Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough briefed the American Legion on what VA has done over the past year and what it’s going to do next year to deliver for the nation’s veterans.
“And I know that it hasn’t been an easy year—for anyone,” he said Aug. 31 during The American Legion’s 103rd National Convention in Milwaukee, Wis. “But that just means that our shared mission has never been more important than it is right now.”
McDonough went through a laundry list of VA’s achievements, noting that it is processing veteran claims faster than ever before and has decreased the claims backlog to its lowest total in years.
“When it comes to honoring vets with the lasting resting places they deserve, we are now providing almost 94 percent of vets with access to burial sites within 75 miles of their homes, and we’ve expanded our Veterans Legacy Memorial program, which keeps veterans’ stories alive long after they’re gone, to about 4.5 million veterans,” he continued.
President Joe Biden has also made veterans a core part of his Unity Agenda, securing “the biggest budget proposal for vets in VA history, delivering the first toxic exposure presumptions for vets who have fought our wars for the past 30 years, and most importantly, signing the historic PACT Act into law,” McDonough said.
Signed into law by Biden on Aug. 10, the PACT Act streamlines access to VA health care and benefits for as many as 3.5 million veterans who served in areas of known toxic exposure. It lists 23 conditions that the VA will presume were caused by that military service.
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McDonough said instead of phasing in those presumptive conditions over the coming years, VA is making all conditions outlined in legislation presumptive to the day it was signed into law.
“I want to be very clear on this point because it’s an important one,” he said. ‘The conditions in the PACT Act were supposed to take effect over the next few years, but we’re not going to do that. Veterans have waited too long for this care and these benefits already, and we’re not going to make them wait any longer.”
McDonough also said that VA is working to improve care for veterans by making sure it is an inclusive place where all veterans feel welcome, including women veterans and LGBTQ+ veterans.
“For too long, too many veterans who fought around the world to protect our rights and freedoms have had to fight brutal battles here at home for their own rights and freedoms,” he said. “But at VA, those fights are over.”
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McDonough also singled out for praise The American Legin’s Be The One suicide prevention campaign.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.