this body of work points toward a simple conclusion with complex implications: Veteran success is neither accidental nor automatic but rather is produced at the intersection of economic opportunity, institutional knowledge, and basic security. Data allows us to see where that intersection holds and where it fractures. Policy determines whether those fractures widen or are repaired.
As Congress considers the future of veteran education and workforce policy, SVA urges a sustained commitment to evidence that is timely, disaggregated, and grounded in lived experience. Taken together, SVA's research presents a consistent and forward-looking picture of today's student veterans. They are enrolling in higher education with clear economic intent, persisting at high rates despite competing responsibilities, and translating education into meaningful work and long-term contribution. These outcomes are not accidental. They emerge from a combination of individual capability and the presence, or absence, of institutional supports at critical moments of transition.
What the data also makes clear is that veteran success is cumulative. Economic mobility is shaped early, while veterans are still enrolled and preparing for careers. Persistence depends on whether institutions can identify and support veterans before disruption occurs. Progress is sustained only when basic stability is preserved from the point of separation through workforce entry. Each of these elements reinforces the others. When one is missing, momentum slows. When they align, opportunity compounds.
This understanding informs SVA's approach to policy. Rather than treating education benefits, workforce programs, and student supports as separate interventions, SVA's legislative priorities for 2026 reflect how veterans actually move from service into civilian life. They are designed to strengthen the pathway from education to employment, improve visibility and coordination across systems, and ensure stability during the transition period when veterans are most vulnerable to disruption.
It is from this evidence base that SVA advances a coherent legislative theory of change. What follows outlines how these principles translate into specific policy priorities and why advancing them together is essential to realizing the full potential of veteran education as a driver of economic mobility.
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28 Student Veterans of America. (n.d.). Student veterans' basic needs and wellness survey. https://studentveterans.org/research/student-veterans-basic-needs-and-wellness-survey/
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A Legislative Theory of Change for Veteran Education and Workforce Policy
The research is unequivocal. Today's student veterans are succeeding in higher education and the workforce at scale, often while navigating obligations that would derail more traditional pathways. They are older, more likely to be supporting families, more likely to be working while enrolled, and more likely to pursue education with a clear eye toward economic mobility. These patterns are the context in which veteran education policy must operate.
SVA's current legislative priorities are grounded in this evidence. They reflect what chapters report from campuses, what longitudinal data reveals across systems, and what veterans themselves articulate through their choices. Taken together, these priorities advance a coherent theory of change: education serves as the primary engine of post-service mobility; data visibility determines whether that engine runs efficiently; and stability during transition determines whether momentum is sustained long enough to reach career placement. This framework is drawn directly from how veterans move through education and into work today.
SVA is putting forth the following key policy priorities that require immediate congressional action. These are briefly outlined below and are discussed in full in the following sections.
1. First, higher education must function as a genuine pathway to workforce integration and economic mobility. Veterans pursue education with the expectation that it will lead to meaningful employment, professional advancement, and long-term stability. Policies must therefore strengthen the connection between learning and work, ensuring that education accelerates, rather than delays, entry into the civilian labor market.
2. Second, systems must be able to see and support veterans early in their transition. Data visibility determines whether institutions can guide veterans proactively or are forced to respond after challenges emerge. Without timely insight into who student veterans are and where they are in their educational and career trajectories, even well-intentioned supports arrive too late to be fully effective.
3. Finally, progress depends on stability during the transition period itself. From the moment of separation through career placement, veterans are balancing education with housing, income, family responsibilities, and health. Stability during this window is not incidental. It is the condition that allows persistence, planning, and momentum to be sustained.
Together, these principles form the foundation of SVA's legislative priorities for 2026. What follows is a coordinated strategy designed to align education benefits, data systems, and transitional supports with how veterans actually move from service into civilian life.
Workforce Integration and Economic Mobility
Veterans overwhelmingly pursue higher education following military service because it remains the most reliable pathway into meaningful civilian careers. This choice reflects a rational economic calculation rather than a cultural expectation. Recent national analyses show that more than half of eligible enlisted veterans use their Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits,29 and those who complete degrees experience strong earnings outcomes over time.30 The GI Bill is, by design, a generous and effective benefit. It succeeds in opening the door to education.
Yet generosity alone does not guarantee full economic return. Despite higher rates of degree completion and, eventually, higher earnings, veterans continue to experience delayed career progression and slower wealth accumulation relative to their civilian peers. Research indicates that even when veterans earn more annually after degree completion, they often require additional years in the workforce to close lifetime wealth gaps created by delayed entry, interrupted career trajectories, and reduced early access to professional networks. In effect, service confers skills and leadership capacity, but systemic gaps slow the translation of those assets into civilian economic advantage.
What is happening is not a failure of veterans to understand how to leverage internships or of education to correctly map military training to learning outcomes, but a misalignment of systems. Credentials matter, but credentials alone are insufficient. Veterans must also acquire civilian work experience while enrolled, translate military skills into employer-recognized signals, and remain financially solvent as they do so. National surveys and labor market analyses consistently show that veterans are less likely to participate in internships and early career experiential learning, not due to lack of interest, but because unpaid or low-paid opportunities are financially infeasible for students supporting families.31 When these elements are misaligned, education becomes a slower and more precarious route to mobility than it should be.
In parallel with its policy and research efforts, SVA has invested in the responsible use of technology to narrow the distance between education and opportunity. Through the SVA Success Hub,32 SVA has begun deploying AI-enabled systems that help student veterans translate their experiences, credentials, and academic pathways into clearer connections with internships, employment opportunities, campus resources, and support services. These tools are designed to reduce friction rather than replace human judgment, guiding veterans toward relevant opportunities more quickly while accounting for the realities of work schedules, family responsibilities, and geographic constraints.
As these alignment systems mature, they increasingly function as connective tissue between education, workforce preparation, and support services, ensuring that veterans are not left to navigate complex ecosystems alone. This work reflects a broader recognition that access to opportunity is shaped by how effectively information, guidance, and pathways are integrated in real time. There is work to still be done, however, in extant policy opportunities to bridge gaps.
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29 See Radford, A. W. (2024). First look at Post-9/11 GI Bill outcomes for enlisted veterans. American Institutes for Research and Cate, C. A., Lyon, J. S., Schmeling, J., & Bogue, B. Y. (2017). National Veteran Education Success Tracker: A report on the academic success of student veterans using the Post-9/11 GI Bill. Student Veterans of America. https://studentveterans.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/NVEST-Report_FINAL.pdf.
30 Student veterans: A valuable asset to higher education. Syracuse University. https://ivmf.syracuse.edu/wpcontent/uploads/2019/12/Student-Vets_Valuable-AssetFINAL-11.6.19.pdf
31 See Kinch, A. K., & Cate, C. A. (ongoing). Life Cycle Atlas. Student Veterans of America. https://studentveterans.org/research/life-cycle-atlas and Radford, A. W. (2024). First look at Post-9/11 GI Bill outcomes for enlisted veterans. American Institutes for Research
32 Student Veterans of America has developed the SVA Success Hub as a centralized platform that integrates advising, career navigation, and resource referral for student veterans. The platform incorporates AI-enabled tools to assist veterans in identifying relevant academic, employment, and support opportunities based on individual goals, credentials, and constraints. These tools are designed to support decision-making rather than automate outcomes, with governance principles emphasizing transparency, data minimization, privacy protection, and human oversight. The Success Hub is intended to complement, not replace, campusbased advising and paid experiential learning programs by improving alignment between veterans and available opportunities in real time.
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Modernizing VA Work-Study through H.R. 5965 and H.R. 6011 directly addresses this structural gap. These bills recognize that paid, relevant work during education is not ancillary to learning but integral to career formation. By increasing compensation, expanding eligibility, modernizing administrative processes, and aligning work-study roles with high-demand fields, these reforms allow veterans to earn income while building professional capital. This reduces the opportunity cost of education and accelerates entry into the workforce.
Similarly, updating the Post-9/11 GI Bill book and supply stipend through H.R. 1965 reflects the realities of contemporary education and employment. For the past almost 17 years, the stipend has remained unchanged from $1000 per year. As highlighted in Student Veterans of America's Comprehensive Analysis of Student Veteran Book Stipend Survey, the average student veteran spent $947.13 on books and materials in Fall 2023 alone, and $748.29 in Spring 2024, meaning many exceeded their allotted stipend in a single semester. Further, STEM students, juniors, and those in certain geographic regions incur even greater costs, with some students reporting annual book and supply expenses exceeding $7,500. Coursework in technical, scientific, and professional fields increasingly requires specialized software, equipment, licensing materials, and reliable digital access. When veterans cannot afford required materials, their preparation for the workforce is compromised long before graduation. Modernizing supply benefits ensures that veterans are equipped to succeed in programs that lead directly to employment and advancement.
These policies are necessary because economic mobility does not begin at commencement. It is shaped by the conditions under which veterans learn, work, and prepare for careers simultaneously. The evidence is clear that veterans are already using education strategically to advance into stable, well-aligned careers. The opportunity before policymakers is to ensure that military service enhances, rather than constrains, the economic potential that education is designed to unlock.
Data Visibility for Transitioning Servicemembers
One of the most persistent structural challenges in serving student veterans is that institutions often do not know who student veterans are. Outside of self-identification--use of veteran resources or a veteran center--or the use of education benefits, campuses have limited means of identifying veterans within their student populations. As a result, veterans frequently move through higher education unseen until disruption occurs. When institutions lack visibility, they cannot align advising, financial support, career preparation, or basic needs resources in a timely manner. The cost of this invisibility comes as delayed intervention, missed opportunities for workforce preparation, and preventable attrition among students who have already demonstrated resilience and capability.
Improving data availability is therefore foundational. Earlier insight into who student veterans are, when they arrive, and how they are progressing enables institutions to shift from reactive response to intentional guidance. Visibility allows campuses to anticipate common pressure points, coordinate services before challenges compound, and connect veterans to academic and career pathways that reflect their goals. Without it, even well-designed programs operate too late to fully realize their impact.
Federal investment in centers dedicated to serving student veterans emerged as one of the earliest efforts to address this gap. Previous grant programs enabled campuses to establish veteran and military-connected student centers that functioned as visible, trusted points of coordination. Many student veterans, members of our own SVA chapters, were afforded physical space, staffing support, or programmatic authority through these investments. Where such centers existed, chapters consistently reported similar outcomes: stronger persistence, deeper campus belonging, clearer pathways to employment, and the formation of durable professional and peer networks.
These centers created visibility through relationship and proximity. Staff and chapter leaders developed a working knowledge of who their veterans were, when they arrived, and where challenges commonly surfaced. That relational insight allowed campuses to align academic advising with career planning, facilitate introductions to internships and campus employment, and help veterans translate military experience into civilian professional identity. In practice, SVA chapters reported that access to these spaces strengthened workforce readiness by embedding veterans within networks that extended beyond the classroom and into professional communities.
However, these successes were uneven and often fragile. The presence, capacity, and authority of veteran centers varied widely across institutions, frequently dependent on short-term funding cycles or individual champions. Data remained localized, coordination inconsistent, and outcomes difficult to sustain or scale. While SVA chapters demonstrated what was possible, the absence of formal infrastructure limited how broadly those gains could be replicated.
The Centers of Excellence for Veteran Student Success (CEVSS) pilot, established through H.R. 6358, represents a necessary next step. Rather than introducing a new model, CEVSS formalizes and extends what campuses and SVA chapters have already shown to work. By institutionalizing early identification, coordinated advising, and outcome tracking, the pilot transforms effective but contingent practices into durable systems. It preserves the humancentered strengths of veteran centers while enabling data-informed coordination across academic, workforce, and support domains.
In doing so, CEVSS elevates spaces long supported by SVA chapters from informal hubs to institutional anchors. It ensures that belonging, professional network formation, and pathways to economic mobility are no longer dependent on local circumstance, but embedded within how institutions identify, support, and prepare student veterans for life beyond the classroom. As education delivery and labor markets continue to evolve, renewed investment in this infrastructure ensures that campuses are equipped not only to serve veterans, but to see them early enough to support their full potential.
What remains is the opportunity to pair institutional commitment with technical capability. The federal government and its partners already possess the infrastructure necessary to make student veteran visibility timely, accurate, and actionable. Through secure, governed systems such as the VA's Lighthouse API,33 it is now technically feasible to allow colleges and universities, at the point of application, to confirm veteran status and education benefit eligibility with VA data. This capability would not impose new burdens on veterans. It would simply allow institutions, with appropriate consent and safeguards, to recognize veterans early enough to begin aligning support before friction emerges. Veterans would retain the ability to opt out of this verification process, but the default availability of accurate, secure matching would ensure that invisibility is no longer the structural norm.
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33 The Department of Veterans Affairs Lighthouse platform is VA's secure, federally governed interoperability framework that allows authorized partners to verify veteran benefit eligibility through encrypted, standards-based application programming interfaces (APIs). Built as part of VA's modernization strategy, Lighthouse operates within VA's identity verification and access control systems and uses federally required security protocols, including tokenized authentication and role-based authorization, to ensure that only approved entities access only the minimum necessary data. All access is logged, auditable, and compliant with federal privacy and cybersecurity standards under the Privacy Act, FISMA, and NIST guidance. This infrastructure allows institutions, with appropriate consent, to verify education benefit eligibility earlier and more accurately while preserving veteran data privacy and control. See more at: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, VA Lighthouse Platform, https://developer.va.gov.
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The implications of this early visibility are immediate and practical. Institutions could begin the benefits certification process before a student arrives on campus, reducing delays in housing allowance and tuition payments that frequently destabilize transition. Advisors could proactively connect veterans to resources calibrated to their circumstances, including childcare options, workforce opportunities aligned with academic programs, mental health services, and community support networks in the surrounding area. Career services offices could facilitate early introductions to employers seeking veteran talent, allowing veterans to build professional capital while still enrolled rather than after graduation. In each of these cases, the difference is timing. Support delivered before disruption preserves momentum in ways that support delivered after disruption cannot fully restore.
Equally important, verified veteran identification would allow institutions to measure outcomes with validity and precision. Today, student veteran success is often inferred rather than observed, limited by incomplete or inconsistent identification. Secure data matching would allow colleges and universities to assess retention, completion, and workforce outcomes with the same rigor applied to other student populations. This visibility would strengthen institutional accountability while enabling policymakers to distinguish between programs that produce meaningful results and those that do not.
This opportunity extends beyond individual campuses. Integrating veteran identifiers into existing national data systems, including the National Student Clearinghouse's semi-annual enrollment and completion data pulls, would allow student veteran outcomes to be tracked with the same fidelity as other demographic groups. Such integration would not require the creation of new reporting structures, but rather the extension of existing ones to include a population whose educational trajectory is already supported by federal investment. The result would be national evidence base capable of informing policy, guiding institutional improvement, and ensuring that veteran education benefits are delivering their intended return.
The same principle applies to VA's information technology and electronic health record (EHR) modernization.
Reliable, interoperable systems are foundational to safe, coordinated, high quality care and to ensuring veterans' records are accurate and accessible across VA facilities and community providers. As VA advances its phased EHR deployment in 2026 and 2027, sustained readiness investments, end user training, and post-go-live support are essential to minimize disruption and improve care coordination. This is larger than a technology upgrade; it is the backbone of VA's ability to deliver timely, veteran-centered care at scale, and it requires sustained funding, leadership oversight, and cybersecurity protections to succeed.
The technology to enhance the service capacity for veterans using data already exists. What is required now is the policy clarity and interagency coordination to make it available for its intended purpose. When health information seamlessly follows a veteran from care to care, when institutions can see veterans clearly and early, veterans receive services with precision rather than approximation. Visibility enables preparation. Preparation preserves stability.
Stability allows education to fulfill its function as a pathway to economic mobility and national contribution.
Stability from Separation to Career Placement
Even the strongest education and data systems cannot function without stability during transition. The period immediately following separation from military service is marked by convergence rather than sequence. Enrollment decisions, employment, housing, healthcare, and family responsibilities arrive at once, often without the benefit of institutional coordination. For many veterans, this compression of demands occurs while they are navigating a new identity, new expectations, and unfamiliar systems. Disruption during this window can result in delayed completion or withdrawal, even among students who are otherwise academically strong and highly motivated.
Housing stability sits at the center of this challenge. Expanding access to Monthly Housing Allowance for online and hybrid learners through H.R. 3753 reflects how veterans actually pursue education today. Flexible learning modalities allow veterans to balance work, caregiving, disability, and geographic constraints that would otherwise place education out of reach. Yet housing support policies have not kept pace with these realities. When veterans are forced to choose between modality flexibility and housing stability, persistence suffers. Ensuring MHA parity across delivery formats preserves continuity and allows veterans to remain enrolled without sacrificing essential supports.
This policy shift, however, must be implemented thoughtfully. SVA recognizes the importance of preserving the integrity of in-person learning environments and campus engagement. The intent of expanding MHA access is not to incentivize withdrawal from physical campuses, but to prevent veterans from being penalized when life circumstances require flexible learning. With appropriate safeguards, transparency, and continued investment in campus-based services, MHA parity can support persistence without undermining residential education or student engagement.
Income stability further reinforces this continuity. VA Work-Study reform, discussed earlier, plays a critical stabilizing role by providing predictable earnings during education. For veterans balancing tuition, housing, and family responsibilities, even modest income disruptions, such as the loss of MHA between semesters, can trigger enrollment interruptions. Paid, flexible work aligned with campus and community needs allows veterans to remain focused on completion while building experience that supports career placement.
Stability during transition also extends beyond material conditions. Mental health remains a significant pressure point for veterans in the traditional student-age population. National data consistently show elevated suicide risk among veterans under the age of 35, with transition periods representing moments of heightened vulnerability.34 Academic stress, financial strain, social isolation, and delays in accessing care compound during the first years after separation.
When these pressures go unaddressed, they can derail educational progress and threaten well-being. Preventing suicide among veterans, including those pursuing higher education, remains a priority that intersects mental health care, clinical practice, and patient trust.
Recent years have underscored the urgency of this challenge on college campuses. Student veterans experience suicide risk at higher rates than their non-veteran peers of the same age,35 and institutions across the country have mourned the loss of student veterans whose deaths reverberated through their academic and military-connected communities. These losses have occurred at both large public universities and community colleges, often prompting campus-wide reflection on whether warning signs were missed or care arrived too late.36 In this context, some veterans, clinicians, and advocates have called for renewed attention to how mental health treatment decisions are communicated and documented, particularly around psychiatric medications. Exploring whether more formalized, written informed consent practices could strengthen shared decision-making, patient trust, and continuity of care merits careful consideration. Framed appropriately, this discussion is not about questioning the legitimacy of mental health treatment, but about ensuring that veterans are fully informed, engaged partners in their care during a period of heightened vulnerability.
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34 National data indicate that veterans under the age of 35 face elevated suicide risk compared to their civilian peers, with the period immediately following separation representing a point of heightened vulnerability, particularly when mental healthcare access is delayed or fragmented. Evaluations of the Veterans Integration to Academic Leadership (VITAL) program further suggest that embedding VA mental health services within campus environments improves access to care, reduces barriers to engagement, and supports persistence among student veterans navigating transition. See Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2023). Suicide rates among veterans and nonveterans aged 18-34. https://www.cdc.gov/suicide; U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. (2022). Veterans Integration to Academic Leadership (VITAL) program evaluation. Veterans Health Administration; and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. (2024). National veteran suicide prevention annual report. https://www.mentalhealth.va.gov/suicide_prevention
35 See Valenstein, M., Clive, R., Ganoczy, D., Garlick, J., Walters, H. M., West, B. T., ... Pfeiffer, P. N. (2022). A nationally representative sample of veteran and matched non-veteran college students: Mental health symptoms, suicidal ideation, and mental health treatment. Journal of American College Health, 70(2), 436-445. https://doi-org.libproxy.library.wmich.edu/10.1080/07448481.2020.1753751
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Further, programs such as the Veterans Integrat
Blinded Veterans Association National Executive Director Rowe Testifies Before House Veterans' Affairs Committee
WASHINGTON, March 12 -- The House Veterans' Affairs Committee released the following testimony by Lea Rowe, national executive director of the Blinded Veterans Association, from a March 3, 2026, joint hearing with the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee entitled "Legislative Presentation of Veterans of Foreign Wars & Multi VSO: Student Veterans of America, Jewish War Veterans, Blinded Veterans Association, Fleet Reserve Association, Minority Veterans of America, National Association of County Veterans Service Officers (NACVSO), Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA)":* * *
Chairman Moran, ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, March 12 -- The House Veterans' Affairs Committee released the following testimony by Lea Rowe, national executive director of the Blinded Veterans Association, from a March 3, 2026, joint hearing with the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee entitled "Legislative Presentation of Veterans of Foreign Wars & Multi VSO: Student Veterans of America, Jewish War Veterans, Blinded Veterans Association, Fleet Reserve Association, Minority Veterans of America, National Association of County Veterans Service Officers (NACVSO), Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA)": * * * Chairman Moran,Chairman Bost, Ranking Member Blumenthal, Ranking Member Takano, and distinguished Members of the Committees on Veterans' Affairs, on behalf of the Blinded Veterans Association (BVA) and its membership, I appreciate this opportunity to present our legislative priorities for 2026. As the National Executive Director and a specialist in low-vision rehabilitation, I am seated before you representing the only Congressionally chartered Veterans Service Organization (VSO) exclusively dedicated to the unique needs of our nation's blinded veterans and their families.[1][2] As we approach "National Blinded Veterans Day" on March 28--the 81st anniversary of our 1945 founding-- we reflect on our Congressional charter's mandate to act as the official advocate for all blinded veterans.[1][2] Our mission, rooted in the legacy of those 100 war-blinded soldiers from World War II, continues today as we work to ensure that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) provides top-quality, comprehensive medical and rehabilitative services.
BVA LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES FOR 2026
The Blinded Veterans Association urges the 119th Congress to proactively address a comprehensive suite of legislative priorities essential for the well-being of the blind and low-vision community. Our primary focus is the modernization of the Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers (PCAFC) to incorporate blindness-specific clinical standards for Activities of Daily Living that recognize functional, rather than just physical, limitations.[3][4]
We also call for vision loss claims to be centralized to a single Regional Benefits Office (RBO), rather than being routed through the National Work Queue. This approach would mirror how ionizing radiation claims are decided at the Jackson, Mississippi Regional Benefits Office. Centralizing vision loss claims would enable the development of specialized expertise among decision makers, streamline the adjudication process, and ensure more consistent, accurate decisions for blinded veterans.
We strongly advocate for the final passage and reconciliation of the Veterans Accessibility Advisory Committee Act to ensure all VA platforms and physical kiosks meet mandatory accessibility standards.[5] Furthermore, we call for a critical rule change in transportation services to allow for a "catastrophic circumstances" exemption, which would ensure veterans can receive life-sustaining treatment without the burden of upfront costs and subsequent reimbursement. Our priorities also include codifying robust protections for guide and service dogs within VA facilities, maintaining the gold standard of Blind Rehabilitation Service (BRS) through increased funding, and supporting specialized research into traumatic brain injury-related vision loss.[6] Finally, we stand in firm opposition to the "Ameliorative Effects of Medication" rule and urge the swift passage of the Major Richard Star Act to protect the earned benefits of combat-injured veterans.[7][8]
BVA BACKGROUND AND THE EVOLUTION OF CARE
The Blinded Veterans Association is the only national Veterans Service Organization chartered by the United States Congress and exclusively dedicated to assisting America's blinded veterans and their families.[1][2] Founded on March 28, 1945, by approximately 100 war-blinded service members at Avon Old Farms Army Convalescent Hospital, BVA was established to ensure that no blinded veteran would be returned home without adequate training to meet the challenges of their disability.[1] This mission was originally inspired by President Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1944 executive order, which prioritized the rehabilitation and integration of blinded veterans.
BVA's advocacy has been the driving force behind every major milestone in VA blind rehabilitation, beginning with the opening of the first comprehensive Blind Rehabilitation Center (BRC) on July 4, 1948.[3] Today, VA estimates that there are approximately 130,000 veterans who are legally blind and more than one million who have low vision impacting their daily activities.[3][4] To serve this population, VA operates 13 residential BRCs nationwide, providing intensive inpatient training to help veterans achieve independence.[3] In 1967, BVA participated in a pilot program that evolved into the Visual Impairment Service Team (VIST) Program, and the organization later convinced Congress in 1978 to fund full-time VIST Coordinator positions to ensure every blinded veteran has a dedicated case manager.[3] Starting in 1947, BVA petitioned for outpatient services, eventually securing funding in 1995 to establish the first Blind Rehabilitation Outpatient Specialists (BROS), a cadre that has since grown to over 100 full-time positions.[3] In 2007, BVA helped secure $40 million to implement a full continuum of care, resulting in nine Visual Impairment Services Outpatient Rehabilitation (VISOR) clinics for low-vision veterans.[3] BVA also pioneered technology and benefits, ranging from the development of the C-5 laser cane in 1975 to the establishment of Computer Access Training Sections at all BRCs and securing Specially Adapted Housing grant eligibility for the blind.
SUPPORTING BLIND REHABILITATION SERVICE FUNDING
The population of veterans facing vision loss continues to grow, necessitating a robust and dedicated funding model for BRS. In October 2020, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) implemented a new Continuum of Care, which resulted in 81,583 low-vision and legally blind veterans being added to VIST Coordinator case management rosters. Current VHA research estimates that there are approximately 130,000 legally blind veterans in the United States, with another 1.1 million low-vision veterans possessing a visual acuity of 20/70 or worse. This demographic surge underscores the critical need for accessible, high-quality rehabilitative care.
VA currently operates 13 residential Blind Rehabilitation Centers (BRCs), which continue to offer the ideal environment for maximizing a veteran's independence. However, these centers face severe staffing challenges as local Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) and VAMC Directors often fail to replace retiring or transferring staff. This chronic understaffing leads to longer wait times and a decline in care quality. BVA strongly recommends that BRS funding be modeled after Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Rehabilitation Centers. Beyond clinical excellence, this is a matter of fiscal responsibility. Independent living training at a BRC directly reduces VA's long-term expenditure on assisted living facilities and home health Aides. Framing BRS funding as a dedicated stream is not just an ask for more resources; it is an investment in significant long-term cost-avoidance for the entire VHA enterprise.
Furthermore, BVA is deeply concerned about the unsustainable caseloads of VIST Coordinators and Blind Rehabilitation Outpatient Specialists (BROS). With national caseloads doubling from 40,000 to over 80,000, the capacity to meet individual veteran needs is in jeopardy, leading to potential staff burnout and limited access to service. We request that VHA conduct a resource/demand gap analysis to identify overcapacity positions and authorize the staffing of additional VIST and BROS roles to support these 40,000 additional veterans.
