The Department of Veterans Affairs announced it has ended a Biden administration mandate to spend $77 million on electric vehicle charging stations at its facilities.
The department claims that the money will instead be redirected to "critical health care construction projects," the VA said in a press release.
In a statement, VA Secretary Doug Collins criticized the previous administration's policy and the notion of electric vehicle charging.
“In Joe Biden’s VA, the department was distracted by woke social-justice programs and green-energy boondoggles, but those days are long gone,” Collins' statement read. “VA exists to serve veterans, and we’re making sure all of our resources go toward that noble purpose.”
According to Collins' VA, in fiscal year 2023, the VA was mandated to divert $77 million from its construction and technology budget to build solar-powered electric vehicle charging stations at VA facilities, but no money was spent and no charging stations were built.
In response to the government shutdown, the statement claims that the VA was given the authority to redirect the $77 million to its construction and technology budget.
The department says it is still assessing how to reallocate the funding, but so far: $10 million will be redirected to upgrading VA’s Friendship House compensated work therapy residence in Oklahoma City; $21.3 million will be used to expand and renovate the MRI ward at the Providence VA Medical Center; and $13.8 million will go to upgrade the radiation oncology unit at the G.V. (Sonny) Montgomery VAMC in Jackson, Mississippi.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.