{"id":76132,"date":"2023-02-02T17:28:13","date_gmt":"2023-02-02T17:28:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2023\/02\/02\/new-house-vets-chair-plans-focus-on-pact-act-oversight-medical-access\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T14:47:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T14:47:37","slug":"new-house-vets-chair-plans-focus-on-pact-act-oversight-medical-access","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/veterans\/2023\/02\/02\/new-house-vets-chair-plans-focus-on-pact-act-oversight-medical-access\/","title":{"rendered":"New House Vets chair plans focus on PACT Act oversight, medical access"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2023\/01\/27\/high-turnover-on-house-veterans-affairs-committee-again-this-session\/\" target=\"_blank\">House Veterans\u2019 Affairs Committee<\/a> has 13 new members and a new chairman this session, but the leader of the panel says he hopes veterans see from the group the same focus on improving <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2023\/01\/26\/enrollments-in-va-medical-care-spiked-after-pact-act-passage-last-year\/\" target=\"_blank\">veterans benefits<\/a> that they have in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere are going to be contentious issues,\u201d said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2023\/01\/10\/republicans-name-chairmen-for-armed-services-vet-affairs-committees\/\" target=\"_blank\">Rep. Mike Bost<\/a>, R-Ill., who shifted from ranking member last year to chairman this year after Republicans won a majority of seats in the House. \u201cBut the issues that we deal with in the VA committee aren\u2019t about Republicans and Democrats. It\u2019s about the veterans and what they need and what they deserve, what they\u2019ve earned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAnd it\u2019s about making sure that the delivery of those benefits \u2014 whether it\u2019s healthcare or the GI bill, the list goes on and on \u2014 that they and their family receive those services. So, that doesn\u2019t change.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/yRLShjBJ_ww?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen title=\"House veterans chairman on implementing the PACT Act\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bost, 62, is a Marine Corps veteran who has been on the veterans committee since joining Congress in 2015. He sat down with Military Times this week to talk about his priorities for the committee and goals for the upcoming congressional session.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>Portions of the interview have been edited for space and clarity.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>Military Times: <\/b>What are the most important topics you\u2019ll be broaching this year?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>Rep. Mike Bost: <\/b>A lot of it is oversight. Remember, last year, we passed the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2023\/01\/26\/enrollments-in-va-medical-care-spiked-after-pact-act-passage-last-year\/\" target=\"_blank\">PACT Act<\/a>. \u2026 We need to make sure that it is implemented exactly the way we passed it. It is a lot of money, but it\u2019s vitally important to do it right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you\u2019ll remember, when the PACT Act first came up, I didn\u2019t vote for it because it was not well-suited yet. VA even said \u201cWe can\u2019t implement it because you didn\u2019t put the right things in there, you didn\u2019t put the right funding in there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We\u2019ve got to make sure that we move forward in a way that no people who are receiving benefits from VA now lose out on their benefits. We\u2019ve got to make sure we provide the health care that we\u2019re providing right now for those vets and then bring in the new ones without losing anybody.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/election-2022\/2023\/01\/03\/breaking-down-the-number-of-veterans-in-the-118th-congress\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP22130597227955.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Breaking down the number of veterans in the 118th Congress<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The new session of Congress opens with 97 members who have military experience, the most since 2015.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>MT: <\/b>VA has already said they expect the claims backlog to go up [due to the PACT Act]. When will you start to worry about the rising cases?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>Bost: <\/b>It starts right away. We\u2019re keeping abreast of that right now. We will monitor it very, very closely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You add to that, we\u2019re still trying to deal with the electronic health records and the problems there, the dangers that exist for our veterans. We\u2019ve only got [the new records system] in five facilities, and they\u2019re not big facilities. But the wheels came off right at the start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And we\u2019re still concerned about the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2022\/09\/06\/private-sector-medical-care-may-not-be-faster-or-cheaper-than-va-care\/\" target=\"_blank\">Mission Act<\/a>. Remember, our veterans are not supposed to be on wait lists. There\u2019s no need for them to wait to receive care. They need to be able to get in [to VA medical centers], and if they can\u2019t, they can move to the private sector. We know there are places where that\u2019s still a problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>MT:<\/b> How would you characterize your relationship with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2022\/11\/14\/va-secretary-makes-promise-we-will-be-vets-best-advocates\/\" target=\"_blank\">VA Secretary Denis McDonough<\/a> and with senior staff?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>Bost: <\/b>My relationship with the secretary is very good. His former boss [President Barack Obama] and I served together in the Illinois General Assembly. [McDonough] was his chief of staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That doesn\u2019t mean we always agree. There\u2019s a whole list of things where we don\u2019t. But I can say that if something is going to happen that I probably won\u2019t agree with, he will call me in advance. That makes for a very good working relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/veterans\/2023\/01\/31\/lawmakers-demand-fixes-in-va-health-records-before-any-more-rollouts\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Mann-Grandstaff-Department-of-Veterans-Affairs-Medical-Center-1.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Lawmakers demand fixes in VA health records before any more rollouts<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">New legislation would block further deployments of the controversial system until VA leaders can promise permanent improvements.