BVA holds that VHA must maintain the bed capacity and staffing levels mandated by the Veterans' Health Care Eligibility Reform Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-262). While the VA MISSION Act facilitates community care, it must not siphon funds from the specialized BRCs that offer essential services--such as specialized nursing, audiology, and mental health care--that private outpatient agencies often lack. If private contracts are utilized, BVA insists that these agencies meet peer-reviewed quality standards and hold accreditation from the National Accreditation Council (NAC) or the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) to ensure that our veterans receive care equivalent to VA's gold standard.
ESTABLISHING A VETERANS ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON EQUAL ACCESS
As the only national VSO chartered by Congress exclusively dedicated to assisting veterans and their families coping with blindness and vision loss, ensuring that our nation's veterans have access to the highest quality care and information remains a top priority. While BVA acknowledges and commends VA for its recent, consistent improvements to the VA Health and Benefits mobile app and the VA.gov website--both of which have seen significant strides in screen reader compatibility and user interface accessibility--major systemic gaps remain elsewhere in VA's digital and physical infrastructure.
Despite progress on mobile and web platforms, physical kiosks within VA Medical Centers remain fundamentally inaccessible to blinded veterans. These self-service machines, increasingly used for check-in, wayfinding, and pharmacy services, often lack the tactile indicators, voice-guided navigation, or standard headphone jacks required for independent use. This failure forces veterans to compromise their privacy by disclosing personal health information to staff or strangers to navigate a machine that was designed for "self-service."
The Veterans Accessibility Advisory Committee Act (H.R. 1147 / S. 1383)[5] would establish a permanent Veterans Advisory Committee on Equal Access at VA to address these disparities. While the House and Senate have made significant progress toward passing this bill as of February 2026, BVA urges a unified mandate to ensure that accessibility is a "baked-in" requirement for all future IT and hardware procurements. A July 2025 VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) report found that of 30 "bedrock" IT systems sampled, only four were fully compliant with Section 508 requirements.[9] This is largely because VA's procurement process often relies on vendor self-declarations rather than independent verification by the Department's Office of 508 Compliance.
BVA calls on Congress to mandate the creation of a VA Accessibility Office led by a Chief Accessibility Officer. This office must have the authority to block the procurement of any system--be it a website, a mobile app, or a physical kiosk--that does not meet the gold standard of accessibility. Accessibility is not a "feature" to be added later; it is a fundamental civil right that ensures that every blinded veteran can manage their health with the "peer-inspired self-reliance" that defines our organization.
THE 2026 BVA CARE REVIEW AND VISOR OVERSIGHT
At the beginning of 2026, BVA re-established the Care Review, an intensive oversight initiative with the goal of assessing all nine VISOR programs within the calendar year. This review will soon expand to include all 13 Blind Rehabilitation Centers. Our Care Review teams meet directly with medical center directors, chiefs of staff, and every stakeholder in the veteran's journey, including pharmacy, phlebotomy, volunteer services, greeters, and VA police. The recommendations and concerns identified at each location are shared directly with the local facility, VA's Rehabilitation and Prosthetics Services, and the "four corners" of legislative leadership. We are committed to ensuring that the gold standard of care promised in Washington actually be delivered in the hallways of every VA Medical Center.
MODERNIZING PCAFC AND ADL ASSESSMENTS
One of our most urgent priorities remains the modernization of the Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers (PCAFC). While VA has recently proposed rules to expand access and extend transition periods through September 2028, the current "physical" view of Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) remains fundamentally flawed when applied to blindness. These subjective standards, governed by 38 U.S.C. Sec. 1720G, are designed for sighted individuals and do not account for the specific functional limitations of the estimated 130,000 legally blind and over one million low-vision veterans in the United States.
The inadequacy of current assessments is clearly demonstrated by simple tasks: while a veteran may "physically" be able to walk 50 feet, a blindness-centric view must ask if they can safely navigate that path without veering into traffic or tripping over low-contrast obstacles. Similarly, although a veteran may be able to physically pick up a pill, they often cannot independently identify and differentiate between multiple, similar-looking medications or read a digital glucose monitor without assistance. Crucially, medication management is currently classified as an "instrumental" ADL (iADL), meaning that it is not a primary qualifier for PCAFC benefits despite the high risk of life-threatening errors for blinded veterans.
BVA calls on Congress to support the Veterans' Caregiver Appeals Modernization Act of 2025 and to mandate that VA assessments incorporate these functional realities of vision loss. To eliminate the current subjectivity that has led to a denial rate as high as 90 percent, BVA proposes an objective clinical standard for PCAFC eligibility: a corrected acuity of 5/200 or worse in both eyes, or a field of vision of 5 degrees or less in both eyes. This standard is intentionally more restrictive than the definition of legal blindness to ensure that benefits are targeted toward the most severely impaired veterans who require constant caregiving to maintain a realistic level of independence.
TRANSPORTATION BARRIERS AND CATASTROPHIC EXEMPTIONS
The current travel reimbursement system under 38 U.S.C. Sec. 111 creates a significant financial and functional barrier for veterans who cannot drive themselves. While VA's Beneficiary Travel Self-Service System (BTSSS) was designed to expedite claims, it remains a "reimbursement-after-the-fact" model that forces veterans to carry the financial burden of transit. For blinded veterans, this is not merely a matter of convenience; it is a matter of clinical necessity. Many BVA members must pay high upfront costs for specialized private transportation or rideshare services to reach one of the 13 BRCs or nine VISOR clinics, only to wait weeks for a reimbursement that frequently fails to cover the actual market cost.
Under current 2026 regulations, the VA mileage rate remains significantly lower than the actual cost of operating a vehicle or hiring a commercial carrier. Furthermore, while Special Mode Transportation (SMT)--such as wheelchair vans or ambulances--is available, it requires a VA clinician to certify "medical necessity" in advance. For many blinded veterans, "administrative" eligibility exists, but the "clinical" certification is inconsistently applied, leaving them to navigate a complex bureaucracy while their vision continues to deteriorate. BVA strongly advocates for a rule change to allow for "catastrophic circumstances" exemptions. We specifically recommend that this exemption be automatically applied to any veteran with a corrected acuity of 20/200 or worse who must travel more than 50 miles to a BRC or VISOR clinic. This would eliminate the inconsistent "clinical certification" process and ensure that those with profound vision loss have immediate, zero-out-of-pocket access to life-sustaining rehabilitation.
Additionally, BVA remains concerned about the BTSSS digital barrier. While the system is touted as "self-adjudicating," it requires a high level of digital literacy and access to 508compliant platforms that, as previously noted, are often inaccessible to the very veterans who need them most. The current system also imposes a deductible of $3 one-way ($6 round-trip), which, while capped at $18 per month, represents an unnecessary "tax" on the disabled. We urge Congress to waive these deductibles for all veterans traveling for blindness-specific rehabilitation and to ensure that no veteran is forced to choose between the specialized care that could save their independence and their immediate financial stability.
SAFEGUARDING OCULAR CLINICAL STANDARDS AND PATIENT SAFETY
As the only national VSO chartered by Congress exclusively dedicated to assisting veterans and their families coping with blindness and vision loss, ensuring that our nation's veterans have access to the highest quality eye care remains a top priority. BVA has strong concerns regarding current VA initiatives that threaten to lower the standard of care through both regulatory shifts and the erosion of surgical safeguards.
Maintaining Surgical Excellence: Ophthalmology vs. Optometry
BVA is deeply concerned about VA's move to establish national standards of practice that could dilute the quality of surgical eye care. In September 2022, VA modified its Community Care "Standardized Episode of Care (SEOC): Eye Care Comprehensive" guideline by removing the explicit requirement that "only ophthalmologists can perform invasive procedures, including injections, lasers, and eye surgery."[12] By removing this language without public comment, VA is implicitly authorizing optometrists to perform ophthalmic surgery in the Community Care program where state laws permit.[13]
Our members know, all too well, that eye tissue is extremely delicate; once damaged, it is often impossible to repair. While optometrists play an important role in eye care, they are not medical doctors and do not possess the specialized surgical residency training required for invasive procedures. Veterans have benefited for decades from a consistent policy that restricts therapeutic laser surgery to medical or osteopathic doctors (ophthalmologists). We urge Congress to mandate that VA immediately reinstate the original SEOC language to ensure that a system-wide quality standard remains in place for all veterans, regardless of where they receive their care.
Protecting Benefits from the "Ameliorative Effects" Rule
Parallel to these clinical concerns is a critical threat to the stability of veteran benefits. On February 17, 2026, the VA issued an Interim Final Rule (91 FR 7118 / 2026-03068) that amends 38 C.F.R. Sec. 4.10 to mandate that disability ratings be based on a veteran's "actual" functioning while using medication or treatment.[14] This rule effectively attempts to abrogate more than a decade of judicial precedent from Jones v. Shinseki and McCarroll v. McDonald, which required VA to discount the ameliorative effects of medication unless a diagnostic code specifically stated otherwise.[15][16]
For blinded veterans, this is a dangerous shift. Conditions like glaucoma require lifelong, rigorous medication regimens to manage intraocular pressure. Under this new rule, a veteran whose vision is temporarily stabilized by medication could see their disability rating reduced, even though the underlying disease remains severe and would cause immediate vision loss if treatment were interrupted. Furthermore, VA implemented this change as a "clarification" to bypass the required notice-and-comment period, a move BVA views as a dubious justification to prioritize inventory control over the "pro-veteran" canon of law.
Veterans should not be penalized for complying with life-sustaining treatments. We urge Congress to conduct immediate oversight to ensure that VA does not use administrative shortcuts to strip away earned benefits or lower the clinical bar for surgical safety. We must maintain a clear distinction between professional roles and ensure that compensation reflects the true severity of a veteran's service-connected condition, not a medicated snapshot of their performance.
ENHANCING VETERANS' MENTAL HEALTH CARE
Mental health conditions are common in the United States. More than 1.7 million veterans receive treatment in VA mental health specialty programs.[17] The National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Reports consistently reflect the suicide rate for veterans remains 1.5 times the rate of non-veteran adults, and the most recent Report regrettably revealed yet another year of increased suicides as compared to FY20 and FY22.[18] These statistics underscore the urgent need for continued efforts to improve mental health care access and outcomes for veterans.
During the years 2001-2014, approximately 294 blinded veterans who were VHA enrollees were reported as having committed suicide based on data analysis provided by the Serious Mental Illness Treatment Resource and Evaluation Center, Office of Mental Health Operations, VA Central Office. This suicide rate appears consistent with suicide rates among non-blind VHA enrollees. It is imperative that we de-stigmatize mental health assistance while increasing access to evidence-based care and support services for all veterans, including those with visual impairments. BVA encourages Congress to robustly fund VA's suicide prevention outreach budget and peer support programs while simultaneously addressing the longstanding mental health staffing shortages across the enterprise. Furthermore, we urge VA to reinstate data analysis of special populations of veterans, including blinded veterans, to better understand the unique mental health needs and challenges faced by this population.
Providing high-quality mental health services and suicide prevention remain a VHA priority.
To support this mission, it is essential to recruit and hire the most qualified individuals, regardless of their mental health discipline, for positions in mental health treatment teams.
This will allow VHA to provide high-quality, industry-leading mental health services for veterans. This principle helps to ensure both a high-quality corps of mental health providers and an appropriate diversity of professional backgrounds. Further, this approach is most consistent with interprofessional practice, which is the cornerstone of VA mental health programs.
Interprofessional practice as it relates to mental health programs is provided in an integrated environment that allows health care team members to use complementary skills to effectively manage the physical and mental health of their patients, using an array of tools that support information sharing. High-functioning teams addressing behavioral and mental health needs require collaboration among diverse professions. It is important to create and support innovative models for all mental health professions. Promoting interprofessional recruitment for these important roles supports VA's goal of being the employer of choice in the health care industry and assists with recruitment and retention.
Physician Assistants (PAs) are highly educated professionals licensed to diagnose, treat, and prescribe medications. The PA profession arose from the military, and PAs have been treating veterans for more than 50 years. PA education includes extensive training in psychiatry with mandatory didactic and psychiatric mental health clinical rotations.
Psychiatry is a required component of the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) exam.
PA mental health skillsets could complement psychiatrists as PAs can prescribe medications, whereas VA's other identified core mental health disciplines outlined in Directive 2009-011--Nurses, Social Workers, Psychologists, Marriage and Family
Therapists, and Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselors--cannot prescribe them.
PAs, with their versatile training and adaptability, are exceptionally positioned to provide comprehensive mental health services. Their inclusion as a core mental health discipline would enhance the mental health workforce within VA, ensuring that more veterans receive timely and effective care. PAs promote a team-based approach, which is essential in delivering comprehensive mental health services and which aligns with VA's mission of providing the best possible care to our Nation's veterans.
BVA calls upon Congress to expand 38 U.S. Code Sec.7302 - Functions of Veterans Health Administration: Health-Care Personnel Education and Training Programs by increasing the number of VHA PA Health Professions Scholarship Program (HSPS) awards from the current 35 to 75 annually, which would accomplish the following: ensure a steady pipeline of uniquely trained PAs to address the specific mental health needs of veterans and expand the current four VAMC PA resident training positions to provide opportunities for PAs to gain specialized skills in areas where veterans often require the most support, such as PTSD, emergency medicine, and women's health care (all of which adversely impact VA's rural health care service delivery).
Increased PA residency positions and scholarships would offer a strategic integration of PAs within VHA, promoting improved patient outcomes, decreased wait times, and diminished chronic staffing shortages. During the last five years alone, more than 600 veterans have applied for the currently available 35 annual HSPS scholarships. Thus, we contend that this increase in scholarships and residency positions would significantly improve VA's mental health coverage and various other staffing shortages.
IMPROVING PROGRAMS AND SERVICES FOR WOMEN VETERANS
BVA calls on Congress to fully fund and support gender-specific health care for women veterans. VA must continue creating and fully staffing high-quality, clinically relevant services for women veterans. The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted health care delivery, including the training and hiring of health care providers. This was particularly challenging for women's health mini-residencies, which often involve hands-on training.
While training and hiring initiatives continue, the growth in women veterans who use VA is outstripping VA's ability to hire and train providers to meet women's specialized genderspecific clinical needs.
Women are the fastest-growing subpopulation within VA (+32 percent by 2030), and there does not appear to be a strategic plan to ensure that all service lines in VHA are focused on adjusting programs to meet women veterans' unique clinical and supportive services needs.[19] VHA must develop comprehensive plans for women veterans' health programming that respond to the evolving health care landscape, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and evaluate other program offices to ensure that appropriate services are available to meet the unique needs of the women veterans it serves. This includes addressing the specific health needs of women veterans, such as reproductive health, mental health, and chronic pain management, as well as ensuring culturally competent and trauma-informed care.
Peer support specialists have been very useful in helping veterans with mental health challenges, including those dealing with the aftermath of Military Sexual Trauma (MST), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and substance use disorders. Similarly, care navigators and doulas can assist women veterans with highly complex medical conditions such as cancer, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), multiple sclerosis (MS), post-partum maternal care, and chronic pain management. These specialized roles can provide crucial support and guidance to women veterans navigating the health care system and addressing their unique needs. VA must consider increasing funding for these critically relevant specialists to ensure that women veterans have access to the support they need.
Additionally, creating and maintaining a dedicated consultative team to assist with managing the care of veterans throughout the maternity cycle would support VA's efforts to provide women veterans with access to comprehensive wrap-around services, including help with housing, employment, food insecurity, interpersonal violence, mental health, and prosthetic support. A dedicated team can help to coordinate care across different services and ensure that women veterans receive the holistic support they need during this critical period.
Reproductive mental health issues are prevalent for many service-disabled women veterans and require specialized clinical support. VA is wholly dependent upon its community care network providers to render quality care and data on outcomes of maternity care. Still, specialized program managers can monitor and influence better results by enhancing services for women and improving coordination and communication among these programs.
GUIDE DOG PROTECTIONS AND THE SAVES ACT
Guide dogs are essential "prosthetic" aids that provide critical mobility and safety for blinded veterans. However, BVA members continue to report significant access issues and dangerous encounters with untrained animals within VA facilities. Since 2016, there has been an 84 percent spike in reported incidents involving support animals, including biting incidents that pose a direct threat to the safety of legitimate guide dogs and their handlers.
BVA appreciates the Senate's recent resolution honoring the Association's 81-year history and urging safe, unobstructed access for guide dogs, but policy enforcement must be standardized across all facilities to differentiate between trained service animals and emotional support animals.
To address these systemic barriers, BVA strongly supports the Service Dogs Assisting Veterans (SAVES) Act (H.R. 2605 / S. 1441),[6] which was reported with amendments by the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs in late 2025 and passed the House of
Representatives on February 11, 2026. This legislation is vital because training a single guide dog can cost upwards of $50,000 and take two years of intensive work. The Act would require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to award grants to nonprofit organizations to provide service dogs to eligible veterans and would guarantee coverage for commercially available veterinary insurance, alleviating the financial burden on disabled veterans who rely on these animals for their daily well-being.
Additionally, BVA suggests mandatory training for all VA employees on guide dog etiquette and the establishment of dedicated "guide and service dog champions" at each VAMC to resolve access issues and ensure compliance with federal law. We are particularly concerned by reports indicating that when incidents occur, VA police may only file a formal report if physical injury or blood is involved. Under VHA Directive 1178,[20] VA Police are responsible for completing a Uniform Offenses Report for any reported incident that places a person or animal at "significant risk of harm," regardless of whether an injury resulted in blood. BVA is further investigating this area and urges Congress to mandate an update to VHA Directive 1178. VA Police protocols must explicitly require a "Service Animal Incident Report" for any reported interference or aggression, regardless of whether blood is drawn.
A non-bloody attack can end a guide dog's working career through trauma just as effectively as a physical bite, and law enforcement must document these incidents to ensure professional accountability across the enterprise. BVA calls on VA to ensure that law enforcement protocols reflect the reality that an attack on a guide dog is an attack on a veteran's primary means of safe mobility.
CONCLUSION
The Blinded Veterans Association remains the leading voice for those who have sacrificed their sight for this nation. Whether it is ensuring that the Major Richard Star Act finally passes to end the unfair retirement offset for combat-injured veterans or ensuring that a pharmacy kiosk can be used independently by a veteran through the reconciliation of the Veterans Accessibility Advisory Committee Act (S. 1383 / H.R. 1147), our focus remains on "peer-inspired self-reliance". We are encouraged by the House's passage of S. 1383 on February 11, 2026, and urge final action to establish the Veterans Advisory Committee on Equal Access.
Our ongoing focus remains dedicated to ensuring that the Department of Veterans Affairs remains a leader in accessibility, transparency, and clinical excellence for the blind community. We thank the Committees for their ongoing support and look forward to a productive 2026.
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BIOGRAPHY: LEA ROWE National Executive Director, Blinded Veterans Association
Lea Rowe serves as the National Executive Director of the Blinded Veterans Association (BVA). With a Master of Science in Low Vision Rehabilitation and a certification as a Low Vision Therapist, Ms. Rowe brings a unique clinical and administrative perspective to BVA's advocacy mission. Throughout her career, she has been dedicated to improving the functional independence of individuals with vision loss through adaptive technology and specialized training. Since joining BVA leadership, she has spearheaded the restoration of the BVA Care Review, focusing on the clinical standards of VA's VISOR and BRC programs to ensure that they meet the modern needs of blinded veterans.
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Endnotes:
[1] Blinded Veterans Association. "About BVA: Mission, History, and Congressional Charter." https://bva.org/about-bva/
[2] U.S. Congress. "An Act to Incorporate the Blinded Veterans Association." Public Law 85857, Title III, Sec. 3101, Sept. 2, 1958. https://www.congress.gov/bill/85th-congress/housebill/12380
[3] U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. "Blind Rehabilitation Service Fact Sheet." https://www.va.gov/BLINDREHAB/docs/BRSFactSheet.pdf
[4] U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Research and Development. "Vision Impairment and Blindness in Veterans." https://www.research.va.gov/topics/blindness.cfm
[5] U.S. Congress. "Veterans Accessibility Advisory Committee Act of 2023." H.R.1147 / S.1383. https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/1147
[6] U.S. Congress. "Service Dogs Assisting Veterans (SAVES) Act." H.R.2605 / S.1441. https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/2605
[7] Blinded Veterans Association. "Policy Priorities." https://bva.org/advocacy/ [8] Blinded Veterans Association. "Major Richard Star Act." https://bva.org/advocacy/majorrichard-star-act/
[9] U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Inspector General. "Audit of VA's Compliance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act." Report No. 21-01119-232, August 24, 2022. https://www.va.gov/oig/pubs/VAOIG-21-01119-232.pdf
[10] U.S. Access Board. "Section 508 Standards." https://www.section508.gov/manage/laws-and-policies/
[11] U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. "Blind Rehabilitation Service (BRS)." https://www.va.gov/blindrehab/
[12] U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. "Standards of Practice for Optometry." VA Handbook 1121.01 (latest version).
[13] American Academy of Ophthalmology. "Position Statement: Eye Surgery Performed by Non-Physicians." https://www.aao.org/position-statement/eye-surgery-nonphysicians
[14] U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. "Schedule for Rating Disabilities: The Ameliorative Effects of Medication." 38 CFR Sec. 4.1, Sec. 4.2, and Supplementary Rules, 2013. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2013/08/28/2013-20883/schedule-for-ratingdisabilities-the-ameliorative-effects-of-medication
[15] Jones v. Shinseki, 26 Vet. App. 56 (2012). https://casetext.com/case/jones-v-shinseki-5
[16] McCarroll v. McDonald, 28 Vet. App. 267 (2016). https://casetext.com/case/mccarrollv-mcdonald
[17] U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. "VA Mental Health Services Annual Report, 2025." https://www.va.gov/health-care/health-needs-conditions/mental-health/
[18] U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. "2025 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report." https://www.mentalhealth.va.gov/suicide_prevention/data.asp
[19] U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. "Women Veterans Report: The Past, Present, and Future of Women Veterans." https://www.va.gov/womenvet/docs/womenveteransreport.pdf
[20] U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. "VHA Directive 1178: Guide and Service Dogs." https://www.va.gov/vhapublications/ViewPublication.asp?pub_ID=9653
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Original text here: https://docs.house.gov/meetings/VR/VR00/20260303/118976/HHRG-119-VR00-Wstate-DavisW-20260303.pdf
National Association of County Veterans Service Officers President Tangen Testifies Before House Veterans' Affairs Committee
WASHINGTON, March 12 -- The House Veterans' Affairs Committee released the following testimony by Andrew Tangen, president of the National Association of County Veterans Service Officers, and superintendent of the Veterans Assistance Commission of Lake County, Illinois, from a March 3, 2026, joint hearing with the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee entitled "Legislative Presentation of Veterans of Foreign Wars & Multi VSO: Student Veterans of America, Jewish War Veterans, Blinded Veterans Association, Fleet Reserve Association, Minority Veterans of America, National Association of County Veterans
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WASHINGTON, March 12 -- The House Veterans' Affairs Committee released the following testimony by Andrew Tangen, president of the National Association of County Veterans Service Officers, and superintendent of the Veterans Assistance Commission of Lake County, Illinois, from a March 3, 2026, joint hearing with the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee entitled "Legislative Presentation of Veterans of Foreign Wars & Multi VSO: Student Veterans of America, Jewish War Veterans, Blinded Veterans Association, Fleet Reserve Association, Minority Veterans of America, National Association of County VeteransService Officers (NACVSO), Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA)":* * *
Chairmen Moran and Bost, Ranking Members Blumenthal and Takano, and distinguished members of the Joint Committee, on behalf of the National Association of County Veteran Service Officers (NACVSO), we thank you for the opportunity to provide written testimony for the record.
We value the steadfast congressional commitment to improving the benefits, services, and systems that directly impact veterans and their families across the nation.
Transition to Civilian Life Is Not a Series of "Warm Hand-offs"
From the moment a service member enters the military, the federal government is continuously connected to their life. Moreover, service members are connected to one another. Yet once they begin the transition to civilian life, we--Congress and veteran-serving agencies--repeatedly return to the same fundamental question: how do we do better for veterans? Too often, that conversation is organized around individual systems--benefits, health care, employment, housing--rather than the veteran's lived experience moving through those systems.
We discuss these programs in isolation. Veterans experience them all at once.
We already know that veterans do not experience government as a seamless continuum. Instead, they encounter a series of entry points--often disconnected--each with its own rules, timelines, and expectations, say nothing of the number of forms to complete. Every transition--from uniform to civilian, from employment to benefits, from benefits to health care--introduces risk. Missed benefits, delayed care, incomplete or incorrect information, and vulnerability to exploitation are not anomalies; they are predictable outcomes of poor architecture.
This fragmentation is not caused by a lack of connection. Veterans are already technologically connected to the federal government from the moment they raise their right hand. Records, systems, and data follow them throughout their service and into their lives with VA. Nor is the system intended to serve them broken, either. Today's VA is the amalgamation of numerous independent or unique systems over time, each with their own historic scope of practice and organizational culture. Moreover, VA is not in the fortune telling business. It cannot predict all future need of each generation of veterans that enter civilian life. With every service or wartime era comes new needs of that generation. It is safe to say that VA is in a perpetual reactive state and can never fully be as proactive as the era may demand.
So, what is missing? We have observed that the most relevant missing ingredient is intentional continuity--a real human connection that carries a veteran forward once service ends and follows them home into the communities where they live, work, raise families, and eventually age. Just as military members can turn to their right and left and find support in the mission, this real human connection should mirror that effective and familiar culture once they separate. NACVSO--our members--are that human connection who already possess the intentional continuity needed to ensure that no veteran walking through our door is ever the victim of disconnected systems.
The Veteran Lifecycle--and Where the System Breaks Down
Veterans already have experience with effective continuity. While in uniform, their pay, health care, records, and daily responsibilities are fully integrated within a single federal framework.
Checking in and out of a command comes with a checklist detailing which department to go to for signatures and a deadline to get it done. There is no ambiguity about where to go or who is responsible for resolving an issue. This near constant connection allows inconsistencies to be addressed quickly and further demonstrates an important truth: when connection is continuous, human systems excel.
Continuity virtually vanishes after separation--a period when it is arguably needed the most.
Separation is treated as a discrete event rather than a long-term process. While various programs introduce valuable information, resources are often presented as conditional options. Veterans leave active duty connected to federal systems on paper but lack a bridge to the new realities of which they ironically enter ill equipped. With no such bridge, the chasm between security and alienation widens, perpetuating the all-to-common tragedies that plague the veteran community despite being preventable.
This is not a failure of the veterans making, nor is it a failure of technology. It is a failure of system architecture. Previous generations returned to communities that provided real, human continuity that helped them translate service into stability. Today's veterans are pushed through transition systems that replace human continuity with the illusion of access, mistaking an abundance of information across various platforms for connection.
Once home, veterans immediately confront practical questions about employment, education, and reintegration. Where can I afford to live? Who is hiring? How are education benefits certified?
What state or local benefits might apply in this new community? These questions cannot be fully answered by federal systems alone. This is precisely where Government Veteran Service Officers--or GVSOs--already operate: translating federal policy and programs into something actionable. GVSOs are the conduit for veteran resources that exist--much like their peers in service--at the state, county, and community levels, in addition to those at the federal level.
GVSOs - our members - are the local government equivalent to the VA.
Fragmentation creates risk. Veterans without a trusted point of contact turn to whoever answers the phone or most loudly advertises assistance. In that vacuum, unaccredited claims consultants-- often referred to as "claims sharks"--thrive. Veterans seek something framed to them as "choice" not because they prefer it, but because navigating a vast and unfamiliar system alone and completely in the dark makes paying for help seem reasonable. It is not. This is why continuous connection to a trusted GVSO dramatically reduces both the demand for and the influence of predatory actors. We already have the tools to abolish the false dichotomy of "choice" sold to veterans. Unfortunately, not all regions of the country have invested in sound local advocacy.
While there exist many reasons for this failure, the most familiar to veterans is "That's VAs job," to which the country's collective reply should be "No. That's OUR job."
Recently, VA paused implementation of a proposed disability rating rule following the concerns expressed by veterans and their service organizations. This demonstrates that, when advocates are engaged, meaningful policy outcomes are stronger. We applaud VA leadership for their responsiveness to concerns voiced by those who they most affect, but we shouldn't need to discuss these issues within the columns of Task & Purpose or Stars and Stripes. When advocates are engaged early and intentionally, we reinforce our collective commitment to veterans and reduce friction that fragmentation can cause. The commitment to veterans appears strong across the board--but architectural fragmentation is obvious even by how we communicate.
The same fragmentation affects health care and dependent benefits. Benefits determinations unlock access to health care, CHAMPVA, and other programs for dependents, yet these systems often fail to adequately communicate with one another. When that happens, families absorb the consequences. Yet GVSOs encounter these issues daily, routinely assisting veteran families with enrollment, denied claims, dependency status changes, and other family-related issues. GVSOs measure the veteran's inquiry as a common life event, not as isolated administrative procedure.
There are fewer events in a veteran's personal timeline where that continuity is more critical than in the delivery of survivor benefits. When a veteran passes away, surviving spouses are often forced to navigate complex and time-sensitive systems while grieving. There is no doubt that survivor benefits can be complex but, in many cases, the GVSO is the only consistent human connection available. This is the true test of continuity--and the role of the GVSO underscores that connection matters most when the system is hardest to navigate.
Constant Connection to a System that Works and The Role of the GVSO
GVSOs are not just another veteran support organization, they are the local government equivalent of federal veterans services, embedded in the communities where veterans carry out their daily lives. They represent the continuation of service once a veteran leaves uniform, translating federal programs into real-world outcomes at the city, county, state, and tribal level.
When the federal veteran support systems work best, it's because connection remains constant.
GVSOs are more than an extension of that connection: they stand to the veterans left and right as the familiar face, ensuring veterans remain connected.
This distinction matters. Veterans do not experience their needs the way we distinguish them during committee hearings. They do not differentiate between federal versus local systems, or disability benefits versus health care related to their disability. These are life events and life problems that are reasonable steps with logical solutions. GVSOs live in the intersection of these systems, serving as the one who understands how federal benefits, state programs, and community resources work together. Treating GVSOs as anything less than a continuation of service creates unnecessary gaps and reinforces fragmentation that already exists. Once again, veterans are left alone and in the dark to navigate systems with a level of complexity for which they have zero training.
NACVSO represents the professionals who see the veteran lifecycle in its entirety. From discharge through employment, benefits, health care, dependency changes, and ultimately survivor benefits, GVSOs are often the veteran's primary and most consistent source of information and assistance.
Our members do not engage with veterans at a single moment in time. Their support spans decades.
This perspective gives NACVSO a unique understanding of how policies perform not just on paper, but in practice.
Our members have their fingers on the pulse of the most common issues encountered by veterans and, when we converge with advocates from all corners of the country, it's not surprising that we find out that these issues do not affect veterans in the same silos as we talk about them during hearings. Because GVSOs are present, they see failures long before they appear in congressional reports. Furthermore, veterans frequently bring issues to their local service office that fall well outside formal benefits assistance. On any given day, a small, two-person county-level office may receive a call from a veteran asking for help moving furniture, resolving a housing crisis, or addressing a sudden medical hardship. While these requests may be outside the technical scope of a GVSO's role, they are never outside the GVSO's sense of responsibility.
In those moments, GVSOs do what the system often cannot. They listen. They learn about the veteran's broader circumstances--chronic pain, disability, family strain, financial stress--and they act as problem-solvers. A GVSO may not even be allowed to physically help a veteran move, but they can coordinate with a local VFW, faith-based organization, or community nonprofits to assemble volunteers who can help. This is what it means to be the local government equivalent: leveraging local services, knowing who to call, how to connect directly to local resources, and how to ensure the veteran is not left alone and in the dark simply because the problem does not have a federal form associated with it.
This is why NACVSO and its members are your indispensable partners. GVSOs ensure continuity.
They are tired of "warm handoffs" because they see firsthand the disconnect behind the rhetoric and provide cohesion where others cannot. They absorb the complexity of the system so veterans and their families don't have to. And when the federal government finally sees GVSOs as the local government equivalent they are, veterans everywhere will experience support as a continuous extension of the service they once gave for the rest of us.
GVSOs are often described by VA and by Congress as trusted partners in serving veterans. That recognition is appreciated but remains rhetorical. Practice, policy, funding, and the system in its current design do not reflect the reality or the responsibilities GVSOs carry. The result is a persistent underutilization of one of the most effective veteran-facing assets in the country.
GVSOs are not confined to a single lane of service. On any given day, they help veterans secure disability compensation, navigate VA health care access and enrollment, translate dependent survivor benefits to a grieving widow, or get classes certified for a new veteran student. In the same interaction, the same GVSO may also assist with a state property tax exemption, connect the veteran to a local Disabled Veterans' Outreach Program specialist for employment support, getting their veterans license plate, or otherwise coordinate with partners to meet needs that government systems are not designed to touch.
This breadth of responsibility underscores the disconnect between how GVSOs are described and how they are supported. When policy and systems fail to recognize GVSOs as the local government equivalent they are, veterans are left to bridge gaps on their own. Fully leveraging GVSOs requires intentional integration into system design, sustainable funding, and a universal understanding that their role extends into the full spectrum of veteran thriving long after they've turned in their uniform.
How This Congress Can Help
Support the Existing GVSO Mechanism
The most direct way to reinforce the continuity that GVSOs already provide is by fully implementing and funding Section 302 of the Elizabeth Dole Act. Establishing a funding mandate would ensure that knowledgeable, accredited local support is not solely determined by geography or local resources and is a consistent expectation nationwide. NACVSO helped draft this legislation--initially called the Commitment to Veteran Support and Outreach Act, or CVSO Act--and possesses the education and training infrastructure needed to support new GVSOs in communities where they do not yet exist. Rather than creating yet another new system let's work on stabilizing and scaling a proven one that keeps veterans connected long after their service has ended.
Reinforcing the Integrity of Benefit Access
Predatory actors flourish where connection is fractured. When veterans lack dependable access to ethical, accredited advocates, unaccredited claims consultants arrive ready to exploit confusion and complexity for profit, alone. Strengthening accreditation standards, enforcing meaningful penalties, and establishing trust through accountable representation are essential to protecting veterans and preserving these benefits systems. True claims integrity is achieved by ensuring veterans are never left alone and in the dark. "Choice" in this context is a false dichotomy amplified by those wishing to deepen their pockets on the sacrifice and service of the brave men and women selfless enough to serve us. The time has come to hold accountable those who wish to exploit them.
Interlacing the Mesh Between Federal and Local Coordination
Life is not experienced in silos, and the systems designed to serve veterans should not function as if it does. Benefits, health care, education, dependency, and survivor programs should communicate across federal, state, and local levels to reflect how veterans actually live. GVSOs already perform this coordination every day without federal support or recognition that could vastly improve their ability to accomplish this function. They translate policy into veteran outcomes and bridge gaps that exist or arise between systems. Federal policy should codify, formalize, and support this role, ensuring that coordination is built in. Similar to the ways local law enforcement agencies are recognized as partners performing an essential function of governance, GVSOs are your local government equivalent to ensuring the benefits afforded veterans are faithfully executed and realized. Creating a National Veterans Strategy may be a start.
However, without directly engaging those already in the field doing the work, what can truly be accomplished? Strategy without input will produce only theory; theory that will inevitably construct additional silos, missed handoffs, and lost opportunities to utilize what we already possess: a dependable infrastructure of local government equivalents who translate policy into action daily on behalf of the veterans who seek them out.
Make Continuity the Standard, Not the Exception
Veterans do not need another "warm handoff." They want to recognize the support to their right and left in a way that is familiar and they know works. They need continuity. The veteran lifecycle demonstrates over and over that fragmentation is a failure of architecture, not of our collective intent, nor of a lack of programs created in their honor. Veterans currently navigate systems that weren't intently designed to move cohesively alongside their lives. Rarely do the needs of veterans fall neatly into the categories we use to organize them. Continuity is the missing element, and without it, each of life's transitions become an unnecessary foreseeable and preventable risk.
Government Veteran Service Officers are the continuity, and we are already here doing the work.
We are not an enhancement; we are the local government equivalent of federal services and the natural continuation of a rhythm veterans already know and understand. If the federal government truly views GVSOs as partners, then veterans should meet GVSOs by design instead of by chance.
That means investing in what already exists: integrating GVSOs into these systems and funding the laws already on the books. If you do this, continuity will no longer depend on geography or capacity. When GVSOs are fully leveraged, veterans' outcomes improve, and they experience government as a single, continuous commitment that follows them home and stays with them for life. In other words, a rare opportunity to be proactive in their honor instead of reactive to their struggle.
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Attachment 1
Letter for the Record to the House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committees
Subject: Enhancing the Transition Assistance Program (TAP): Empowering Veterans to Thrive as Catalysts of Growth, Change, and Impact in Local Communities
To: The Honorable Members of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs and the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs
From: Kevin M. Schmiegel, Lieutenant Colonel, USMC (Ret.), Co-Founder and CEO, ZeroMils
Dear Chairmen, Ranking Members, and Distinguished Members of the Committees,
I respectfully submit this letter to address necessary improvements to the Transition Assistance Program (TAP) and to encourage the Committees to consider a new and different approach -- one that welcomes new and different organizations with new and different perspectives at future hearings and roundtables with both Committees going forward.
The recommendations in this letter are based on my 20-year career as a Marine Officer and a decade spent building national nonprofits like Hiring Our Heroes. Currently, I serve as the CoFounder and CEO of ZeroMils, a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) dedicated to creating "Military Thriving" cultures and changing the broken Veteran narrative.
My suggestions for improvements are intended with one goal in mind: to empower service members and military spouses to make better, more informed decisions in transition; to thrive in their transformation as Veterans and Veteran spouses; and to continue to realize their full potential serving as catalysts for growth, impact and change at the local level. This can also be achieved with the help of subject matter experts who are on the frontlines in communities where Veterans and their families live, work and serve.
While TAP is a vital, multi-agency effort involving the Departments of War, Veterans Affairs and Labor, its current structure is part of the problem, and it continues to exacerbate a growing and systemic challenge: the transition to civilian life for Veterans is fundamentally fragmented. This "poor architecture" lacks intentional continuity that Veterans and their families need at home to ensure they have meaningful employment, purpose through continued service, connection to a tribe, good health and well-being, and the tools and resources they need to constantly seek selfimprovement like they did in the military.
All of these things, which are present and effective during active duty, vanish after separation when it is needed most, leading to predictable negative outcomes. The model of jamming several days of content in TAP at the end of someone's military service, often with instructors who lack private sector experience, is leading to ill-prepared and ill-equipped Veterans and spouses in transition. Ultimately, TAP falls short because it focuses on entitlement rather than empowerment.
This is particularly evident in TAP's failure to empower service members to thrive as small business owners, which has led to an alarming decline in the number of Veterans owning a small business in the United States (from 11% in 2014 to 4.3% in 2023). For the first time since the end of World War II, Veterans are less likely to own a small business than our civilian counterparts.
To put this in perspective, nearly 50% of all WWII Veterans went on to own a small business.
Today less than 5% of all Post 9/11 Veterans are small business owners.
This systemic fragmentation and failure of the transition models also place an undue burden on front-line support, with County Veteran Service Officers (CVSOs) and their state equivalents often left to assist Veterans and Military Spouses who have had less-than-optimal experiences. These Government Veteran Service Officers (GVSOs), as members of the National Association of County Veteran Service Officers (NACVSO), are the crucial "human connection" and the local equivalent of federal veteran services.
They are embedded in communities, translating federal policy and programs into actionable outcomes. GVSOs span the veteran lifecycle, assisting with everything from discharge and employment to benefits, health care, and financial stress, essentially serving as problem-solvers for issues outside the formal federal scope, including housing crises and financial stressors.
To reverse this decline and better serve those transforming into Veterans and Veteran spouses, the solution lies not solely with government or big nonprofits that champion the broken Veteran narrative, but with the vast majority of subject matter experts in the private sector that don't often get a seat at the table or a voice in hearings and at roundtable discussions with these Committees.
The solution rests with 2,650 County VSOs, over 40,000 local nonprofits, and the 1.6 million Veteran small businesses like mine. These businesses account for more than one-third of America's Veteran workforce and stand on the front lines of this challenge. They are critical to ensuring that Veterans and their families do not fall through the cracks.
I strongly urge the Committees to consider the following three improvements:
1. Empower and Engage Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (VOSBs): Integrate VOSB expertise and resources into the core transition ecosystem by increasing access to capital (including exploring options under the GI Bill), formalizing the inclusion of VOSB experts within TAP and on military installations, and ensuring Veteran small business owners and smaller, local military and Veteran nonprofits have a consistent and influential voice in policy and legislative discussions, including with these Committees.
2. Fully Fund and Stabilize the Local GVSO/CVSO Mechanism: Guarantee consistent, highquality, local support for Veterans by fully implementing and funding Section 302 of the Elizabeth Dole Act (the CVSO Act) to stabilize the proven GVSO/CVSO system and provide the necessary intentional continuity for Veterans across the country.
3. Strengthen Coordination and Protect Benefit Integrity: Formally codify the GVSO role, ensuring seamless, continuous support is built into system design across all levels (federal, state, and local) and strengthen accreditation standards.
Thank you for your careful consideration of these issues and I look forward to working alongside you as we strive to improve the Veteran transition experience to ensure their lifelong success wherever they reside.
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Original text here: https://docs.house.gov/meetings/VR/VR00/20260303/118976/HHRG-119-VR00-Wstate-TangenA-20260303.pdf
Jewish War Veterans National Commander Stevens Testifies Before House Veterans' Affairs Committee
WASHINGTON, March 12 -- The House Veterans' Affairs Committee released the following testimony by Scott P. Stevens, national commander of the Jewish War Veterans of the U.S.A., from a March 3, 2026, joint hearing with the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee entitled "Legislative Presentation of Veterans of Foreign Wars & Multi VSO: Student Veterans of America, Jewish War Veterans, Blinded Veterans Association, Fleet Reserve Association, Minority Veterans of America, National Association of County Veterans Service Officers (NACVSO), Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA)":* * *
Chairmen ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, March 12 -- The House Veterans' Affairs Committee released the following testimony by Scott P. Stevens, national commander of the Jewish War Veterans of the U.S.A., from a March 3, 2026, joint hearing with the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee entitled "Legislative Presentation of Veterans of Foreign Wars & Multi VSO: Student Veterans of America, Jewish War Veterans, Blinded Veterans Association, Fleet Reserve Association, Minority Veterans of America, National Association of County Veterans Service Officers (NACVSO), Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA)": * * * ChairmenMoran and Bost, Ranking Members Blumenthal and Takano, members of the House and Senate Committees on Veterans' Affairs, fellow veterans, and friends, I am CWO4 Scott P. Stevens, USA, Retired, and the 94th National Commander of the Jewish War Veterans of the U.S.A. (JWV). I have been a life member of JWV since 2012, previously serving as National Vice Commander, member of the National Executive Committee, and a Department Commander of Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma (TALO).
In February 1974, I began my military service as an E-1 and was posted to a HAWK Missile Battery, where I served as a Launcher Crewman. During the next twelve years, I advanced to the rank of Sergeant First Class (E-7). Following sixteen years of service, I applied for Warrant Officer and was subsequently designated as a Patriot Missile Tactician/Technician. Before retiring after 30 years of service, I served as a Brigade Senior Patriot Missile Tactics and Systems Maintenance Trainer and Evaluator.
JWV was established in 1896 and granted a congressional charter on August 21, 1984. JWV advocates for all veterans, regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, gender, or Branch of Service. It is the longest-standing Veterans Service Organization (VSO) in the nation, and we will celebrate our 130th anniversary on March 15, 2025.
JWV supports the military and veterans by taking part in Veterans Day and Memorial Day events, volunteering at Department of Defense military bases and Department of Veterans Affairs facilities, including medical centers, regional offices, and cemeteries. We mentor the next generation of military leaders through Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) and Scouting programs, by providing grants and scholarships, participating in the Service's Academy's Jewish Warrior Weekend, and many other projects and services.
JWV's mission message is strong and clear: advocating for servicemembers and veterans' benefits and services; engaging with Congressional officials, Executive Branch departments, and the White House; persistently fighting against antisemitism, bigotry, and hate wherever they occur.
Special Focus on Hatred, Bigotry, and Antisemitism
JWV is especially suited to address issues related to antisemitism. We also show our solidarity and unity with Israel. JWV opposes religious discrimination and ethnic bigotry, but we are especially determined to speak out against antisemitism. For six years, JWV--the sole Jewish Veterans Service Organization--has joined many roundtables, addressed hate speech, and denounced antisemitic activities, events, and statements. JWV will continue to be a strong voice in fighting antisemitism wherever and whenever it arises.
In April 2025, JWV formed the JWV Celiz Antisemitism Taskforce (JCAT), JWV's rapid-response policy, position, and planning team that offers recommendations directly to national leadership on urgent issues related to antisemitism. Made up of JWV members from around the country, these policy experts and communicators give JWV leaders advice on responding to antisemitic activities in a more effective way. For more information, see: https://www.jwv.org/programs/the-jewish-war-veterans-celizantisemitism-taskforce-jcat/
We recognize and appreciate Chairman Bost and Chairman Moran, as well as Ranking Members Blumenthal and Takano, for meeting with JWV leadership in 2024 and 2025 regarding antisemitic activities targeting veterans and military communities. JWV requests your ongoing oversight and support to combat antisemitism and all forms of hate within executive branch departments.
As antisemitism increases nationwide, especially after the terrorist attacks of October 7, JWV remains committed to condemning hate speech and fighting antisemitism at colleges, universities, and in communities across the country. We also oppose externally organized and funded antisemitism - it is no coincidence that, for example, students "suddenly" have a tent city with identical tents across the nation.
JWV is ready to serve as a resource for you and your staff to help educate Americans. JWV understands that educating everyone is essential to reducing antisemitic actions and incidents across the United States and worldwide. Please see the separate entry on critical legislation addressing antisemitism. For additional information, please refer to "Special Focus on Antisemitism", available at: https://www.jwv.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Special-Focus-on-Antisemitism-02-01-2026.pdf.
JWV Supports America's Veterans, Service Members, Their Families, Caregivers, and Survivors
Overview
JWV works to support veterans and service members and believes that obligation extends to their families, including caregivers and survivors. JWV is and continues to be a leading voice not only for Jewish veterans but also for all veterans. As we approach the 119th Congress, Second Session, JWV will continue to advocate for everyone currently serving or who has served in the U.S. military. Our priorities are listed below.
Major Richard Star Act
JWV advocates for legislation to immediately allow concurrent receipt of full military retired pay and veterans' disability compensation for disabled retirees. Specifically, JWV is pushing for the enactment of the Major Richard Star Act (H.R. 1282/S. 344), which authorizes the concurrent receipt of retired pay and VA disability compensation, including Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC)) beneficiaries who are medically retired with less than 20 years of service (Chapter 61). This legislation has strong bipartisan backing, with 313 cosponsors in the House and 74 in the Senate. Reducing retirement pay for those injured in combat and medically retired sends a terrible message to our allvolunteer force. Thank you to those members already serving as cosponsors; we encourage others to join. JWV urges Congress to schedule a floor vote on the Act or as an amendment to the NDAA during the 119th Congress. Feel free to contact JWV for more information supporting this priority legislation.
Addressing Toxic Exposures and the PACT Act
JWV, like many VSOs, made the PACT Act a top priority. While the legislation was life-changing for many veterans, more must be done. VA and DOW must be held accountable and share information on locations and facilities where veterans, servicemembers and their families were exposed to toxins both CONUS and OCONUS. JWV remains concerned that medical conditions, especially cancers, fail to be recognized at these locations. Lives have already been lost, and survivors are still coping with consequences.
Congress must continue to provide the resources, including hiring individuals to adjudicate PACT claims and funding upgrades to Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) IT systems, and ensure Veterans Health Administration officials have clinical resources, equipment, and space to treat these veterans. JWV remains committed to holding VA accountable for implementing the PACT Act.
Individual Longitudinal Exposure Record (ILER)
JWV is a member of the Toxic Exposure in American Military Coalition (TEAM) and the Coalition is a valuable resource. While DOD/DOW's decision to provide active-duty forces members with an individual toxic exposure history screen within ILER is a step forward. However, three more changes remain, and each are vital.
First, families of currently serving armed forces members will not have ILER access. Their exposures and related consequences will remain unseen and unmeasured. Second, none of America's 16+ million Veterans will have ILER access. Veterans do not know what they were exposed to and without ILER's vetted data they cannot develop informed VA disability claims--a due process matter. Veterans sick from perceived service-related exposures cannot provide relevant information to their healthcare providers.
Third, families of Veterans who lived alongside and in certain cases may have been co-exposed, have no ILER information access. Lastly, DOD and VA healthcare providers are unable to leverage ILER in service to diagnoses; this must change. The wall between research and treatment must be deconstructed to facilitate diagnosis and potentially aid individual treatment. JWV and the TEAM Coalition support ILER 2.0
JWV Opposes VA's Interim Final Rule on Disability Ratings Docket No. VA-2026-VBA-0067
In a letter dated February 23, 2024, JWV joined 36 veterans service and military organizations in opposing the VA's Interim Final Rule (IFR) issued and effective on February 17, 2026. The IFR addresses changes to the disability evaluation and compensation framework. JWV opposes the IFR as issued, urges its immediate rescission, and requests that SVAC and HVAC committees exercise their oversight and oppose its implementation. The full letter and list of signers are available here.
JWV acknowledges that VA Secretary Doug Collins announced on February 19 that the department will not enforce the interim final rule that would have based disability ratings on a veteran's condition after improvement. This rule would have changed how functional impairment is assessed and could have lowered compensation for some veterans whose symptoms are controlled by medication. Instead of just pausing enforcement, JWV insists it must be rescinded and warns that it could penalize veterans for following medical treatment. The Secretary's decision follows the rule attracting over 10,600 public comments, with the comment period remaining open through April 20.
Suicide Prevention and Mental Health -- Reducing Veteran Suicide
Mental health and suicide prevention remain a top priority for JWV because the suicide rate among veterans is nearly twice that of civilians, with women vets more than double the rate of female civilians. Veterans and service members need greater access to mental health services along with alternative and community-based treatments. JWV urges Congress to fully fund the VA's suicide prevention and mental health budgets, including extending free emergency health care for those in crisis. The transition from active military service to civilian life is complex, and individuals are often at higher risk during this period. Education and awareness are essential and must be core components of any prevention strategy. Additionally, the suicide rate for active-duty service members has reached an all-time high.
While the VA recently released its Annual Report on Suicide, the reported statistics showed little progress. VA and DoD must continue to educate veterans, service members, and their families on suicide prevention. More must be done, as even one suicide is one too many.
The Written Informed Consent Act (H.R. 4837 and S. 3314) will address veterans' suicide and mental health issues, and JWV fully supports its enactment. JWV supports H.R. 4837, which improves veterans' understanding of the risks associated with certain pharmaceuticals to address persistent high rates of veteran suicides. Specifically, the bill requires that veterans provide written informed consent for Black Box medications included in the VA formulary. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration require Black Box warnings for medicines with a high potential for serious safety risks. Often, these warnings communicate rare but dangerous side effects or essential instructions for the safe use of the drug.
Many of the Black Box medications are prescribed to veterans, and suicidal ideation is commonly one of their primary side effects. VHA Handbook states: "Veterans must be informed of the side effects and the treatment options for medications and treatments they are prescribed." The Veterans' Written Informed Act improves the education veterans receive about certain risks associated with Black Box medications by requiring all veterans to provide written informed consent that they understand the dangers of these drugs.
On August 1, 2025, U.S. Representatives Bilirakis, Bergman, and Self introduced H.R. 4837, known as the "Written Informed Consent Act." This legislative proposal aims to improve and expand the Veterans Health Administration's (VHA) existing informed consent policies to cover a wider range of medications. As the name indicates, the bill requires explicit written informed consent for certain classes of drugs that are commonly used to treat various conditions among veterans. Currently, the VHA Directive 1005, established in May 2020, mandates informed consent specifically for long-term opioid therapy. The new Bill seeks to update and broaden this directive to include additional psychotropic and potentially life-altering medications.
Provisions
The bill directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to modify VHA Directive 1005 to ensure that informed consent policies are applied to a new set of medications.
Medications: The bill identifies specific categories of drugs that will require written informed consent: - Antipsychotics - Stimulants - Antidepressants - Anxiolytics - Narcotics
Impact: The legislation underscores the importance of transparency and ensures that veterans are fully informed before consenting to potentially powerful medications, promoting patient autonomy and safety.
The bill reflects a critical shift towards more comprehensive care protocols within the VHA, emphasizing the importance of ethical medical practices and informed patient decision-making.
The main stakeholders affected by H.R. 4837 include veterans receiving care, healthcare providers within the Veterans Health Administration, and veterans' families.
Veterans receiving VHA care will experience greater autonomy and safety in their treatment. They will be better informed about the benefits, side effects, and potential risks of a broader range of medications, contributing to their overall well-being.
Healthcare Providers: VHA medical professionals, including doctors, nurses, and pharmacists, will need to adapt to the updated consent procedures, which may entail additional administrative responsibilities and training to ensure effective communication.
Veterans' Families: Families and caregivers will be more involved in decision-making, providing additional support and ensuring veterans have the information needed to make well-informed decisions about their medication.
For healthcare providers and policy analysts, the bill presents an opportunity to review and improve current policies related to patient consent, ensuring adherence to best practices in patient care and ethical transparency.