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>MT: <\/b>You\u2019ve already introduced legislation regarding concerns with the new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2023\/01\/31\/lawmakers-demand-fixes-in-va-health-records-before-any-more-rollouts\/\" target=\"_blank\">VA electronic health records system<\/a>. Where are you on that program right now?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>Bost: <\/b>Here\u2019s the thing your readers need to understand: Congress never voted for that. That was a decision made by the previous administration and carried on by this administration. And the failure started as soon as they started working with Cerner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019ve been to every location where the program is trying to be rolled out. Some in the administration, when it first rolled out, they tried to put lipstick on a pig. But they\u2019ve finally come into the realization that there are problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are big problems. We don\u2019t want to waste taxpayers money, but we also don\u2019t want to go down a path where we waste more taxpayers money. \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>MT: <\/b>Let me ask you about another controversy that will come up with this session: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2022\/09\/15\/republicans-threaten-lawsuits-budget-penalties-over-va-abortion-move\/\" target=\"_blank\">abortion<\/a>. What is your plan to deal with that issue in the coming months,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>Bost: <\/b>I sent a letter already to the secretary asking for specific information on this. In 1992, a law was passed that said VA would not provide abortion. Now, the secretary and his attorneys are using a 2006 law that really doesn\u2019t have anything to do with abortion to provide those services. That has to be settled in the courts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But we still have oversight. If they\u2019re going to start doing a procedure or procedures that can be controversial at best, we have our oversight positions. That\u2019s why I\u2019ve sent a letter [requesting more information].<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I don\u2019t want to know specific names. That\u2019s none of my business, none of our business as committees. But what procedures are you performing? How many are you performing? Is it the morning after pill? Is it late-term abortions?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">[This policy] allows for very, very broad opportunities to provide abortions. If they want to go down that path, then it should be decided by the legislature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>MT: <\/b>You\u2019ve had a lot of turnover on the committee, but you also added <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/election-2022\/2023\/01\/03\/breaking-down-the-number-of-veterans-in-the-118th-congress\/\" target=\"_blank\">several more veterans<\/a>. How do you think that\u2019s going to affect some of the conversation on the committee?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>Bost: <\/b>Of our five subcommittee chairs, four of them are veterans, and veterans with all kinds of backgrounds. We have veterans that were doctors, veterans that were enlisted and officers. And we\u2019ve got one veteran \u2014 Rep. Jack Bergman \u2014 that\u2019s been on the committee forever with me, and he\u2019s a great friend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Those veterans, you better believe, they\u2019re passionate about making sure that VA is providing the services veterans need. And many of them have been in a situation where they tried to get the services and they didn\u2019t get the quality they wanted. Their passion for helping veterans is just amazing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rep. Mike Bost takes over as committee chairman after serving as ranking member last year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":46701,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":19,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[100,7,23,93,12,25,68,19],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3334],"class_list":["post-76132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-education-transition","category-home","category-middle-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress","category-veterans"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"25ZGXW4I4RHKDDKJEQMTXCUWQ4","arc_canonical_url":"\/veterans\/2023\/02\/02\/new-house-vets-chair-plans-focus-on-pact-act-oversight-medical-access\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>New House Vets chair plans focus on PACT Act oversight, medical access - Army Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rep. 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Mike Bost takes over as committee chairman after serving as ranking member last year.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/veterans\/2023\/02\/02\/new-house-vets-chair-plans-focus-on-pact-act-oversight-medical-access\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Army Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-02-02T17:28:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-08T14:47:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Leo Shane III\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Leo Shane III\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t    \"@context\": \"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\n\t    \"@graph\": [\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Article\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/armytimes\\\/veterans\\\/2023\\\/02\\\/02\\\/new-house-vets-chair-plans-focus-on-pact-act-oversight-medical-access\\\/#article\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/armytimes\\\/veterans\\\/2023\\\/02\\\/02\\\/new-house-vets-chair-plans-focus-on-pact-act-oversight-medical-access\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"author\": {\n\t                \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/armytimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"headline\": \"New House Vets chair plans focus on PACT Act oversight, medical access\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2023-02-02T17:28:13+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-08T14:47:37+00:00\",\n\t            \"mainEntityOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/armytimes\\\/veterans\\\/2023\\\/02\\\/02\\\/new-house-vets-chair-plans-focus-on-pact-act-oversight-medical-access\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"wordCount\": 1114,\n\t            \"commentCount\": 0,\n\t            \"publisher\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/armytimes\\\/#organization\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/armytimes\\\/veterans\\\/2023\\\/02\\\/02\\\/new-house-vets-chair-plans-focus-on-pact-act-oversight-medical-access\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/AP18311168592203.jpg.jpg\",\n\t            \"articleSection\": [\n\t                \"Daily News Roundup\",\n\t                \"Education &amp; 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