Expanded and Updated Directive
The most critical aspect of H.R. 4837 lies in its clear articulation of which medications fall under the expanded informed consent directive. Understanding these key points helps clarify the bill's intentions: Informed Consent Directive: Initially focused solely on long-term opioid therapy, the updated directive will now include:
* Antipsychotic medications are used in managing psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia.
* Stimulant drugs are often prescribed for ADHD or narcolepsy.
* Antidepressants are utilized in the treatment of depression and anxiety disorders.
* Anxiolytics, prescribed for anxiety management.
* Narcotic medications, known for pain relief but carrying a risk of addiction.
These updates aim to ensure that patients fully comprehend their treatment options, potential side effects, and any associated risks. Such knowledge empowers patients to make informed decisions that align with their health priorities.
The Written Informed Consent Act highlights the ever-increasing need for transparency in medical practices, particularly concerning medications that have a profound impact on a patient's mental and physical health. Here's why this bill is important:
* Enhancing Patient Rights: It reinforces the commitment to ensuring veterans are active participants in their healthcare decisions, thereby promoting dignity and respect in medical care.
* Addressing Safety Concerns: Given the potential side effects and dependencies associated with the new list of medications, informed consent is a critical step in preventing adverse outcomes and improving safety.
* Legal and Ethical Implications: By aligning with ethical medical practices, the Bill ensures compliance with broader legal standards, decreasing the likelihood of malpractice and legal disputes.
* Broader Health Initiatives: The Bill reflects broader health initiatives aiming for holistic and integrative care approaches, fostering better health outcomes and veteran satisfaction with their healthcare.
Conclusion
H.R. 4837, the Written Informed Consent Act, represents a substantial advancement in healthcare policies impacting veterans. Mandating written informed consent for a broader array of medications ensures that veterans can engage in their treatment processes with full knowledge of their options. For stakeholders, staying informed about this legislative development is critical. Those in the healthcare sector should prepare for procedural updates by educating staff and developing comprehensive strategies to integrate these changes into everyday practice. JWV urges the Senate and House Veterans Affairs Committees to pass the bill and seek swift floor action.
Veterans in the Private and Public Sector Workforce in 2026
JWV remains concerned and recognizes that veterans will face new employment challenges in 2026. Veterans are an asset to our nation as many continue to serve or volunteer in their local communities, start small businesses, or serve in government as public or elected officials. Others contribute as schoolteachers, coaches, police officers, and role models, inspiring the next generation of young men and women to celebrate these accomplishments.
JWV is proud that, according to the Office of Personnel Management, approximately 30% of the federal government workforce were veterans, many of whom were disabled veterans. The percentage of employees who served in the military is even higher at the VA and DOW.
Congress must carefully review recent employee-related policy documents issued by the Secretaries of Veterans Affairs and War. JWV urges appropriate congressional oversight to ensure that the VA and DOW human resources actions are carefully reviewed for short and long-term considerations.
VA VHA Proposed Reorganization
VA recently announced a Veterans Health Administration Reorganization plan. While JWV expressed concern when VA reduced its number of employees by 30,000 in 2025, we provided VA with the opportunity to provide details on its staffing requirements. The Department stated most of the 30,000 were vacant billets and did not involve layoffs.
Under the proposed reorganization, VA would consolidate 18 Veterans Integrated Service Networks (VISNs) to 5, shifting to centralized decision-making away from the field in favor of headquarters. JWV cautions VA to carefully review each VISNs requirements to maintain health care services to veterans in their communities. Doctors, nurses and other clinicians provide essential services, and those services should not be compromised nor should staffing be reduced for VA direct care. The VHA structure must be reformed, not dismantled.
VA also announced it was investing a record $5 billion in health care infrastructure, including improving medical facilities, building upgrades, and electronic health care modernization. Congress must ensure these funds are carefully monitored and that VA is held accountable for the $5 billion investment.
Mission-critical activities and requirements must not be compromised. Our active-duty service members must have the personal and financial resources to provide a strong national defense. Our veterans must have a fully resourced and staffed VA to provide them with the benefits and state-of-theart medical care they have earned and deserve.
JWV further wants to be clear that the Community Care Network is not a substitute for VA direct care. While community care funding has increased significantly, VA direct care must not be compromised. With new community care contracts being negotiated JWV will continue to monitor the results of the contracting activities.
Fixing VA's Electronic Health Record System
JWV remains concerned that VA continues to face challenges in deploying its electronic health record system and commends VA for pausing deployments in 2024. The combination of cost overruns and insufficient training for clinicians and staff threatens patient safety. JWV urges the VA to enhance staff training and hold its own officials and Oracle accountable for the system's failures. JWV insists that VA learn from these issues and take corrective actions to prevent failures before any deployment in 2026 and beyond. JWV urges Congress to ensure patient safety is protected during any future implementations.
Supporting Women and Underserved Veterans
According to the VA, women are the fastest-growing group of veterans using VA services. JWV is dedicated to addressing the specific healthcare needs of women veterans, including increasing cancer screenings, enhancing mental health care and access, addressing infertility, and reducing intimate partner violence. JWV supports the provisions of the Deborah Sampson Act and remains dedicated to improving maternal health. The Act also assigns a Women's Mental Health Champion Coordinator to each VA Medical Center to ensure women feel welcomed and receive fair treatment and care.
Supporting Emergency Air Ambulance Services
JWV strongly supports the Protecting Air Ambulance Services for Americans Act (S. 2518 / H.R. 4792). Introduced by Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Michael Bennet (D-CO), along with Representatives Ron Estes and Suzan DelBene, this bipartisan legislation aims to ensure that veterans across the United States can continue accessing emergency air medical services.
Access to urgent emergency air transport should never depend on luck. However, these services are at risk because the reimbursement system is outdated. If Congress does not intervene, air bases could begin shutting down, and veterans and their families might end up stranded as access diminishes.
Over the past several years, JWV has collaborated with Congress, the VA, and the air ambulance industry to develop a long-term solution that safeguards veterans and grants the VA increased budget flexibility. S.2518 / H.R. 4792 is a practical measure that gives the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services the data and authority needed to update the air ambulance fee schedule and ensure veterans can continue accessing this vital service. On September 6, 2024, due to strong pressure from Congress and the VSO community, the VA announced a delay until February 16, 2029, to implement the regulation.
JWV and the VSO community have advocated for this issue for many years. Although small progress has been made, we strongly urge Congress to pass this essential legislation to ensure air emergency transportation services are available for veterans everywhere. These emergency services are crucial because transport time often determines whether patients survive. When seconds matter, veterans must be confident they can access life-saving care.
We urge you to support and swiftly pass the Protecting Air Ambulance Services for Americans Act.
Veterans answered the call to serve. Now, Congress has both the opportunity and the responsibility to ensure no veteran is left behind when every second counts.
Delivering Timely, High-Quality Benefits and Services
During the last two years, VA processed a record number of veterans' claims. JWV will continue to hold VA accountable and urge them to continue being innovative and providing timely service to all veterans. JWV remains concerned that private attorneys are charging the veterans for claims' assistance. These unlicensed individuals are taking advantage of veterans. Service organizations are accredited and provide this service at no cost.
Ending Veteran Homelessness
More veterans need homeless assistance resources than the existing capacity can provide. JWV commends the VA for its outreach to veterans experiencing homelessness in 2025-2026. We must continue to work together so that veterans receive the safe, stable environment they deserve. As a member of the National Coalition on Homeless Veterans, JWV continues to support efforts to permanently reduce homelessness. We urge VA and Congress to remain committed to reducing homelessness among veterans. One homeless veteran is one too many!
Survivor Benefits Love Lives on Act
JWV joins with others in the military survivor community to thank Senators Rafael Warnock and Jerry Moran for their leadership on the Love Lives on Act (S. 410, H.R. 1004). We also commend Representatives Richard Hudson, Joe Neguse, Derrick Van Orden, Morgan Luttrell and
Kelly Morrison for their leadership in the House. The proposed bipartisan legislation is the first comprehensive approach to allowing eligible military surviving spouses to retain survivor benefits upon remarriage before age 55.
The Love Lives on Act will ensure that surviving military spouses retain eligibility for survivor benefits from the DOW and the VA if they remarry before age 55. This is an unjust situation that must be rectified. Military surviving families face this restriction, whereas the families of first responders do not. For example, most U.S. surviving spouses of fallen firefighters and law enforcement officers can remarry before age 55 and maintain survivor pensions and benefits.
Our nation's fallen military heroes deserve no less. Additionally, the bill provides parity with all other federal programs by allowing surviving spouses to restore access to Tricare if the subsequent marriage ends in death, divorce, or annulment.
Pay Our Coast Guard Parity Act of 2023
The United States Coast Guard conducts essential national security operations, supported by appropriations from the Department of Homeland Security. As a result, Coast Guard personnel are more likely to experience pay interruptions during a government shutdown. The threat of a shutdown brings unnecessary hardship to these men, women, and their families. JWV calls on Congress to pass the Pay Our Coast Guard Parity Act, a bill ensuring Coast Guard members receive pay during any government shutdown.
Policy - National Standards of Practice for Anesthesia Health Care Professionals
JWV is genuinely concerned that VA and the Veterans Health Administration are again
considering dismantling the gold standard of anesthesia care--the physician-led Anesthesia Care Team Model (ACT), with the development of the National Standard of Practice for Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNA). VA appropriately acted to maintain the physician-led Anesthesia Care Team model in its deliberative rulemaking in 2016. JWV urges VA to maintain VHA Directive 1123 as the National Standard of Practice for CRNAs.
Utilized by the nation's top hospitals, the ACT ensures veterans receive care from a physician anesthesiologist, as well as a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) or a Certified Anesthesia Assistant (CAA), working together in a team model. JWV is concerned that the removal of anesthesiologists from VA's surgical teams will provide veterans with a lower standard of care than civilians receive in private hospitals. JWV is aware that the vast majority of states (45) require the involvement of an anesthesiologist during surgery and urges VA to continue to defer to state law as stipulated in VHA Directive 1123.
While the VA's existing directive respects state law, attempts to exploit ambiguous areas in state statutes to bypass or manipulate procedures for permanent bylaw changes -- especially those that undermine established standards--should be opposed. JWV is aware of such efforts at Minneapolis VA, a level 1A facility performing complex cardiac and neurosurgical procedures, which led to a bylaws change to allow nurse-only anesthesia care after failing to appropriately retain and recruit anesthesiologists.
JWV calls on the SVAC, HVAC, and the VA Office of Inspector General to look into the circumstances surrounding the bylaws changes. JWV also encourages the VA to give the National Anesthesia Program the authority and resources needed to offer proactive support and guidance at both the VISN and facility levels. If not addressed, this issue may result in continued disruption and a reduction in anesthesia care for Veterans at additional facilities. JWV strongly encourages VA to take prompt action to reaffirm VHA Directive 1123 as the National Standard of Practice for CRNAs.
Policy - National Standards of Practice for Eye Care Health Care Professionals
JWV remains concerned about actions the VA has taken in recent years to dilute surgical eyecare standards in this program. Specifically, the VA modified its Community Care "Standardized Episode of Care (SEOC): Eye Care Comprehensive" guideline by removing language that has historically provided that "only ophthalmologists can perform invasive procedures, including injections, lasers, and eye surgery." If this sentence is omitted, it means that VA is indirectly allowing optometrists to carry out eye surgeries on veterans referred through the Community Care program, but only in states where state licensure laws permit it.
JWV understands that the VA removed this language without allowing the public or veteran community to comment. We are concerned that removing this patient safeguard increases risk for veterans needing eye surgery. Veterans have benefitted from established, consistent, high-quality surgical eye care for decades because the VA maintained a long-standing policy that restricts the performance of therapeutic laser eye surgery to ophthalmologists and medical or osteopathic doctors who specialize in eye and vision care in VA medical facilities.
This policy is consistent with the standard of medical care in most states. It also ensures a system-wide quality standard for surgical eye care and that all veterans have access to an eye care provider with the appropriate education, training, and professional experience needed to perform their eye surgery.
JWV remains concerned that the VA wants to adopt a national standard of practice that could allow optometrists to perform surgery on the eyes of veterans, even though optometrists do not have the necessary level of medical education or surgical training to be surgeons. While JWV acknowledges that optometrists play a critical role in delivering quality eye health care for our nation's veterans, we firmly believe that optometrists should not be allowed to perform eye surgery on veterans because they do not possess the requisite training or medical degree.
JWV urges the VA to immediately reinstate the SEOC's language, stating that "only ophthalmologists can perform invasive procedures, including injections, lasers, and eye surgery." JWV remains ready to work with the VA, HVAC, and SVAC officials as the VA seeks to establish national standards of practice for optometry and ophthalmology within the VA health system.
National Museum of American Jewish Military History (NMAJMH)
Are you aware of our museum located in our headquarters building? JWV's leadership recognized the importance of sharing the stories of Jewish servicemen and women with the public because if Jews do not tell our stories or share our message, who will? Founded in 1958, the National Museum of American Jewish Military History is located near Dupont Circle. The museum is committed to recognizing, preserving, and remembering the bravery, service, and sacrifices of Jewish men and women who served in wars and helped secure America's peace and freedom. We encourage you to visit the museum on your next trip to Washington, DC. I am confident you will be surprised to learn about the long and rich history of Jewish military members and veterans in the U.S. military.
Conclusion
JWV has a long history of advocating for a strong national defense and fair recognition and compensation for veterans, service members, and their families. We are proud to share and work with Members of Congress and colleagues at other VSOs. There is strength in numbers, and by working together, we can continue to ensure that all veterans, service members, and their family members receive the benefits earned and deserve.
We thank you for the opportunity to present our legislative and policy priorities to the House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committees today. JWV also appreciates the ability to have open dialogue with all of the members of both committees and the support of the hard-working committee staff on both sides of the aisle.
God Bless the United States of America and all the brave men and women in uniform who have served and continue to serve this great nation. This concludes our testimony, and we look forward to answering your questions.
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No Government Funding
For the record, the Jewish War Veterans of the USA do not receive any grants or contracts from the federal government.
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Scott P. Stevens CWO4, USA (R)
JWV National Commander 2025-2026
Biography
National Commander (NC) Scott P. Stevens, a Life Member of JWV since 2012, has held a wide range of leadership positions within both JWV and the National Museum of American Jewish Military History (NMAJMH).
Nationally, he has just completed his term as National Vice Commander, served on the JWV National Executive Committee, and has been an active member of several key committees, including Action Officer, the Constitution & Bylaws, Membership, and Information Technology Committees. He also chairs the National Convention Credentialing and Registration Committee and leads efforts to update the organization's vital documents. At the regional level, Stevens served as Department of TALO Commander from 2018 to 2020 and chaired their Membership Committee.
Locally, he has held multiple leadership roles in Maurice Kubby Post 749.
At NMAJMH, Stevens served on the Board of Directors and contributed to the Programs and Exhibits Committee.
"As National Commander, my focus will be on putting the National organization on a stable financial condition, establishing sound business practices, establishing a Development Program, and increasing our membership. During my year, I reaffirm that JWV will continue to be at the forefront of advocacy for veterans and service members in Congress, as well as standing firm against antisemitism and all kinds of hatred, bigotry, and discrimination. I will also look to strengthen JWV's outreach and coalition building with Jewish community organizations and veterans service organizations.
Stevens began his military career in February 1974 as an E-1 and was assigned as a HAWK Missile Battery Launcher Crewman. Over the next twelve years, he was promoted to Sergeant First Class (E-7).
After 16 years of service, he applied for the position of Warrant Officer and was assigned as a Patriot Missile Tactician/Technician. Before his retirement (after 30 years), he served as a Brigade Senior Patriot Missile Tactics and Systems Maintenance Trainer/Evaluator.
Scott is a past Vice President of the Sun City Chapter of the US Army Warrant Officer Association (19971998) and currently serves as the President of Congregation Temple Mount Sinai, El Paso, Texas (20232025).
Scott was born in Cocoa Beach, Florida (1957). Scott is married to Bonny Stevens (1977) and has two sons and five grandsons.
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Original text here: https://docs.house.gov/meetings/VR/VR00/20260303/118976/HHRG-119-VR00-Wstate-StevensS-20260303.pdf
Fleet Reserve Association National President Fetro Testifies Before House Veterans' Affairs Committee
WASHINGTON, March 12 -- The House Veterans' Affairs Committee released the following testimony by Richard J. Fetro, national president of the Fleet Reserve Association, from a March 3, 2026, joint hearing with the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee entitled "Legislative Presentation of Veterans of Foreign Wars & Multi VSO: Student Veterans of America, Jewish War Veterans, Blinded Veterans Association, Fleet Reserve Association, Minority Veterans of America, National Association of County Veterans Service Officers (NACVSO), Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA)":* * *
The Fleet Reserve ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, March 12 -- The House Veterans' Affairs Committee released the following testimony by Richard J. Fetro, national president of the Fleet Reserve Association, from a March 3, 2026, joint hearing with the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee entitled "Legislative Presentation of Veterans of Foreign Wars & Multi VSO: Student Veterans of America, Jewish War Veterans, Blinded Veterans Association, Fleet Reserve Association, Minority Veterans of America, National Association of County Veterans Service Officers (NACVSO), Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA)": * * * The Fleet ReserveAssociation (FRA) stands today as the premier and most experienced organization serving men and women in the active, Reserve, and retired communities, as well as veterans of the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard. Now surpassing a century of advocacy, the Association remains Congressionally Chartered, recognized by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and entrusted to serve all veterans who seek its help.
Founded in 1924, our name is derived from the Navy's program for personnel transferring to the Fleet Reserve after 20 or more years of active duty, but less than 30 years for retirement purposes. During this required period of service in the Fleet Reserve, assigned personnel earn retainer pay and are subject to recall by the Secretary of the Navy. This unique connection to the Sea Services has defined our mission for over one hundred years.
The Association testifies regularly before the House and Senate Veterans' Affairs Committees, and it is actively involved in the Veterans Affairs Voluntary Services (VAVS) program. A member of the National Headquarters' staff serves as FRA's National Veterans Service Officer (NVSO) and as a representative on the VAVS National Advisory Committee (NAC). FRA's VSOs oversee the Association's Veterans Service Officer program and represent veterans throughout the claims process and before the Board of Veteran's Appeals.
In 2016, FRA membership overwhelmingly approved the establishment of the Fleet Reserve Association Veterans Service Foundation (VSF). The main strategy for the VSF is to improve and grow the FRA Veterans Service Officers (VSO) program. This 501(c)(3) tax-exempt foundation now supports nearly 40 primary accredited service officers and hundreds of cross-accreditations to sustain our second century of work.
FRA has served on the Veterans Day National Committee since 2007, joining 24 other recognized VSOs to coordinate ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery. As one of the founding members of The Military Coalition (TMC), we help represent the concerns of over five million members. The Association's timeless motto remains: "Loyalty, Protection, and Service." Certification of Non-Receipt of Federal Funds
Pursuant to the requirements of House Rule XI, the Fleet Reserve Association has not received any federal grant or contract during the current fiscal year or either of the two previous fiscal years.
I. Major Richard Star Act
The Major Richard Star Act addresses a clear and longstanding injustice faced by combat-wounded servicemembers. Major Richard Star was a decorated Army combat veteran who served honorably until he was wounded in combat and declared no longer medically fit for service. At that moment, a fundamental choice was taken from him. He did not choose to leave the military early. He did not choose to forgo a full career and the retirement he was working toward. That decision was made for him as a direct result of combat injuries. Major Star later died in 2021 from cancer linked to toxic exposure. His wife, Tonya, died less than a year later.
Their story reflects the experience of tens of thousands of combat-wounded veterans whose service was involuntarily cut short.
The Major Richard Star Act would allow combat-wounded veterans who were medically retired before completing 20 years of service to receive both their earned military retirement pay and VA disability compensation. Approximately 50,000 veterans would be directly affected. These veterans were denied the opportunity to complete a full career through no fault of their own.
Penalizing them for a retirement they were never allowed to reach is fundamentally unjust.
Opposition to this legislation often centers on the claim of double compensation. This argument fails to recognize the distinct purpose of each benefit. Military retirement pay compensates for years of honorable service already rendered. VA disability compensation exists because servicemembers gave up their flesh in combat and live with permanent injuries. For these veterans, the choice to continue serving or retire at 20 years was removed the moment they were declared unfit for duty. Honoring both benefits is not excess. It is honoring both service and sacrifice.
Concerns about cost are similarly misplaced. Congress routinely funds priorities across the federal government. Combat-wounded veterans should take precedence over other discretionary expenditures. No credible argument exists that other programs are more deserving than those who gave their flesh, their future and their soul in defense of this nation. If Congress can fund its priorities, it can fund its promises.
This issue also carries direct national security implications. Modern warfare is increasingly complex, technical and unforgiving. The United States must recruit intelligent, adaptable and highly skilled individuals to meet these demands. Recent recruitment shortfalls have led to lowered entry standards, including the removal of certain educational requirements. While this may increase recruitment numbers in the short term, it comes at a cost. The demands of modern warfare do not adjust downward to meet reduced standards.
Future recruits will assess risk and reward carefully. They will ask whether the government honors its commitments when service results in injury. Failure to do so undermines trust, readiness and long-term force quality. The Major Richard Star Act enjoys overwhelming bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate. When legislation with this level of consensus stalls, it raises serious questions about whether the will of the people is being carried out in a representative government.
II. VA Electronic Health Record Modernization Program
The Fleet Reserve Association applauds the Department of Veterans Affairs for restarting deployment of the Electronic Health Record Modernization program. Restarting this effort was necessary and appropriate. Sustained congressional oversight remains essential to ensure successful completion across the entire VA system.
While the program has faced challenges, abandoning or indefinitely delaying full implementation would be a mistake. Completion of the rollout is critical to improving access to care, continuity of care and quality of care for veterans nationwide. Fragmented medical records are not merely inconvenient. They create real barriers to timely treatment, increase administrative burden and place veterans at risk. A fully deployed and interoperable electronic health record will allow seamless coordination among VA medical centers, community care providers and the Department of Defense. It will reduce duplicative testing, improve clinical decision-making and support veterans with complex medical needs.
Technology is advancing faster than Congress can enact detailed, technology-specific regulations. This reality underscores the need for foundational legislation that establishes principles and guardrails without restricting innovation. For this reason, the Fleet Reserve Association supports Rep. Nancy Mace's H.R. 3455, the Veterans Affairs Distributed Ledger Innovation Act. Distributed ledger technology offers capabilities well beyond basic data storage.
When responsibly implemented, it can provide secure, tamper-resistant audit trails, improve data integrity and enable real-time verification of records across multiple systems.
In a VA health care context, distributed ledger applications could support identity verification, consent management, eligibility verification, claims processing and interoperability across federal and private health care networks. We envision a veteran-centered system where veterans exercise meaningful control over their own health care data. A veteran should be able to grant access to specific portions of their health record, define the duration of that access and revoke it when no longer needed. This capability would significantly improve coordination with non-VA physicians and community care providers while protecting privacy and autonomy.
When paired with a completed EHR modernization effort, distributed ledger technology can serve as the connective infrastructure that enables faster access to care, reduces administrative friction and enhances trust in the system. H.R. 3455 provides VA with the authority to responsibly explore and deploy these tools while maintaining transparency, security and accountability.
III. VA Disability Compensation Reform
There has been increasing discussion in the public domain about reforming the VA disability compensation system. While reform may be appropriate, much of the public narrative is flawed.
Rising disability compensation costs are frequently cited without acknowledging the most obvious contributing factor. The United States has fought multiple wars over the past two decades. When a nation sends its citizens to war, disability claims increase. This is not evidence of abuse. It is the cost of war.
Recent hearings have demonstrated broad agreement that reform is needed. Any reform effort must begin with transparency and clarity. Veterans understand basic math. One plus one equals two. The current VA rating system is complex, opaque and difficult to explain even to experienced advocates. This undermines trust and confidence in the system. VA should adopt a rating methodology that is logical, straightforward and easily explainable to veterans.
Automation represents another critical reform opportunity. VA already possesses much of the data needed to streamline claims processing. For example, VA has the veteran's date of birth.
The system should automatically recognize when a veteran qualifies for expedited processing based on age and route the claim accordingly without requiring the veteran to request special handling.
Presumptive conditions present an even stronger case for automation. Too often families learn that a veteran qualified for compensation due to Agent Orange or other exposures only when the veteran is near the end of life. This is unacceptable. With proper integration between the Veterans Health Administration and the Veterans Benefits Administration, VA should be able to automatically identify presumptive diagnoses, confirm service eligibility and notify the veteran.
The Fleet Reserve Association envisions a system where a veteran presents for care, the provider has access to service history and exposure data, and if a presumptive condition is diagnosed and eligibility criteria are met, VBA automatically grants compensation or notifies the veteran with the option to opt out. This approach respects veteran autonomy, reduces administrative costs, accelerates benefits delivery and improves quality of service. VA should also pursue a modern, user-friendly claims portal modeled after commercial tax filing platforms. A TurboTax-style system for VA claims would guide veterans and veterans service organizations through the process step by step, identify eligibility automatically, reduce errors and improve outcomes. This would not replace VSOs. It would empower them with better tools.
IV. Proposal to Allow Transfer of VA Home Loan Guaranty Entitlement to Children
The Fleet Reserve Association recommends that Congress consider modernizing the VA Home Loan Guaranty Program by allowing limited transferability of unused entitlement to a veteran's eligible child. Under current law, VA loan entitlement belongs solely to the veteran and cannot be transferred to dependents. Children may only participate through loan assumptions or joint loans, neither of which transfers entitlement. While surviving spouses may qualify under certain conditions, children are categorically excluded.
Many veterans reach a stage of life where they no longer need to use their VA loan benefit. They may already own a home or have paid off their mortgage. At the same time, they may wish to support their children in achieving homeownership in an increasingly difficult housing market.
Younger generations face rising housing costs, higher interest rates and limited access to affordable starter homes. Preventing families from leveraging an already earned benefit undermines long-term family stability.
Congress has already recognized the value of benefit transferability through programs such as the Post-9/11 GI Bill. That model demonstrates that transferability can be implemented responsibly through eligibility requirements, safeguards and oversight. Allowing limited transferability of VA loan entitlement would have minimal fiscal impact. The VA Home Loan Guaranty is not a cash benefit. It is a guaranty that historically has low default rates and generates revenue through funding fees. Transferability would not significantly increase federal spending. The Fleet Reserve Association recommends legislation authorizing voluntary, onetime transfer of unused VA Home Loan Guaranty entitlement from a veteran to an eligible child, subject to VA approval, antifraud safeguards and appropriate funding fee adjustments.
V. Toxic Exposure Recognition and Presumptive Reform
The Fleet Reserve Association remains concerned about systemic delays in recognizing toxic exposures and granting presumptive service connection. While the PACT Act was a historic step forward, it did not fix the underlying structural failures that have delayed justice for generations of veterans. Currently, toxic-exposed veterans wait an average of 34 years for the VA to formally link their exposure to a specific disease. This delay often results in recognition coming too late for those suffering from life-threatening conditions.
This cycle of delay stretches from World War I to modern conflicts, including Agent Orange and burn pit exposures. Veterans and their families endure chronic illnesses and neurological disorders while claims are denied due to evidentiary hurdles or scientific uncertainty. Locations like Karshi-Khanabad Air Base and Fort Ord highlight how veterans can be documented as exposed yet still be left without recognition for decades. The human cost of this bureaucratic inertia is unacceptable and requires an immediate shift in policy.
The FRA endorses a three-step statutory framework to modernize the presumptive process. This includes early acknowledgment of exposure risks by the Defense Department and VA rather than waiting for decades of epidemiological certainty. We also call for a formal concession of exposure when credible evidence shows a veteran was present at a contaminated site. Finally, the VA must establish presumptions once reasonable scientific thresholds are met instead of requiring absolute proof while veterans suffer.
To ensure this framework succeeds, Congress should establish mandatory timelines and decision triggers to prevent indefinite delays. We support expanded research into substances like PFAS and radiation, overseen by an independent scientific review body insulated from political pressure. Additionally, a veteran stakeholder advisory commission must be created to provide transparency and ensure veterans have a seat at the table when health and benefit decisions are made.
The nation must end the cycle of posthumous recognition by providing earlier access to VA health care for those with known exposures. Completing the Electronic Health Record Modernization program is also vital for tracking service locations and medical outcomes over time. Congress must finish the work started by the PACT Act by developing provisional presumptives so that veterans are not denied care while the science catches up to their lived experience.
VI. Support for H.R. 4837: The Written Informed Consent Act
The FRA strongly supports H.R. 4837, the Written Informed Consent Act. This common-sense legislation mandates that the VA provide veterans with clear, written information regarding the potential side effects and risks of high-risk medications, including antipsychotics, stimulants, antidepressants, anxiolytics and narcotics.
Currently, the VA provides such disclosures for long-term opioid therapy under VHA Directive 1005; H.R. 4837 simply extends this standard of transparency to other powerful drug classes.
Veterans deserve full transparency and a seat at the table when making decisions that impact their mental and physical health. By requiring written consent, we empower veterans to engage in shared decision-making with their providers, ensuring they are fully aware of risks, such as metabolic or neurological side effects, before beginning treatment.
VII. Support for H.R. 4509: NOPAIN for Veterans Act
Consistent with our goal to improve quality of life and reduce reliance on addictive substances, the FRA endorses H.R. 4509, the NOPAIN for Veterans Act. This bipartisan bill ensures that veterans have access to Food and Drug Administration-approved non-opioid pain management alternatives by requiring their inclusion in the VA national formulary.
Between 2010 and 2019, drug overdose mortality rates among veterans rose by 53%. Our members, many of whom suffer from chronic pain due to service-related injuries, deserve the same access to non-opioid treatments currently available to seniors under Medicare. H.R. 4509 removes bureaucratic barriers, allowing clinicians and veterans to choose safer, evidence-based pain management options that reduce the risk of addiction and improve long-term recovery outcomes.
VIII. Strengthening GI Bill Integrity and Oversight
The Fleet Reserve Association remains deeply concerned by the continued participation of fraudulent or low-quality educational institutions in the GI Bill program. Veterans and their families frequently ask why the VA would approve schools known for bad outcomes. We strongly believe VA should have at least some kind of minimum standards that schools must meet to be eligible for GI Bill benefits.
Require minimum standards for GI Bill programs, including first and foremost student outcomes, as well as ethical recruiting, admissions and counseling; qualified instructors and sound academic practices; sufficient administrative capacity to administer benefits; screening for financial stability and bad actors; safeguards against repackaged online content such as YouTube videos; protections against overcharging VA; and requirements that tuition funds are spent on the veteran's education.
Restore veterans' education benefits in cases of fraud, authorizing VA to restore GI Bill eligibility comparable to traditional students using Department of Education funds, and seek to recoup funds from schools in cases of fraud. Increase interagency data-sharing and transparency, including restoring outcome data in the GI Bill Comparison Tool, displaying full VA complaint histories and complaint outcomes, consistently applying caution flags for enforcement actions, aligning Education Department OPEID and VA facility codes, and incorporating risk-based indicators to give veterans a clear, accurate picture of institutional quality and government oversight.
Conclusion and FRA Requests
The Fleet Reserve Association respectfully urges Congress to take the following actions:
* Pass the Major Richard Star Act and end the unjust offset affecting combat-wounded retirees.
* Provide sustained oversight to ensure completion of the VA Electronic Health Record Modernization program and enact H.R. 3455.
* Pursue VA disability compensation reform that prioritizes transparency, automation and modern claims tools.
* Modernize the VA Home Loan Guaranty Program by authorizing limited transferability of unused entitlement to eligible children.
* Reform the toxic exposure presumptive process by establishing a structured, time-bound framework that prioritizes veterans' health and lives.
* Enact H.R. 4837 to ensure veterans are fully informed of medication risks through written consent.
* Enact H.R. 4509 to expand access to non-opioid pain management.
* Implement minimum GI Bill standards and benefit restoration to protect veterans from institutional fraud.
These actions reflect justice, fiscal responsibility, readiness and a commitment to honoring the full measure of service given by veterans and their families. The Fleet Reserve Association stands ready to work with Congress to advance these priorities.
Thank you for the opportunity to submit this testimony for the record.
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Richard J. Fetro
FRA National President
Richard Fetro is a Life Member of the Fleet Reserve Association (FRA) and was elected National President in November 2025. With just under 25 years of dedicated service to the FRA, he has held leadership roles at the branch, regional, and national levels, demonstrating an unwavering commitment to advocacy for Sea Service personnel, veterans, and their families.
Richard began his military career in 1969, embarking on nearly four decades of honorable service. His career included active duty and reserve service in the United States Navy, along with service in both the California Air National Guard and the West Virginia Air National Guard.
During his Navy tenure, he served with Patrol and Fleet Logistics squadrons including VP-90 (Glenview, IL), VC-5 (Cubi Point, Philippines), VS-33 (North Island, CA), and VP-91 (Moffett FAF, CA), contributing to mission readiness and operational excellence. His Air National Guard assignments included the 129th Rescue Wing and the 167th Airlift Wing, where he supported both operational and humanitarian missions.
His deployments in the Air Guard included Operation Northern Watch (Istres, France), Operation Southern Watch (Al Jaber, Kuwait), NATO led Stabilization Force - SFOR, (Sarajevo, Bosnia/Herzegovina), and GWOT (Incirlik, Turkey). In 2003, Richard was activated and stationed at Air National Guard (ANG) at Joint Base Andrews. He retired as a Chaplain Assistant after deploying in support of Operation Jump Start along the southern border, concluding a distinguished military career defined by leadership, faith, and service.
In his civilian career, after high school, Richard spent eight years with Commonwealth Edison in Chicago before continuing his professional journey with Pacific Gas and Electric Company in San Francisco, where he dedicated just over 35 years of service prior to retirement. While working at PG&E he continued his formal education using the GI Bill and received his B.S. Degree in Finance at Cal State.
Beyond the FRA, Richard is a Life Member of the Air Force Sergeants Association, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the Polish Legion of American Veterans, and is also a member of the American Legion.
Through his military service, civilian career, and veterans' advocacy, Richard Fetro has exemplified a lifetime of dedication to country, community, and his fellow service members.
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Original text here: https://docs.house.gov/meetings/VR/VR00/20260303/118976/HHRG-119-VR00-Wstate-FetroR-20260303.pdf
Under Secretary of Agriculture for Trade & Foreign Agricultural Affairs Lindberg Testifies Before House Appropriations Subcommittee
WASHINGTON, March 11 -- The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies released the following testimony by Luke Lindberg, under secretary of Agriculture for trade and foreign agricultural affairs, from a March 6, 2026, hearing on the oversight of the agency:* * *
Good morning, Chairman Harris, Ranking Member Bishop, and Members of the Subcommittee.
Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today on behalf of President Trump, Secretary Rollins, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. I am Luke Lindberg, Under ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, March 11 -- The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies released the following testimony by Luke Lindberg, under secretary of Agriculture for trade and foreign agricultural affairs, from a March 6, 2026, hearing on the oversight of the agency: * * * Good morning, Chairman Harris, Ranking Member Bishop, and Members of the Subcommittee. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today on behalf of President Trump, Secretary Rollins, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. I am Luke Lindberg, UnderSecretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs, where I oversee the Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs mission area, including the Foreign Agricultural Service and the U.S. Codex Office.
When President Trump first nominated me for this position, he said, "Luke is going to get us smart trade deals for our farmers." President Trump's Make America First trade agenda and USDA's trade strategy is guided by a clear objective: get America's agricultural trade deficit back to surplus and bring reciprocity and fairness back to America's farmers, ranchers, and agricultural producers. We are executing this strategy through a targeted approach focused on three pillars: securing better deals, strengthening buyer-seller relationships, and holding our trading partners accountable.
First - Securing Better Deals
For over fifty years, America enjoyed an agricultural trade surplus with other countries. It wasn't until the Biden Administration, after signing zero new trade deals and not holding other countries accountable to prior commitments, that America experienced a sharp pivot towards years of growing U.S. agricultural trade deficits, to the tune of $50 billion. This further squeezed Biden's broken farm economy, which also saw 30% higher input costs.
Further, America had historically been treated unfairly by some of our trading partners. The U.S. maintains some of the lowest applied agricultural tariffs in the world, while many of our major trading partners maintain significantly higher tariffs and impose egregious non-tariff barriers that restrict market access. For example, India, the European Union, and the United Kingdom, all apply higher average tariffs on imports than America.
Fortunately, the Trump Administration has restored an America first approach to U.S. agricultural trade. President Trump is the ultimate Dealmaker in Chief, and American farmers have already benefitted directly from his leadership in our trading relationships.
I like to say that exporting is a team sport, and that couldn't be more true than in this Administration. American farmers and ranchers are blessed to have not just USDA, but the trade negotiators at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, and support from our partners at the Department of Treasury, the Department of Commerce, U.S. Department of State, and the rest of the interagency, all prioritizing American agriculture on the world stage.
One year into this Administration, I want to provide a clear report card. Across regions and commodities, we are seeing concrete progress in reversing the U.S. agricultural trade deficit.
In Central America, agreements with El Salvador and Guatemala have removed unnecessary fumigation requirements, streamlined certification, mandated science-based inspection practices, and created new demand for U.S. ethanol, including a 50-million-gallon annual purchase commitment by Guatemala.
In South America, Argentina has committed to opening access for U.S. poultry within one year, simplifying red tape for beef and pork exports, and protecting U.S. exporters' use of certain meat and cheese terms -- a critical issue for value-added exporters.
In Asia, progress has been substantial in the form of trade frameworks and reciprocal trade agreements, which we are closely monitoring:
* Japan committed to $8 billion in U.S. agricultural purchases, including corn, soybeans, ethanol, fertilizer, and sustainable aviation fuel, and agreed to increase imports of U.S. rice by 75 percent under its WTO minimum access tariff rate quota.
* Vietnam has committed to expand access for U.S. meats and specialty cheeses, improve access for U.S. peaches and nectarines, and accept clearer tariff disciplines on U.S. agricultural goods.
* South Korea has committed to streamline biotech approvals, preserve access for U.S. meat and dairy products, and establish a dedicated U.S. desk to resolve horticultural access issues.
* Thailand committed to eliminating tariffs on 99 percent of U.S. goods, made a $2.6 billion annual purchase commitment for feed grains and distillers grains, and addressed longstanding ethanol and horticultural barriers.
* Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, and the Philippines have taken concrete steps to reduce or eliminate tariffs, recognize U.S. food safety systems, and remove non-tariff barriers that have historically slowed U.S. exports. In Indonesia specifically, recent engagements have focused on improving regulatory transparency.
* Taiwan committed to provide preferential market access for a wide range of U.S. agricultural exports. It also committed to resolve and prevent non-tariff barriers to U.S. agricultural products, including beef, pork, poultry, and processing potatoes, and to preserve current and future U.S. market access for U.S. cheese and meat producers who rely on the use of certain names.
With China, agriculture has remained a stabilizing force in the broader relationship.
Commitments on soybeans, sorghum, and other agricultural commodities are being met, with significant purchases of U.S. soybeans following high-level engagement in October. We are continuing to work to ensure agriculture remains a central deliverable in future discussions.
In Europe, we have made measurable progress addressing tariffs, and in the United Kingdom, we secured expanded access for American beef and established a 1.4-billion-liter ethanol tariff-rate quota under the framework agreement -- creating substantial new export potential for U.S. producers.
On the U.S.-Mexico-Canada-Agreement Joint Review, we are also working closely with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to ensure the Agreement remains in the interest of American farmers, ranchers, and producers. The Joint Review presents an opportunity for the United States to consider how the USMCA is working and address shortcomings, including for U.S. agriculture.
These are not abstract commitments. They are tariff reductions, purchase commitments, restored market access, and regulatory reforms that are translating into measurable export gains. In just one year, the agricultural trade deficit is now forecasted at $29 billion. That's an $8 billion improvement from December 2025 and a $14.7 billion improvement from fiscal year 2025.
Second - Strengthening Buyer-Seller Relationships
Trade agreements alone do not generate sales. Market access must be converted into commercial relationships.
To ensure that happens, Secretary Rollins and I launched a three-point plan to operationalize new trade opportunities.
First, we established the America First Trade Promotion Program, which provides targeted trade promotion resources in non-traditional and high-growth markets. This complements USDA's longstanding agricultural trade promotion and facilitation programs and enhances trade promotion for exporters pursuing newly opened markets.
Next, we deployed Trade Reciprocity for U.S. Manufacturers and Producers (TRUMP) missions - which complement our existing agribusiness trade missions and place American producers directly in markets where agricultural trade frameworks have been secured.
For example:
* In the United Kingdom, following the framework agreement that established a 1.4billion-liter ethanol tariff-rate quota and new beef access, Secretary Rollins and I led a TRUMP mission that brought U.S. industry representatives directly to buyers to operationalize those openings.
* Traditional agribusiness trade missions in 2025 generated 2,755 business-to-business meetings and an estimated $124.8 million in projected sales over the following year.
* Our most recent agribusiness trade mission in February to Indonesia connected U.S. producers with buyers across corn, soy, wheat, cotton, and fresh fruit sectors in one of our fastest-growing markets.
* We hosted the largest ever trade mission last Fall to Mexico with more than 150 U.S. participants, connecting willing buyers and willing sellers, complementing USDAMarketing and Regulatory Program's work in evaluating the state of New World Screwworm, and working with our interagency partners to secure the greatest win for America under the 1944 U.S.- Mexico Water Treaty, since its inception.
Lastly, we are working to modernize export financing through the GSM-102 Export Credit Guarantee Program. We recently expanded repayment flexibility with a new 18-month option that aligns with industry practices and improves competitiveness in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.
These tools ensure that when we negotiate access, American producers are positioned to capture demand quickly and effectively.
And finally, - Holding Partners Accountable
Reciprocity requires enforcement.
USDA works in close coordination with USTR to monitor compliance and respond rapidly when commitments are not honored. I meet regularly with Ambassador Callahan to align on enforcement priorities and ensure agricultural interests remain central for U.S. trade policy.
FAS maintains nearly 100 overseas offices staffed by trade specialists and market analysts who provide real-time intelligence and serve as a rapid-response team when barriers arise.
We have demonstrated this accountability approach in several instances:
* Resolving Pakistan's soybean import restrictions.
* Pressing Brazil on fair treatment for U.S. ethanol, including with respect to carbon credit treatment.
* Urging Canada to not disadvantage U.S. biofuels, including ethanol, in its policy making.
* Restoring South African market access for popcorn.
We are holding implementers of our programs accountable, too. USDA just announced its intention to utilize $452 million worth of fiscal year 2025 funds for a Food for Peace agreement to feed the hungry with America's bounty. We are in return asking implementers to purchase 100% American grown commodities, work towards a no "forever aid" model, and institute strict accountability and oversight measures.
Holding partners accountable ensures that negotiated commitments translate into sustained commercial opportunity and prosperity.
Conclusion
The Trump Administration has been hard at work putting farmers first, delivering timely assistance, securing 18 trade deals and frameworks, and working to reduce the inherited and unprecedented U.S. agricultural trade deficit. While the agricultural trade deficit remains a serious concern, addressing it requires disciplined execution across negotiation, promotion, and enforcement.
Under President Trump's leadership and Secretary Rollins' direction, USDA has made great strides. We will continue using every available tool - trade promotion, export financing, food assistance programs, and coordinated interagency enforcement - to expand market access and improve the competitive position of American agriculture.
Thank you for your continued support of USDA. I look forward to your questions.
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Original text here: https://docs.house.gov/meetings/AP/AP01/20260304/119009/HHRG-119-AP01-Wstate-LindbergL-20260304.pdf
New America Future of Work & Innovation Economy Initiative Managing Director Jyotishi Testifies Before House Appropriations Subcommittee
WASHINGTON, March 11 -- The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies released the following testimony by Shalin Jyotishi, managing director and founder of the Future of Work and Innovation Economy Initiative at New America, from a March 4, 2026, hearing entitled "Preparing for the Future: America's Community Colleges":* * *
Thank you, Chairman Aderholt, Ranking Member DeLauro, and members of the Committee, for the privilege to speak with you about the vital role community colleges play in preparing for the future and expanding access ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, March 11 -- The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies released the following testimony by Shalin Jyotishi, managing director and founder of the Future of Work and Innovation Economy Initiative at New America, from a March 4, 2026, hearing entitled "Preparing for the Future: America's Community Colleges": * * * Thank you, Chairman Aderholt, Ranking Member DeLauro, and members of the Committee, for the privilege to speak with you about the vital role community colleges play in preparing for the future and expanding accessto economic security, the American middle class, and the American Dream.
My name is Shalin Jyotishi, and I lead the Future of Work & Innovation Economy initiative at New America. Our mission is to ensure that technological innovation and tech-based economic development translate into economic security for American workers and their families. Community colleges are central to that mission.
Our nation's more than 900 community colleges enroll about 40% of all undergraduate students. They disproportionately serve low-income students: Nearly 57% of their students come from households earning below 200% of the federal poverty level./1
Through apprenticeships and work-based learning, career and technical education, and other workforce credentials, community colleges offer affordable, accessible, and industry-aligned pathways to the jobs that keep our communities running in healthcare, public safety, skilled trades, manufacturing, IT, and more.
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1 https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/R45686.pdfrunning
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But increasingly, rapid advances in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence have meant that community colleges must prepare students for a much more complex labor market. From coast to coast, colleges are expanding training programs focused on AI,/2 biotechnology,/3 microelectronics,/4 energy innovation, and advanced manufacturing to promote economic development and meet industry needs.
More than half of America's 36 million STEM workers belong to the "skilled technical workforce," meaning they need education beyond high school, but not necessarily a bachelor's degree./5
Community colleges are critical to educating this population. These workers tend to outearn peers with similar levels of education in non-STEM sectors, and they represent a bedrock of America's middle class and our key to continued and expanded economic prosperity and standard of living.
But community colleges are facing this responsibility while contending with long-standing underinvestment. Despite their focus on serving low-income students, they receive much less public funding per student compared to four-year institutions./6
If we expect our community colleges to deliver strong workforce outcomes in our most advanced industries and during this period of accelerated technological change, they will need targeted and strategic investments to position them for success.
In September 2024, New America partnered with the U.S. National Science
Foundation (NSF) to launch the Accelerator for Community Colleges in the Innovation Economy. A first-of-its-kind effort to provide capacity-building technical assistance to community colleges located in regions where tech-based economic development is concentrated. It is funded by private philanthropy and supported by a national network representing governors, mayors, businesses, community college presidents and trustees, workforce development boards, and research universities./7
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2 https://www.newamerica.org/education-policy/edcentral/whats-new-in-ai-focused-skilled-technical-wor kforce-education/
3 https://www.forbes.com/sites/shalinjyotishi/2022/11/10/biotechnology-industry-gets-a-boost-from-com munity-college-degrees/
4 https://micronanoeducation.org/about/
5 https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsb20245
6 https://www.ccdaily.com/2025/10/datapoints-revenue-by-source/
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Drawing on our analysis and direct work with colleges, I offer the following recommendations for the committee to better leverage the Department of Education (ED) and the Department of Labor (DOL) to build community colleges for advanced and emerging technology industries: First, ED and DOL should be given the resources and mandate to deepen collaboration with federal agencies advancing R&D and economic
development in emerging technology areas of national interest,/8 including the National Science Foundation, Department of Commerce, Department of Energy, the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy, and other agencies./9
These collaborations should focus on a) identifying the sectors aligned with national priorities, including national security and rural development; b) identifying the regions of priority for capacity-building investments, given ongoing federal and private sector activity; and c) coordinating relevant workforce funding opportunities for community colleges.
These actions would align with the administration's AI Action Plan, which has already called for Departments of Labor, Education, Commerce, and the NSF to "prioritize AI skill development as a core objective of education and workforce funding streams."/10
For illustration, the NSF's Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program has generated many best practices in community college capacity-building for advanced industries. NSF ATE funds the National Applied AI Consortium led by Miami Dade College, Houston Community College, and Maricopa Community College District.
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7 https://www.newamerica.org/education-policy/press-releases/nsf-and-new-america-announce-strategicinitiative-to-empower-community-and-technical-colleges/; https://www.newamerica.org/education-policy/edcentral/empowering-community-colleges-partnerships -for-economic-development-and-indeffectivelyfirst fiveustrial-policy/
8 https://www.nsf.gov/focus-also areas/technology
9 Including the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, and the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Infrastructure.
10 https://dcjournal.com/how-community-colleges-can-realize-the-promise-of-ai-action-plan/
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This consortium has partnered with Microsoft, Google, Intel, OpenAI, and other leading tech companies to support nearly 2,000 faculty and staff across more than 300 community colleges spanning 49 states to scale AI education./11
There is much DOL and ED can learn and scale in collaborating with agencies closest to R&D and tech-based economic development,/12 as as part of this mandate, they should report their collaborations back to Congress for further evaluation and refined coordination.
Second, DOL and ED should be given the resources to accelerate community college capacity-building in advanced and emerging industries.
DOL's Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grants (SCCTG) program would be a good existing funding vehicle./13
An expanded, targeted allocation for colleges focused on advanced and emerging industries and in regions poised to see the most tech-based growth would go a long way. Additionally, the Carl D. Perkins National Activities appropriation could also be harmonized with SCCTG funding to achieve this goal.
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11 https://www.forbes.com/sites/shalinjyotishi/2026/02/25/openai-google-microsoft-intel-bet-on-commu nity-colleges-for-ai-talent/
12 https://www.newamerica.org/education-policy/edcentral/energy-department-funds-first-iacs-at-community-colleges-trade-unions/; https://www.newamerica.org/education-policy/edcentral/nsf-funding-fuels-workforce-innovation-at-community-colleges/; https://www.newamerica.org/education-policy/edcentral/edas-stem-talent-challenge-grants-workforce-funding-for-the-innovation-economy/; https://www.newamerica.org/education-policy/edcentral/nsf-epiic-funds-community-colleges-capacitybuilding-and-innovation/; https://www.forbes.com/sites/shalinjyotishi/2025/01/15/work-based-learning-for-emerging-technologie s-and-advanced-industries/;
13 https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/skills-training-grants/scc
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Priorities for capacity-building investments include, but are not limited to:
* Modernizing colleges' data infrastructure to better leverage labor market information in studying industries, jobs, and skills that are rapidly changing;
* Procuring industry-standard equipment and teaching tools necessary to deliver high-quality education and training for our advanced and emerging tech sectors;
* Establishing a sustainable and systematic process to upskill instructors, so they can stay current with the frontier skills associated with cutting-edge technologies;
* Strengthening grants infrastructure to better leverage public and private capital and to effectively partner with industry and universities on tech-based economic development initiatives, such as the NSF's Regional Innovation Engines program and the Commerce Department's Regional Technology and Innovation Hubs;
* Scaling work-based learning with employers and industry intermediary organizations to scale registered apprenticeships, youth apprenticeships, internships, micro-internships, and project-based learning in advanced sectors;
* And improving workforce collaboration approaches with research universities, industry, and R&D organizations, including our national laboratories,
ManufacturingUSA Institutes, and other federally funded R&D centers./14
Across red states and blue states, community colleges have always been at the forefront of serving our most low-income students. With strategic and coordinated capacity-building investments, they can help further realize the promise of economic security and the American Dream during this period of rapid technological change.
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14 https://ncses.nsf.gov/resource/master-gov-lists-ffrdc
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Original text here: https://docs.house.gov/meetings/AP/AP07/20260304/119006/HHRG-119-AP07-Wstate-JyotishiS-20260304.pdf
Blackfeet Community College President Hall Testifies Before House Appropriations Subcommittee
WASHINGTON, March 11 -- The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies released the following written testimony by Blackfeet Community College President Brad Hall from a March 4, 2026, hearing entitled "Preparing for the Future: America's Community Colleges":* * *
Blackfeet Community College (BFCC), a Tribally controlled, Land-Grant institution in Browning, Montana, provides accessible, high-quality education rooted in Blackfeet culture and values. Accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, BFCC offers in-person ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, March 11 -- The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies released the following written testimony by Blackfeet Community College President Brad Hall from a March 4, 2026, hearing entitled "Preparing for the Future: America's Community Colleges": * * * Blackfeet Community College (BFCC), a Tribally controlled, Land-Grant institution in Browning, Montana, provides accessible, high-quality education rooted in Blackfeet culture and values. Accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, BFCC offers in-personand online programs that support academics, workforce development, cultural preservation, and lifelong learning for all students across the Blackfeet Nation and beyond.
When it comes to size and impact, BFCC is small but mighty! For our Fall 2025 semester, we enrolled 362 students, a 14% increase above our Fall 2024 enrollment. We succeed in large part because we offer students a welcoming, supportive environment with a 13:1 student-to-faculty ratio paired with very affordable tuition: just $3,610 for the entire academic year.
BFCC is deeply committed to advancing Tribal and rural prosperity by eliminating the financial, academic, and health and wellness barriers students face. Because 67% of our students receive federal Pell Grants, a core strategy is to provide paid internships and emergency aid to directly alleviate financial hardship and prevent enrollment loss.
Successes: Workforce Development and Career and Technical Education Paired With Industry and Community Partnerships Creates Significant Positive Economic Impacts.
BFCC's key programs that directly lead to employment include the Industry Trades certificate (and planned pathways), which equips students with essential skills for the building trades and directly addresses regional labor gaps; Nursing, which responds to persistent shortages in the health sector; Class 7 Teacher Certification, which prepares local educators to serve in Tribal and rural schools; and programs in Legal Studies and Anthropology, which strengthen Tribal governance and natural resource stewardship. By concentrating on these critical areas, BFCC is effectively laying a robust foundation for strong, self-reliant economic growth in the region.
All of BFCC's programs of study are aligned with the demonstrated needs of our local community, workforce opportunities and cultural revitalization efforts. These combined efforts guide the future development of the college to enhance access to trades, job placement and emerging economic trends of the Blackfeet Nation and our expanding service area, through a strong emphasis on hybrid, land-based and experiential learning.
BFCC has entered into a paid internship agreement with community employers and non-profit organizations. A recent example is with Pursuit, which is providing summer project-based paid internships for BFCC students at the East Glacier Park Lodge, focusing on gardening, engineering, culinary, and hotel management. This partnership will also be instrumental in the college's future development of hospitality and tourism programs that connect students to meaningful career-aligned employment opportunities.
All of these successes for individual students add up to significant financial benefits for the local community, the state economy, and the nation as a whole. In September of 2025, the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) published an economic study highlighting the impact of Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs). The study, titled: Building Local Economies of Scale: The Impact of Tribal Colleges & Universities in Rural America, found that in Fiscal Year (FY) 2022-2023, TCU alumni accounted for $3.8 billion in economic impact across the country - the equivalent of supporting 40,732 jobs nationwide. Looking only at BFCC's impact during that same period, the study found that our alumni contributed $15 million to the Blackfeet Indian Reservation economy - the equivalent of supporting 391 jobs. For every $1.00 spent on BFCC, students gain $5.20 in lifetime earnings, U.S. taxpayers gain $1.02 in additional tax revenue and public sector savings, society gains $2.90 in additional income and social savings, and Montana taxpayers gain $3.5 million in additional tax revenue and public sector savings. Not a bad return on investment!
The important role of the Pell Grant Program, Title III, and NACTEP. BFCC's student body is 61% full-time students and 39% part-time students, and 67% of our students receive federal Pell grants. Without the federal Pell grant program, the opportunities we provide would be out of reach for most of our students. We applaud Congress for using the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to appropriate additional funding to the Pell grant program to prevent a near-term shortfall and for creating a new category of Pell grant we are excited to participate in: Workforce Pell. We would also especially like to thank this Subcommittee and your Senate counterparts for keeping the maximum Pell grant award level in place for FY 2026. Going forward, we ask that you appropriate additional funding to shore up the Pell grant program for the long term, while refraining from making any eligibility changes that would limit access. For example, some of the changes proposed this past summer to increase the credit hour eligibility threshold for part-time and full-time students would have been devastating to our students, many of whom are already balancing significant work and family obligations while going to school, and are simply not in a position to take on more credit hours just to qualify for Pell.
The Title III - Strengthening Tribal Colleges and Universities, parts A and F, funds are some of the most flexible and important funds TCUs receive each fiscal year. Title III funds can be used for everything from scientific equipment, to facility construction, to student tutoring, to library books. Because TCUs operate on such limited budgets, largely without any endowments, wealthy alumni networks, or state support to speak of, any interruption, reduction, or delay in these funds would be devastating. If, for some reason, our Title III funds were to disappear, every single TCU would have to close its doors. We would like to thank this Subcommittee and your Senate counterparts for appropriating strong, consistent Title III funding in FY 2026, and we ask that this continue in FY 2027.
While the Native American Career and Technical Education Program (NACTEP) is not specifically for TCUs, we are among the eligible entities, and especially here at BFCC, NACTEP plays an outsized role in our students' success. Our current NACTEP Program supports students enrolled in the following programs of study: AS Hydrology, One Year Certificate in Records Management and AS in Blackfeet Legal Studies. This program provides funding for faculty, comprehensive student support services, and operates a Career Center to support employment readiness upon graduation. We are evolving this program in our new application to provide similar services for our Nursing BSN program, One-year Certificate in Industry Trades and Class 7 Teacher Certification, which develops local educators to become state-certified to teach the Blackfeet Culture and Language as local schools advance language immersion and cultural programs. We would like to thank this Subcommittee and your Senate counterparts for appropriating strong, consistent NACTEP funding in FY 2026, and we ask that this continue in FY 2027.
Challenges
BFCC has operated on the funding that we receive primarily from the Department of the Interior, Department of Education, and the Department of Agriculture as a 1994 Land Grant Institution. Over the last year, our campus has faced significant uncertainty due to shifts in federal funding and administrative policies. Any uncertainty or delay in funding, as witnessed over the last year, directly undermines our college's ability to maintain the consistency of programs and services, ensure employees jobs are protected, and continue to grow our campuses to meet the evolving needs of the "Universal Community" we serve.
All TCU's are open enrollment institutions, any student who wants to, can attend a Tribal College; this is what makes us important drivers of economic, inclusive prosperity to residents in our states and the regions we serve. TCU's remain chronically underfunded, compared to other institutions of higher education in our states and among other Land-Grant Institutions. Our colleges stand as anchors for opportunity in rural and underserved regions where, in many cases, we are the only institution of higher education within hundreds of miles. Continued and increased funding opportunities will enhance what we already do and also fulfill our obligations to our tribal nations, one student success at a time.
Opportunities
BFCC urgently needs a modern facility for our Industry Trades Program to ensure student success and meet regional workforce demand. The new space would include specialized workstations for carpentry, welding, plumbing, and electrical work, along with essential hands-on materials such as lumber, piping, and wiring. This investment will expand the current one-year certificate into stackable two-year pathways, offer additional licenses, and provide practical training that drives local economic growth. By producing qualified, skilled labor to fill critical roles, this facility will reduce reliance on outside contractors, close workforce gaps, and empower graduates to secure well-paying careers, thereby strengthening the region's long-term economic stability and self-sufficiency.
Conclusion
Thank you for including TCUs among the community college witnesses for this important hearing. BFCC remains committed to working collaboratively with the Subcommittee as a trusted resource to ensure that Tribal Nations and Tribal citizens have a say in shaping their education and their future.
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Original text here: https://docs.house.gov/meetings/AP/AP07/20260304/119006/HHRG-119-AP07-Wstate-HallB-20260304.pdf
Bevill State Community College VP Morgan Testifies Before House Appropriations Subcommittee
WASHINGTON, March 11 -- The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies released the following testimony by Shawn M. Morgan, vice president of workforce and strategic initiatives at Bevill State Community College, from a March 4, 2026, hearing entitled "Preparing for the Future: America's Community Colleges":* * *
Chairman Aderholt, Ranking Member DeLauro, and distinguished Members of the Subcommittee:
Thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony on the important topic of Preparing for the Future: America's Community Colleges. ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, March 11 -- The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies released the following testimony by Shawn M. Morgan, vice president of workforce and strategic initiatives at Bevill State Community College, from a March 4, 2026, hearing entitled "Preparing for the Future: America's Community Colleges": * * * Chairman Aderholt, Ranking Member DeLauro, and distinguished Members of the Subcommittee: Thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony on the important topic of Preparing for the Future: America's Community Colleges.It is an honor to represent the Alabama Community College System and, specifically, Bevill State Community College, which serves students and communities across Northwest Alabama.
The Alabama Community College System (ACCS) is comprised of 24 community and technical colleges serving more than 160,000 individuals annually. Our mission is both educational and economic. We exist to ensure that every Alabamian--regardless of background or geography-- has access to high-quality education and workforce training aligned with the needs of industry.
Recent economic impact studies show that ACCS institutions contribute over $8 billion annually to Alabama's economy and return measurable public value for every dollar invested. We are not simply institutions of higher learning; we are engines of workforce development and economic mobility.
At Bevill State Community College, that mission is personal. We serve some of the most rural counties in Alabama--across campuses in Jasper, Sumiton, Fayette, Hamilton, and an instructional site in Carrollton. Nearly half of the population in our service region lives in rural communities. For many of our students, we are not just the most affordable option--we are the only accessible option.
And we are delivering results. Our total credit hour production has increased 24% from the 20202021 academic year to the 2024-2025 academic year.
Just one of our highlights, our nursing programs consistently demonstrate excellence, with NCLEX pass rates ranging from 95 to 97 percent in recent years . Over the past three academic years alone, Bevill State has graduated more than 1,000 nurses across our ADN/RN and LPN programs --strengthening healthcare systems throughout rural Alabama at a time when staffing shortages threaten hospital viability.
These outcomes are not accidental. They reflect a model built on industry alignment, local partnerships, and agility.
Proven Models: Industry-Driven, Flexible Pathways
Bevill State operates on a simple principle: workforce programs must be employer-informed and student-centered.
We maintain active advisory committees across healthcare, manufacturing, construction, and transportation. These partnerships allow us to rapidly adjust curriculum, equipment, and delivery models to meet real-time labor market demand.
In our region, manufacturing and skilled trades remain foundational to economic stability.
Nationally, over one million trade jobs remain unfilled, including 500,000 in manufacturing alone . That shortage is felt acutely in rural communities like ours, where retirements outpace replacements and generational knowledge is at risk of being lost.
To address this, Bevill State delivers:
* Short-term, industry-recognized credentials in welding (including SMAW, GMAW, and FCAW processes), industrial maintenance, and construction trades
* Commercial Driver's License (CDL) training to support logistics and supply chain needs
* HVAC Fast Track programs that move students from enrollment to employment in a matter of weeks
* Stackable credentials in healthcare that allow entry-level employment with clear pathways toward advanced licensure
Our approach reduces time-to-competency while preserving academic rigor. Students can enter quickly, earn, and return to continue building credentials over time.
Expanding Opportunities
Dual Enrollment and Early Exposure
The ACCS takes a forward-thinking approach by exposing students to industry-driven college level material at an early age. In the 2024-2025 Academic Year, the system served over 40,000 dual enrollment students who were able to simultaneously attend high school and college-level classes. This number represents an even bigger picture with a 230% increase in enrollment since 2015. At Bevill State, our dual enrollment students have increased over 130% since the 20202021 academic year. While dual enrollment itself is not unique to the ACCS, what makes our programs unique is that we provide low tuition year-round, accessible instructors and resources, lower GPA requirements, and high-quality education opportunities that offer full transferability and academic rigor across all 67 counties in the state of Alabama. Additionally, many of our dual enrollment instructors are local high school teachers credentialed by community colleges, a model that supports K-12 teacher retention and expands instructional capacity statewide.
Through dual enrollment, we are providing opportunities to reach those who may not initially see themselves as college-bound, widening the state's talent pipeline and preparing students for indemand careers.
In rural counties where economic opportunity may appear limited, dual enrollment changes life trajectories.
Workforce Pell Grant - A Transformational Opportunity
The forthcoming Workforce Pell Grant represents one of the most significant federal policy shifts in workforce education in decades. By allowing Pell Grant eligibility for high-quality, short-term programs between 150 and 600 clock hours aligned to high-demand occupations, Congress has the opportunity to remove a major barrier to entry for working adults.
At Bevill State, Workforce Pell would immediately expand access to programs such as CDL, HVAC Fast Track, welding, lineworker training, and healthcare technical certificates. Many of these programs are 8 to 15 weeks in duration--ideal for dislocated workers, underemployed adults, and individuals needing rapid reentry into the workforce.
For rural communities, this is not simply about tuition assistance. It is about economic survival.
Workforce Pell can help stabilize hospitals, support energy infrastructure expansion, and fill critical trade shortages--all while providing liveable, family-sustaining wages.
Alabama Energy Infrastructure Training Center & Network (AEITCN)
In response to growing regional demand for skilled energy and infrastructure workers, Bevill State is leading the development of the Alabama Energy Infrastructure Training Center & Network (AEITCN).
This initiative will include expanded training capacity for:
* Lineworker programs supported by a dedicated pole yard
* Fiber connectivity and broadband infrastructure
* Solar / Microgrid installation and maintenance
* Electric vehicle and battery troubleshooting and maintenance
* HVAC and Weatherization training
The AEITCN will leverage existing campus facilities alongside approximately 50,000 square feet of new training space to create a scalable regional workforce hub. The goal is not merely program expansion--it is the creation of a coordinated, multi-campus network capable of responding quickly to industry growth in utilities, energy production, advanced manufacturing, and infrastructure modernization.
Energy security and workforce development are directly linked. By training local residents for high-skill, high-wage infrastructure careers, we strengthen both regional economies and national resilience.
Skills for Success Program: Our ACCS Innovation Center developed the "Skills for Success" program, which offers customized, rapid-delivery, non-credit, industry-recognized training in high-demand fields like commercial truck driving (CDL), welding, construction, and healthcare.
This program is often offered at no cost to the participant, swiftly moving individuals from unemployment or underemployment into family-sustaining careers.
By reducing the time-to-competency, we accelerate the state's ability to attract new industry jobs. What distinguishes this program is its industry-driven design. Businesses identify their specific workforce needs, and we convene a task force of leaders from across that sector to develop the curriculum. Their combined expertise ensures that our training is precisely aligned with current hiring demands and upskilling priorities.
Supporting Rural Communities and Special Populations
Rural access remains central to our mission. Healthcare shortages threaten the viability of small hospitals across our region. Manufacturing employers struggle to replace retiring skilled technicians. Broadband expansion requires trained fiber technicians. The modernization of energy infrastructure requires certified lineworkers.
Our response is community-specific solutions.
We work directly with hospitals, manufacturers, utilities, and economic development authorities to design targeted pipelines. We provide flexible scheduling, hybrid instruction, and supportive services to adult learners who strive to balance work and family responsibilities.
We also recognize that many untapped workers face barriers--whether financial, academic, or proximity. Community colleges are uniquely positioned to meet individuals where they are in life and help them reach new heights.
Agility as Workforce Strategy
The defining strength of community colleges is agility. When employers ask, "Can you provide the talent?" we must be able to answer "Yes"--not in years, but in months.
At Bevill State, agility means:
* Rapid curriculum development
* Employer-informed equipment investments
* Stackable credential design (short-term, long-term or eventual Associates Degree)
* Flexible delivery models
* Partnerships across K-12, industry, and economic development
Community colleges are the "conduit" between federal investment and local workforce impact.
We translate policy into practical outcomes--jobs filled, wages increased, industries stabilized, and communities strengthened.
America's community colleges are not simply preparing students for the future--we are preparing the future workforce itself.
On behalf of Bevill State Community College and the Alabama Community College System, I thank you for your continued support and for recognizing the essential role community colleges play in America's economic competitiveness.
We stand ready to partner with Congress to ensure that federal workforce investments-- including Workforce Pell--are implemented in ways that maximize opportunity, strengthen rural America, and secure our nation's talent pipeline for generations to come.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify. I look forward to your questions.
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Original text here: https://docs.house.gov/meetings/AP/AP07/20260304/119006/HHRG-119-AP07-Wstate-MorganS-20260304.pdf
U.S. Ambassador to Slovenia Nominee Roberts Testifies Before Senate Foreign Relations Committee
WASHINGTON, March 10 -- The Senate Foreign Relations Committee released the following testimony by Asel Roberts, President Trump's nominee to be U.S. Ambassador to Slovenia, from a March 5, 2026, confirmation hearing:* * *
Chairman Ricketts, Ranking Member Coons, and distinguished Members of this committee:
I am honored to appear before you as President Trump's nominee to be the United States Ambassador to the Republic of Slovenia. I am truly grateful to President Trump and Secretary Rubio for placing their confidence in me to fulfill the important duties and responsibilities of this position.
I ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, March 10 -- The Senate Foreign Relations Committee released the following testimony by Asel Roberts, President Trump's nominee to be U.S. Ambassador to Slovenia, from a March 5, 2026, confirmation hearing: * * * Chairman Ricketts, Ranking Member Coons, and distinguished Members of this committee: I am honored to appear before you as President Trump's nominee to be the United States Ambassador to the Republic of Slovenia. I am truly grateful to President Trump and Secretary Rubio for placing their confidence in me to fulfill the important duties and responsibilities of this position. Ialso want to thank everybody who has supported me during the last 20 years of my career at the U.S. Department of State, which has led me to this appointment. This includes first and foremost my family. I want to thank my parents for always believing in me, my in-laws for welcoming me into their extended family in Buffalo, NY, my spouse for supporting me every step of the way, and my daughter who has inspired me every day for the last ten years. I also want to thank my colleagues in the Office of the Chief of Protocol who have worked diligently with me to promote U.S. interests through dozens of multilateral and bilateral meetings as well as at summits, state visits, and UN General Assembly Meetings. Without these people, I would not have the opportunity to be before you today.
I was born in the Soviet Union in what is today the Republic of Kazakhstan at a time of great global change. Yet, I was fortunate enough to spend most of my adult life in the United States, something I could never have done if it had not been for President Ronald Reagan and his efforts to end the Cold War. As a high school student at the age of 15, I was able to take advantage of a U.S. government-funded student exchange program and study at high schools in Arizona and Vermont. This prepared me to gain admittance into and complete university in the United States.
I could not have accomplished that journey in any country other than the United States, and it instilled in me a strong belief in the American dream and the critical importance of the U.S. in the world. I have applied this inspiration to my work throughout my career, which has been dedicated to supporting U.S. foreign policy and national interests abroad. Having worked for two decades in the U.S. State Department, my career has uniquely prepared me for the duties for which I have been nominated as the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Slovenia.
Through my work in the Office of the Chief of Protocol, I have been involved in organizing hundreds of high-level diplomatic meetings for six different presidential administrations and, as a result, have gained a strong understanding of how to communicate both high-level foreign policy priorities and bilateral concerns with our international counterparts. Additionally, I have worked closely throughout my career with Foreign Service officers and locally employed embassy staff in multiple countries to coordinate high-level visits. Having served for a full year as the Acting Chief of Protocol of the United States, I also have strong experience running a complex and large unit within the State Department, including familiarity with budget management, personnel matters, and leadership. Throughout these experiences, the goal of advancing U.S. interests has always been the motivating force behind my work. I am fully confident in my abilities to fulfill the duties and responsibilities of representing the United States abroad and to effectively manage an embassy.
It would also be a great honor to fulfill these duties in the Republic of Slovenia, which is an important friend and ally to the United States.
Slovenia and the United States share a close relationship rooted in our shared interests, democratic values, economic ties, and our longstanding defense cooperation. Slovenia has made impressive contributions in regional and global efforts to bolster stability and peace. It has proven itself to be a friend of the United States and a reliable NATO ally.
I will work to ensure Slovenia's strong commitment to stability and security remains steadfast.
This includes efforts to meet NATO defense spending and capability commitments. If confirmed, I will work to ensure Slovenia remains a critical part of the deterrence and defense of the Euro-Atlantic region.
Slovenia's strategic location at the crossroads between Central Europe and the Western Balkans also presents opportunities to deepen Transatlantic trade, one of the pillars of the global economy and American prosperity. Slovenia has a small but dynamic economy, with a skilled labor force and some of the best engineers in the world. Despite its small market size, Slovenia has established itself as a hotspot for cutting-edge industries. Its science and tech sectors show particular promise.
There are also critical opportunities to build on our two countries' close cooperation on civilian nuclear energy.
If confirmed, I will prioritize the safety and well-being of U.S. citizens. I will also advocate for American economic security, balanced trade, and fair treatment for U.S. businesses. Additionally, I will continue to push for greater economic cooperation between our countries.
I view this nomination as an opportunity to work diligently to deepen our relationship with Slovenia and to help make America safer, stronger, and more prosperous.
It would be an honor to serve as the U.S. ambassador to the Republic of Slovenia. Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to your questions.
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Original text here: https://www.foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/16d85bb1-de33-dd95-fe9f-d71d3fdf66a8/030526_Roberts_Testimony.pdf
U.S. Ambassador to New Zealand Nominee Novelly Testifies Before Senate Foreign Relations Committee
WASHINGTON, March 10 -- The Senate Foreign Relations Committee released the following testimony by Jared Novelly, President Trump's nominee to be U.S. Ambassador to New Zealand, Samoa, the Cook Islands and Niue, from a March 5, 2026, confirmation hearing:* * *
Thank you Chairman Ricketts, Ranking Member Coons, and distinguished Members of this Committee for the opportunity to appear before you today. It is an honor to be nominated as United States Ambassador to New Zealand, the Independent State of Samoa, the Cook Islands, and Niue.
What may be lost on many of us in the private sector is the ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, March 10 -- The Senate Foreign Relations Committee released the following testimony by Jared Novelly, President Trump's nominee to be U.S. Ambassador to New Zealand, Samoa, the Cook Islands and Niue, from a March 5, 2026, confirmation hearing: * * * Thank you Chairman Ricketts, Ranking Member Coons, and distinguished Members of this Committee for the opportunity to appear before you today. It is an honor to be nominated as United States Ambassador to New Zealand, the Independent State of Samoa, the Cook Islands, and Niue. What may be lost on many of us in the private sector is thelevel of dedication that can be witnessed by those in government. During the lead up to this hearing, I have been exposed to a number of wonderful, bright, and dedicated people in the State Department, and I can honestly tell you that I have been incredibly impressed by the almost selfless determination that I have witnessed.
I wish to express my admiration for all of those who have helped me by thanking them for their service.
So too must I express my admiration for all of the Members of this Committee for your service as well. If confirmed, I hope to, at least, match the dedication to the American people manifested by each of you Members of this committee.
Thank you for your service and I look forward to serving our country with a similar zeal that I have witnessed.
If confirmed as Ambassador, I will work tirelessly to advance President Trump's and Secretary Rubio's foreign policies.
In advancing the President's agenda, we have few better partners than New Zealand. The government of New Zealand consistently supports our goals in the region and beyond.
If confirmed, I will do everything in my power to take our relationship to new heights. Specifically, I intend to focus on three priorities:
1. partnering with New Zealand, Samoa, Cook Islands, and Niue to promote a free and open Pacific;
2. expanding our defense partnership with New Zealand; and
3. promoting opportunities for U.S. business entities.
Few countries understand the darkening security environment in the Pacific better than New Zealand. Last February, China conducted live-fire exercises in the Tasman Sea. I was in the region at the time, and it was very concerning. The exercises led to flight diversions and represented an example of alarming, even destabilizing behavior in the Pacific.
If confirmed, I would prioritize expanding our defense partnership with New Zealand.
I know the critical role our Embassies and Consulates play in ensuring a fair playing field for U.S. entities. Whether it be through tearing down trade barriers or opening new markets, all U.S. businesses will have a friend in the Ambassador's office if I am confirmed.
In Samoa in recent years, the government in Apia has adopted a prudent approach to managing relations with the West and China, taking on foreign debt with caution. If confirmed, I would encourage the government in Samoa to continue this approach and ensure it is never pressured into a deal that would compromise its sovereignty.
In the Cook Islands, establishment of formal diplomatic relations in 2023 enabled us to take our longstanding relationship to the next level. If confirmed, I would expand our collaboration with local authorities to promote the responsible development of seabed mineral resources. The Cook Islands' EEZ contains possibly the largest cobalt deposit in the world - a key component in batteries and high-strength alloys. A strong partnership with the Cook Islands means a strong supply chain of critical minerals. This is good for all parties.
In Niue, I would likewise focus on strengthening our bilateral relationship. We have, and under my watch will continue to, closely engage with Niue on economic, cultural, and other programs. I hope to continue to grow this relationship.
Thank you for considering my nomination. I look forward to your questions.
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Original text here: https://www.foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/16d85bb1-de33-dd95-fe9f-d71d3fdf66a8/030526_Novelly_Testimony.pdf
U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador Nominee Edgar Testifies Before Senate Foreign Relations Committee
WASHINGTON, March 10 -- The Senate Foreign Relations Committee released the following testimony by Troy Edgar, President Trump's nominee to be U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador, from a March 5, 2026, confirmation hearing:* * *
Chairman Ricketts, Ranking Member Coons, and distinguished Members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. I am deeply honored by the President's nomination to serve as United States Ambassador to the Republic of El Salvador.
I want to introduce and thank my wife Betty for being here today. I am grateful to my family for their steadfast ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, March 10 -- The Senate Foreign Relations Committee released the following testimony by Troy Edgar, President Trump's nominee to be U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador, from a March 5, 2026, confirmation hearing: * * * Chairman Ricketts, Ranking Member Coons, and distinguished Members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. I am deeply honored by the President's nomination to serve as United States Ambassador to the Republic of El Salvador. I want to introduce and thank my wife Betty for being here today. I am grateful to my family for their steadfastsupport and to the people I have had the privilege to serve alongside throughout my career. Representing the United States abroad is among the highest responsibilities our nation can bestow, and I approach this nomination with humility, seriousness of purpose, and respect for the statutorily mandated role of this Committee.
El Salvador is one of our most important partners in the Western Hemisphere.
Our nations are bound by geography, shared security interests, and enduring ties, including a vibrant Salvadoran American community that strengthens our country every day. The bilateral relationship sits at the intersection of critical U.S. priorities including combatting illegal immigration, counternarcotics and law enforcement cooperation, economic growth, democracy, and regional stability. In many ways, how we work with El Salvador will help shape broader patterns of cooperation and stability across Central America and throughout the Hemisphere.
If confirmed, my mandate will be clear: to faithfully represent the President and the United States, to advance American national security and economic interests, and to strengthen cooperation with the government and people of El Salvador in ways that produce tangible results for both nations.
Effective diplomacy requires resolve and respect in equal measures. If confirmed, I will engage directly with Salvadoran leadership, including President Bukele, to deepen cooperation against transnational criminal organizations and foreign terrorist organizations and expand mutual economic opportunity.
Throughout my career, including as Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, I have focused on institutional integrity, operational discipline, and supporting the professionals entrusted with executing our nation's policies.
If confirmed, my full attention will be devoted to leading our mission in San Salvador with professionalism, clarity of purpose, and full accountability to this Committee and to the American people.
I welcome your guidance and oversight, and I look forward to your questions.
Thank you.
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U.S. Ambassador to Philippines Nominee Lipton Testifies Before Senate Foreign Relations Committee
WASHINGTON, March 9 -- The Senate Foreign Relations Committee released the following testimony by Lee Lipton, President Trump's nominee to be U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines, from a March 5, 2026, confirmation hearing:* * *
Chairman Ricketts, Ranking Member Coons, and distinguished Members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. I am deeply honored to be President Trump's nominee to serve as the next United States Ambassador to the Republic of the Philippines. I appreciate your time and consideration.
I would also like to recognize my wife and soulmate ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, March 9 -- The Senate Foreign Relations Committee released the following testimony by Lee Lipton, President Trump's nominee to be U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines, from a March 5, 2026, confirmation hearing: * * * Chairman Ricketts, Ranking Member Coons, and distinguished Members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. I am deeply honored to be President Trump's nominee to serve as the next United States Ambassador to the Republic of the Philippines. I appreciate your time and consideration. I would also like to recognize my wife and soulmateof more than 45 years, Erika, and our amazing sons, Max and Dylan. Their steadfast love and support have sustained me throughout my career in business and public service. If my parents were alive today, they would be beyond proud to see me sit before you.
Over the course of my 50-year professional career, I have led businesses in the culinary and fashion industries, built international partnerships, created jobs, mentored young professionals, and navigated complex regulatory environments. I look forward to utilizing these skills to the benefit of the American and Filipino people. I developed a lasting respect for the country during my early visits to the Philippines as an entrepreneur, manufacturing clothing decades ago. I was deeply impressed by the Filipino people's energy, resilience, and strong sense of family and community.
Community and people-to-people ties have always mattered to me. The Philippines has a word that captures that spirit -- bayanihan [buy-yaan-nee-haan] -- working together for the common good. With more than 27 billion dollars in bilateral trade in 2025, roughly 375,000 Americans residing in the Philippines, and approximately 5 million Filipinos and Filipino-Americans contributing to communities across the United States, our countries are linked in ways that extend far beyond security cooperation and veterans affairs.
Filipino-Americans are among the largest Asian American groups in the U.S. military, serving across various branches. According to recent estimates, there are around 15,000 active-duty Filipino-American service members in the U.S. Armed Forces. If confirmed, I would work to expand collaboration in the other areas where our interests align -- healthcare, education, semiconductors, critical minerals, energy, infrastructure, humanitarian assistance and disaster response, tourism, and sports diplomacy, just to name a few -- while ensuring that our economic relationship remains fair and reciprocal.
Bringing people together and building coalitions has defined my personal life and my public service. While my career began in the private sector, over the past year, I have had an incredible opportunity in Washington to participate in this administration's humanitarian and diplomatic processes. As a member of the Holocaust Board, I have worked to preserve memories, defend human dignity, and confront hatred. Guided by my faith, I have built partnerships that are grounded in shared principles.
At the State Department, serving at the U.S. Mission to the Organization of American States, I have worked alongside dedicated Foreign Service Officers and civil servants committed to advancing American interests through principled engagement. During my tenure as Interim Permanent Representative and Chief of Staff at the Mission, I saw firsthand the importance of disciplined coordination, interagency collaboration, and accountability in translating policy into results. I also had the opportunity to build working relationships with diplomats from across the Western Hemisphere, reinforcing my belief that strong alliances are sustained through consistent engagement and institutional trust.
In many respects, the Philippines connects regions. Its ties span centuries and reflect the breadth of American engagement and influence across both the Pacific and the Western Hemisphere. Present-day partnerships in commerce, defense, education, entertainment, and cuisine demonstrate how longstanding exchanges have matured into the multifaceted power and cooperation we enjoy today. And as this year's Chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Philippines will play an elevated role in promoting our shared interests among the United States and all of Southeast Asia.
If confirmed, I will carry forward that spirit of partnership to Embassy Manila, relying on the expertise of our embassy staff, our colleagues at the Department of War, our allies and partners, ASEAN counterparts, and other representatives from the region who work to support an open, prosperous, and secure Indo-Pacific. My goal will be to deepen U.S.-Philippine security cooperation, strengthen supply chains, advance the Luzon Economic Corridor initiative, and promote fair and transparent trade through close and continuing engagements with this Committee, the U.S. Interagency, and our Philippine Allies.
In closing, I would like to assure you that I approach this nomination with humility and seriousness, and with an unwavering resolve to uphold our ironclad alliance with the Philippines, including our shared commitments under the Mutual Defense Treaty, as well as advance the safety, strength, and prosperity of the United States at a time of great consequence in the Indo-Pacific.
Thank you again for your time and consideration. I look forward to your questions.
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Original text here: https://www.foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/16d85bb1-de33-dd95-fe9f-d71d3fdf66a8/030526_Lipton_Testimony.pdf
Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Nominee Garcia Testifies Before Senate Foreign Relations Committee
WASHINGTON, March 9 -- The Senate Foreign Relations Committee released the following testimony by Frank Garcia, President Trump's nominee to be assistant secretary of State for African affairs, from a March 5, 2026, confirmation hearing:* * *
Chairman Ricketts, Ranking Member Coons, and Members of the Committee - I am honored to appear before you today as President Trump's nominee for Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of African Affairs. I appreciate the time you and your staff have given me and, if confirmed, I look forward to working with you.
If confirmed, I will advance America ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, March 9 -- The Senate Foreign Relations Committee released the following testimony by Frank Garcia, President Trump's nominee to be assistant secretary of State for African affairs, from a March 5, 2026, confirmation hearing: * * * Chairman Ricketts, Ranking Member Coons, and Members of the Committee - I am honored to appear before you today as President Trump's nominee for Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of African Affairs. I appreciate the time you and your staff have given me and, if confirmed, I look forward to working with you. If confirmed, I will advance AmericaFirst priorities on the African continent and ensure our engagement is disciplined, strategic, and firmly rooted in the protection of core U.S. national interests, as outlined in the National Security Strategy.
On a personal note, I'm thankful my sister Terri is here. I know our brother Michael and our parents are smiling down from heaven. They taught us three lifelong tenets: God, family, and country. As part of the Greatest Generation, they served as a Navy nurse and an Army technical sergeant. They didn't talk about service, they lived it.
I also want to thank my wife, Bridget, and our seven children and eight grandchildren for their love and support. There's a country song, "Thank God for Unanswered Prayers." Today I simply thank God for answered prayers: Bridget and our family are that answer for me. And for anyone wondering how to thrive with seven children and eight grandchildren: zone defense.
I served in the U.S. Navy for 28 years, with many assignments in the AFRICOM area of responsibility. My first touch on the continent was as a junior officer visiting the port of Mombasa, Kenya, which sparked a fascination with Africa that has stayed with me. I currently serve on the House Intelligence Committee for nearly fifteen years of focus Africa, traveling frequently with Members and staff.
Thank you, Team HPSCI, past and present.
My time in Africa left an indelible mark: peace is precious, and it is not maintained by hope alone. That is why I embrace President Trump's National Security Strategy of Peace through Strength. Strength, guided by principle and paired with credible diplomacy, deters aggression, protects the innocent, and creates space for human dignity to flourish. If confirmed, I will bring that same sense of duty to the work ahead.
For too long, U.S. policy in Africa has emphasized aid and dependency, with open-ended commitments and a focus on spreading divisive ideologies. President Trump and Secretary Rubio have reset this relationship toward trade and investment for mutual benefit. Many African partners have welcomed a pragmatic approach that prioritizes opportunity and cooperation over lectures. If confirmed, I will ensure our policy is guided by a realistic calculation of costs, risks, and benefits to U.S. interests.
By 2050, one quarter of the world's population will be African. The continent is at a strategic inflection point where lasting prosperity hinges on a secure, representative government and the selection of reliable partners. A healthy, better educated workforce, paired with abundant natural resources, can create opportunities that benefit both African nations and the United States. The Lobito Corridor model advanced by the Trump Administration is one example, promising increased trade, jobs, and investment. If confirmed, we will build on this momentum by prioritizing U.S. investment in high-return sectors where partnership can help make America safer, stronger, and more prosperous.
With opportunity comes risk, especially when governance fails to provide the security and judicial framework that prosperity requires. President Trump and Secretary Rubio recognize that peace is the foundation of growth and have moved aggressively to support peace efforts in troubled areas across Africa. The Washington Accords for Peace and Prosperity that brought together the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, ending more than 30 years of conflict, are historic. The United States will remain steadfast in supporting these accords and in holding the parties to their commitments.
Instability in regions such as the Sahel and North Africa, fueled by illicit trafficking and terrorist expansion, poses direct risks to U.S. interests and citizens.
Our counterterrorism efforts will remain focused on preventing attacks against the homeland and U.S. interests. We will build reciprocal relationships with key partners to degrade transnational threats from ISIS and al-Qaeda affiliates, engage regional governments, and work with allies to promote stability. African nations must play a greater role in protecting their own regions, with the United States supporting local leadership, not substituting for it.
If confirmed, I will ensure every dollar the United States invests in Africa advances our national security and economic priorities. All assistance, including lifesaving health and humanitarian efforts, will be focused, strategic, and aligned with U.S. interests. Our approach will be disciplined and results-driven, applying Secretary Rubio's principle of privileging trade over aid, opportunity over dependency, and investment over assistance.
Members of the Committee, thank you for your consideration and for the time, energy, and focus you and your staff devote to Africa. I look forward to your questions.
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Original text here: https://www.foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/16d85bb1-de33-dd95-fe9f-d71d3fdf66a8/030526_Garcia_Testimony.pdf
House Armed Services Subcommittee Chairman Wittman Issues Opening Remarks at Hearing on Modernization of Organic Industrial Base
WASHINGTON, March 7 -- Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Virginia, chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces, released the following opening remarks from a Feb. 24, 2026, joint hearing with the Subcommittee on Readiness entitled "Modernization of the Organic Industrial Base":* * *
Over the last several years, major vulnerabilities in the organic industrial base (OIB) have become apparent.
After the depletion of stockpiles for support to Ukraine, scaling domestic production, particularly of munitions, has exposed an inability of the supply chain to keep up with the ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, March 7 -- Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Virginia, chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces, released the following opening remarks from a Feb. 24, 2026, joint hearing with the Subcommittee on Readiness entitled "Modernization of the Organic Industrial Base": * * * Over the last several years, major vulnerabilities in the organic industrial base (OIB) have become apparent. After the depletion of stockpiles for support to Ukraine, scaling domestic production, particularly of munitions, has exposed an inability of the supply chain to keep up with thegrowth in demand.
While modernization efforts have been underway for our arsenals, depots, and ammunition plants, we have a long way to go.
With that said, I have concerns with the sustainability of certain Army goals, specifically the goal to reach production of one hundred thousand 155mm rounds per month.
While I support this goal, as 155's have proven their value in wartime, I worry about the sustainment of production capacity once the demand and requirements for this munition decrease.
It is imperative that the Army responsibly invests in industry partners and production facilities.
I am eager to hear from the witnesses on the progress of the many modernization projects across the OIB.
Most army ammunition plants and arsenals have technology and processes from World War II.
With supplemental dollars and a 15-year modernization strategy with plans to invest roughly $18 billion dollars across the OIB, I'm optimistic about the Army's efforts for updated production technology and facilities.
With improved production lines boasting flexibility and advanced manufacturing, the OIB will be better positioned for production surges.
We must ensure that the billions of dollars we have invested are appropriately spent across facilities.
The modernization of energetics is another key issue within the OIB.
Novel energetics can and will increase lethality and range for ordnance, propulsion, and weapon systems, giving the warfighter a greater edge in future fights and ensuring that our technology remains bounds ahead of our adversaries.
Though industry and academic institutions are currently developing improved energetic materials, the Department is still primarily using the same energetic materials from World War II.
The historic lack of central management and strategy across the services has delayed the progress of novel energetic integration into weapon systems.
I am pleased that since last year's hearing, the Joint Energetic Transition Office has been established.
This office will be key in creating central leadership in advancing energetic innovation and integration.
I am looking forward to seeing the work they'll do across the OIB.
Today's hearing will explore the many challenges the Organic Industrial Base encounters including access to a domestic supply chain, antiquated manufacturing processes and fluctuating requirements.
We will also explore the Army's efforts to scale munition production capacity, to ensure safety standards for servicemembers and civilians working in the production process, and to invest in emerging technologies and new facilities to modernize the OIB.
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Original text here: https://armedservices.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=6403
House Armed Services Subcommittee Chairman Bergman Issues Opening Remarks at Hearing on Modernization of Organic Industrial Base
WASHINGTON, March 7 -- Rep. Jack Bergman, R-Michigan, chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness, released the following opening remarks from a Feb. 24, 2026, joint hearing with the Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces entitled "Modernization of the Organic Industrial Base":* * *
The organic industrial base is the heart of our Army's ability to generate combat power, and any inadequacies in the industrial base directly impact the mission-capable rates of our ground forces.
Unfortunately, the Army's readiness trends over the last decade are particularly troubling.
Since ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, March 7 -- Rep. Jack Bergman, R-Michigan, chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness, released the following opening remarks from a Feb. 24, 2026, joint hearing with the Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces entitled "Modernization of the Organic Industrial Base": * * * The organic industrial base is the heart of our Army's ability to generate combat power, and any inadequacies in the industrial base directly impact the mission-capable rates of our ground forces. Unfortunately, the Army's readiness trends over the last decade are particularly troubling. Since2015, almost all Army vehicles experienced declines in mission-capable rates.
Additionally, the Army's maintenance costs are increasing with an average cost increase of over 50%.
According to GAO, the lack of parts and challenges related to technical data negatively affected the availability and costs of the entire ground forces.
These declining mission capability rates and increasing costs are directly related to an underperforming acquisition system.
Our inability to adequately secure the parts and determine the technical data rights at the beginning of our acquisition process undermines the ability of our organic industrial base to adequately maintain our ground vehicle fleet.
Additionally, I think that we are sitting on the precipice of a new dawn where advanced manufacturing revolutionizes our vehicle maintenance approach.
I am not confident that our military is keeping pace with the commercial sector in delivering timely and cost-efficient products.
As to the Army's organic industrial base to generate munitions capacity, our Army arsenals stand at the epicenter.
I think using our arsenal's ability to assemble and build munitions necessary for our combat forces and maintain excess capacity in times of need is a good model to maintain operational readiness.
I also think the organic industrial base needs to be utilized before additional commercial options are pursued.
That is why I am particularly surprised that we continue to sustain foreign munition manufacturers when idled American capacity is available to support munitions production.
We need to be more realistic as to our nation's munition goals and build capacity to meet our needs in times of conflict.
At the same time, it is important that our partners and allies also retain sufficient capacity to support their needs.
It is hard for me to understand why the United States should size our industrial base to meet an apathetic international consortium that has the time but lacks the will to make strategic investments to support their own national security interests.
There is much we need to do to better align our industrial base for the future, and I look forward to working with the administration and our esteemed witnesses to make this a reality.
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Original text here: https://armedservices.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=6404
Google Energy & Sustainability Policy Head Hanna Testifies Before House Science Subcommittee
WASHINGTON, March 7 -- The House Science, Space and Technology Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight released the following written testimony by Marsden Hanna, head of energy and sustainability policy, government affairs and public policy of the Global Affairs Team at Google, from a Feb. 24, 2026, hearing entitled "Powering America's AI Future: Assessing Policy Options to Increase Data Center Infrastructure":* * *
Chairman McCormick, Ranking Member Sykes and Members of the Subcommittee.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today. My name is Marsden Hanna and I develop Google's ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, March 7 -- The House Science, Space and Technology Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight released the following written testimony by Marsden Hanna, head of energy and sustainability policy, government affairs and public policy of the Global Affairs Team at Google, from a Feb. 24, 2026, hearing entitled "Powering America's AI Future: Assessing Policy Options to Increase Data Center Infrastructure": * * * Chairman McCormick, Ranking Member Sykes and Members of the Subcommittee. Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today. My name is Marsden Hanna and I develop Google'sapproach to energy policies. I appreciate the opportunity to discuss the intersection of artificial intelligence and energy with the Subcommittee. As the United States races to lead the world in AI, permitting and transmission reform has become a critical lever for maintaining our country's competitive edge.
The potential for AI to accelerate U.S. economic growth is staggering. Research estimates that generative AI could result in global economic uplift of more than $4 trillion annually. Realizing these gains - while accelerating breakthroughs in science and fortifying our national security - depends entirely on America's ability to build and power the electrical infrastructure that makes them possible.
Today, we are facing a critical challenge to achieving these goals: fragmented and congested electricity grids across the country are increasingly tapped out and many can no longer support electrical load growth. After decades of flat electricity consumption, recent load growth has resulted in an all-time high demand for power. However, transmission lines, many built more than 50 years ago, are now running out of capacity to power this growth and must be expanded and modernized. The U.S. electric grid needs investment and reinvigoration to simply keep running, let alone grow.
We believe energy supply is a national security imperative. Winning the AI race requires winning the energy race. Currently, the United States is ahead of global competitors on AI development, remaining dominant in developing AI models and designing advanced semiconductors.
However, the gap is closing. The speed with which China can plan, permit and deploy energy infrastructure is a major comparative advantage. China is leveraging this advantage to deploy massive investment into meeting its demand growth, emerging as the largest investor in the global power sector. According to a 2020 report, China has completed over 80 times more high-voltage interregional transmission than the United States in recent years. To maintain our lead in the AI race, we must reverse that trend and at least keep pace with, if not overtake, the rest of the world in development of energy infrastructure.
Today's energy infrastructure permitting system in the United States is a patchwork of local, state, and federal regulations marked by bureaucracy at all levels of government. This leads to crippling timelines, paralyzing litigation, uncertainty and an overall ineffective federal permitting scheme. Critical transmission projects can take up to 10 to 15 years to permit and build. The system is riddled with single points of failure, where litigation over procedural issues can delay or kill projects that are essential for economic growth and reliability - particularly for ambitious energy infrastructure projects that can do the most to advance economic and national security interests. Since passage of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, reliance on its novel federal authorities has resulted in not a single transmission line being built.
U.S. electricity policies and statutory frameworks need urgent reform. We have endorsed the bipartisan SPEED Act (H.R.4776) passed by the U.S. House of Representatives last year. We encourage urgent action to support regional and inter-regional transmission modernization and expansion, including the advancement of robust permitting reform measures this Congress.
Three Pillars of Reform to Spur Innovation
Efforts to build transmission lines in the United States face a full stack of permitting barriers. At the federal level, this includes National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) processes, which bundle the substantive environmental permitting laws that may trigger reviews across several federal agencies. Further, litigation risks emerge at every touch point and can result in decade-long timeline extensions for routine build outs and upgrades.
Congress can help address these problems and spur American innovation by focusing on three core pillars:
* First, cut energy infrastructure permitting bureaucracy across the board. Reducing permitting timelines to accelerate project schedules can help to reduce project costs and these savings can be passed on to electric ratepayers nationwide.
* Second, establish an effective federal transmission permitting framework.
Congress can speed construction of national interest transmission lines that provide economic and reliability benefits to power growth by reforming federal backstop authority at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
* Third, Congress should establish clear procedures that provide permitting certainty for new energy projects. Accelerating investment in energy infrastructure requires a consistent and durable permitting framework on which investors, asset owners and purchasers of power can rely to get projects built.
1. Cut Infrastructure Permitting Bureaucracy
America must move faster by cutting infrastructure permitting bureaucracy and eliminating red tape for all electricity infrastructure, including transmission. Congress can begin by legislating a streamlined federal infrastructure permitting process for all upgrades associated with existing infrastructure within existing rights of way, including deployment of advanced transmission technologies.
We also encourage Congress to consider reforms to NEPA and other procedural statutes to speed up the process for critical transmission lines under federal review. Federal legislative reforms can also provide reasonable boundaries on the scope of reviews conducted pursuant to the relevant statute, such as by placing limits on what activities can be considered "major federal actions." In order to provide legal certainty, Congress should also establish: (1) limits on statutes of limitations; (2) clear statutory timelines in which courts must act on permitting litigation and appeals; and (3) reforms that narrow standing to litigate agency actions. We believe that litigation should be limited to stakeholders that have participated in a public comment process and stand to be negatively impacted.
2. Establish an Effective Federal Transmission Permitting Framework
The United States currently has a complex and bureaucratic dual-agency process for Federal transmission permitting, which is layered on top of a permitting gauntlet that runs across some 3,000 utilities, markets, and state, federal and tribal jurisdictions. Federal backstop permitting authority for transmission has been entirely ineffective to date: the process requires the Department of Energy (DOE) to designate a National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor (NIETC), which is a multi-year bureaucratic process combined with a NEPA review. A developer may then apply for permits within a NIETC from states, and if denied the developer can subsequently apply to FERC for a permit. At this stage, FERC conducts a lengthy review process that includes a duplicative NEPA review. Litigation over procedural issues at any stage can halt the process, at which point applicants must start over from the beginning. The current convoluted process simply is not working: over the last 20 years, the NIETC process has led to the construction of zero new transmission lines due to this combination of overly bureaucratic processes and legal uncertainty. Congress can improve and expand the process by which lines become eligible for a federal permit by eliminating the requirements for a DOE NIETC designation and establishing a more effective process to issue permits at FERC for national interest transmission.
We urge Congress to build off of the bipartisan Energy Permitting Reform Act (EPRA) of 2024 by granting FERC permitting authority for backbone interstate transmission lines that mirrors the "certificate of public convenience and necessity" process used for interstate natural gas pipelines. The robust and direct statutory authority that Congress provided FERC to issue permits for interstate natural gas pipelines has been a key factor that has enabled timely gas infrastructure build out. This includes enabling network expansion to accommodate innovative technology advancements such as the advent of unconventional drilling techniques. The U.S. is in another era of innovation-driven growth, but lacks linear infrastructure permitting parity for the transmission grid. This is emerging as an inhibitor - rather than an enabler - of future growth.
Congress should also clarify and expand the scope of eligible transmission lines by providing clear thresholds and criteria for the exercise of federal permitting authority in order to increase the speed at which federal permits can be issued. Eligibility should include transmission lines that are critical for reliability, reducing congestion, reducing costs, increasing carrying capacity, or supporting economic growth. In Google's view, additional circumstances that should trigger FERC permitting authority include:
* Defined and modest expansions of existing transmission rights of way to enable significant voltage upgrades and allow more transmission capacity over the same or similar land;
* To enable longitudinal permitting of transmission alongside existing transportation corridors;
* If a state or local authority denies a permit for a regional transmission project that a region has approved; or
* For lines that are primarily sited within Section 368 corridors designated by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
3. Provide Permitting Certainty
Even with an improved, streamlined federal permitting system, large energy projects are still years-long endeavors that require long-term policy and procedural certainty. In order to win the AI race, Congress should establish a durable permitting framework and procedures to modernize America's energy infrastructure on a rapid timeframe. This framework should provide assurance to developers that projects which have satisfied the necessary permitting requirements will be completed without the revocation of authorization.
Expanding our grid is the key to unlocking vast, low-cost energy resources and driving down prices. By strategically building updated, higher voltage backbone transmission lines, the United States can benefit from massive economies of scale. Studies have shown that for every $1 invested in transmission lines, American consumers receive approximately $4 back in benefits. These improvements will reduce system-wide costs, increase reliability and power the next era of economic growth through concentrated energy buildout.
At Google, we believe in the promise of AI and we are investing heavily in the infrastructure behind it across the U.S. - many of you have seen that in your states. In just the last six months of 2025, we announced investments of $40 billion in Texas, $9 billion each in South Carolina, Oklahoma, and Virginia, $7 billion in Iowa and $4 billion in Arkansas, with more investments to come. Realizing the potential of artificial intelligence will require robust energy infrastructure, more efficient energy use and new, innovative technology solutions. I look forward to today's discussion and to working with many more of you on these investments. They are a reflection of the opportunity we see in America.
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Original text here: https://republicans-science.house.gov/_cache/files/c/d/cd6fa0e5-4adf-41dd-b6f0-8d9f412a711f/7F809390EF5E02C52D46B9D1BF09E0D7EE78A0A03584E44A8B5C79FB9728E031.marsden-hanna-testimony.pdf
EveryLife Foundation for Rare Disease Mission Officer Kennedy Testifies Before Senate Special Committee on Aging
WASHINGTON, March 7 -- The Senate Special Committee on Aging released the following written testimony by Annie Kennedy, chief mission officer for the EveryLife Foundation for Rare Diseases, from a Feb. 26, 2026, hearing entitled "From Regulator to Roadblock: How FDA Bureaucracy Stifles Innovation." FDA is the Food and Drug Administration.* * *
Thank you, Chairman Scott, Ranking Member Gillibrand, and distinguished members of the Committee, for convening this critical hearing to explore how the Food and Drug Administration can enhance regulatory clarity and predictability - and foster a more ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, March 7 -- The Senate Special Committee on Aging released the following written testimony by Annie Kennedy, chief mission officer for the EveryLife Foundation for Rare Diseases, from a Feb. 26, 2026, hearing entitled "From Regulator to Roadblock: How FDA Bureaucracy Stifles Innovation." FDA is the Food and Drug Administration. * * * Thank you, Chairman Scott, Ranking Member Gillibrand, and distinguished members of the Committee, for convening this critical hearing to explore how the Food and Drug Administration can enhance regulatory clarity and predictability - and foster a morepatient-centered, efficient review process for rare disease therapies. These changes, if made, will strengthen U.S. biomedical leadership and ensure lifesaving therapies reach our rare disease patient community as soon as possible.
My name is Annie Kennedy, and I serve as the Chief Mission Officer for the EveryLife Foundation for Rare Diseases. I am especially honored to be here today on behalf of the more than 800 rare disease advocates who have joined us in Washington for Rare Disease Week on Capitol Hill. Our families have traveled great distances and from most every state - including each state represented on this committee - to be here this week - and we each proudly represent the more than 30 million Americans living with rare diseases./i
The Orphan Drug Act defines a rare disease as a condition that affects fewer than 200,000 people in the United States. Today, there are more than 10,000 distinct rare diseases,/ii about 70 percent of which start in childhood./iii
Some of these are more common, such as Cystic Fibrosis and Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Others are so rare that they are considered N of 1 and are named by their genetic mutation. Collectively, our rare community comprises more than 10% of the U.S. population.
Congressional Efforts Yielded a Movement That Reshaped Methodology in Rare Disease
A stable and predictable regulatory environment is critical to the rare disease therapy development ecosystem. Over the past decade, our rare disease community has seen hundreds of life-altering and life-saving therapies become reality, and we appreciate that each and every day, researchers and drug developers are working to develop therapies for the 95 percent of the community that is still waiting for their first approved therapy.
For patient communities comprised of small numbers whose diagnoses typically occur after long, heartbreaking, and expensive diagnostic odysseys during which the disease has progressed - and function has declined - time is a precious commodity.
Randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled trials that are traditionally conducted in conditions with larger, well characterized, and slowly progressing disease populations are neither appropriate, nor ethical, when considering the challenges and urgency of rare disease.
Congress has long recognized that statutory "regulatory flexibility" is a means to accelerate treatments for patients living with rare diseases. Over the last two decades, your leadership has provided therapy developers and regulators tools that have not only rocketed the United States into renown as the most competitive developer of rare disease products - but most importantly, have yielded life-changing medicine approvals for thousands of children and adults within our rare disease community.
More than 40 years ago, Congress enacted the landmark Orphan Drug Act (ODA) to create a designation, incentives and other processes to help evolve what to that point had been a largely neglected sector, devoid of approved products. Since that time, Congress has further recognized the complexities and challenges associated with rare disease therapy development - and has unleashed a decade-plus of innovation through the establishment of scientific, clinical, and regulatory infrastructure intended to create an environment of rapid and tailored development.
Through the 21 st Century Cures Act, multiple FDA user fee cycles, the recent reauthorization of the Rare Disease Pediatric Priority Review Voucher program, and other actions, we have seen the advent of life saving therapy development incentives, the patient focused drug development movement, the establishment of the FDA Rare Disease Innovation Hub, and application of the accelerated approval pathway to rare disease - all while ensuring that the highest standards of safety and efficacy were upheld.
The application of the accelerated approval pathway to rare disease therapy development called for access to emerging therapies that have achieved safety and efficacy based on the earliest signals of promise, when considered against known alternative disease outcomes. And while over 250 therapies have been approved using the accelerated approval pathway, only 20%/iv of these have been for rare non-oncological diseases.
As a result of Congress' leadership, rare disease patient advocacy organizations have witnessed improved engagement and understanding of the patient perspective through various approaches, including the Patient-Focused Drug Development workshops, the development of the FDA Benefit-Risk Framework, the formation of rare disease-focused initiatives within CDER and CBER, as well as reporting on the use of patient experience data within the regulatory review process.
Also transforming community engagement and sponsor development, legislation has spurred FDA's issuance of numerous guidance documents that are informing the conduct of patient-focused product development activities for drugs, cell- and gene-based therapies, diagnostics, and medical devices that has been critical to our pipelines.
In fact, nearly 1,400 orphan-designated therapies are changing the lives of patients and families./v
These past Congressional efforts yielded a movement that reshaped methodology.
And while this movement and the critical application of methodology have yielded benefit for some, we have only just begun. Still, the vast majority of our communities living with the more than 10,000 rare diseases still have no FDA approved treatments. To date, fewer than five percent of rare diseases have an FDA approved treatment - and none have been cured.
In other words, the majority of our nation's rare disease community are living with rapidly progressive and debilitating conditions for which there is no treatment. This is the challenge before us today. Unfortunately, despite four decades of positive scientific momentum, progress has stalled.
Momentum Has Shifted
We are here today because our community has experienced worrisome trends with devastating consequences.
While we have been incredibly heartened by announcements flagging support of rare disease therapy development initiatives such as the Rare Disease Evidence Principles (RDEP) framework and the Plausible Mechanism Pathway, our community has experienced a series of FDA actions on rare disease product applications that seem misaligned with recent public pledges to expand the use of regulatory flexibility in evaluating rare disease therapies.
* Since the start of 2025, at least 23 Complete Response Letters (CRLs) declining to approve rare disease therapies have been issued - many of which were being considered under the accelerated approval pathway.
* Several of the recent CRLs include comments that indicate a hesitation to apply regulatory flexibility on issues such as the use of surrogate endpoints, natural history studies, external controls, and real-world evidence.
* Previously, novel product reviews encountering complex discernment might initiate the convening of a product - or topic - specific advisory committee for the inclusion of insights of external experts to inform decision making.
* Yet in 2025, the FDA held 65% fewer advisory committee meetings for prescription drugs, biologics, and related topics than in 2024,/vi sharply reducing opportunities for external expertise and patient insights to inform FDA decisions. In some cases, meetings that were expected to discuss rare disease products - that later received a negative regulatory decision - were cancelled.
Congressional Action to Ensure Today's Patients Will Benefit from Robust Rare Disease Treatment Pipelines
In order to ensure that this generation of patients living with rare diseases benefit from the innovation within our nation's robust therapy pipelines, we ask that Congress conduct oversight of the following:
* The application of the accelerated approval pathway to rare disease therapies;
* Resolving the inconsistent and unpredictable application of regulatory flexibility; and
* Resuming the use of Advisory Committee Meetings to receive external expertise on product reviews and key policy topics.
We also ask that Congress provide the necessary resources and direction to optimize the Rare Disease Innovation Hub's ability to improve outcomes for rare disease patients through enhanced coordination and alignment between medical product centers.
Finally, within the remit of the Rare Disease Innovation Hub, we urge FDA to establish a Rare Disease and Condition Advisory Committee to ensure the Agency can leverage external expertise and patient insights in its approach to rare disease regulatory reviews. While not a product-review committee, this would provide a clear mechanism for FDA to obtain the necessary perspective from rare disease stakeholders to inform this work.
Closing
While the FDA has taken actions to implement rare disease related provisions of the user fee bills and created new rare disease infrastructure through the Rare Disease Innovation Hub, the impact of these and other actions has not yet been fully realized for the benefit of the rare disease community.
The uneven application of rare disease policies and recent actions across the agency are resulting in increased unpredictability and risk that we fear could slow or prevent promising therapies from reaching those who need them most.
At a time when advances in science and understanding of diseases have put life-alerting treatments within reach for many communities, the uneven application of regulatory tools created by Congress is threatening our rare disease patient community's future.
Time is the most precious commodity for rare disease community.
And when a promising therapeutic target faces delays or demise due to the complexities in rare disease and strain on the existing regulatory infrastructure, investment wanes, future scientific promise is unfulfilled, and lives are lost.
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About the EveryLife Foundation for Rare Diseases:
The EveryLife Foundation for Rare Diseases is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, nonpartisan organization powered by the rare disease community to improve health outcomes by driving change through evidence-based policy, leading science-driven policy and regulatory research, activating the community to advocate for their rights and needs, and strengthening the rare disease community.
Contact:
Jamie Sullivan
Senior Vice President of Policy & Advocacy
EveryLife Foundation for Rare Diseases
JSullivan@everylifefoundation.org
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Footnotes:
i National Institutes of Health- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. (n.d.). Genetic and rare diseases information center. Genetic and Rare Diseases Information Center. https://rarediseases.info.nih.gov/
ii National Institutes of Health- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. (n.d.). Genetic and rare diseases information center. Genetic and Rare Diseases Information Center. https://rarediseases.info.nih.gov/
iii Nguengang Wakap S, Lambert DM, Olry A, Rodwell C, Gueydan C, Lanneau V, et al. Estimating cumulative point prevalence of rare diseases: analysis of the Orphanet database. Eur J Hum Genet. 2020;28(2):165-73.
iv Expediting treatments in the 21st century: orphan drugs and accelerated approvals | Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases | Springer Nature Link
v Food and Drug Administration: Office of Orphan Products Development. (n.d.)Orphan Drug Product Designation Database. https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/opdlisting/oopd/index.cfm
vi https://insights.citeline.com/pink-sheet/product-reviews/us-advisory-committees/us-fda-sees-advisory-committee-volume-collapse-in-2025T265ZITIFREIRBHA7PFGREWACM/
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Original text here: https://www.aging.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/70d7fe5b-cf94-be74-1bd6-5af9e596a188/Testimony_Kennedy%2002.26.26.pdf
Competitive Enterprise Institute Center for Energy & Environment Research Fellow Lambermont Testifies Before House Science Subcommittee
WASHINGTON, March 7 -- The House Science, Space and Technology Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight released the following written testimony by Paige Lambermont, research fellow of the Competitive Enterprise Institute Center for Energy and Environment, from a Feb. 24, 2026, hearing entitled "Powering America's AI Future: Assessing Policy Options to Increase Data Center Infrastructure":* * *
Chairman McCormick, Ranking Member Sykes, and distinguished members of the subcommittee, thank you for holding this hearing today and inviting me to testify.
My name is Paige Lambermont and I am ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, March 7 -- The House Science, Space and Technology Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight released the following written testimony by Paige Lambermont, research fellow of the Competitive Enterprise Institute Center for Energy and Environment, from a Feb. 24, 2026, hearing entitled "Powering America's AI Future: Assessing Policy Options to Increase Data Center Infrastructure": * * * Chairman McCormick, Ranking Member Sykes, and distinguished members of the subcommittee, thank you for holding this hearing today and inviting me to testify. My name is Paige Lambermont and I ama Research Fellow in the Center for Energy and Environment at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a nonprofit, non-partisan public policy organization dedicated to free market, limited government principles with a focus on regulatory issues.
I am grateful for the opportunity to speak to you today about the importance of permitting changes and innovation to meet rising power demand.
I have three main points that I want to make in my testimony:
1. Power scarcity has been created by policy decisions
2. Permitting reform is essential to meet this challenge
3. Now is the time for new and innovative solutions
Power Scarcity is a Policy Decision
For the last several decades, energy policy in general, and electricity policy in particular has focused on making do with less, curtailing demand, producing less power, and electrifying things like cars and appliances.
These policies have simultaneously created less reliable electricity, while also using government intervention to increase reliance on electricity. This was never a plan that was going to foster reliability, but now that demand has begun to rise for the first time in nearly two decades, the true folly of that approach has been revealed.
According to a DOE report, 104 GW of firm power capacity are set to retire by 2030./1
At the same time, demand growth by 2030 is projected to be between 35 and 108 GW./2
The delta between retiring capacity and new demand will require new reliable capacity to fill the gap.
Ideally, the permitting and policy ecosystem would favor the swift construction of new reliable power plants and the supply chains for building these plants would still be intact. In this hypothetical world new power demand from data centers would be an opportunity to generate electricity to solve complex problems and generate economic productivity.
But, on our broken power grid, where it is incredibly difficult to build new power plants, and the supply chain to build those power plants has broken down, this opportunity becomes a challenge.
The priority should be the formulation of policy that turns that challenge back into an opportunity.
We are more than capable of meeting growing power demand, but this will require removing regulatory barriers that impair the construction of new power plants and the reliability of the power grid. There are many policy changes that will contribute to this, but two of the most important actions will be comprehensive broad-based and technology neutral permitting reform, and removing obstacles to innovation.
Permitting Reform is Essential to Meet This Challenge
To help solve the current power supply issue, our federal permitting system must be reformed in ways that go beyond the National Environmental Policy Acy (NEPA). The Clean Water Act (CWA), Clean Air Act (CAA), Endangered Species Act (ESA), and other laws must be amended in parallel to remove overbroad, duplicative, and unnecessary requirements to secure permits.
This would help create a federal permitting process that allows new development to occur in a timely, predictable, and cost-effective manner while maintaining high standards.
Regulatory agencies also play a role in making it more difficult to build new power plants. So while the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is a primary culprit, another agency that's been especially restrictive is the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The ADVANCE Act helped to bring the mission of the NRC in line with the goal of stewarding rather than simply overseeing the nuclear industry./3
But improvement must go much further if nuclear power is going to play a role in meeting rising demand.
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1 U.S. Department of Energy, "Resource Adequacy Report: Evaluating the Reliability and Security of the United States Electric Grid," July 2025, https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/202507/DOE%20Final%20EO%20Report%20%28FINAL%20JULY%207%29_0.pdf.
2 U.S. Department of Energy, "Resource Adequacy Report: Evaluating the Reliability and Security of the United States Electric Grid," July 2025, https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/202507/DOE%20Final%20EO%20Report%20%28FINAL%20JULY%207%29_0.pdf.
3 Congress.gov. "S.870 - 118th Congress (2023-2024): An act to authorize appropriations for the United States Fire Administration and firefighter assistance grant programs, to advance the benefits of nuclear energy, and for other purposes." July 9, 2024. https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/870.
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In China, the current timeline for a large reactor from start to finish is seven years and there are currently 27 reactors under construction./4
The last large reactors built in the US were Plant Vogtle Units 3 and 4 which took 14 and 15 years respectively and began construction in 2009./5
The United States is not losing on quality of technology, or ability to innovate in this space. It's losing on regulation, and that is entirely a policy choice. Ensuring that the regulatory structures that govern the development of new power plants of all types are reasonable, predictable, consistent, and scientifically based is essential to develop new power plants at the necessary speed to meet rising demand and remain globally competitive.
Now is the Time for New and Innovative Solutions
Another option to ease the bottleneck around getting new power on the grid is to enable innovation including off-grid utilities. Consumer Regulated Electricity (CRE) is an opportunity to create an alternative to the traditional grid pathway for new customers that are willing to pay for their own electricity. CRE would allow for privately financed, off-grid electric utilities to serve customers including data centers. These utilities would be physically islanded from the broader power grid./6
This would allow companies who want power quickly to avoid the traditional utilities queue, while bearing the costs of their own infrastructure.
CRE provides flexibility and speed to companies working on innovative projects, while providing cost insulation for ratepayers. For this to be possible, individual states would need to pass legislation exempting islanded utilities from their definition of a public utility. This policy innovation has already become law in New Hampshire and related legislation has been introduced in several other states. At the Federal level, the DATA Act, S.3585, introduced by Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) would enable CRE by clarifying that CRE utilities are exempt from federal regulation as public utilities.
Conclusion
To meet growing demand and protect ratepayers, it is essential that we both reform our permitting system and remove government obstacles to allow new and innovative solutions. It is technologically possible to meet rising demand, and we can and should do so in a way that protects existing ratepayers while allowing for new development.
Thank you.
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4 Stephen Ezell, "How Innovative is China in Nuclear Power", Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, June 17, 2024, https://itif.org/publications/2024/06/17/how-innovative-is-china-in-nuclearpower/.
5 Energy Information Administration, "Plant Vogtle Unit 4 begins commercial operation," May 1, 2024, https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=61963.
6 https://www.cato.org/briefing-paper/case-consumer-regulated-electricity-private-electricity-grids-offerparallel-path#federal-reforms-support-cre
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Original text here: https://republicans-science.house.gov/_cache/files/e/8/e8af86fd-f7cb-4af4-b7e9-fcb3b00e3610/EE8C250912EF0D47B2E329E726F0AA627B4B2B3FD31FF6834017A8946ED482D8.paige-lambermont-testimony-for-2.24.pdf
Amicus Therapeutics President Campbell Testifies Before Senate Special Committee on Aging
WASHINGTON, March 7 -- The Senate Special Committee on Aging released the following written testimony by Bradley Campbell, president and CEO of Amicus Therapeutics Inc., Princeton, New Jersey, and a board member of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, from a Feb. 26, 2026, hearing entitled "From Regulator to Roadblock: How FDA Bureaucracy Stifles Innovation." FDA is the Food and Drug Administration.* * *
Chairman Scott, Ranking Member Gillibrand, and distinguished committee members:
My name is Bradley Campbell, and for the last 20 years, I've worked at Amicus Therapeutics, a Princeton, ... Show Full Article WASHINGTON, March 7 -- The Senate Special Committee on Aging released the following written testimony by Bradley Campbell, president and CEO of Amicus Therapeutics Inc., Princeton, New Jersey, and a board member of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, from a Feb. 26, 2026, hearing entitled "From Regulator to Roadblock: How FDA Bureaucracy Stifles Innovation." FDA is the Food and Drug Administration. * * * Chairman Scott, Ranking Member Gillibrand, and distinguished committee members: My name is Bradley Campbell, and for the last 20 years, I've worked at Amicus Therapeutics, a Princeton,New Jersey-headquartered company whose mission is to develop and deliver transformative medicines for people living with rare diseases. Since August 2022, I have had the honor and privilege of serving as President and CEO.
I am also a member of the Board of Directors of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), the Advisory Board of the Duke Margolis Institute for Health Policy, and the Corporate Advisory Board for the National Tay-Sachs and Allied Diseases Association.
As I speak with you today, I would note that Amicus is in the process of being acquired by BioMarin Pharmaceuticals, but my remarks today are based on my thirty years of experience in drug development, and in particular the twenty years I have spent at Amicus.
Amicus has successfully developed and commercialized three products that treat two lifethreatening lysosomal storage disorders. These rare genetic disorders are caused by the body's inability to break down substances it normally would, leading to progressive, often irreversible, and potentially fatal organ and muscle damage.
These medicines are a small molecule drug chaperone for Fabry disease (Galafold), and a twocomponent therapy for Pompe disease that combines an oral small molecule enzyme stabilizer (Opfolda) with an infused biologic enzyme replacement therapy (Pombiliti).
I am grateful to Chairman Scott, Ranking Member Gillibrand, and the distinguished members of the Senate Special Committee on Aging for the opportunity to speak today about Amicus' experience developing medicines for serious and life-threatening rare diseases since our founding in 2002.
I am proud to speak today alongside my fellow panelists Cara O'Neill, rare disease mom and Chief Science Officer at the Cure Sanfilippo Foundation, Annie Kennedy, Chief Mission Officer at the EveryLife Foundation, and Dr. Jeremy Schmahmann, Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School.
I would like to thank the many members of the rare disease community who are in the room with us today, and in the Capitol this week, in celebration of Rare Disease Day, and to build on the powerful legacy of the Orphan Drug Act (ODA), passed by Congress in 1983.
Similar to the ODA, the reauthorization of the FDA's Pediatric Priority Review Voucher program on February 3 is another example of how bipartisan Congressional action, informed by rare disease advocates, can help drive meaningful advances in rare disease research and drug development. It is critical that we protect and strengthen existing incentives for orphan drug development while we address other regulatory and policy issues.
On behalf of all of us at Amicus, I want to thank the many patients and families in the U.S. and around the world who have made our work at Amicus possible, and to share how their insights have made our work better.
For example, at a recent patient advisory group meeting, we were speaking with Pompe patients about "patient experience data," and how to make it more quantitative, which, in turn also makes these data more measurable-- very salient to today's discussion of regulatory frameworks.
During a break between sessions, a young woman came up to me and said that while clinical trials in Pompe disease often measure "forced vital capacity," she depends on a mechanical ventilator to breathe. Therefore, she said, what would truly make a difference in her life was if she could just hold her breath for one minute. Why? Because if her ventilator battery fails, or she falls, or if an aide has to clear a mucus plug from her trachea tube, those 60 seconds could mean the difference between life and death.
That led all of us to reflect on how many breaths we take each day, and how easily we take for granted that the next one will always follow the last.
Her comment remains one of the most profound and simple examples of why it is critical to listen to the voice of patients and caregivers in designing clinical trials and regulatory endpoints that reflect what truly matters to the rare disease community.
The core message of my testimony today is straightforward and builds on this insight: the rare disease innovation ecosystem, as currently regulated, and which historically has done so much in supporting the development of new therapies for people living with rare diseases, must adapt in speed, flexibility, and scale to meet the magnitude of unmet medical need facing American patients.
We cannot ask patients to wait years for new treatments when the difference between life and death can be a single breath.
Working Together to Get Treatments to Rare Disease Patients Faster
To understand why this is true, I would like to share more about Amicus, both our successes and setbacks.
Since our founding in 2002, Amicus has grown from a small start-up into a global organization of more than five hundred team members supporting three approved medicines and the patients who rely on them.
But our success was never a given, and definitely not a straight line.
When we were developing an oral chaperone treatment for Fabry disease (Galafold), we initially planned for it to be used by all adult patients with Fabry. However, our early trials showed that migalastat worked well for some patients, but not others. Through deeper analysis of trial data and in close dialogue with regulators, Amicus developed and validated an assay that
could identify which out of the thousands of known genetic variants were responsive to treatment --and just as importantly, which were not.
The FDA ultimately incorporated this concept of "amenability" directly into the drug's labeling. The result was Galafold became the first oral precision therapy for Fabry disease, matched to patients most likely to benefit.
This is a concrete example of regulators and sponsors learning together, rather than treating trials as one-shot, binary verdicts. The result is a more convenient oral treatment option that frees a subset of Fabry disease patients from the hours-long burden of bi-weekly infusions and relieves the health care system from the added costs that come from hospital and clinicbased infusions.
The lesson is consistent: innovation is not just about creating new medicines in the lab. It requires working collaboratively with regulators, patient advocates, researchers, and more to build regulatory pathways that are flexible and designed to adapt as they learn -- providing patients and clinicians with novel treatment options as well as more data about how to apply those options to optimize health outcomes for people living with rare diseases.
But as with so many other biotechs, not every Amicus research program developing a novel medicine has crossed the proverbial finish line of FDA approval.
In epidermolysis bullosa (EB), a devastating skin disease, we launched what was at the time the largest ever trial for EB, but promising early data were contradicted in a Phase 3 trial that showed some efficacy but failed to beat placebo on the primary endpoints.
Rather than shelving the data in our archives, we communicated everything we learned with the EB community, including investigators, patient leaders, regulators, and even other companies working in the EB space.
We did this fully and deliberately, so others could build on what we had learned rather than spend scarce resources and precious patient time on ground we had already covered.
Since then, the FDA has approved the first topical gene therapy for dystrophic EB and the first cellbased gene therapy specifically for recessive dystrophic EB-- proof that responsible data sharing can help move the whole rare disease community forward.
So, for Amicus, after more than 20 years in drug development, while we now have three approved drugs, we have had many more programs that were discontinued.
Rare diseases are incredibly complex and inherently more difficult to study than more common, better understood diseases. That is one reason why the vast majority of biotech companies fail, and even when they succeed, the time to get to consistent profitability and sustainability is measured in decades, not years. Amicus was founded in 2002 and became profitable only at the end of last year.
Research supported by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) estimates 95 percent of the 10,000-plus known rare diseases still lack effective, FDA-approved treatments. That means roughly 9,500 rare diseases lack treatment today.
If we keep the current pace of innovation, averaging 31 orphan-designated novel approvals per year across CDER and CBER over the last five years,/i then developing treatments for half of all known rare diseases (~5,000 conditions) would take approximately 161 years.
We know that America's small and mid-size biotechs are the engine for new medicines overall, and for rare diseases in particular./ii
I firmly believe that these companies will be better able to create new medicines, faster, if we adopt more flexible, agile regulatory frameworks and fully harness new tools including artificial intelligence. These approaches should also be harmonized between the U.S. FDA and other advanced regulatory agencies to minimize the collection of data that does not meaningfully advance our understanding of patient safety or product efficacy.
The FDA has reached much the same diagnosis. The creation of the Rare Disease Innovation Hub (RDIH), Rare Disease Evidence Principles (RDEP), and many other FDA programs all acknowledge that conventional drug development paradigms and evidence standards simply do not work for many rare and ultra-rare conditions.
These are all welcome efforts, but we need to transition from meetings and pilots to agency infrastructure to train staff on how to consistently implement novel approaches and best practices, convene external expert working groups to resolve scientific and regulatory bottlenecks, and de-risk promising new biomarkers.
I believe there are three fundamental areas where we need to concentrate our efforts to modernize regulations and make rapid progress without sacrificing patient safety or public health.
A. Start Clinical Trials Faster--Without Lowering Safety Standards
Other country regulators have adopted or are building faster pathways that allow early-phase trials to activate in weeks rather than months. In January 2026, the European Union launched FAST-EU (Facilitating and Accelerating Strategic Clinical Trials) to cap the time to authorization of multinational clinical trials at 70 days./iii
Under Australia's Clinical Trial Notification (CTN) system, many trials can begin almost immediately after local ethics approval./iv
What these models have in common is that they are shifting early clinical learning, investment, and trial leadership away from the United States. U.S. reforms should:
* Reduce administrative burdens on trial sites and sponsors by standardizing documents and processes, including clinical trial contracts, informed consent, and modular e-consent.
* Enable integration of new artificial intelligence tools to analyze complex datasets and for predictive enrollment, adaptive randomization, and site ID.
* Support single Institutional Review Boards (sIRBs), and leverage cloud services to centralize document collection and enable real-time data quality monitoring.
* Expand the use of decentralized and hybrid trials, master protocols and platform studies, RWE and external controls for decision making and remote monitoring.
* Provide Congress with routine reports on rare disease trial transformation that reflect key success metrics.
B. Use Biomarkers and Innovative Endpoints to Assess When Medicines are Working
Policymakers should support and expand FDA's capability to convene stakeholders and design fit-for-purpose biomarkers and endpoints, as well as building internal knowledge management systems that enable reviewers to apply those tools consistently and predictably.
This starts with
* Sufficiently funding and staffing the Rare Disease Innovation Hub to convene more public, multistakeholder efforts that prioritize, develop, and operationalize a growing set of reusable endpoints (including composite endpoints) and biomarkers across rare diseases.
* Investing in systematic reviewer training and support so sponsors know that innovative and flexible approaches will be utilized consistently across divisions and centers.
* Harmonizing FDA and EMA expectations for high quality real-world evidence (RWE)-- especially in rare pediatric populations--so it can support decisions and, where appropriate, labeling quality.
* Finalize and expand Platform Technology Designation (PTD) to enable carryover of validated assays, analytics, and chemistry and manufacturing control (CMC) elements across platform modalities (including gene therapy and gene editing), with transparent crosscenter criteria and routine reporting on PTD.
C. Make Inspections and Manufacturing Rules Work Better for Rare Disease Medicines
For rare and low-volume therapies, manufacturing and inspection can become rate-limiting steps to patient access. To keep pace with innovation and the unique challenges with rare disease low volume products, FDA should:
* Expand the use of Mutual Recognition Agreements (MRAs) with other advanced regulatory agencies and expand the use of Remote Regulatory Assessments (RRAs) to reduce duplicative in-person inspections.
* Streamline foreign facility inspections by using Artificial Intelligence to prioritize risk-based inspections. This would conserve FDA inspection resources for high risk/high priority inspections and share burdens more equitably with other trusted regulatory agencies.
In addition, Congress should pass the Biomanufacturing Excellence Act of 2025 (H.R. 6089 and S. 3188) which directs the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to establish a National Biomanufacturing Center of Excellence (COE) to advance manufacturing methods to ensure innovative products can move rapidly from clinical to commercial scale.
Conclusion
Let me leave you with one final story. At an Amicus Patient Advisory Board meeting last year, one of our Fabry patient advisors said that he had stopped saving for retirement when he was first diagnosed in his late thirties. What he found online about Fabry disease at the time, was that life expectancy for men with Fabry disease was only into their late fifties.
But advances in treatment for Fabry disease, including earlier diagnosis, and better management of disease complications are extending lives and changing expectations.
That gentleman is now saving for retirement. For him, for the woman with Pompe disease who told us she needed 60 seconds to breathe, for the many patients we have learned from, and even more, around the world--we need to have a regulatory framework that can accelerate bringing these patients new treatments.
Please join me in helping to make a future to look forward to the reality for many more adults, children, and families living with rare diseases, including the advocates standing in this room today.
Thank you, and I look forward to answering your questions.
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Footnotes:
i This does not include supplemental New Drug Applications, or supplemental Biological License Applications (sNDA or sBLA). Drugs with Orphan designations are exempt from the Pediatric Research Equity Act (PREA) (21 U.S.C. 355c) requirements... It also does not include label indications for drugs that are were originally approved for non-orphan indications. While the total number of available treatments for rare diseases is higher, we believe that counting Orphan Designated approvals is the best way to measure the rate of innovation in rare disease drug development.
ii Biotechnology Innovation Organization. America's Innovation Engine: The Power of Small and Mid-Sized Biotechs. https://www.bio.org/sites/default/files/2026-01/the_power_of_small_and_mid-size_biotechs.pdf
iii https://www.aifa.gov.it/en/fast-eu
iv Steyn N, Davis S. Australia: The Regulatory and Reimbursement Environment. Third in a three-part series. Parexel; August 28, 2023. Available at: https://www.parexel.com/application/files/resources/assets/Australia%20Regulatory%20Market%20Acces s %20Article_Third%20in%20a%20three-part%20series%20(1).pdf (accessed Feb. 18, 2026)
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Original text here: https://www.aging.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/70d7fe5b-cf94-be74-1bd6-5af9e596a188/Testimony_Campbell%2002.26.26.pdf